Day: July 22, 2020

Russian lawmakers have approved legislation in line with President Vladimir Putin’s new Constitution which will give lengthy prison terms for calling to cede territory in what is believed to be a warning to those who question Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The current law, adopted after Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, jails Russians for…

Camouflaged men attacked a Russian news crew during a crackdown on anti-racism protesters in the western U.S. city of Portland, Russian state-run television said Wednesday. Russia’s Channel One broadcaster said it believes federal agents ripped off its journalist’s helmet and knocked down its cameraman with a baton, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday. …

A Russian court has sentenced respected Gulag historian Yury Dmitriyev to three and a half years in prison on charges of sexual assault in a case his allies say was trumped up to silence him. Dmitriyev will be released in November as his time already served in pre-trial detention will count toward his sentence, his…

U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for a top arms control post in the State Department has said Russia should stop developing what he believes is a dangerous nuclear-powered cruise missile. The Burevestnik, which NATO designates as SSC-X-9 Skyfall, is believed to have exploded during secret rocket engine tests at sea in northern Russia last August,…

Moscow will subsidize holidays taken by Russian tourists who vacation at home instead of the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Wednesday. The push to boost domestic tourism comes after officials lifted most coronavirus restrictions in June. Yet Russians are still barred from holidaying abroad due to international travel controls imposed to slow the pandemic.…

Russia under President Vladimir Putin has grown increasingly intolerant of voices that challenge the conservative values championed by the Kremlin. Putin has also empowered the security forces to crack down on anyone perceived to be a threat, leading to a spike in treason and espionage cases. news What a Growing List of ‘Instructional’ Court Cases…

The new head of Russia’s Far Eastern Khabarovsk region has refused calls by protesters to step down less than 48 hours after he replaced a popular governor who was arrested on murder charges. President Vladimir Putin on Monday named Mikhail Degtyaryov, 39, the Khabarovsk region’s acting governor after the sudden arrest of Sergei Furgal, 50,…

Russia has confirmed 789,190 cases of coronavirus and 12,745 deaths. July 22: 3 things you need to know today Russia has come through the coronavirus pandemic with far fewer infections and deaths than many other European countries, President Vladimir Putin said Monday while visiting Moscow-annexed Crimea. The Russian military has said its experimental coronavirus vaccine which has not yet…

The last time Russia reported fewer than 6,000 cases was on April 29. The highest number of new cases were in Moscow, the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk and Sverdlovsk in the Urals. Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. Russian authorities began…

The Moscow metro plans to equip around 1,500 subway cars with facial recognition technology by the end of 2020, BBC Russia reported Tuesday. A public contract posted earlier in July states that the metro system will spend 1.4 billion rubles ($20 million) on the controversial cameras and software. The Moscow metro announced trials of facial…

Ukrainian police freed 13 hostages and arrested an armed man who held them on a bus for more than 12 hours on Tuesday, after the country’s president agreed to his demand to post a movie recommendation on social media. The SBU security service said a joint operation had resulted in all the hostages being released…