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An ice hockey stadium built in Siberia by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for an estimated $150 million will now be demolished over safety concerns, 12 years after it was first opened to the public. First inaugurated in 2007 in the Siberian city of Omsk, the arena was donated by Abramovich to the local Avangard Hockey…

Russia’s communications watchdog threatened on Thursday to block access to popular VPN services which allow users to gain access to websites which have been outlawed by Moscow. Russia has introduced tougher internet laws, requiring search engines to delete some results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store users’…

This week on From Russia With News, we discuss the dramatic arrest of former Russian minister Mikhail Abyzov who is suspected of embezzling 4 billion rubles ($62 million). We’ll speak with Nikolai Petrov, a political science professor at the Higher School of Economics about the broader implications of the arrest. Voters across Ukraine will go…

A Siberian region rocked by allegations that Central Asian migrants raped a local woman has banned foreign workers from being employed in 33 fields. Earlier this month, three suspects believed to be from Kyrgyzstan were detained on charges of kidnapping and raping a resident of Yakutsk, sparking rallies and raids against migrants. Sakha Governor Aysen…

“Anyone but Poroshenko!” cried the crowd in a Russian zoo on Thursday as a brown bear made its way toward a butternut squash bearing a picture of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Buyan, resident of a zoo on the outskirts of Russia’s Krasnoyarask city, was choosing among three squashes, each adorned with a flag depicting the…

A $436 million superyacht belonging to a Russian billionaire at the center of one of the world’s costliest divorce battles has been released by a Dubai court after being impounded last year. Oil and gas tycoon Farkhad Akhmedov was ordered to pay about 40 percent of his fortune to his former wife Tatiana Akhmedova by…

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an allocation of budget funds in 2021-2022 for the construction of the Utrenny liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Russian port of Sabetta on the Northern Sea route, the Kremlin said on its website. LNG is a fuel that has been cooled to liquid form so it takes up less volume…

Russian military advisers will stay in Venezuela as long as needed, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump called on Moscow to “get out” of the South American country. Moscow sent military advisers to Venezuela over the weekend amid the escalating political crisis in Venezuela. Trump on Wednesday called…

Ford will pay around $200 million in cash to workers and suppliers who lose their jobs when the company closes some of its plants in Russia in June, the company said in a statement. The U.S. automaker is closing two assembly plants and one engine factory because it says the passenger vehicle market in Russia…

Russia’s largest defense contractor has invented an assault rifle drone capable of flying and shooting at the same time. The state-owned Almaz-Antey company filed a patent for the armed drone with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property in 2018. Described as “a fully functioning [gun] inside a set of wings,” the 23-kilogram drone is capable of…

At that time of the year when the mercury starts to rise, Russia’s winter snowscape starts to melt away and citizens face the potentially deadly threat of the odd rooftop avalanche.  For the most part, municipal workers take care of cleaning the snow off rooftops in order to avoid these scenarios. Last Friday in the…

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused Lithuania of an unfriendly and provocative act, a day after a Lithuanian court found a former Soviet Defense Minister guilty of war crimes for his role in a 1991 crackdown in Lithuania. A Vilnius court sentenced Dmitry Yazov, 94, in absentia to 10 years in prison. He was the…

The Kremlin on Thursday rejected a call from U.S. President Donald Trump for Russia to pull out of Venezuela and said its actions there were lawful and agreed with the Latin American country’s legitimate government, the RIA news agency reported. Trump on Wednesday called on Russia to pull its troops out of Venezuela and said “all options” were open…

The longtime head of Russia’s Far East region of Khabarovsk has been detained in Moscow on suspicion of embezzling money from the Rosneft oil giant, Russian investigators said Thursday. Viktor Ishayev, 70, led the Khabarovsk region from 1991 to 2009, and oversaw development in the Far East as a presidential envoy and minister between 2009…

The first and longtime head of Russia’s Far East region of Khabarovsk has been detained in Moscow for suspected timber-industry fraud, Russian media reported. Viktor Ishayev, 70, led the Khabarovsk region from 1991 to 2009, and oversaw development in the Far East as a presidential envoy and minister between 2009 and 2013. Observers have said that…

Russia has announced a $30 million gift to Kyrgyzstan ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Central Asian country, one of Moscow’s key military and economic allies in the region. As a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kyrgyzstan enjoys close relations with Moscow. Russia, which has maintained a military airbase near Kyrgyzstan’s capital of…

