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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was baffled by Poland’s refusal to invite a Russian delegation to a commemoration ceremony marking 80 years since the start of World War II. An aide to the Polish president said this week that Russia has not been invited to the September ceremony because of its annexation of Crimea and…
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A feminist activist in Russia’s Far East was questioned by police over her art project on body positivity which they deemed “pornographic,” the sibreal.org news website reported Friday. Activist Yulia Tsvetkova’s illustrations were part of a project called “Women are Not Dolls,” which aims to promote body positivity among young women. The images show women…
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A Russian court has ordered several publications to remove news linking a lawmaker to a convicted mafia boss, Russian media have reported. State Duma deputy Andrei Skoch sued five outlets in December demanding they delete allegations that he had raised funds for the release of criminal boss Young Shakro and his associate. Forbes Russia named Skoch…
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Business ombudsman Boris Titov has appealed to federal prosecutors over a group of Russian businessmen currently being held in pre-trial detention. Russia’s business community has expressed growing concern over the pre-trial detention of U.S. investor Michael Calvey, who has been held on embezzlement charges since Feb. 14. President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called on prosecutors to stop the…
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Russian race walker Alexandr Ivanov has been disqualified for three years for doping and is set to be stripped of his gold medal at the 2013 world championships in Moscow, the Russian athletics federation said on Friday. Ivanov will lose all the medals he won between June 2012 and August 2014, the federation said. He…
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Russian race walker Alexandr Ivanov has been disqualified for three years for doping and is set to be stripped of his gold medal at the 2013 world championships in Moscow, the Russian athletics federation said on Friday. Ivanov will lose all the medals he won between June 2012 and August 2014, the federation said. He…
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Pyotr Verzilov looks tanned and energized as he orders a pot of green tea in a central Moscow cafe. “The irony is, I feel much better now than before the poisoning,” says the Pussy Riot activist and publisher of the online investigative news site Mediazona. Verzilov was rushed to a Moscow hospital on Sept.…
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The mysterious death of former Russian presidential aide and media tycoon Mikhail Lesin in Washington may have been a murder, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) news outlet has reported. Lesin was found dead in a Washington hotel room in November 2015, from what was ruled to be accidental blunt-force trauma. Before losing favor with…
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Attackers on a motorcycle threw a hand grenade at the Russian consulate in Athens early on Friday, causing no injuries and slight damage, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the early morning attack on the consulate in the Athens suburb of Chalandri. Police had cordoned off the area. The device exploded…
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Russia will supply gas to Hungary in 2020, regardless of agreements on gas transit between Moscow and Kiev, the RBC news website reported on Friday. The transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expires at the end of this year and a new agreement has not yet been negotiated. “Today, the CEO of Gazprom and…
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Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a change in the status of the Golan Heights would be a direct violation of United Nations decisions, RIA news agency said in a report citing ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. She was commenting on a statement by U.S. President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Thursday it was time…
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The creator of an anti-women community on Russian social media has had his hate speech conviction overturned, media reported Thursday. Blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov received a two-year suspended sentence last December for inciting hatred toward women. His “Male State” page on the Vkontakte social network that espouses nationalism and patriarchy boasted more than 150,000 members before…
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This week on From Russia With News, we discuss the shock resignation of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev with Joanna Lillis, a journalist in Kazakhstan and author of the acclaimed book on the country: “Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan.” We’ll also talk to journalist Marc Bennetts about the trial of Gaylen Grandstaff, an…
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Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) is well positioned to compete with North American projects to reach new markets in Asia and the Atlantic Basin, global commodities information provider S&P Global Platts quoted a Shell executive as saying. LNG is a fuel that has been cooled to liquid form so it takes up less volume and…
