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#TogetherBrighter 2019 Festival kicks off at Gazprom Transgaz Stavropol

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Background Gazprom Transgaz Stavropol is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom. The company operates linear gas trunklines that pass through 10 constituent entities of the North Caucasus and Southern Federal Districts of the Russian Federation. It also ensures that gas is supplied to Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, and the Republic of South Ossetia. Gazprom Transgaz Stavropol consists of 18 branches, including 10 gas pipeline operation centers. The company’s annual gas transmission volumes…

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Russian Explosion Victims Hit By Radiation, Media Reports

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At least six victims of a military site explosion in northern Russia have allegedly been taken to Moscow with radiation exposure, according to unconfirmed media reports published a day after the mysterious blast. Authorities in a nearby city reported a brief spike in radiation Thursday when a rocket engine blew up at the testing site…

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Transport Junction on Key Ufa Highway Put into Service with Support of Bashneft

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A transport junction was built with the support of Bashneft, an enterprise of Rosneft Group, on the major Ufa highway which connects the northern and southern parts of the city.

A Timeline of Putin’s 2 Decades in Power

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Russian President Vladimir Putin was appointed acting prime minister on Aug. 9, 1999, by then-president Boris Yeltsin. He has been in office as president or prime minister ever since, a period spanning two decades. Here are some highlights of Putin’s 20 years in power: Aug. 9, 1999 — During an economic crisis, Boris Yeltsin names little-known…

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Radiation Spike Fuels Scramble for Iodine in Russian Cities Near Explosion

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Residents of two northern Russian cities are stocking up on iodine that is used to reduce the effects of radiation exposure after a mysterious accident at a nearby military testing site, regional media have reported. The Defense Ministry has given few details of the accident, saying only that two people were killed and six injured…

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Last Gasp Moscow Music Festivals

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By the calendar it’s still summer, but the weather is decidedly autumnal. All that means is that you have all the more reason to party! The second half of August is simply packed with small (and not so small) festivals and concerts that you should definitely see if you happen to be in the Russian…

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Russia Accuses U.S. of Meddling in Its Affairs With Protest Warning

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Russia on Friday accused the U.S. Embassy of having meddled in Russia’s internal affairs when it published a map online showing the route of an unauthorized anti-government protest earlier this month. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned a senior U.S. diplomat over what it said was a post on Twitter and the…

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Russia Moves to Tighten Protest Laws Amid Moscow’s Opposition Uprising

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Russian lawmakers are moving to further restrict the locations where citizens will be allowed to protest following weeks of demonstrations over Moscow authorities’ refusal to allow the opposition from running for local office. Thousands of Muscovites have taken to the streets in the past month to protest the decision to bar opposition members from running…

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‘Who Is Putin?’ How Russia Reacted to Leader’s Rise to Power, 20 Years Ago

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On this day 20 years ago, Russian President Boris Yeltsin named Vladimir Putin the country’s acting prime minister and successor for the presidency. At the time, most Russians knew little about the 46-year-old head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), who had largely kept out of the public eye. The Kremlin’s political opponents, meanwhile, criticized Yeltsin’s…

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In Photos: 20 Years of Putin

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The world was a very different place in 1999. We were introduced to Britney Spears. Bill Clinton was impeached. Napster was launched. And everyone worried about Y2K and the havoc it would soon wreak on dial-up internet and our giant PCs. It was also the year Vladimir Putin was appointed as prime minister of Russia…

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Russian Ex-Official Tries to Sue Stalin, Told There Are ‘No Signs of Crime’

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A former top prosecutor in Russia has encountered resistance as he tries to sue Stalin over orders to execute over 80,000 people and send nearly 200,000 to the gulags, Russia’s Kommersant business daily has reported. Ex-prosecutor Igor Stepanov filed a report seeking to launch criminal proceedings against Stalin, citing the Soviet leader’s 1937 order to…

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Russia Accuses Deutsche Welle of Urging Russians to Participate in Opposition Protests

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Italy Aide Linked to Russia Funding Accusations Frequented Moscow – BuzzFeed

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An aide to Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, at the center of accusations the ruling League party sought millions of euros via a secret Russian oil deal, flew back-and-forth to Moscow last year, news website BuzzFeed said on Thursday. Flight records show Salvini’s former spokesman Gianluca Savoini went to Moscow on three separate occasions…

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Gazprom Transgaz Nizhny Novgorod builds children’s playground in Morki settlement

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Background Gazprom Transgaz Nizhny Novgorod is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom that delivers natural gas to 15 regions in the Volga and Central Federal Districts of the Russian Federation. The company’s gas transmission system is composed of trunklines stretching for over 13,000 kilometers. Gazprom Transgaz Nizhny Novgorod operates 54 compressor workshops, 284 gas compressor units, 371 gas distribution stations, and 4 gas refuelers at gas pipeline operation centers. The company’s efficiency…