Russia staged large-scale land, air and sea drills in the annexed Crimean peninsula on Wednesday.  The drills which lasted three days involved around 1,500 paratroopers and around 300 military hardware units including large naval ships and aircraft. The drills happened less than a week before the presidential election in Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.…

A court in Russia on Wednesday ruled that former government minister Mikhail Abyzov, an ally of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, be held in pre-trial detention for two months ahead of his trial for fraud and organizing a criminal group. Abyzov, 46, who was minister for open government affairs in Medvedev’s cabinet until last year, was detained at…

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Russia to pull its troops from Venezuela and said that “all options” were open to make that happen. The arrival of two Russian air force planes outside Caracas on Saturday believed to be carrying nearly 100 Russian special forces and cybersecurity personnel has escalated the political crisis in Venezuela. Russia and China…

Russian opposition politician and Moscow municipal deputy Ilya Yashin has accused the city’s mayor of budgetary waste in connection with plans to seal off one of several controversial landfills outside Moscow. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin pledged in 2017 to close the Malinki landfill 40 kilometers north of Moscow near the town of Troitsk. Activists believe…

Russian lawmakers have passed legislation that extends punishments for those holding senior positions in organized crime groups. Lawmakers estimate that members of organized crime groups in Russia committed more than 15,000 felonies in 2018. Russia’s upper-house Federation Council voted in favor of the organized-crime bill on Wednesday, sending it to President Vladimir Putin’s desk to be…

A Lithuanian court found former Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity on Wednesday for his role in a 1991 crackdown against the Baltic state’s pro-independence movement. The Vilnius court sentenced Yazov, 94, in absentia to 10 years in prison. He was the highest-ranking person on a list of…

Ford will close two of its assembly plants in Russia, a spokeswoman for the company’s joint venture in the country told The Moscow Times on Wednesday. The Vsevolozhsk assembly plant near St. Petersburg and the Naberezhnye Chelny assembly plant in Tatarstan will both close, while the plant in the city of Yelabuga in Tatarstan will…

Former Russian minister Mikhail Abyzov was detained by security forces Tuesday on suspicion of embezzling 4 billion rubles ($62 million). Abyzov, 46, faces up to 20 years behind bars if convicted. The ex-minister has denied the charges. He is the second government minister to be detained and face criminal prosecution in the past two years,…

Protesters clashed with security forces in Russia’s republic of Ingushetia early on Wednesday during a protest against a controversial land swap deal. More than 10,000 protesters rallied in Ingushetia’s capital of Magas on Tuesday against legislation that would bar residents from voting on border-related issues. Protest leaders said the rally would continue “indefinitely” to demand…

Russia’s Defense Ministry plans to establish a film studio to produce movies about the modern Russian army, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Tuesday. The announcement was made at an annual awards ceremony that celebrates art and culture about the Russian military. During his awards speech, Shoigu said that despite there being plenty of quality films…

More than 1,300 Russian state officials suspected of violating corruption rules were fired for loss of trust last year, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Russia ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries. Observers have criticized anti-graft campaigns under President Vladimir Putin’s rule as ineffective. The Prosecutor General’s Office said its intervention has led to the dismissal…

Former Russian minister Mikhail Abyzov was arrested Tuesday evening on suspicion of embezzling $62 million, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a press release. In May 2012, Abyzov was appointed as Minister for Open Government Affairs in former President Dmitry Medvedev’s cabinet, a post he held for six years. He is suspected of creating and running a…

The presence of “Russian specialists” in Venezuela is governed by a military-technical cooperation agreement between the two countries, Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry did not provide any further details in its statement about the specialists. Two Russian Air Force planes landed at Venezuela’s main airport on Saturday carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100…

Thousands of residents in Russia’s smallest region protested for the right to hold a referendum on a divisive border-change deal after local leaders sought to remove such proposals from the ballot box. In October 2018, the republic of Ingushetia’s leaders signed the land swap deal with neighboring Chechnya, sparking mass protests. According to proposed rules,…

Football striker Pavel Pogrebnyak has been disciplined by Russia’s Football Union (RFU) over controversial comments he made against naturalized players on Russia’s international team. In an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid earlier this month, the footballer stated: “it’s weird when a black player plays for the Russian national team,” adding that he is “against” the…

The United States on Monday accused Russia of “reckless escalation” of the situation in Venezuela by deploying military planes and personnel to the crisis-stricken South American nation that Washington has hit with crippling sanctions. The Russian planes and military personnel arrived outside the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Saturday, according to local media reports, two months after the Trump…

