Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Colombia Rejects Russia’s Warning Against Venezuelan Military Action
Colombia on Tuesday rejected a Russian warning against foreign military intervention in Venezuela and said it supported a peaceful transition to democracy in the neighboring South American country. “Colombia reiterates that the transition to democracy must be conducted by the Venezuelans themselves peacefully and within the framework of the Constitution and international law, supported by political…
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Gazprom Racing Team secures podium result
News from projects and regions April 2, 2019, 20:00 The traditional handing over of the trophy cups won in ice yacht tournaments by the Gazprom Racing Team to Georgy Fokin, Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Saint Petersburg, took place at the company’s head office on April 1, 2019. The Gazprom Racing Team, a St. Petersburg-based ice yacht crew consisting of Oleg Vasiliev, Ruslan Rudenko,…
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ROSATOM and Kurchatov Institute took part in the European Research Reactor Conference
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Viktor Zubkov: broad lineup of natural gas-powered vehicles essential to developing NGV market
Release April 2, 2019, 19:10 Photos Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of the Gazprom Board of Directors, held a meeting today at the premises of AVTOVAZ in Togliatti, Samara Region, on issues related to developing the domestic NGV market and stimulating supply and demand for natural gas-powered machinery. Taking part in the event were Anton Inyutsyn, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Alexander Morozov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade…
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Vulgar Putin Graffiti ‘Censored’ From Internet – Reports
A handful of Russian news outlets have removed stories from their websites on graffiti calling President Vladimir Putin an anti-gay slur, in what one local publication called an act of censorship. Russian laws banning “blatant disrespect” toward the authorities online entered into force last Friday. Under the legislation, outlets have 24 hours to voluntarily delete…
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Russia Says It Has Opened Helicopter Training Center in Venezuela
Russia has opened a training center in Venezuela to help the country’s pilots fly Russian-made military helicopters, Russian state-owned industrial conglomerate Rostec said on Monday, Moscow’s latest gesture of support for President Nicolas Maduro. Rostec said the centre was inaugurated on Thursday last week, the same day as the White House warned Moscow and other countries backing Maduro…
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Russian Ex-Military Official Jailed Over Islamic State Links
A former Russian military officer has been sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges of participating in the banned Islamic State terrorist organization, the state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday. Denis Khisamov was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Krasnodar and was sentenced by a district military court in Rostov-on-Don for participating…
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4 Injured in St. Petersburg Military Academy Explosion – Reports
Up to four cadets have been injured in an explosion at a St. Petersburg military and space academy, Russian media outlets reported on Tuesday. The explosion at the Mozhaysky Military Space Academy occurred during an attempt to move an undetonated shell, an unnamed source in the emergency services told the St. Petersburg-based 78.ru news channel.…
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Half of Russians Oppose Full-Fledged Union With Belarus, Poll Says
Almost half of Russians oppose uniting with neighboring Belarus into a single country, according to a state-funded survey published on the 20th anniversary of the countries’ integration project. The potential merger between Minsk and Moscow became a widely discussed possibility in 2019 as a potential loophole for Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay in power…
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Namaste: Russia Embraces the Yoga Lifestyle
By the time Los Angeles-based celebrity meditation guru Mahan Kirn had taken the stage and folded her legs into lotus position in Moscow’s Prana Yoga Center on Saturday the enormous main studio was bunged to capacity, with each yoga mat bunched up against the next. Wearing the white head covering and modest clothing that is…
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Indoor Plumbing Still a Pipe Dream for 20% of Russian Households, Reports Say
More than one-fifth of Russian households do not have access to indoor plumbing, according to official statistics obtained by the RBC news website on Tuesday. Russia leads the developed world with the worst sanitation record, according to the London-based WaterAid NGO. A 2012 estimate citing official data placed the number of Russians whose households are…
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Russian Billionaires Grew $20B Richer in 2019 – Bloomberg
Russia’s 23 richest billionaires grew richer by more than $20 billion in the first three months of 2019, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The number of billionaires in Russia has shrunk from 101 in 2018 to 98 this year, with Forbes estimating their combined wealth growing from $409.3 billion to $421 billion. An estimated…
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Russian Cyber Expert Sentenced for Treason in FSB Scandal
A Russian internet entrepreneur has been sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of state treason in the interests of the United States. Georgy Fomchenkov’s verdict comes a month after cybersecurity expert Ruslan Stoyanov and ex-FSB security officer Sergei Mikhailov were sentenced to 14 and 22 years in prison on the…
