Day: May 12, 2020
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Telegram Ditches $1.7Bln Blockchain Launch
Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov dropped plans to launch Telegram’s TON blockchain project Tuesday, attacking the U.S. justice system for killing off the initiative. The Telegram and Vkontakte founder had been developing the TON blockchain platform and Grams cryptocurrency for more than two years, successfully raising $1.7 billion from investors in an initial coin offering (ICO)…
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Explainer: What the End of Putin’s Coronavirus ‘Non-Working’ Period Means
President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia’s “non-working” period would come to an end from May 12, allowing the country to start easing restrictions imposed more than six weeks ago to slow the spread of the coronavirus even as Russia saw record increases in new infections. During the nationwide “non-working” period, all non-essential businesses were required…
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On This Day in 1976 the Moscow Helsinki Group Was Founded
On this day in 1976, a group of Russian dissidents led by a Soviet physicist Yuri Orlov announced the foundation of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Forty four years later, it still exists, the oldest working human rights organization in Russia. Through all these years the group has been monitoring Russia’s implementation of the Helsinki Accords…
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First Russian Aframax Tanker “Vladimir Monomakh” Launched at Zvezda Shipyard
The first Russian Aframax tanker “Vladimir Monomakh” was heaved off at the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex
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Russian Rape Victims Charged With Violating Virus Lockdown
Update: Authorities declined to fine the victims “because they turned to police due to threats to their lives and health,” the regional coronavirus task force said Wednesday. Police in Siberia have cited two teenagers for breaking coronavirus stay-at-home orders after they reported that they were raped on the street, the regional Tayga.info news website reported Tuesday.…
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Putin’s Spokesman Hospitalized With Coronavirus
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has been hospitalized with coronavirus, he told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Tuesday. “Yes, I got sick, I’m being treated,” Peskov told Interfax. The Kremlin spokesman is at least the second person in Putin’s administration and the fifth senior government official to test positive for Covid-19. In addition to Culture…
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Tune into the Eurovision Request Hour
For all you Eurovision fans, heartbroken that it’s not going to happen this year, we have the next best thing. In fact, maybe it’s even better. At 5 p.m. Moscow time you can tune into “Eurovision request hour.” Ask for your favorite winning song from any year and you’ll hear it live, played by Steve…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | May 12
As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 283,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 232,243 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,116 deaths. May 12: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 10,899 new coronavirus infections…
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Rosneft ‘Controls’ Russia’s Leading Business Paper Vedomosti Through Debt: Investigation
Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft exercises leverage over the country’s leading business newspaper Vedomosti through multibillion-dollar debt held by its bank, a multi-outlet investigation said Tuesday. The findings follow widespread suspicion of Rosneft’s involvement in high-profile censorship scandals at Vedomosti, including its new chief editor changing a headline on the Russian government’s majority stake in…
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5 Die in ‘Nightmare’ Fire at Russian Virus Hospital
Five people died in a fire in a hospital for coronavirus patients in Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg on Tuesday, with some victims attached to ventilators, officials said. Another 150 people were evacuated after the blaze broke out on the sixth floor of the Saint George hospital, the emergencies ministry said, one of a string…
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Private Healthcare Contributes Little to Russia’s Coronavirus Response
Russia’s private hospitals are playing a limited role in treating Covid-19 patients as insufficient government funding and an outdated insurance system are making it difficult for them to switch to specialist treatment. With Russia’s official tally of coronavirus infections over 230,000 on Tuesday, the country is scrambling to find extra hospital beds to deal with…
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Russia’s Coronavirus Cases Surge Past 230K as Putin Eases National Lockdown
Despite reporting more than 10,000 new cases a day for over a week, President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced that a “non-working” period in place for six weeks would be lifted from Tuesday. A lockdown in Moscow, the epicenter of the crisis in Russia, remains in place until the end of May, but even in…
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Officers Launch Flashmob to Demand Freedom for Russia’s ‘Police Ombudsman’
Russian police officers have organized an online flashmob in support of their former colleague, the founder of a popular online community that reports abuse within law enforcement who has been jailed on extortion charges. Vladimir Vorontsov, who founded the “Police Ombudsman” social media channel, has had his home searched by police twice within a month.…