Day: December 9, 2020

The trial of two Russian men, accused of launching a savage attack on an English football supporter during Euro 2016 that left him in a wheelchair, continued Wednesday with the defense presenting video evidence.  Pavel Kossov and Mikhail Ivkine, both 34, are accused of beating 55-year-old Andrew Bache, who suffered brain injuries in the violence…

The Kremlin on Wednesday sounded the alarm over the theft of sensitive equipment from a secretive “doomsday plane” designed for the country’s top command in event of a nuclear attack. The Interior Ministry said police in the southern city of Taganrog had been alerted that 1 million rubles ($13,600) worth of equipment was stolen from an…

Russia has denied a Turkish newspaper report that Turkey won’t purchase Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Russia’s state-run TASS news agency on Wednesday cited Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca telling the Habertürk newspaper that the vaccine had failed to obtain a license in Turkey. TASS later quoted a source in the Russian Direct Investment Fund as…

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on Iran to show “maximum responsibility” in preserving a 2015 major nuclear deal with global powers. Earlier this week Iran announced that it intends to install advanced centrifuges in its main nuclear enrichment plant in Natanz, raising concerns from the governments of France, Germany and the UK. The European…

The Russian space agency said on Wednesday it planned to offer the Sputnik coronavirus vaccine to cosmonauts but insisted that the vaccination would be done on a voluntary basis. Last week Russia launched its mass vaccination program using Sputnik V, which has been named after a Soviet-era satellite. Developers say it is 95 percent effective based on…

The Russian-language version of Google posted its end-of-year video summarizing its top searches and main events in 2020. Spoiler alert: it’s as depressing as you think.  The search engine’s annual tradition took a dark turn this year with the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Arctic fuel spill in Norilsk, mass death of sea…

Russia has signed an agreement with Sudan to build a naval base on the country’s Red Sea coast, in Moscow’s latest push into Africa as it seeks to renew its geopolitical clout. The deal, published on the Russian government’s website Tuesday, will see Moscow establish a “logistical support center” in Port Sudan where “repairs and resupply…

Police in France have taken into custody five Chechens suspected of having been in contact with the Chechen refugee who beheaded a history teacher this fall, the French press reported Tuesday. At least 14 people are being prosecuted in connection with Samuel Paty’s killing, with five of them indicted for pointing out him out to 18-year-old…

Lawmakers in Russia’s lower house of parliament have voted to approve legislation that would give former presidents lifetime immunity from prosecution.  The proposal is a part of a larger set of constitutional reforms announced by President Vladimir Putin which Russians approved in a nationwide vote this summer. Those reforms also include a provision that would…

Russia has announced a ban on imports of tomatoes from Azerbaijan beginning Thursday, in a damaging move for a key export that analysts tied to fallout from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor on Tuesday announced the embargo beginning December 10 to protect against harmful substances detected in several recent shipments. It said the ban…

A Russian national’s arrest on suspicion of espionage in Denmark is a mistake, Russia’s Embassy in Copenhagen told Interfax on Wednesday. The unnamed Russian citizen is suspected of providing information about Danish energy technology to Russia’s intelligence service, Reuters quoted Danish public prosecutors earlier in the day. “The Russian Embassy in Denmark considers the arrest…

Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the last Defense Minister of the Soviet Union and a Marshal of Aviation, has died at age 78, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday.  The state-run TASS news agency reported, citing unnamed medical sources, that Shaposhnikov had died as a result of Covid-19. According to the Mash Telegram channel, Shaposhnikov was…

A dozen dead endangered seals have been found washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea in southern Russia. Footage shared from the republic of Dagestan last week showed Caspian seal carcasses lying motionless on the beach. Rescuer Ziyavdin Nikamogamedov said he had encountered at least 17 dead mammals in the dirty waters following…

Russia’s Yandex has started using its self-driving robot to deliver fast food orders, the company announced Wednesday. The small six-wheeled autonomous robot — dubbed Yandex Rover — has started delivering orders from Yandex’s food delivery service, Yandex Eats, to customers in one of Moscow’s central business districts.  Just like a human courier, after an order…

Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine only requires patients to avoid drinking alcohol for six days, not 42 as previously recommended, its developer said Wednesday. Health officials overseeing Russia’s Covid-19 response urged Sputnik V recipients earlier to abstain from alcohol for nearly two months while taking the two-shot vaccine. Alexander Gintsburg, who heads the state-run Gamaleya…

The Kremlin has spoken out against attempts to justify the beheading of a French teacher by a Chechen refugee following a Chechen state television segment that cast the killer in a sympathetic light. Abdulakh Anzorov, 18, was shot dead by French police on Oct. 16 after decapitating history teacher Samuel Paty, who had displayed Prophet…

Record-setting wildfires in far northeastern Russia in 2020 are linked to extreme weather changes in the warming Arctic, a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Tuesday. Uncontrolled forest fires within the Arctic Circle have set records this year for both their cumulative number and the amount of CO2 emissions. The extent of…