Author: admin
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Russia Sends Long-Awaited Food, Supplies to ISS Cosmonauts
Russia has launched a postponed cargo spacecraft carrying food and supplies to cosmonauts at the International Space Station who had been forced to rely on American colleagues for supplies. The Progress MS-16 freighter was due to send 2.5 tons of food, fuel and adhesives for air leak repairs to the ISS in December but was…
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In Photos: Love Is in the Air on Russian Valentine’s Day
Independent journalism isn’t dead. You can help keep it alive. The Moscow Times’ team of journalists has been first with the big stories on the coronavirus crisis in Russia since day one. Our exclusives and on-the-ground reporting are being read and shared by many high-profile journalists. We wouldn’t be able to produce this crucial journalism…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Feb. 15
Russia has confirmed 4,086,090 cases of coronavirus and 80,520 deaths. Feb. 15: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 14,207 new coronavirus cases and 394 deaths. Health workers in Bosnia received the first dose of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Reuters reported Friday. Montenegro, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Kazakhstan have authorized Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine,…
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Musk Invites Putin to Clubhouse Chat
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Sunday invited President Vladimir Putin to a “conversation” on the popular invitation-only audio chat app Clubhouse. “Would you like to join me for a conversation on Clubhouse?” Musk tweeted at Putin’s official Twitter account. In a Russian-language follow-up, Musk said “it would be a great honor to speak…
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Igor Sechin Reports to President of Russia on Company’s Performance in 2020
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has held a working meeting with Rosneft Oil Company Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin
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Russian Women Form Human Chain Following Navalny Protest Crackdown
Hundreds of women formed a “chain of solidarity” in central Moscow Sunday to support jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia and female victims of political repression. The Valentine’s Day demonstration follows weeks of harsh police crackdowns at pro-Navalny protests and was inspired by last summer’s protests in neighboring Belarus, where women formed human chains…
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Putin Accuses West of Using Navalny to ‘Contain’ Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday accused the West of using jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny to try to “contain” Russia. “Our opponents or our potential opponents… have always relied on — and used — ambitious, power-hungry people,” Putin said in an interview with Russian media conducted on Wednesday but only broadcast on Sunday by…
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When Andy Warhol Came to Moscow
In 2020 and 2021, Moscow held its first truly comprehensive exhibition of works by Andy Warhol, the king of American pop-art. Paradoxically, the most comprehensive exhibition of the most famous 20th century, tradition-challenging American artist was held in Moscow at the time of the greatest decline in Russian-American relations. The exhibition, entitled “I, Andy Warhol”…
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Vinegret: The Spicy Language of Love for Valentine’s Day
Okay, bear with me on this one. I’m making vinegret for Valentine’s Day. I’ve been so busy, with no time to bake something gooey, chocolate, and heart shaped. I can’t stop to schlep to the fishmongers for oysters. I opened the fridge and was disappointed but not surprised to discover that we were fresh out…
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Russia Gives Serbia Green Light to Manufacture Sputnik V Vaccine
Russia has given preliminary approval for its Covid-19 Sputnik V vaccine to be manufactured in Serbia, a minister said on Friday. “The first phase of the production of Russia’s vaccine Sputnik V on Serbia’s territory has been preliminarily approved,” Serbia’s minister for innovations Nenad Popovic said in a statement. The announcement was made after a…
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ROSATOM started manufacturing equipment for Xudapu NPP (China)
Volgodonsk branch of AEM-technology (a part of ROSATOM machine-building division) have started manufacturing essential equipment for Xudapu NPP Unit 3. AEM-technology will manufacture and deliver two Generation III+ VVER-1200 reactor facilities, two sets of steam generators, reactor coolant pump set, main circulation piping bodies and two pressurizers. The total weight of the items will…
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Rostechnadzor issued the license to build BREST-OD-300 reactor
The Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service (Rostechnadzor) gave JSC SCC the license for building of the world’s first pilot demonstration power unit with a lead-cooled fast neutron reactor BREST-OD-300 which uses mixed uranium-plutonium nitride fuel and integrated design. The license was signed by Head of Rostechnadzor Aleksei Aleshin on February 10. “First of…
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Issues of cooperation with Republic of Belarus reviewed
February 12, 2021, 16:18 A working meeting between Alexey Miller Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Vladimir Semashko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation, took place today in St. Petersburg. It was noted at the meeting that Gazprom, as usual, is reliably providing Belarusian consumers with the required amounts of gas amid peak winter demand. The parties discussed issues of cooperation…
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Iranian Speaker’s Moscow Visit Signals Closer Ties to Come, Experts Say
