Month: August 2020

The White House on Monday urged Russia to “respect” sovereignty and democracy in neighboring Belarus where strongman President Alexander Lukashenko faces mass demonstrations calling for new elections. “Russia must also respect Belarus’ sovereignty and the right of its own people to elect their own leaders freely and fairly,” President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, told reporters. Lukashenko…

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Monday blacklisted embattled Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and 29 other high-ranking officials over alleged election fraud and a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. The Baltic EU members announced their sanctions in a coordinated effort to support the protests in Belarus, which are now entering a fourth week since the country’s disputed…

Bailiffs on Monday seized $460,000 from bank accounts belonging to Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol, she said, nearly a year after a court-ordered damages from her and opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Sobol is a lawyer for the Anti-Corruption Foundation set up by Navalny, who is in a coma with suspected poisoning in hospital in Germany.…

Wildfires in the Arctic have emitted more carbon dioxide so far in 2020 than in all of 2019, according to European atmospheric composition data cited by The Guardian newspaper on Monday. As much as 245 megatons of CO2 have been released from Arctic wildfires up to Aug. 24 this year, compared with 181 megatons in…

Belarus has no need for Russia’s troops for the time being, the Kremlin said Monday after President Vladimir Putin announced the creation of a Russian “reserve” ready for deployment in case of mass unrest in the neighboring state. “The use of this reserve is out of the question at the moment,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov…

The Indian military has said it will not participate in Russia’s multinational exercises next month amid border standoffs with China and Pakistan. India has informed Russia that it will not be sending a contingent for the Kavkaz-2020 (Caucasus-2020) exercises, its Defense Ministry spokesperson said via Twitter on Saturday. India was one of several countries due…

Russia said on Monday it was expelling three diplomats from the Slovak embassy in Moscow in a tit-for-tat move after Bratislava forced out three Russians amid a growing diplomatic spat with Europe. “The Russian side, guided by the principle of reciprocity, decided to expel… three diplomatic staff of the Slovak Embassy in Moscow,” the Russian foreign…

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday discussed plans for a referendum on constitutional reforms as discontent with his 26-year rule has fuelled huge protests. The 66-year-old is facing his greatest challenge yet following three weekends of giant protests in Minsk over a disputed August 9 presidential poll where he claimed victory over a popular opposition…

Russia plans to begin the first mass deliveries of its coronavirus vaccine in September, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Monday. Russia has registered the Sputnik V adenoviral vector-based vaccine and is touting it as the world’s first despite it not having undergone large-scale trials to prove its safety and effectiveness. Russia is one of several…

Germany on Monday urged Moscow to step up its efforts to investigate the apparent poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny who is currently being treated at a Berlin hospital in a coma. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a special address to French ambassadors in Paris that Europe needed “constructive” relations with Russia for the…

Prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny had “alarming” hypothermia while he was undergoing treatment in Siberia, according to the NGO that organized his evacuation to Germany. Navalny, 44, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin and the de facto leader of Russia’s opposition, remains in a coma after falling suddenly ill on a flight to Moscow…

A senior French military officer stationed at a NATO base has been indicted and jailed on suspicion of spying for Russia, local media and sources said on Sunday. The French army officer was stationed abroad, a judicial source said confirming details from Europe 1 radio. According to the report, the soldier was stationed on a…

Russia has confirmed 990,326 cases of coronavirus and 17,093 deaths. Aug. 30: What you need to know today The head of a remote Siberian region has contracted the coronavirus a second time in what may be Russia’s first documented case of reinfection.  President Vladimir Putin has promised Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko the first export batch of Russia’s candidate…

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters marched through the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Sunday calling for an end to strongman Alexander Lukashenko’s rule, despite heavily armed police and troops blocking streets and detaining dozens of demonstrators. Protests have now entered a third week since the disputed presidential election on August 9 in which Lukashenko…

Belarusian authorities on Saturday withdrew the accreditation of journalists working for several foreign media, including AFP, ahead of the latest demonstration challenging the results of the presidential election. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, is facing unprecedented protests since the disputed August 9 election in which he claimed a landslide…

Russia has confirmed 985,346 cases of coronavirus and 17,025 deaths. Aug. 29: What you need to know today The head of a remote Siberian region has contracted the coronavirus a second time in what may be Russia’s first documented case of reinfection.  President Vladimir Putin has promised Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko the first export batch of Russia’s candidate…

Authorities in Russia’s Far East have opened a criminal case against a local teen over a TikTok video that shows him lighting a cigarette with a candle inside a church, a move they qualified as a violation of Russia’s law against insulting religious feelings. Investigators in the Zabaikalsky region said Friday that the unnamed 18-year-old…

Prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny remains in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator more than a week after falling ill from an apparent poisoning but his symptoms appear to be receding, his spokeswoman said Friday as doctors race to identify the substance with which he may have been poisoned. Navalny, 44, has been…

The outspoken head of Russia’s Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) Yury Ganus was fired from his position on Friday after accusing the country’s sporting leadership of failing to fight widespread drug use. The decision to remove the director general “was taken unanimously,” the president of Russia’s Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov said at a press conference, according to…

Russian and Belarusian recon troops conducted joint assault exercises Thursday, the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the formation of a “law enforcement reserve” standing by in case anti-government protests escalate in Belarus. The exercises are part of the 10-day international army games that Belarus hosts at an army base in Brest on the…

The website editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine has resigned after his publication deleted an article about the daughter of a state development corporation head receiving student financial aid despite not qualifying for it. Forbes reported earlier this week that Anastasia Shuvalova, the daughter of VEB.RF chairman Igor Shuvalov, was accepted into Moscow…

The Kremlin on Friday hailed Shinzo Abe’s contribution to bilateral ties between Moscow and Tokyo after the Japanese Prime Minister announced his resignation for health reasons. Russia’s relationship with Japan has been overshadowed by a decades-long territorial dispute over Tokyo’s claim to a chain of islands seized by the Soviet Union in the final days…

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday said it had expelled a senior Norwegian diplomat in retaliation after Oslo expelled a Russian diplomat following the arrest of a suspected spy. The Russian ministry said that “as a retaliatory measure” a senior diplomat at the Norwegian embassy was declared persona non grata and must leave within three…

Authorities in Belarus detained at least 260 protesters and 17 journalists Thursday evening, human rights activists said as opposition rallies continued more than two weeks after the country’s disputed election. Belarusians have taken to the streets every day since the Aug. 9 vote in which President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory. The days immediately…

A Russian nuclear submarine has surfaced near Alaska during navy exercises, spooking American commercial fishing vessels in the area, the U.S. military said early Friday. Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Thursday that its nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine Omsk and missile cruiser Varyag fired at targets in the Bering Sea as part of its “Ocean Shield 2020”…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. Russian authorities began easing anti-virus measures in June ahead of a massive World War II military parade in Moscow and a nationwide vote on…

Russian prosecutors have asked their German colleagues to provide their evidence that allowed doctors in Berlin to diagnose prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with poisoning. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement Thursday that Russia had opened a preliminary inquiry on the day of Navalny’s sudden illness last week. The de facto Russian…

The detention of 33 Russians described as members of the Wagner mercenary group on the eve of a disputed presidential election in Belarus was a joint U.S.-Ukrainian operation, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Belarus has accused the men of seeking to destabilize the country by colluding with opposition leaders to orchestrate mass disorder. Belarus returned…

While Russia’s most prominent opposition politician Alexei Navalny lies in a coma in a Berlin hospital after suffering an apparent poisoning last week, the pressure on his activities continues back home.  On Wednesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a catering magnate nicknamed “Putin’s chef,” bought the 88 million rubles ($1.2 million) in debt Navalny, his ally Lyubov Sobol…

President Vladimir Putin has formed a reserve of Russian law enforcement officers standing by to be sent to Belarus, he said in a new interview that aired Thursday. Putin said he created the reserve at the request of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who faces mass demonstrations in his country weeks after a disputed election he claims…

Police in Siberia said Thursday they have launched a preliminary inquiry into the suspected poisoning of prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny last week. The Siberian transport police said it inspected Navalny’s hotel room, inspected security footage and scouted out his entire itinerary while he was in the city of Tomsk. They also seized more than…

President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has jumped to one of its highest levels since the start of the year as Russia continues its steady recovery from the coronavirus outbreak, the independent Levada Center polling agency said Wednesday. At 66% in August, Putin’s approval rating went up by six percentage points in a month and almost…

Alexei Navalny’s doctors in Germany have made contact with Bulgarian colleagues on suspicion that the prominent Kremlin critic may have been poisoned with a similar substance as a local arms dealer in 2015, the Der Spiegel news magazine reported. Doctors at Berlin’s Charité hospital said they believe Navalny was poisoned with an unknown substance belonging…

Russia on Thursday blamed the United States for a tense confrontation in Syria in which Russian military vehicles and helicopters surrounded U.S. armored vehicles, leaving U.S. troops injured. The White House National Security Council (NSC) said in a statement that a Russian vehicle struck a U.S. mine-resistant all-terrain vehicle, “causing injuries to the vehicle’s crew.”…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. Russian authorities began easing anti-virus measures in June ahead of a massive World War II military parade in Moscow and a nationwide vote on…

