Year: 2020

President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday that Russia had not yet reached the peak of coronavirus infections but said a “phased exit” from the country’s lockdown measures could begin in two weeks. With the number of cases rising by several thousand daily, Putin extended a non-working period across the country until May 11, telling officials to plan for…

A Prague official has alleged that there was a Russian plot to “liquidate” him and two other Czech politicians, all of whom have clashed with the Kremlin over controversial Soviet memorials in the city. Prague district 6 mayor Ondrej Kolar told Czech media late Tuesday that he was being kept at an undisclosed location after…

Russian opposition activists avoided lockdown measures by holding an online protest on Tuesday against President Vladimir Putin’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Speakers also criticized Putin’s proposed constitutional changes that allow him to extend his stay in office. But the YouTube feed experienced serious technical problems, making the speeches initially inaudible and the number of viewers…

Russians’ trust in President Vladimir Putin has fallen to a 14-year low, the state-funded VTsIOM polling agency said Monday.  The latest poll results come as Russian authorities — and Putin in particular — have faced criticism for their response to the coronavirus pandemic, which many see as providing insufficient support to businesses and workers. Before…

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday extended the national “non-working” month through May 11, warning that Russia has yet to see the peak of its coronavirus outbreak. Russia now ranks eighth in the world for coronavirus infections, with 93,558 confirmed Covid-19 cases as of Tuesday. Putin originally declared a “non-working” week late in March, then extended…

Federal Security Service (FSB) Col. Gen. Andrei Burlaka is believed to be the highest-ranking Russian official linked to the investigation into the downing of Flight MH17, according to a joint investigation by the investigative outlet Bellingcat and Russia’s The Insider news website published Tuesday. Dutch-led investigators have so far named four pro-Russian separatists as suspects…

Gas workers in Russia’s Far East staged a mass rally to demand better working conditions and more transparency amid a reported coronavirus outbreak at their gas field, local media reported Tuesday. Footage from the Gazprom energy giant’s Chayanda field, which supplies China with natural gas through the recently launched Power of Siberia pipeline, showed laborers…

A Russian football player for FC Krylia Sovetov in the city of Samara faces punishment from his team after he harshly criticizied President Vladimir Putin and other Russian authorities over their response to the coronavirus pandemic. Goalkeeper Yevgeny Frolov, 32, made the comments in a Sunday interview with sports journalist Sergei Yegorov. He described the…

Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar said Monday he had “a popular mandate” to govern the country, declaring a key 2015 political deal over and vowing to press his assault to seize Tripoli, drawing concerned reactions from Moscow. Russia has been accused of propping up Haftar’s forces in their offensive against Libya’s UN-backed government with the use…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 211,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 93,558 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 867 deaths. MT The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia as of April…

A second Russian doctor has fallen from a hospital building in a week as the country’s health system continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, with authorities ruling her death a tragic accident. Natalia Lebedeva, the chief EMS officer at a cosmonaut training center outside Moscow, plunged to her death Friday from the window of…

The majority of Russia’s cases are in Moscow, although Covid-19 patients have been confirmed in every one of Russia’s 85 regions and the spread is accelerating outside the capital. Since March 30, all of Moscow’s 12 million residents have been ordered to stay in their homes with few exceptions. City officials have warned the capital…

The Russian economy has been rocked by the coronavirus outbreak, and fears the fresh OPEC+ oil production pact between Russia and Saudi Arabia will not be enough to address a historic fall in demand. The turmoil has shocked traders around the world and resulted in sharp volatility on the Russian stock markets and swings in…

A region in northern Russia will create an interactive map of confirmed coronavirus patients’ addresses for residents to avoid, its governor said Monday. Russian coronavirus patients have previously reported being targeted with online bullying, threats and intimidation as well as leaks of their personal data. “I issued instructions to make an online map of all…

Six-time short-track Olympic champion Viktor Ahn announced Monday he is retiring due to repeated injuries.  Ahn, 34, was born in South Korea but became a naturalized Russian before the 2014 Sochi Olympics where he won three gold medals.  In a letter published by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, he said permanent knee pain and…