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bager Galibaf paid a visit to Russia this week, marking his first foreign trip since assuming the post in May of last year. Though the visit is unlikely to bring an immediate breakthrough despite Iran’s plans for fast-track membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), it will certainly make a long-term imprint…
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Russian-Born ‘Fake Heiress’ Anna Sorokin Released From U.S. Prison – Reports
A Russian-born socialite has been released from U.S. prison after completing a nearly four-year sentence for theft and larceny, the Insider reported Thursday. A New York City court in 2019 sentenced Anna Sorokin to at least four years in prison for posing as a German heiress named Anna Delvey and scamming banks and friends into…
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2 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed in Clashes with Separatists
The conflict was at the center of diplomatic spat the UN Thursday when Western countries claimed Russia was blocking efforts to bring about an end to the fighting. Kiev has repeatedly accused Moscow and the separatists of undermining a ceasefire that brought relative calm when it took effect in July last year. Ukraine’s defense ministry reported that…
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Russia Ready to Cut Ties With Europe – Foreign Minister
Russia is ready to cut ties with the European Union if it imposes further sanctions on the Russian economy, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday. The heated rhetoric comes 10 days before top EU diplomats are scheduled to discuss new travel bans and asset freezes on President Vladimir Putin’s allies in response to the jailing…
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Navalny Back in Moscow Court on Defamation Charges
Russia’s main Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was back in court Friday for allegedly defaming a World War II veteran, after being ordered to prison in another case that sparked global outrage and mass protests in his country. The hearing came a little over one week after the 44-year-old opposition leader, a persistent thorn in President…
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Russia’s Communists Are Split Over Support for Navalny
When Nikolai Bondarenko stepped outside his apartment building in the Volga River city of Saratov on the morning of Feb. 8, the police were waiting for him. The city council communist deputy and video blogger was arrested and fined 20,000 rubles ($270) for attending an unsanctioned protest in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.…
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Russian Jehovah’s Witness Handed Longest ‘Extremism’ Prison Sentence
A court in southern Russia has handed the country’s longest prison sentence yet to an elderly Jehovah’s Witness leader for organizing an “extremist” group, the religious organization said Wednesday. Authorities accused Alexander Ivshin, 63, of organizing the activities of a banned organization, including hosting Bible discussions with friends via video link, until his April 2020…
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Putin Open to Getting Coronavirus Vaccine in 2021 – Kommersant
President Vladimir Putin has floated the possibility of getting vaccinated against the coronavirus later in 2021, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, citing his closed-door meeting with journalists. Putin, 68, has held off on receiving Russia’s domestically manufactured Covid-19 vaccine despite touting it as the world’s “best” jab and boasting of its first-in-the-world approval. His…
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Russia to Pay Damages for 2012 Navalny Arrest
Russia has agreed to pay jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny damages for his 2012 detention during mass anti-government demonstrations that Europe’s human rights court ruled degrading, Interfax reported Thursday. Russia’s Justice Ministry said it will not appeal the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR) November ruling because the ruling did not hold that Navalny’s rights…
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Russia Warns Will Respond if EU Imposes New Sanctions
Russia said Thursday it would respond in kind if the EU imposes sanctions on Moscow over the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a crackdown on protests by his supporters. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell earlier this week said he would propose the bloc impose new sanctions on Russia, as he blasted the…
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Navalny, Kara-Murza Tailed by Same FSB Squad Before Alleged Poisonings — Investigation
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent Kremlin critic who survived two suspected poisonings, was likely tailed by the same chemical weapons squad that allegedly poisoned Alexei Navalny, the Bellingcat investigative outlet reported in a joint investigation with The Insider and Der Spiegel. Bellingcat analyzed travel data which showed that in both cases, in 2015 and 2017, Kara-Murza…
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Russian Authorities Warn Against Navalny Courtyard Protests
Law enforcement authorities warned Russians Thursday not to take part in Valentine’s Day courtyard protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny’s team has called on supporters to hold up their cellphone flashlights in their residential courtyards for short intervals to avoid the kind of crackdown that followed a wave of mass nationwide…
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Russian Opposition Finds Refuge in Bitcoin
As the value of Bitcoin soared this year, bringing cryptocurrencies back into the global spotlight, Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny saw his team’s crypto wallet fatten. Public blockchain data shows that a Bitcoin address tied to Navalny received 3.5 Bitcoin ($120,000) at the end of January as supporters rushed to donate to the Kremlin critic…