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Russia Revises Up 2018 Growth Data in Boost for Putin Target
Two months ago, Russia’s statistics agency put a dent in its own credibility, publishing a growth estimate for 2018 that far exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts. On Monday it had a chance to explain itself. The statistics agency confirmed the full-year result of 2.3 percent, the highest since 2012. It revised upward the figures…
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U.S. Halts F-35 Deal With Turkey, Protesting Its Plans to Buy From Russia
The United States has halted delivery of equipment related to the stealthy F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey, marking the first concrete U.S. step to block delivery of the jet to the NATO ally in light of Ankara’s planned purchase of a Russian missile defense system. U.S. officials told their Turkish counterparts they will not receive further…
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PhosAgro Completes Reorganisation of Production and Logistics Assets
Moscow – PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, has concluded its reorganisation of JSC Apatit (Cherepovets) by incorporating JSC Metachem (Volkhov) and JSC PhosAgro-TRANS (in Cherepovets). PhosAgro CEO Andrei Guryev said: “PhosAgro’s merger of production and logistics assets into one legal entity has now been concluded.…
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Core catcher frame and embedded part are installed at Rooppur NPP (Bangladesh) construction site
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Indigenous Arctic Population Accuses Russian Authorities of Rights Violations
An indigenous population of Russia’s Far North has appealed to the United Nations with claims that Russian authorities violated their rights by giving their historic land to a hunting club. An estimated 80,000 Sami live in the northern lands of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia’s Murmansk region, where reindeer herding has been the cornerstone of…
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Dead Russian Woman’s Family Brings Her Body to Protest, Claiming Legal Dispute Killed Her
A dead Russian woman’s relatives and former colleagues brought her body to a local administrative building to protest officials who they claim were responsible for her death, the state-run RIA Novosti news site reported. Irina Fokina, who died March 28 at age 51, had been accused of conducting business illegally with her transportation company in the…
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Russian Scientists Ring the Alarm on Lake Baikal’s Pollutants
More than 15,000 metric tons of toxic waste have flown into Russia’s Lake Baikal from its largest tributary in the last decade, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. Environmentalists have acknowledged pollution at Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest and oldest freshwater lake, since at least 1998. Scientists warned last week that proposals by the…
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Russia’s Alrosa Raises $11.8 Million in New York Diamond Sale
Russian state-controlled miner Alrosa, the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds in carat terms, raised $11.8 million in its first New York diamond auction of the year, as it seeks to increase its activity in the United States. Rebecca Foerster, president of Alrosa, North America, said sanctions against some Russian companies did not diminish the…
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Russian Newspaper’s Office Attacked, Editor Receives Death Threat
A regional outpost of Russia’s Kommersant business newspaper received a written death threat in an attack on its Yekaterinburg office over the weekend, police said. The motive behind the break-in was not immediately clear, Sergei Plakhotin, general director of the Kommersant-Ural publishing house, told the local e1.ru news website. The outlet speculated that the attack…
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Poroshenko’s Politics Have ‘Failed,’ Russian Lawmakers Say After Ukraine Election Results
A comedian’s double-digit lead over Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election signals that the incumbent’s politics have failed, Russian lawmakers have said. Russia has paid close attention to the vote in Ukraine, a country on the front line of the West’s standoff with Russia after the 2014 Maidan street…
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Rosneft Participates in Earth Hour Environmental Campaign
Rosneft Oil Company has participated in the international environmental campaign called ‘Earth Hour’. The campaign has been held since 2007 with support by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Its goal is to draw public attention to environmental and resource-saving issues. Participants of the Earth Hour simultaneously switch off their lights and facade lighting…
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Share of Russians Predicting Better Ties With the West Hits 5-Year High – Poll
The number of Russians forecasting improved relations between their country and the West has reached a five-year high, the independent Levada Center pollster said Monday. Public support for Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine has remained in the high 80s in the Levada poll since 2014, despite it leading to economic sanctions and strained Russia-West relations.…
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Co-Owner of Russia’s S7 Airline Dies in Plane Crash Near Frankfurt
Natalia Fileva, chairwoman and co-owner of Russia‘s second largest airline S7, died when a private jet she was in crashed near Frankfurt on Sunday, the company said. Fileva, 55, was the major shareholder in S7, a member of global Oneworld airlines alliance, and one of the richest women in Russia, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes at…