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Russia’s lumber, wildlife and water resources have a combined worth of 6 trillion rubles ($94.2 billion), the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has estimated. The Russian economy is heavily reliant on exports of its resources. Last week, the ministry said that the combined worth of its oil, gas and other natural resources as of 2017…
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Corruption in Russia’s military has quadrupled to 7 billion rubles ($109.8 million) last year, the top federal military prosecutor said on Thursday. Russia ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries in international ratings, with corruption-related crimes costing an estimated $2.5 billion in damages between 2014 and 2017. Observers have said that anti-graft campaigns under President Vladimir Putin’s rule have brought little progress. “The crimes in…
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The Kremlin on Thursday said that flights by U.S. nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers across the Baltic Sea’s neutral waters near Russia‘s borders created tension in the region. Russia‘s Defense Ministry said earlier on Thursday that it had scrambled fighter jets to intercept a U.S. B-52 strategic bomber after it began flying toward Russia‘s borders. “In general, I…
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Average life expectancy in Russia has reached 73 years, a top health official said on Thursday. Russia plans to spend 1.7 trillion rubles ($26.68 billion) on dramatically improving health care to accomplish President Vladimir Putin’s goal of raising life expectancy to 78 years by the time his term ends in 2024. Average life expectancy rose…
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Average life expectancy in Russia has reached 73 years, a top health official said on Thursday. Russia plans to spend 1.7 trillion rubles ($26.68 billion) on dramatically improving health care to accomplish President Vladimir Putin’s goal of raising life expectancy to 78 years by the time his term ends in 2024. Average life expectancy rose…
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A majority of Russians think a controversial new set of laws will effectively reduce the spread of false information online, according to a state-run survey published on Wednesday. This week, President Vladimir Putin signed into law legislation that will fine online media for spreading “fake news” and punish those who exhibit “blatant disrespect” to the…
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An aging leader steps down as president but keeps a firm grip on the reins of power. For many in the Kremlin, the choreographed events unfolding in neighboring Kazakhstan are a model for Russian President Vladimir Putin to consider. Unlike his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, however, nobody’s certain Putin could pull off a transfer of…
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Russia has wrapped up construction of its first rail bridge to China, connecting the two countries across the Amur River, Russian media reported on Thursday. Construction of the 2,200-meter bridge between Nizhneleninskoye in Russia and Tongjiang city in China began in 2014, underscoring Russia’s Eastern pivot amid deteriorating ties with the West. China completed construction…
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Russia’s parliament has created a task force to assess damages to Crimea during its more than two decades as part of Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, incurring economic sanctions and international isolation. Moscow calls the annexation of the Black Sea peninsula a reunification with its historical territory. “We will analyze the…
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday signed a decree broadening sanctions against Russian companies and citizens to include aluminum and power producer En+ Group and several other Russian firms. Kiev imposed sanctions against some Russian firms and individuals in response to Russia‘s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for a pro-Moscow insurgency the east of Ukraine. Wednesday’s…
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President Vladimir Putin has replaced three more governors ahead of regional elections later this year as low ratings for the ruling United Russia party risk upsetting its hold on power. Sixteen regions are scheduled to elect new governors on Sept. 8 this year. Putin replaced 10 leaders in Oct. 2018 after an unpopular government move…
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It’s not all smiles for Russia as it slips down the global happiness rankings for a third consecutive year, according to an annual UN report published on Wednesday. The World Happiness Report ranks 156 countries by variables that support well-being, including GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity and absence of corruption.…
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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to the new acting president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, hours after he was named the new leader of the Central Asian country. Tokayev was sworn in as Kazakhstan’s president on Wednesday, a day after Putin’s close ally Nursultan Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned after three decades in power. Kazakhstan…
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Russian prison guards may soon be required to apologize to inmates for violating their rights, new regulations drafted by the federal penitentiary system show. Last year, the Federal Prison Service (FSIN) launched nationwide inspections at its facilities in the wake of leaked videos showing guards torturing inmates at a prison in the Yaroslavl region. The…