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‘The Treasure of William Brumfield’ Premieres in Moscow
On Sunday the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture in Moscow will host the premiere of a documentary film about one of the world’s foremost specialists in ancient Russian architecture, the American professor at Tulane University, William Craft Brumfield. The film, “The Treasure of William Brumfield,” was written and directed by Irma Komladze, a renowned photographer,…
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Ukraine Bans Coronavirus Vaccines From ‘Aggressor’ Russia
Ukraine has banned coronavirus vaccines produced in bitter rival Russia despite struggles to launch its vaccination campaign. A resolution passed by the government on Feb. 8 and posted on its website Wednesday banned the registration of vaccines from “aggressor states,” a designation Ukraine has applied to Russia since 2015. Ukraine’s pro-Western leadership has repeatedly rejected…
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Lifting Mask Mandates in Chechnya, Udmurtia ‘Premature,’ Health Expert Warns
Two Russian regions’ move to lift their face mask mandates is premature, a leading health expert told The Moscow Times on Thursday. Officials in the republic of Chechnya and the republic of Udmurtia on Wednesday announced that residents would no longer be required to wear face masks in public, becoming the first two regions of…
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Russian University Administrator Steps Down After Trick Pro-Putin Flashmob
A senior Russian university administrator has resigned after tricking students into filming a flashmob in support of President Vladimir Putin following mass nationwide protests that criticized his rule, local media reported Wednesday. The students were shocked to learn that their participation in a coordinated hand- and flag-waving performance for a state holiday had been repackaged…
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France Rejected Russia’s Request for Navalny Lab Results, Putin Tells Closed Meeting
France had allegedly rejected Russia’s offer to examine its scientists’ findings that opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned, President Vladimir Putin was reported to have said at a closed meeting Wednesday. Putin told chief editors of Russian news outlets that he had promised French President Emmanuel Macron that Moscow would “immediately” open a criminal investigation…
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In Russia’s Regions, Navalny Has Ignited Long-Simmering Discontent
Protests sparked by the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have spread beyond the traditional Russian activist hubs of Moscow and St. Petersburg as discontent with the authorities and frustration over low standards of living rise. Tens of thousands took to the streets in over 120 cities after the opposition leader was arrested on his…
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Russian Rapper Jailed for Navalny Protest ‘Profanity’
A St. Petersburg court has jailed Russian rapper Vyacheslav Mashnov, known as “Gnoyny” (“Rotten”), for using profanity at demonstrations in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Mashnov, who also goes by “Slava KPSS” (“Glory to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union”), was among the 1,500 people detained in Russia following Navalny’s Feb. 2…
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Russian Protesters Released From Custody Vow to Fight On
The time in prison has done little to quench Ruslan Krasnikov’s thirst for change at the helm of Russian government — and to fight for it through street protests. “The protests will continue. People have suffered injustice,” he said Wednesday outside a detention center where he had just spent 10 days in Russia’s second-largest city…
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Yulia Navalnaya Leaves Russia for Germany – Reports
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya has left Russia for Germany, Russian state-run news agency Interfax and German newspaper Der Spiegel reported Wednesday, both citing unnamed sources. Navalnaya flew to Frankfurt from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, Interfax cited its source as saying. Lawyers for both Navalny and Navalnaya told the state-run TASS news agency that they…
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Russia Fines Radio Free Europe $150K Under ‘Foreign Agent’ Law
Russia’s media watchdog said Wednesday it had fined the Russian-language service of U.S.-funded Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe nearly $150,000 over non-compliance with its controversial “foreign agent” law, in a penalty that could increase. Groups or individuals identified as “foreign agents” in Russia must disclose their sources of funding and label publications with the relevant tag…
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Russian Independent News Site Shuts Down After Editor’s Self-Immolation Death
An independent Russian news website has shut down four months after its editor died from setting herself on fire outside the city of Nizhny Novgorod’s police headquarters. Irina Slavina, editor-in-chief of Koza Press, died on Oct. 2, the day after security forces raided her home in search of evidence of her ties to the opposition.…
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Moscow Court Orders Psych Exam for Former U.S. Marine
A Russian court on Wednesday ordered a psychological examination of former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, who was convicted of assaulting a police officer in a case condemned by President Joe Biden’s administration. Reed, 29, was found guilty and sentenced to nine years behind bars in July last year for allegedly hitting a Moscow law enforcement…
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‘Snow Apocalypse’ Coming to Moscow Amid Decade-Low February Temps