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Treaty’s End Would Give U.S., Russia Impetus to Make More Nukes – Study
The demise of the only U.S.-Russia arms control pact limiting deployed nuclear weapons would make it harder for each to gauge the other’s intentions, giving both incentives to expand their arsenals, according to a study to be released on Monday. The expiration of the New START accord also may undermine faith in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,…
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Comedian Takes Early Lead in Ukraine Presidential Vote – Exit Polls
A comedian with a popular anti-corruption message but no political experience took the lead in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election on Sunday, early exit polls showed. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV show, has consistently led opinion polls in a three-horse race against incumbent Petro Poroshenko and…
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On This Day: Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol was born in the Ukrainian town of Sorochintsy in 1809. His father, Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky, was himself a poet and a playwright, writing in both Ukrainian and Russian. Both languages were spoken in their home, and this would go on to have a significant influence on Gogol’s writing. In 1828 Gogol moved to St.…
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Russia Dismisses Speculation About its “Specialists” in Venezuela
Russia has clearly stated the purpose of the “specialists” it has sent to Venezuela under a military cooperation deal,Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday, dismissing U.S. concerns about their presence. “The Russian side clearly stated the purpose of the arrival of its specialists to Caracas. This is not about any ‘military contingents’,” Zakharova said…
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U.S. Warns Russia Over Troops in Venezuela, Threatens Sanctions
The White House on Friday warned Russia and other countries backing President Nicolas Maduro against sending troops and military equipment to Venezuela, saying the United States would view such actions as a “direct threat” to the region’s security. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been given a list of options to respond to Russia‘s growing presence in…
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Trump Will ‘Probably’ Talk to Putin About Venezuela
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he will probably talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping about the crisis in Venezuela. “We will probably be talking at some point,” Trump told reporters after the White House warned Russia and other countries backing President Nicolas Maduro against sending troops and military equipment to Venezuela.…
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Decision made to implement major gas processing and liquefaction project near Ust-Luga
Release March 29, 2019, 19:00 Today, Gazprom and RusGazDobycha made a decision on the final configuration of the project for a large-scale complex that will process ethane-containing gas and produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) near the settlement of Ust-Luga, Leningrad Region. The parties have thus moved to the implementation stage in the project. The project envisages the construction of capacities for the processing of 45 billion cubic…
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Down By The River: Moscow’s Iconic Northern River Terminal
The terminal stands dusted in snow in this photo from 1959. Because ships could depart for the White, Baltic, Black and Caspian seas, and the Sea of Azov, from here, the terminal is sometimes referred to as the Five Seas’ port. S.Preobrazhensky / mos.ru
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Police Fired, Unit Disbanded for Siding With Protesters in Russia’s Ingushetia
More than a dozen patrol officers have been fired in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia for failing to disperse protesters rallying against a controversial land swap deal. The Ingush population took to the streets this week to demand their governor’s resignation and a public vote on the border agreement signed last fall with the…
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Rock Opera to the Rescue
How do you save a church? Call in a heavenly choir. That’s what St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Moscow decided to do. To raise funds for desperately needed repairs to their historic 135-year-old church, the church invited the Stas Namin Theater to perform their production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” on April 2. And Stas Namin…
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Russian Airplane Passenger Sets Seat on Fire, Sparking Anti-Lighter Push
A Russian airline passenger risked burning down the plane he was on after inadvertently setting his own seat on fire this week. The Red Wings airline passenger learned his seat was on fire after complaining to flight attendants about a burning smell shortly after takeoff, the RBC news website reported. “The seat smoldered because the…
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Dozens of Crimean Tatars Arrested on Terrorism Charges
Russian authorities have detained at least 23 Crimean Tatars on suspicion of being members of a banned Islamic group this week. The Federal Security Service (FSB) raided the homes of 25 Crimean Tatars in Simferopol, detaining 20 on Wednesday and three more the next day. The predominantly Muslim ethnic minority has largely opposed Russia’s 2014…
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Russia Enjoys the Show in Tight Ukrainian Election
A chocolate baron, a comedian who plays a president on television and a former prime minister hoping third time’s the charm. These are the leading candidates for the Ukrainian presidency as voters head to the polls on Sunday for the second time since the 2014 Maidan Revolution and Russia’s annexation of Crimea the same year.…