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President Vladimir Putin has kicked off the full-scale development of one of Russia’s largest proven gas fields in the Yamal peninsula, the Kremlin reported on Wednesday. The Kharasaveyskoye gas field is located in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district, a key gas-producing region in an economy that heavily relies on gas exports. This month, Russia’s Natural Resources…
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This article appeared in our special “Russia in 2019” print issue. The road to “New Life” is bumpy. Only recently opened, the entrance to the apartment complex in Belgorod, a provincial city on the border with Ukraine, has yet to be paved. Already, though, young mothers can be seen pushing strollers along bike paths as their toddlers scramble over Danish playground…
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More than twice as many people have died in Russian plane crashes last year than in 2017, a top interregional aviation safety organization has said. Aviation safety has come under scrutiny after a spate of air accidents in Russia in 2018, including a deadly collision outside Moscow in February 2018 that killed 71 people. A…
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High-level U.S.-Russian talks on how to defuse Venezuela’s crisis ended on Tuesday with the two sides still at odds over the legitimacy of President Nicolas Maduro. Russia has said Maduro remains the country’s only legitimate leader whereas the United States and many other Western countries back Juan Guaido, head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly who…
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Scores of buses stopped traveling their regular routes and fruit stands closed in the Siberian city of Yakutsk following protests sparked by allegations that Central Asian migrants raped a local woman, Russian media have reported. Three suspects were detained on charges of kidnapping and raping a local resident this week. Hundreds of locals attended rallies…
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Russia will stop publishing monthly data that’s shown a slump in disposable incomes for five straight years after the indicator was criticized for using methodology that’s decades out of date. The Federal Statistics Service will start releasing quarterly income data starting next month and historical numbers will be recalculated going back to 2013, head Pavel…
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Six volunteers from Russia and the United States locked themselves up for four months on Tuesday (March 19) for a space experiment ahead of the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing. Three males and three females are participating in the SIRIUS-19 isolation study, in which they will live, work and research in isolation from the rest of the…
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British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemned the sentence handed out to a prominent human rights activist by a court in Chechnya, calling it “an awful example of Russia suppressing vital work of human rights defenders.” Oyub Titiyev, who runs the office of the Memorial Human Rights Center in the southern Russian region, was sentenced to…
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Russia’s national flag carrier Aeroflot will introduce hand luggage-only fares for some of its medium-haul flights at the beginning of April, the Kommersant business daily reported on Tuesday. The new fares come after increased passenger demand for charges to reflect this lighter style of travel. The discounts will apply to select flights operated by Aeroflot…
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Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned on Tuesday after three decades in power, saying his oil-rich Central Asian nation now needed “a new generation of leaders.” Nazarbayev, 78, the last Soviet-era leader still in charge of his country, said he would retain key security council and party leader positions while handing over the presidency to…
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The Russian Navy has shared a video of a new Borey-style nuclear ballistic missile submarine for the Day of the Russian Submariner, celebrated in Russia on March 19. Vladimir Korolev, commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, congratulated submariners on their professional holiday, adding that Russia’s submarine program is being actively developed, the Izvestia news website reported. Navy…
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Nearly 200 people are currently being held as political prisoners in Russia, the Memorial Human Rights Center has estimated. “There are civil and political activists who are pursued because of their activity, and those jailed for exchanging scientific information or reposting in social networks,” Memorial, one of Russia’s oldest and most prestigious human rights organizations,…
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Special Counsel Robert Mueller, examining potential conspiracy between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, is leading the latest in a series of U.S. investigations conducted by prosecutors outside usual Justice Department channels in recent decades. The release of the findings by previous investigators analogous to Mueller has been handled differently over the years, sometimes with…
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow supported the Algerian government’s initiative to hold talks with the opposition after weeks of protests. Lavrov made the comments after meeting Algeria’s Deputy Prime Minister Ramtane Lamamra in Moscow on Tuesday. Lavrov said earlier on Tuesday that Russia was concerned by the protests in Algeria which he…