The mayor of Prague has said he is under heightened police protection the day after Czech media reported on an alleged Russian plot to poison him. Zdenek Hrib confirmed the news in a Monday interview with the independent Ekho Moskvy radio station. On Sunday, the Czech news website Respekt, citing anonymous intelligence sources, reported that an individual…

Russian doctors mistrustful of official coronavirus data have launched an unofficial list of their colleagues who have died from the virus. The news comes as a growing number of hospitals across Russia have reported Covid-19 outbreaks among doctors and patients in recent weeks.  At least 69 Russian doctors have died from coronavirus-related complications as of…

Russian and Belarussian doctors mistrustful of official coronavirus data have launched an unofficial list of their colleagues who have died from the virus. The news comes as a growing number of hospitals across Russia have reported Covid-19 outbreaks among doctors and patients in recent weeks.  At least 69 doctors in the two countries have died…

President Vladimir Putin’s “business tsar” has called for the government to end the economic lockdown and reopen the economy. Boris Titov, the president’s business ombudsman, announced Monday he will organize an online protest Friday calling for businesses to be reopened, as frustration at the government’s economic response to the coronavirus grows throughout Russia’s business community.…

Nurses have quit en masse from Russia’s top coronavirus hospital in Moscow over poor working conditions and low wages, the investigative news website Open Media reported Monday. A former nurse who said she quit the Kommunarka hospital after almost two months told the outlet that more than a dozen nursing staff had left in that…

Russian paratroopers in the Arctic have carried out a test landing from an altitude of 10,000 meters in what officials say is a historic exercise. “Today, for the first time in world history, we conducted a group landing of personnel with special parachute systems in Arctic conditions from a height of 10,000 meters using oxygen…

Russia re-entered the world’s top five defense spending nations in 2019 after briefly falling to sixth place the previous year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)’s latest annual report published Monday. Global defense spending saw its highest one-year increase since 2010 last year, rising by 3.6% to  $1.917 trillion, the Swedish think…

President Vladimir Putin is not waiting out the coronavirus pandemic in a bunker, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. Putin began working remotely at the start of April, a week after visiting Russia’s main coronavirus hospital in Moscow whose chief doctor tested positive for the deadly virus soon after the president’s visit. “There are always…

Russia will begin drawing up lockdown exit plans to switch the economy back on, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Monday. In a meeting with ministers, Mishustin ordered various government departments to start working out how businesses could get back to work once the coronavirus pandemic becomes less severe, news site RBC reported. “As the situation…

The head of a Siberian hospital repurposed for coronavirus patients is in critical condition after she fell from the hospital building following a conference call with health officials, local media reported Saturday. Yelena Nepomnyashchaya, 47, fell from a fifth-floor window of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Hospital for War Veterans after talks with the head of the…

A Russian Orthodox Church official has urged women not to reprimand their husbands during coronavirus lockdown in order to avoid domestic conflict — and to punish themselves if they do. Bishop Panteleimon’s remarks come three years after Russia scrapped criminal punishments for first-time domestic abuse offenses and as the coronavirus pandemic has stalled efforts to…

A prisoner in penal colony no. 1 in the city of Yaroslavl has less than three months left of his three-year sentence for drug possession. But with the coronavirus raging around Russia, July 15 feels like an eternity away.  “It’s impossible to keep any sort of distance from each other here,” he said. “The guards…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 206,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 87,147 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 794 deaths. MT The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia as of April…

The majority of Russia’s cases are in Moscow, although Covid-19 patients have been confirmed in every one of Russia’s 85 regions and the spread is accelerating outside the capital. Since March 30, all of Moscow’s 12 million residents have been ordered to stay in their homes with few exceptions. City officials have warned the capital…

The Russian economy has been rocked by the coronavirus outbreak, and fears the fresh OPEC+ oil production pact between Russia and Saudi Arabia will not be enough to address a historic fall in demand. The turmoil has shocked traders around the world and resulted in sharp volatility on the Russian stock markets and swings in…