Russia ranks in the top 25 percent of countries whose citizens can enjoy the most freedom of travel abroad, according to an annual rating of passport “strength.” The Henley & Partners residence and citizenship planning firm ranks the strength of 199 different passports based on the availability of visa-free or visa on arrival travel to…

Facebook said on Tuesday it has removed more accounts from Iran, Russia, Macedonia and Kosovo, citing what it described as “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” A total of 2,632 pages, groups and accounts were removed from Facebook and Instagram for operations linked to the above-mentioned countries, the social media platform said. Facebook said 1,907 of those accounts…

A London court has ruled against Artem Avetisyan, a businessman who is embroiled in a legal battle with detained U.S. investor Michael Calvey’s Baring Vostok over control of Russia’s Vostochny Bank, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group who was detained on Feb. 14 for fraud,…

The Russian military has confirmed that three of its soldiers were killed in an ambush in Syria late last month. A total of 112 Russian soldiers were killed in the three years since Moscow intervened in the Syrian civil war in support of government forces, a Russian lawmaker estimated in September 2018. Media reports place the…

The first Russian to be prosecuted under a new law that bans encouraging young people to attend unauthorized rallies was found guilty on Monday. Under the law that President Vladimir Putin signed in December, adults face fines and up to 15 days in jail for involving minors in protests. The law was introduced after opposition…

Russia’s youth affairs agency has become the sixth national agency with the authority to block websites deemed harmful to young people. To date, Russia’s Interior Ministry, consumer protection agency, tax service, alcohol regulator and media watchdog Roskomnadzor have had the right to block websites without a court order. A Russian government decree has added the Federal…

Russia sent home nearly two-thirds of some 30,000 North Koreans working there during 2018, according to unpublished reports by Moscow to the United Nations Security Council. The one-page report, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, was submitted to the council’s North Korea sanctions committee in compliance with a 2017 resolution that demanded the repatriation of all North…

Most Russians are concerned about environmental pollution, according to a recent survey conducted by Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE). Environmental issues have taken center stage at protest rallies in Russia over the past year, with citizens drawing attention to concerns including landfills, air pollution and a proposed water bottling plant at Lake Baikal. The HSE survey…

Monday marked the first anniversary of the deadly Winter Cherry mall fire in Russia’s Siberian city of Kemerovo. The March 25, 2018, tragedy claimed the lives of 37 children and 23 adults. Hundreds of people paid tribute to the victims of the fire over the weekend, with many unable to hold back tears.

A fifth-grade teacher in the city of Barnaul in western Siberia has been forced to abandon her post over photos showing her in a New Year’s dress, the sibreal.org news website reported Monday. Language and literature teacher Tatyana Kuvshinnikova uploaded photos of herself in the dress to social media in December. She was pressured by…

Russia’s private S7 Space corporation plans to scrap a deal with a Ukrainian rocket maker on the construction of carrier rockets for its Sea Launch floating launch platform, Russian media reported. S7, Russia’s largest private airline, promised to resurrect Sea Launch when it purchased the suspended project in 2016. Ukraine’s Yuzhmash manufacturer was to build…

When Lydia Kondrashova’s husband died in 1994, her pension wasn’t enough to keep her afloat. So she left her longtime home in southern Russia to move in with her youngest daughter in Mytishchi, a Moscow suburb. Two decades later, however, the arrangement had run its course. The elderly woman needed more attention with each passing…

Russian officials have claimed vindication in reacting to the news that a U.S. probe into Russian election meddling had found no evidence of collusion between U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow. Trump was accused of coordinating with the Kremlin to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election after members of his team reportedly met with Russians who offered compromising…

As the world’s fourth-largest wild cat and a native of the Americas, the sight of a leashed puma in a coat on a snowy Moscow weekend would surprise even the most open-minded park-goer. Irma the puma, however, is as domesticated and well-behaved as any house cat, according to her owners, Marina and Sergey. Retired from…

Russia sent two planes with dozens of soldiers and military advisers to Venezuela’s capital of Caracas over the weekend amid growing tensions in the South American country, an anonymous Venezuelan official has said. Venezuela’s political crisis escalated on Sunday when opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president in January, called on his supporters…

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election did not find that President Donald Trump committed a crime but also does not exonerate him, according to a summary of Mueller’s findings released on Sunday. Mueller, who spent nearly two years investigating allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat…

A Russian national has been detained in Indonesia after attempting to smuggle a drugged orangutan out of the country in his suitcase, local media reported Saturday. The animal was found sleeping in a basket in the man’s luggage as he passed through security at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport on Friday night. “The Russian deliberately used…