A major winter storm is expected to descend on Moscow this week with massive snowdrifts and unusually cold air temperatures even by the Russian capital’s standards, forecasters said Wednesday. Snow is expected to blanket Moscow beginning Thursday afternoon and lasting into the weekend, Russian weather service chief Roman Vilfand told the state-run TASS news agency.…
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Visitors To Karabakh To Require Russian Permission
Visitors to Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh now have to get Russian permission ahead of time. The territory’s de facto ministry of foreign affairs announced new entry regulations for foreigners on Feb. 8, and one of the provisions was that Russian peacekeeping forces will examine applications “for security purposes” before they are approved. It’s not clear what prompted the new…
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Russia Eyes Measures to Tackle Migrant Labor Shortage
Russia said Wednesday it was looking to simplify entry requirements for migrant workers, to aid industries like construction and agriculture that are facing labor shortages due to the pandemic. Moscow announced border closures in spring last year to curb the spread of the coronavirus, prompting thousands of migrant workers, mostly from ex-Soviet countries in Central…
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Russia’s Excess Death Spike a ‘Harsh Reality’ of Coronavirus, Kremlin Says
Russia’s surge in deaths last year is the “harsh reality” of the global coronavirus pandemic, the Kremlin said Wednesday after official data showed a much higher Covid-19 death toll than initially reported. The state statistics service on Monday attributed 162,429 of deaths in 2020 to the coronavirus, three times more than the 57,555 deaths first…
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Despite Early Start, Russia Says Only 1.5% Population Vaccinated
Around 2.2 million Russians have been partially vaccinated against the coronavirus so far — or 1.5% of the country’s population — the lead scientist behind the development of Russia’s homemade Sputnik V vaccine said Wednesday. The progress update was announced by Denis Logunov, deputy director of research at the state-run Gamaleya Institute, at a meeting…
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Russia’s Virus Caseload Passes 4 Million
But Russia has come under fire for its official virus statistics and the government’s stated death toll of 78,134 in particular has been undermined by recent mortality data. Figures published by statistics agency Rosstat on Monday showed more than 162,000 virus-related deaths last year, more than double the number reported by the government’s task force so far.…
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Moscow Activists Plan ‘Chain of Solidarity’ for Yulia Navalnaya, Women ‘Political Prisoners’
Russian activists have announced a “Chain of Solidarity and Love” in central Moscow on Valentine’s Day in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia as well as Russian women prosecuted for political reasons. The event was inspired by last summer’s women-led actions in neighboring Belarus, where people formed long human chains to protest police…
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ROSATOM held a formal meeting “Science in the RTTN Complex Program”
On February 9, 2021, in Moscow a formal meeting “Science in the RTTN Complex Program” (“Development of Engineering, Technology and Research in the Use of Atomic Energy until 2024”) was held in the ROSATOM’s Headquarters. The meeting was dedicated to the Russian Science Day. Representatives of ROSATOM, NRC Kurchatov Institute, institutes of the Russian Academy…
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Moscow Coronavirus Patients Die After Oxygen Outage
Two coronavirus patients hospitalized outside Moscow have died following an oxygen outage in at least the fourth such incident in recent months, regional health officials confirmed to Russian media Wednesday. A malfunction is believed to have caused the oxygen supply interruption at the coronavirus wing of the hospital in the western Moscow region district of Odintsovo, emergency…
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Moscow Security Forces Raid Jehovah’s Witnesses
Security forces detained several Moscow-based Jehovah’s Witnesses during raids in connection with a new extremism investigation into the religious group’s members, authorities announced Wednesday. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said Federal Security Service (FSB) agents, National Guardsmen and police officers assisted in the raids at 16 addresses in and around Moscow. The investigative…
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Russia Places Top Navalny Aide on Interstate Wanted List
Russia has issued an interstate arrest warrant for Leonid Volkov, the regional network coordinator for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Interfax reported on Wednesday, citing the court press service. Volkov, who is currently based in Lithuania, faces criminal charges in Russia for allegedly inciting minors online to participate in unsanctioned protests last month. Several of…
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Russians’ Protest Expectations Hit 20-Year High, Willingness to Attend Falls – Poll
More Russians expect to see new protests than at any other point in the past 23 years while their own willingness to protest continues to decline, according to a survey by the independent Levada Center published Wednesday. The widening gap follows widespread footage of police violence against peaceful demonstrators at recent nationwide rallies in support…
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Syzran Refinery Wins “Leader of Environmental Protection in Russia – 2020” Contest
The Syzran Oil Refinery, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s refining complex, has been given the most significant award of the 16th Russian Contest “Leader of Environmental Protection in Russia – 2020” in the Best Environmental Policy in Refining nomination.