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A Moscow court has ruled that a feminist Reebok ad urging readers to “sit on a man’s face” did not insult a male plaintiff’s feelings, Russian media reported on Tuesday. PR expert Oleg Voronin sought 200,000 rubles ($3,100) in moral damages from Reebok’s parent company Adidas last month over the racy ad. Following public outcry,…
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A Moscow court has ruled that a feminist Reebok ad urging readers to “sit on a man’s face” did not insult a male plaintiff’s feelings, Russian media reported on Tuesday. PR expert Oleg Voronin sought 200,000 rubles ($3,100) in moral damages from Reebok’s parent company Adidas last month over the racy ad. Following public outcry,…
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Russia will not destroy its intermediate-range nuclear missiles that the United States claims violate an unraveling Cold War-era arms control treaty, its Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The U.S. said last month it would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in six months unless Moscow ends what Washington says are violations of the…
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Moscow’s cost-of-living ranking has plummeted over the past year in comparison to other cities worldwide, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Worldwide Cost of Living survey has found. The decrease in living costs is linked to high inflation and currency deprivation, the survey reported. The Russian capital has fallen 16 places from 86th to 102nd in the…
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A Hyundai Motor Group unit and Russia’s biggest technology company Yandex NV will jointly develop autonomous vehicles based the South Korean automotive giant’s cars. Carmakers and tech companies are racing to rollout self-driving cars. Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and BMW have set aside traditional rivalries, while Volvo Cars and Baidu Inc. have joined forces to develop…
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The partnership at the heart of the OPEC+ alliance showed further signs of strain after Russia pressured the Saudi-led group to delay a decision on the future of their production cuts. The unusual recommendation to cancel next month’s scheduled meeting means the group probably won’t decide whether to prolong its supply curbs until late June,…
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An EU citizen has been placed in solitary confinement, denied visitation with his wife and subjected to a grueling daily regimen while awaiting trial in central Russia, the Jehovah’s Witnesses told The Moscow Times. The federal penitentiary service of Kirov region did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Andrzej Oniszczuk, 50, was one of…
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U.S. investor Michael Calvey wants to steer away from the politicization of his detention on suspicion of multimillion dollar fraud in Russia, he told Russian tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets in an interview. “I don’t want to politicize this story and try to distance myself from everything that could lead to that,” Calvey told the Moskovsky Komsomolets…
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A court in Chechnya on Monday sentenced Oyub Titiyev, a prominent human rights activist, to four years in a penal settlement after finding him guilty of possessing illegal drugs, a charge his supporters say was trumped up. Titiyev, who runs the office of the Memorial Human Rights Center in the southern Russian region, was detained in…
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A court in Moscow has returned to the prosecutors a case against American national Gaylen Grandstaff who faces 20 years in Russian prison for ordering a cleaning product containing a chemical banned in Russia. The judge in the case has decided to release Grandstaff from the pre-detention facility before the second hearing. “The court returned…
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Russia has signed a $2 billion contract for the supply of more than 20 Su-35 fighter jets to Egypt, the Kommersant news daily reported on Monday, citing two senior defense industry officials. Russia has become one of Egypt’s largest arms suppliers as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has developed friendly ties with President Vladimir Putin. The…
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Residents in the Siberian city of Yakutsk held an unauthorized rally on Sunday after unconfirmed reports alleged that Central Asian migrants raped a local woman. On March 17, a female Yakutsk resident was kidnapped and raped, then fled after her captor fell asleep, the Yakutsk Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. A source in the…
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The Russian Football Union (RFS) is set to investigate controversial remarks made by veteran international striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, local media reported on Sunday. Pogrebnyak, who has 33 caps with Russia, came under scrutiny after he commented on the race of Brazilian-born, naturalized Russian striker Ariclenes da Silva Ferreira, also known as Ari, who has two…
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Russia celebrated the fifth anniversary of its takeover of Crimea with pomp and pride this weekend. The festivities will reach their peak on Monday when Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to open two new power stations, sealing Crimea’s economic integration with Russia. Patriotic fervor ran high on the peninsula as a giant bronze double-headed eagle—an…
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