The majority of Russia’s cases are in Moscow, although Covid-19 patients have been confirmed in every one of Russia’s 85 regions and the spread is accelerating outside the capital. Since March 30, all of Moscow’s 12 million residents have been ordered to stay in their homes with few exceptions. Moscow Deputy mayor Anastasia Rakova has…

As Belarus resists imposing a lockdown to combat the coronavirus, its football league has stumbled into the international limelight as Europe’s only remaining top-flight competition. But players are worried about the health risks and only diehard fans are braving matches. FC Slutsk fan Yahor Khavanski, 26, is “a bit afraid” but could not imagine quitting…

As Belarus resists imposing a lockdown to combat the coronavirus, its football league has stumbled into the international limelight as Europe’s only remaining top-flight competition. But players are worried about the health risks and only diehard fans are braving matches. FC Slutsk fan Yahor Khavanski, 26, is “a bit afraid” but could not imagine quitting…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 200,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 80,949 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 747 deaths. MT The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia as of April…

Russia and the United States on Saturday commemorated a historic meeting of U.S. and Soviet forces during World War II as an example of how their countries can “build trust and cooperate.”  The meeting of Soviet and American forces at the Elbe river in Germany on April 25, 1945 is seen as a milestone in…

At the end of March, the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced a week-long paid holiday to keep Russians at home and slow the spread of the coronavirus, he and a few advisors explained to a handful of business owners how the government was going to help them foot the bill.  The curiously-named…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 190,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 68,622 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 615 deaths. MT The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia as of April…

The walls of Russia’s new Orthodox cathedral dedicated to the Armed Forces will be decorated with the faces of President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the MBKh News website reported Friday. The 95-meter Armed Forces cathedral, a symbol of close defense-church ties in Russia, is expected to open on…

Former Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili said on Friday that he wants to help steer Ukraine through an economic crisis as the new deputy prime minister. His plans sparked controversy both in Kiev and his native Georgia. President Volodimir Zelensky, who has vowed to secure Western investment and rid the country of corruption, has proposed appointing…

Russia’s Federal Tourist Agency (Rostourism) wants to help the industry recover from the coronavirus crisis by relaxing visa rules after the country reopens its borders, the RBC news website reported Friday. Russia grounded international flights, except those that return its nationals from abroad; closed border crossings; and suspended issuing visas and e-visas last month as…

President Vladimir Putin’s rumored spiritual adviser, Father Tikhon Shevkunov, has denied testing positive for coronavirus, the MBKh Media news website reported Friday. Earlier in the day, the outlet cited religious scholar Sergei Chapnin as saying that Father Tikhon, 61, had allegedly been suffering from Covid-19 for several days. Father Tikhon’s association with Putin has been…

Russia’s Central Bank has cut interest rates to their lowest levels since 2012, and warned the Russian economy could shrink by 6% this year. The decision — widely expected by the markets — to cut the key interest rate to 5.5% from 6% is the first shift in monetary policy from governor Elvira Nabiullina since…

Libya’s UN-backed government has accused Kremlin-linked private military contractors for an alleged chemical attack in southern Tripoli, according to Arab and Turkish media. Interior minister Fathi Bashaga’s charges turn the spotlight back on Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, who are reported to be unofficially helping eastern commander Khalifa Haftar’s year-long offensive to seize the Libyan capital. The…

Russia’s healthcare system is under considerable strain from the country’s coronavirus outbreak, which officials warn is still weeks away from its peak. As of Friday, Russia had officially recorded 68,622 cases, the 10th-most in the world, and 615 deaths. Here’s a brief overview of how Russia’s medical system — with its sharp regional disparities in…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 190,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 68,622 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 615 deaths. MT The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia as of April…

Russia’s officially reported numbers — which are still relatively lower than those in European countries — have sparked suspicion. Experts warn that Russia’s testing capacity is hampered by bureaucracy, while officials warn that the real number of cases is likely much higher. The majority of Russia’s cases are in Moscow. Since March 30, all of…