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Russia Snubs European Security Panel in 30-Year First
The Russian military has turned down an invitation to attend a European security seminar for the first time in 30 years amid deteriorating ties with the West, Moscow’s arms control delegation in Vienna said Tuesday. The delegation’s Twitter account said Russian Defense Ministry officials opted out of the European Security and Cooperation Organization’s (OSCE) Military…
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EU Will Propose ‘Concrete’ Sanctions Against Russia
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday he will propose the bloc’s 27 member states impose sanctions on Russia after Moscow rebuffed his attempts to renew a dialogue. “It will be for the member states to decide the next step, but yes this could include sanctions and I will put forward concrete proposals,” Borrell…
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Russia Brands Navalny Team ‘Traitors’ for EU Sanctions Push
Russia on Tuesday accused allies of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny of treasonous behavior for urging the EU to sanction members of President Vladimir Putin’s circle, including oligarchs and bankers. Navalny’s right-hand man piled fresh pressure on the Kremlin by calling on supporters to stage courtyard protests on Valentine’s Day this Sunday, lighting their phone…
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Russia Floats Pre-Emptive ‘Intimidation’ Strike to Counter U.S. Strategy
Russian military scientists have proposed a pre-emptive strike using manned and unmanned aircraft to counter the United States’ multidomain war-fighting strategy against adversaries, according to excerpts cited in an Armed Forces academic journal. The Russian Aerospace Force academics describe the Pentagon’s air, land, sea, cyber and space integration strategy to paralyze an enemy — known…
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PIK reactor is put into energy operation mode
On February 8, 2021, on the Day of Russian Science, PIK neutron reactor was put into power operation at the National Research Center Kurchatov Institute in St Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics (PNPI) with president of the Kurchatov Institute Mikhail Kovalchuk and ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev attending the launch. The unique features of neutron…
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Valentine’s Day at the Hyatt Regency
The romantic months of February and March begin with Valentine’s Day this coming Sunday (Feb. 14). Even though Russians traditionally celebrate men on Feb. 23 (Defender of the Homeland Day) and women on March 8 (International Women’s Day), they have happily joined their foreign friends and added this celebration of couples in honor of St.…
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In Photos: Record-Breaking Cold Grips Moscow
Much of Russia has been invaded by a blast of bitter winter weather this week — in the country’s northern regions, temperatures as low as minus 40 Celsius were recorded. Moscow, too, is experiencing some of the decade’s coldest weather, with temperatures plummeting to the low twenties. Here is a closer look at how Muscovites…
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Rosneft will report its Q4 and 12M 2020 IFRS financial results on Friday, February 12, 2021.
Rosneft will report its Q4 and 12M 2020 IFRS financial results on Friday, February 12, 2021.
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Navalny Allies Announce New Courtyard Protests
Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team has announced fresh protests for this Sunday, shifting their strategy from street demonstrations to neighborhood gatherings in an effort to avoid direct confrontations with riot police. Russian authorities clamped down on two weekend rallies held in Navalny’s support late last month. Videos showed riot police using force against those…