The United States’ new ambassador to Russia urged Moscow on Thursday to release a former U.S. Marine accused of spying, and said Russian investigators had failed to present credible evidence to back up their case. Days after starting as U.S. ambassador, John Sullivan accused Russian authorities of “shameful treatment” of Paul Whelan, who was detained by security agents in…
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McDonald’s has been forced to cancel plans for a bargain Big Mac promotion celebrating 30 years since the opening of its first restaurant in Russia due to coronavirus fears. The U.S. fast food chain had been planning to sell Big Macs for the symbolic price of 3 rubles ($0.05) all day Friday at its first…
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Russian authorities have issued an arrest warrant on embezzlement charges for Boris Mints, the billionaire businessman who now lives in London, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. Mints and his three sons left Russia for Britain in 2018 amid court disputes over bank dealings. In 2019, the High Court in London blocked $572 million…
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An LGBT activist fled southern Russia for the Netherlands after facing threats of prosecution from law enforcement and retribution from conservative vigilantes, she said in an interview Tuesday. Anna Dvornichenko has said that authorities in the city of Rostov-on-Don refused to investigate two attacks — one with pepper spray and another with a smoke bomb…
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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…
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The share of Russian cases in Europe’s top human rights court has reached a seven-year high in 2019, the Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday, citing the court’s annual report. Russia remains the runaway leader in the number of pending cases among the 47 member states that fall under the court’s jurisdiction, according to European Court…
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Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has ordered the closure of the country’s Far East border to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. “The order was signed today and has taken effect,” Mishustin said as quoted by TASS. How Is Russia Preparing for the Coronavirus? Read more “We’ll…
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A St. Petersburg court has charged two students with inciting terrorism for painting stencil graffiti of President Vladimir Putin that calls for his murder. The two young men were detained after spray-painting portraits of Putin with the words “If you see him, kill him” in central St. Petersburg, a local court said. Anti-extremism police detained…
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Five former Moscow police officers have been criminally charged with framing anti-corruption journalist Ivan Golunov, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Thursday. Golunov, an investigative journalist for Meduza, was arrested in June on fabricated drug charges and released days later after an unprecedented public outcry. Police dropped all charges against him, fired the officers involved in his arrest…
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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…
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The United States on Wednesday issued a fresh round of sanctions related to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, targeting eight individuals and a Moscow-based railway company, the U.S. Treasury Department said. The United States has imposed a series of sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Moscow has since built up…
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A Siberian taxi driver has been sentenced to prison on charges of justifying terrorism for praising last year’s deadly mosque shooting in New Zealand online, Interfax reported Wednesday. The March 2019 shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand left 51 worshippers dead and wounded dozens more. A suspected white supremacist now faces murder and…
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Russia freed a U.S.-Israeli woman on Thursday who had been jailed on drugs charges, after President Vladimir Putin granted her a pardon following a high profile lobbying campaign championed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Naama Issachar was released ahead of talks in Moscow between Putin and Netanyahu, who had flown in from Washington to pass…
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President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a decree to pardon and free a U.S.-Israeli woman jailed in Russia on drug charges, receiving acknowledgement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of their bilateral meeting. Naama Issachar, who was born in New Jersey, was arrested in April last year after police found nine grams…
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Update: President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Ignatyev from office a day after the governor was expelled from United Russia, Interfax reported Wednesday. An interim governor has been appointed in his place. A Russian governor is facing expulsion from the country’s ruling party following two weeks of controversial actions and comments, the Kommersant business daily reported…
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara is losing patience with the military assault in Syria’s Idlib region, adding that Russia is violating agreements aimed at stemming conflict there, the state-funded NTV broadcaster reported Wednesday. Renewed bombardments by Russia-backed Syrian government forces on Idlib have raised concern of a new refugee wave from the area…
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Russia is considering extending the maximum length of tourist visas from 30 days to six months to attract tourism, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported Wednesday, citing the Foreign Ministry. The relaxed visa rules would allow visitors from anywhere in the world to apply with a hotel reservation, the ministry was cited as saying. Current legislation…
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Russia said on Wednesday it had blocked the Swiss email service ProtonMail, popular among journalists and activists for its focus on user privacy and high level of encryption. Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said ProtonMail, which uses end-to-end encryption to protect user data, had been used to send fake, anonymous bomb threats. Such threats have frequently…
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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…
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Update: The five detained officers will be indicted soon, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Wednesday. It added that the drugs planted on Golunov last June had been illegally acquired, stored and transported by the police. Moscow police have detained five former officers as part of a criminal case on falsification of evidence against journalist Ivan Golunov,…
