Day: December 29, 2020

Russian investigators Tuesday opened a criminal probe into Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, alleging he used more than 356 million rubles ($4.8 million) of donations to his organizations for personal purposes including holidays abroad. The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement that the money was part of more than 588 million rubles…

Argentina on Tuesday launched a Covid-19 vaccination campaign with the controversial Sputnik V shots developed by Russia, the government said. It is the first country in the Americas to use this vaccine against the pandemic. The vaccination drive began simultaneously around the country with frontline healthcare workers given priority, Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia said.…

Russia has labeled prominent women’s rights organization Nasiliyu.net (“No to Violence”) as a “foreign agent,” the Justice Ministry announced Tuesday.  The Justice Ministry’s addition of the NGO, which provides legal and psychological help to domestic violence victims, to the “foreign agent” registry comes amid fears of a renewed crackdown on critical voices ahead of Russia’s 2021…

Moscow on Tuesday expanded a list of German officials who are banned from entering Russia in response to EU sanctions that the bloc imposed over Russian cyber attacks on the German parliament. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that in response to “destructive” EU sanctions in October, “Moscow made a decision to expand the reciprocal list of German…

Russia and the United States have cut off an international cocaine smuggling chain and seized over 330 kilograms of the drug, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Tuesday, marking a rare joint law enforcement effort between the two countries. A multi-stage investigation by the FSB and the U.S. Justice Department disrupted “a transnational criminal community…

A Russian court on Tuesday handed a 15-year prison sentence to a former manager of an energy company for spying for Moldova, the latest in a string of high-profile espionage trials. Karina Tsurkan, a former board member of the Inter RAO energy group, was detained in 2018 on suspicion of handing classified information to Moldovan…

Russia experienced a multitude of environmental disasters in 2020 — both sudden, manmade catastrophes as well as those stemming from the mounting long-term effects of climate change.  From forest fires larger than some European countries to historic oil spills, these disasters have brought renewed attention and concern toward the ecosystems of the world’s largest country. …

A medical clinic in Moscow plans to be the first to bring two leading western-developed coronavirus vaccines to Russia, the clinic’s head told Forbes Russia on Tuesday. The Hadassah Clinic is working to bring the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to Russia as soon as it becomes possible, its head Evgeny Tugolukov said. The clinic belongs…

Belarus on Tuesday began a vaccination drive against coronavirus using the Sputnik V jab, becoming the first country outside Russia to use the vaccine developed by Moscow. Belarus, with a population of around 9.5 million people, has registered more than 188,000 cases of coronavirus infections and nearly 1,400 deaths. “Today the first vaccine shipment has arrived in…

Russian law enforcement officers have detained an excommunicated priest at the women’s monastery he seized near the city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of encouraging minors to “die for Russia,” the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday. Father Sergei Romanov has been charged with persuading minors to commit suicide, criminal charges that carry a maximum prison sentence…

Hungary said it received 6,000 doses of Russia’s controversial coronavirus vaccine on Monday, in a new display of Budapest’s maverick vaccine policy. “6,000 doses of Russian vaccine crossed Hungary’s border with Slovakia,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a Facebook video message. The consignment was taken to Budapest for a decision by Hungarian experts on…