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As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

An elite Dutch military unit was on hair-trigger alert to deploy to separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine to secure the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash site until a last-minute stand-down order in 2014, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported Tuesday. The report comes one week ahead of the first hearing in a key trial of three Russian…

The Moscow metro has begun random checks of passengers’ temperatures at station entrances to check for the coronavirus, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Monday as he announced a slew of measures to prevent its spread.  Russia has reported a total of six coronavirus cases, among them two Chinese citizens who have since recovered. The latest patient,…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

A Russian man has been jailed for nine years for stabbing to death a popular Instagram influencer who modeled herself on Audrey Hepburn. A Moscow court on Monday convicted Maxim Gareyev for the murder of 25-year-old Yekaterina Karaglanova, a medical student whose naked body was found with more than 19 knife wounds in a suitcase…

Russian President Vladimir Putin mockingly suggested on Tuesday that participants in unsanctioned protests were welcome to go to prison and “get shaved.” In the latest in a series of interviews with state-run news agency TASS, Putin said opposition supporters who take part in unapproved rallies should expect to be given jail time. “If you have…

Russia’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Tuesday that authorities had frozen all of his bank accounts and those of his family, including his elderly parents. “All accounts have been blocked,” Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner who has emerged as President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, said on Twitter.  His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told AFP that…

The Russian Navy has dispatched a fourth warship to Syria’s Mediterranean coast as tensions over the northwestern province of Idlib spiral with Turkey, amateur ship spotters reported Monday. The large landing ship Novocherkassk was photographed crossing Turkey’s busy Bosphorus strait days after Russia sent two warships equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles toward the Syrian coast.…

The Russian police force’s official gazette has interviewed an expert who claims to be able to identify criminals based on their name, birth date and other traits.  Psychologist Boris Khigir claims his method, which he says is based on personal observations and statistics, has an 80% accuracy rate. Critics have questioned the reliability of criminal…

Little Big, the self-described punk-pop-rave juggernaut behind the infectious Skibidi Challenge, will represent Russia at the Eurovision song contest this spring, organizers announced Monday. The choice represents a break with Russia’s reliance on more traditional pop stars to bring home the trophy and hosting rights for the first time in more than a decade. This…

Russian Cossacks have been told by one of their leaders not to kiss icons or clerics’ hands to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The order was issued by Gennadiy Kovalev, head of the Council of Cossack Hetmans (leaders) of Russia which represents several thousand Cossacks, traditional militia units that once protected Russia‘s borderlands. Kissing icons…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to parliament a number of constitutional changes, including amendments that mention God and stipulate that marriage is a union of a man and woman. Putin in January unleashed a political storm by proposing an overhaul of the Constitution, the first changes to the basic law since 1993. Shortly afterward,…

Latvia said Monday a citizen thought to be working for Russia has been arrested for trying to recruit a secret service officer to spy for Moscow. “The agent… contacted the Latvian officer to try to recruit him into handing over classified material that could then be used by Russia’s secret services against Latvia but the agent has been…

A Moscow court has ordered a lower court to review the four-year prison sentence of activist Konstantin Kotov, who was convicted of “multiple breaches” of Russia’s protest law, Interfax reported Monday. Kotov, 34, in September became the second person ever to be found guilty of taking part in multiple unsanctioned protests. The Moscow City Court…

The trial of a retired Austrian army colonel accused of spying for Russia for decades opened on Monday and was ordered to be held behind closed doors on national security grounds. The 71-year-old defendant, who has not been named, is accused of having provided “comprehensive information” on a range of military aspects to Moscow, above…

Russia killed civilians in air strikes in Syria last year while rebels allied to Turkey carried out murder and pillage in Kurdish areas, U.N. investigators said on Monday — actions it said could amount to war crimes by both Moscow and Ankara. A report by a U.N. commission found that Russia — the Syrian government’s main ally against rebels…

Russian billionaire banker Oleg Tinkov has posted bail in London to avoid extradition to the United States on allegations of underreporting his income on his tax returns, the TCS financial group that he founded confirmed Monday. TCS said Friday that Tinkov is attending February-April court hearings in London initiated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people continues to spread around the world, Russia has stepped up measures to tackle the health risk, including closing most entry points along its 4,200-kilometer border with China and temporarily banning Chinese citizens from entering the country.  Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus…

A Russian national who is quarantined in a Moscow hospital after recently returning from northern Italy, a hub for the coronavirus outbreak, has the coronavirus, the state-run RIA Novosti reported. The man is the first known Russian national to test positive for coronavirus while in the country. The patient, 29-year-old Moscow resident David Berov, traveled…

Russian Olympic figure skating champion Adelina Sotnikova has announced her retirement over health concerns, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. Sotnikova clinched Russia’s first-ever ladies singles gold at the Sochi Games at the age of 17 in 2014. The 23-year-old hasn’t competed since the 2015 Russian Championships. “I’m done with professional sport… because I…

Istanbul police on Sunday released the editor-in-chief of the Turkish edition of Sputnik, the Russian news website said, as tensions escalated between Ankara and Moscow. Sputnik Turkey’s editor-in-chief Mahir Boztepe was detained and taken to the Istanbul police headquarters but released a couple of hours later, the website said. The Ankara public prosecutor’s office launched…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Chavushoglu agreed on the need to create a “favorable atmosphere” to improve working relations between their countries, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday. “The ministers have declared in favour of the adoption of measures to create a favourable atmosphere that will facilitate the effectiveness of…