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As the coronavirus outbreak spreads around the world and the number of cases rises, Russia has stepped up measures to prevent the deadly virus from crossing its borders. Russia has not had any confirmed cases of the new virus, which has killed 132 people mostly in China and infected more than 6,000 worldwide. Here is…
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Alexander Vinnik, a Russian citizen accused of having supervised a digital-currency exchange that helped criminals launder billions of dollars, will likely remain in France to face charges. Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and was held there while France, Russia, and the U.S. negotiated his extradition. According to a Tuesday statement from his defense…
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Vietnam has signed a $350 million deal last year to buy a dozen combat training aircraft from Russia, the Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday. Russia is the biggest arms supplier to Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Vietnam’s fleet deploys Russian-made fighters jets, surface ships and submarines, according to the state-run TASS news agency. The 2019 deal…
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Russia’s new Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and his family own 2.8 billion rubles ($45 million) worth of real estate in and around Moscow, prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Tuesday. Former tax chief Mishustin’s unexpected promotion to high office earlier this month has led to a series of media investigations into his family’s property ownership.…
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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…
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Two dozen men have been detained in Russia’s republic of Chechnya for sharing a doctored image of the region’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov in Orthodox Christian garb, the Kavkaz.Realii news website reported Saturday. The detentions, which reportedly took place in three Chechen towns and districts, follow Kadyrov’s repeated threats of violence to online critics last year.…
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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…
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Russia and Poland are in the midst of a long-running spat over what caused World War II as Moscow prepares to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany this spring. Russian President Vladimir Putin in December blasted a European Parliament resolution blaming the 1939 Soviet-Nazi Molotov-Ribbentrop pact for the outbreak of…
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Update: Ignatyev has been expelled from United Russia, Kommersant cited party secretary Andrei Turchak as saying Tuesday. A Russian governor is facing expulsion from the country’s ruling party following two weeks of controversial actions and comments, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday. Mikhail Ignatyev, who heads the republic of Chuvashia 680 kilometers east of Moscow, made…
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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…
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Russia is blocking organized tour groups from China over a coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 100 lives, the state-run TASS news agency cited Russia’s travel industry union as saying Tuesday. The coronavirus outbreak that began in the central city of Wuhan has killed 106 people in China and infected more than 4,520 globally,…
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Russia’s Constitutional Court has ordered a review of Moscow protester Konstantin Kotov’s guilty verdict days after President Vladimir Putin ordered prosecutors to investigate whether his conviction was lawful. Kotov, a 34-year-old programmer, was sentenced to four years in prison in September for “repeated” participation in unauthorized rallies. The verdict made him the second person to…
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Prominent journalists have made a video appeal in support of their colleague who is accused of financing terrorism in Russia’s republic of Dagestan. Abdulmumin Gadzhiyev, the religious affairs editor of the independent Chernovik news weekly, faces life in prison on charges of financing terrorism and participating in a terrorist organization. Gadzhiyev’s colleagues say the charges,…
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A Russian governor is facing expulsion from the country’s ruling party following two weeks of controversial actions and comments, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday. Mikhail Ignatyev, who heads the republic of Chuvashia 680 kilometers east of Moscow, made national headlines for saying critical journalists should be “wiped out” on Jan. 18. Ignatyev sparked fresh…
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China has leapfrogged Russia to become the world’s second-largest arms producer, according to revised research for the year 2017 published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday. SIPRI had previously excluded Chinese arms companies from its annual ranking over a lack of transparency, placing Russia second behind the United States in weapons…
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Update: Russia has expelled a Japanese journalist for trying to obtain secret information related to Russian military capabilities, the state-run RIA news agency reported Monday, in a tit-for-tat move following Japan’s arrest of Araki on espionage suspicions. The journalist, whom it didn’t name, had been given 72 hours to leave Russia and had already left. Russia’s Foreign…
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Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot and Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport have come under fire after two cats were killed and another injured during a New York-Moscow flight. Maxim Chumachenko and his three cats boarded Aeroflot flight SU10 in New York on Jan. 22, with a short layover in Moscow before reaching their final destination of Sofia. The…
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Mikhail Mishustin was struggling. Drenched in sweat and tripping over himself, he wasn’t a natural ice hockey player. “I don’t know whether he’d played before, but it was clearly very hard for him,” Dimitri Elkin, CEO of Twelve Seas Investment Company, said of the man just named Russia’s new prime minister. “He’s not the most…
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Former Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin, one of the most controversial and well-known figures in the Church, has died at the age of 51 outside his church in Moscow, the state-run TASS news agency reported. “Unfortunately, it is true, he died right in front of the church,” TASS quoted the press service of the…