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Russian Scientology Churches Raided in Fraud Investigation
Russian security forces have raided the offices of the Church of Scientology in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Thursday in connection with an investigation into defrauded homebuyers. Investigators believe the church may have transferred around 3 billion rubles to its U.S. headquarters in recent years, according to the state-run TASS news agency. The funds were…
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Russian Navy Escorts NATO Ships in Black Sea on Way to Ukraine
Two Russian naval vessels are closely escorting NATO warships in the Black Sea that are headed toward Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday. The commander of a NATO maritime group said Dutch, Spanish, Canadian, Turkish, Romanian and Bulgarian frigates entered the Black Sea on Thursday. The warships are part of the alliance’s defense cooperation…
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U.S-Hired Firm Audits Russia’s Rusal For Compliance With Sanctions Deal
A firm hired by the U.S.Treasury Department is auditing Russian aluminum giant Rusal to check whether it is complying with the terms of a deal under which Washington agreed to lift sanctions on the company, Rusal said. The audit is the first glimpse of how Treasury is policing whether Rusal and its parent company En+…
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Abramovich-Built Stadium in Russia Slated for Demolition Over Safety Concerns
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…
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Russia Threatens to Block Popular VPN Services to Prevent Website Access
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’…
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Ex-Russian Minister’s Shock Arrest. And Ukraine Heads to the Polls.
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…
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Siberian Region Bans Migrant Workers Amid Tensions Over Rape Case
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…
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Bears in Russian Zoo Predict Ukrainian Election
“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…
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Russian Tycoon in Divorce Battle Wins Back $400M Yacht in Dubai
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…
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Roadmap signed on Gazprom’s participation in acquisition of Kyrgyzneftegaz property and assets
Release March 28, 2019, 17:40 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee, and Kubatbek Boronov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, signed today in Bishkek the Roadmap on the participation of Gazprom in the acquisition of the property and assets of Kyrgyzneftegaz. The signing ceremony was attended by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Sooronbay Jeenbekov, President of the Kyrgyz Republic.…
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Russia to Allocate Funds in 2021-2022 for an LNG Terminal
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…
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Russian Advisers Will Stay in Venezuela ‘as Long as Necessary,’ Moscow Vows
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…
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ATOMEXPO 2019 to Feature Discussion on the Possibilities of Nuclear Medicine around the World
This year’s ATOMEXPO International Forum in Sochi will feature a roundtable discussion on “Nuclear Medicine: Trends, Innovations and Best Practices” organized by Rusatom Healthcare (a medical integrator that is part of the ROSATOM) in conjunction with the official supplier of isotope products to Rosatom, JSC Isotope. The roundtable will bring together experts from Russia and…
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On This Day: Maxim Gorky
On March 28 in 1868, the writer Maxim Gorky was born as Alexei Peshkov in Nizhny Novgorod. Later he took the penname of “Gorky” as he told the “bitter truth” of life in Russia. During the Soviet period he was celebrated as an anti-tsarist, working-class supporter of the Soviet regime, and his books, short stories…
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Ford Will Pay Out $200M to Laid-Off Russian Workers
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…
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Russia Invents Flying, Shooting Kalashnikov Rifle Drone
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…
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Treacherous Urban Avalanche as Snow Cascades Off Rooftop in Russia
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…
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Russia Accuses Lithuania of ‘Provocative’ Act After Former Soviet Official Convicted
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…
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Kremlin Rejects Trump’s Call for Russia to Pull out of Venezuela
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…
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Rosatom Reaches a Significant Milestone in Bolivian CNTRD Construction
The Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN) has signed detailed design documentation approval and acceptance acts for the construction of administrative and residential area facilities within the contract to build the Center for Nuclear Technology Research and Development on the territory of Bolivia, including the administrative building, training center, utility infrastructure and other facilities. Earlier, in…
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Ex-Putin Aide Detained in Rosneft Fraud Case
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…
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