 Turkey said on Sunday it had destroyed air defense systems, more than 100 tanks and downed two planes belonging to the Syrian army as part of an operation it launched after an airstrike killed dozens of its soldiers last week. Tensions in northwest Syria have escalated sharply as fighting between Turkey-backed rebels and Russian-backed Syrian government…

Ukraine said on Sunday it had held talks with the Kremlin on swapping all remaining prisoners from the conflict in east Ukraine, and the next exchange might take place later this month. Russia‘s President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy agreed in December to send prisoners home, and scores were handed over just before…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that current oil prices were acceptable and that Russia had the tools to react to any negative effects of the spread of the coronavirus on the global economy, but offered a chink of light to OPEC as the producer group pushes for deeper supply cuts.  Putin added that he sees the…

OPEC could agree on deeper oil supply cuts this week, with or without Russia‘s support, to halt the slide in crude prices triggered by the global spread of the coronavirus, said two sources familiar with the talks. Moscow is resisting further output curbs, arguing that reduced production by the Saudi Arabia-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting…

French President Emmanuel Macron urged his Russian and Turkish counterparts on Saturday to halt hostilities in Syria and agree to a lasting ceasefire, his office said. Macron told the Russian and Turkish leaders in separate phone calls that he was “deeply concerned about the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe” caused by the Syrian offensive and its allies…

In what has become an annual Russian tradition, thousands rallied across the country on Saturday to march for Boris Nemtsov, a key opposition figure shot and killed five years ago this month on a Moscow bridge just steps from the Kremlin. While the killer has been found guilty and sentenced to prison, Nemtsov’s family and…

Three people have died at a Moscow birthday party after around 30 kilograms of dry ice meant to create special effects was tipped into a pool, investigators and reports said Saturday. The party at the Moscow pool complex late Friday was to mark the birthday of Ekaterina Didenko, a popular Instagram influencer focusing on pharmaceutical…

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin of Russia were quick to hold telephone talks and plan a summit as soon as next week in Moscow, with Russian officials striking a conciliatory tone. The two men — both leading post-imperial societies they took over in the wake of economic crises — have since 2016 forged…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

Russia has sold nearly all its gold for 2019 to Britain, according to customs data reviewed by the RBC news website Friday. The data says that Britain bought $5.33 billion worth of Russian gold last year, or 93% of Russia’s total gold exports. Russia sold $5.74 billion worth of gold overall in 2019, according to…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

The volume of goods being delivered to and from ports on the Northern Sea Route has never come close to the current level. According to Nikolay Monko, the acting director of the Northern Sea Route Administration, 31.5 million tons of goods were shipped on the route in 2019. That is an increase of 56.7% over…

President Vladimir Putin’s alleged daughter will head a prestigious Moscow university’s artificial intelligence institute slated to open later in 2020, the Vedomosti business daily reported Friday. Katerina Tikhonova, 33, who is widely believed to be Putin’s younger daughter, runs the Innopraktika foundation near Moscow State University (MSU). Founded in 2012, Innopraktika is a conglomerate of…

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 2,800 people continues to spread around the world, Russia has stepped up measures to tackle the health risk, including closing most entry points along its 4,200-kilometer border with China and temporarily banning Chinese citizens from entering the country.  Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus…

The Russian Academy of Sciences said it plans to file a complaint with the United Nations over tech billionaire Elon Musk’s high-speed internet satellites, which it says will interfere with astronomers’ work. SpaceX’s so-called Starlink constellation is a planned network of up to 30,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit that is intended to beam broadband internet…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone Friday after an attack on Turkish troops in Syria killed at least 33 soldiers and wounded dozens of others. Russia denied involvement, but Turkey’s top defense official said Moscow, which backs the Syrian regime, knew the whereabouts of Turkish troops and that attacks on…

Russian distributors appear to have censored Disney and Pixar’s first LGBT character from their animated film “Onward,” the Kinopoisk.ru movie website reported Wednesday. “Onward,” a fantasy-adventure that hits the big screens in Russia on March 5, introduces a cyclops police officer named Specter as the studios’ first-self identified lesbian character. Officer Specter appears in one…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

Fewer Russians have heard of the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov five years after his death, the independent Levada Center polling agency said Friday. Nemtsov was gunned down on Feb. 27, 2015, on a bridge near the Kremlin’s walls. A gunman and four accomplices were jailed for up to 20 years in 2017, but…

Amazon Prime Video has for the first time bought the rights to a Russian reality show, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. “Instagrammers,” which premiered on the Gazprom Media-owned entertainment channel Pyatnitsa in 2017, follows the lives of influencers forced to do menial jobs in rural Russia. The reality show will air in March across…

President Vladimir Putin inspected Russia’s answer to Disneyland on Thursday, the country’s first large-scale indoor theme park which Moscow says will be the biggest of its kind in Europe when it opens on Saturday. The theme park, called “Ostrov Mechty” — or Dream Island — is built in the shape of a toy castle that…

Russia is sending two warships equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles to the Mediterranean Sea toward the Syrian coast amid mounting tensions between Russia, Turkey and Syria over the Syrian province of Idlib, the Russian Navy said Friday. Turkey said Syrian government airstrikes killed 33 Turkish soldiers Thursday, bringing the death toll in Idlib to 54…

A young man in Siberia has died after police used a taser to wake him up, a local lawmaker and the victim’s mother said nearly two weeks after the tragedy Thursday. Dmitry Kharchenko fell asleep in the back of a taxi on his way home from a nightclub on Feb. 15. The driver reportedly asked…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

The United States Embassy in Moscow urged Russia on Thursday to find the people who organized the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov who was gunned down near the Kremlin five years ago. Nemtsov, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics, was killed in 2015 as he walked home across a bridge near the Kremlin’s walls.…