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At least 140 Russian citizens are currently in the virus-stricken province of Hubei in central China, the state-run TASS news agency cited Russia’s Embassy in China as saying Monday. The coronavirus outbreak that began in the city of Wuhan in late December has killed 81 people in China so far and infected more than 2,750…
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Russian and U.S. forces have faced off for what could be the fourth time in less than two weeks in oil-rich northeastern Syria, the local Kurdish news outlet Anha reported Saturday. Video of the reported standoff in the Hasakah province showed a Russian-flagged armored vehicle and what appeared to be two U.S. Army armored vehicles…
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With time running out on his final term as president, Vladimir Putin evidently wants to end it with a boom. Putin has been a cautious steward of Russia’s $1.7 trillion economy, partly to shield it against blowback from his more adventurous foreign policy. For the last five years, he’s imposed some of the world’s toughest…
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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…
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Russia is consulting with China about possibly evacuating Russian citizens from the Chinese city of Wuhan and Hubei province, the center of an outbreak of a new flu-like virus, the RIA news agency cited the Russian embassy as saying on Saturday. There are no Russians infected with the new coronavirus, RIA quoted the embassy’s press…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Prosecutor General to investigate if a guilty verdict for Moscow protester Konstantin Kotov was lawful, the Kremlin said. A Moscow court sentenced Kotov, a 34-year-old programmer, to four years in prison in September for “repeated” participation in unauthorized rallies, under a widely criticized law that has made non-violent…
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Bulgaria is likely to expel two Russian diplomats over spying allegations, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said on Friday. “We have received the letters from the prosecutors with the allegations,” said Zaharieva. “We will undertake the actions that we are obliged to undertake and will most probably declare them ‘persona non grata’.” Zaharieva said she would…
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Russia and North Korea ramped up trade in 2019 despite international sanctions, the South Korean news network Arirang reported, citing data from the Geneva-based International Trade Center. Pyongyang has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its missile and nuclear programs, which the Security Council has unanimously strengthened over the years. Despite that, North Korea…
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A Russian migrant who has lived in Australia for 30 years is documenting how surviving animals find sanctuary on his property as bushfires continue to devastate their habitat. The death toll from southeastern Australia’s bushfires stood at 33 people Friday. The fires have also killed millions of creatures, razed thousands of homes and destroyed an…
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Russian authorities will give priority to “spiritual values” when deciding which Russian-made apps should come pre-installed under a controversial law banning smartphone sales without domestic software, the Vedomosti newspaper reported Thursday. From July 1, smartphones will be required to go on sale with pre-installed apps approved by the Russian government. Supporters defend the law, which…
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A group of prominent activists and political figures has called on Russians to vote against President Vladimir Putin’s proposed constitutional changes, which they describe as a “coup.” “We’re convinced that the goal of this coup is to keep Vladimir Putin and his corrupt regime in power for life,” the activists wrote in an open letter…
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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…
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U.S. forces intercepted an unidentified Russian major general in northern Syria during deconfliction operations, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy for Syrian engagement and the anti-Islamic State coalition said Thursday. James Jeffrey’s remarks follow news of U.S. troops “blocking” a Russian military patrol from accessing an oilfield in northeastern Syria’s province of Hasakah on Saturday.…
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Russia said on Thursday it had missed a United Nations deadline to repatriate North Korean workers due to what it called objective difficulties, but said it was scrupulously complying with UN sanctions on Pyongyang. A 2017 UN Security Council resolution demanded that all countries send home all North Korean workers by Dec. 22 last year…
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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…
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Bulgarian prosecutors have charged three Russians with the attempted murder of three men whose poisoning is being investigated by Sofia for possible links with the 2018 nerve-agent attack on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal. The prosecutors did not name the three Russians, but said European arrest warrants had been issued and that they would seek their extradition to…
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Israel and Russia have signed a new adoption agreement that will effectively block LGBT Israelis from adopting Russian children, Israel’s Channel 12 news outlet reported Wednesday. Russia banned adoption by LGBT couples and individuals from countries that allow gay marriage in 2013. Israel has been complying with this law through a de facto arrangement in the…
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Syrian state media said militants launched a major attack on government forces in Idlib on Thursday that Russia‘s Defense Ministry said killed up to 40 Syrian soldiers, though the account was disputed by a rebel official and war monitor. Idlib is the last rebel-held swathe of territory in the country and hundreds of thousands of people…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a new monument in Jerusalem dedicated to the defenders and victims of the Siege of Leningrad on Thursday. More than 800,000 people died during the Nazi encirclement of Leningrad — now called St. Petersburg — from starvation, disease and bombardment, making it one of the most devastating episodes of World…
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President Vladimir Putin has hinted that he could help reconstruct Russia’s version of the Great Wall of China during a stopover in the country’s central Lipetsk region, the Znak.com news website reported Wednesday. A local archeologist had urged Putin to spearhead reconstruction of the Belgorod fortified line, which was built in the 17th century to…
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