A resident of Siberia has unearthed an ancient grave that could be part of a burial ground dating back 7,000 years, Russia’s Academy of Sciences (RAS) said Wednesday. The unnamed man stumbled on the finding in May while digging his garden on the outskirts of Ulan-Ude, the capital of Russia’s republic of Buryatia some 5,600…

Thirty babies born to surrogate mothers are stranded in St. Petersburg, an official said on Wednesday, with foreign parents unable to travel to Russia’s second city due to coronavirus restrictions. The children’s rights ombudswoman in the city Anna Mitianina said on her website that the authorities had received calls from several medical facilities caring for children…

Russia has confirmed 970,865 cases of coronavirus and 16,683 deaths. Aug. 26: What you need to know today The head of a remote Siberian region has contracted the coronavirus a second time in what may be Russia’s first documented case of reinfection.  President Vladimir Putin has promised Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko the first export batch of Russia’s candidate coronavirus…

The head of a remote Siberian region has contracted the coronavirus a second time in what may be Russia’s first documented case of reinfection.  Sholban Kara-Ool, the governor of the republic of Tyva on the Mongolian border, was admitted to the hospital again this week three months after his first hospitalization. He said doctors diagnosed…

Belarusian Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich said Wednesday she refused to answer investigators’ questions after she was summoned as a witness in a criminal probe into the opposition. Opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko formed a Coordination Council to oversee a peaceful transition of power after they rejected his claim to have won a sixth term…

Russia’s per-capita pollution emissions hit 155 kilograms in 2019 due to transportation and industrial activity, according to an analysis cited by the RBC news website Wednesday. In total, the two sources of emissions released 22.7 million tons of pollutants into the atmosphere last year, RBC cited the Finexpertiza consulting firm as saying. Transportation including personal…

More than 20 countries have made requests to purchase over 1 billion doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus candidate vaccine despite safety concerns, according to Russia’s sovereign wealth fund which is bankrolling the project. Presidents of several countries, including Moldova, Mexico, the Philippines and Serbia, have volunteered to receive the shots themselves. Here’s a look…

Sweden has strengthened its military presence in the Baltic Sea, marking an unprecedented show of force directed at Russia over Moscow’s maneuvers in the region. Sweden said Tuesday that it lifted its military readiness for the first time since 1991 in reaction to levels of Russian and Western activity not seen in the Baltic Sea since…

The Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has vowed to ruin Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in a coma in a Berlin hospital, with a court-ordered penalty of around $1.2 million. Prigozhin is nicknamed “President Vladimir Putin’s chef” because his company Concord has done catering for the Kremlin. Media reports have said he funds Wagner,…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. Russian authorities began easing anti-virus measures in June ahead of a massive World War II military parade in Moscow and a nationwide vote on…

A top Russian lawmaker has ordered a probe into whether prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s suspected poisoning was a “provocation” by foreign countries aimed at fueling tensions inside Russia. State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said Monday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s statements urging investigations into the apparent poisoning…

Moscow’s trolleybuses, a staple of city-dwellers’ commutes for nearly a century, have taken their final journey into the sunset. The Russian capital announced Tuesday that it will be retiring all its trolleybuses and replacing them with regular buses and electric buses. “The decision to gradually abandon the trolleybus service was not easy for us, but…

Mammoth remains have been accidentally discovered near the Arctic Circle in Russia, the latest surprise archaeological find as climate change accelerates permafrost melt and exposes the long-buried skeletons of ancient animals. Gazprom Neft workers stumbled upon the elephant-sized animal’s skull and tusk earlier in August while working at its northernmost oil field on the remote…

It’s a long way to Tipperary from Belarus for opposition leader Svetlana Tikhonavskaya, who cultivated an independent streak and a flair for leadership during almost a decade of visits to rural Ireland. Tikhonavskaya, 37, was one of the “Chernobyl children,” whose health was directly or indirectly affected by the radioactive fallout of the 1986 nuclear disaster in neighboring Ukraine. She was…

Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told the EU parliament on Tuesday that a “peaceful revolution” was under way in Belarus after huge protests broke out over disputed presidential elections. The strongman leader of ex-Soviet Belarus Alexander Lukashenko claimed a sixth term in Aug. 9 elections that sparked historic street rallies and a violent police crackdown…

Russia sees no grounds to launch a criminal investigation into the circumstances of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s sudden illness that German doctors attribute to poisoning, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Navalny’s allies have criticized the Russian authorities for failing to open criminal proceedings after the anti-corruption campaigner and de facto Russian opposition leader fell into a…