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Russian Lawmaker Accuses U.S. of Meddling in Moscow City Election

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A senior Russian lawmaker on Thursday accused the United States of meddling in a Moscow city election next month by organizing what he called provocations in the Russian capital, the state-run RIA news agency reported. Andrei Klimov, the lawmaker who oversees the upper house of parliament’s commission to defend state sovereignty, said that a series…

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What to Expect From Moscow Protests This Saturday

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Moscow’s opposition plans to press ahead with more protests this Saturday even after election officials closed all avenues for several Kremlin critics to run for office in the Russian capital next month. The ongoing standoff between Russia’s opposition and its leadership that has taken place in recent weeks has drawn international attention to what would have otherwise…

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Russia Freezes Bank Accounts Linked to Opposition Politician Navalny Following Raids

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Russian authorities on Thursday froze a slew of bank accounts linked to jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny as part of a money laundering investigation, Kira Yarmysh, his spokeswoman, and Russian investigators said. Russia’s Investigative Committee announced during protests in Moscow last weekend that it had opened a criminal case into the laundering of 1 billion…

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Tarantino ‘Shocked By Moscow’ in First Visit to Russia Since 2004

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Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino was “shocked” by the positive changes Moscow has undergone during his first visit to Russia’s capital in 15 years this week, the country’s culture minister said, while Tarantino himself said that he visited Russia “to see the people,” not its government. Tarantino was in Moscow for the Wednesday evening premiere of…

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2 Dead in Russian Rocket Engine Explosion; Radiation Spikes, Shipping Shut

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Two people were killed and a nearby city reported a rise in radiation levels when a rocket engine blew up at a testing site in northern Russia on Thursday, forcing authorities to shut down part of a bay in the White Sea to shipping. The brief spike in radiation was reported by authorities in the nearby city…

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Russia Closes Part of White Sea to Shipping for a Month After Fatal Explosion

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Russia closed off an area of the White Sea to shipping for a month after the fatal explosion of a rocket engine on a military testing ground in Russia‘s north earlier on Thursday, Interfax cited the port of Arkhangelsk as saying. The explosion of a liquid-propellant rocket engine killed two people on Thursday in Russia‘s northern Arkhangelsk region,…

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Summer of Discontent: Meet the People Working to Help Detained Russian Protesters

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The first thing Leonid Treskunov did after he was detained during a protest in Moscow on June 12 was call the OVD-Info police-monitoring group. “I googled their hotline number and called them pretty much as soon as I was in the police wagon,” said the 33-year-old Muscovite. “I didn’t know what to do in a…

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Russia Deploys Missile System 70km From Norway’s Vardo Radar

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Russia’s Bal coastal missile system (NATO reporting name SSC-3 or Styx) was moved from its permanent deployment location to the Sredny Peninsula on the Barents Sea coast on Wednesday evening, the Northern Fleet’s press service reported. Sredny Peninsula is the smallest peninsula between the Pechenga Bay and Rybachny (Fisher) Peninsula, a northwestern appendix to the Kola Peninsula.…

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PhosAgro Welcomes Global Community’s Increasing Attention to Issues of Food Safety and Human Health

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Moscow – PhosAgro Group welcomes the adoption of the International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers developed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to the FAO, the International Code of Conduct was developed with the aim of eliminating hunger, improving food safety and stimulating the production, distribution…

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On This Day in 1945 the Soviet Union Declared War on Japan

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On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union officially declared war on Japan, flooding 1.6 million troops into Manchuria, an area of 600,000 square miles in the North-East of China. Despite a strong Japanese army comprised of a million men awaiting them, the Soviet force, under command of Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky, swept into China, Korea and…

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Turkey’s Erdogan Vows Not to Recognize Crimea as Russian

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara will not recognize the Crimean peninsula as Russian territory during talks with his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday. Russia annexed the Black Sea territory from Ukraine in 2014, incurring several rounds of Western economic sanctions. Moscow maintains that an overwhelming majority of Crimean residents voted to join Russia…

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Apple Under Investigation in Russia For Unfair Competition

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Apple is under investigation in Russia following a complaint from cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab and may be abusing its dominant market position, Russia’s anti-monopoly watchdog said on Thursday. Watchdog FAS said it was investigating why a new version of Kaspersky Lab’s Safe Kids application had been declined by Apple’s operating system, resulting in a significant…

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Russian Ally Kyrgyzstan’s Wanted Ex-Leader Evades Arrest After Dramatic Raid

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Kyrgyz elite security forces attempted to arrest former president Almazbek Atambayev at his house on Wednesday, but his supporters kept them at bay and killed at least one operative, local media and authorities reported. Parliament accused Atambayev of corruption and stripped him of immunity from prosecution in June after he fell out with current president…

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Russian Military Unveils Stealth Drone’s Maiden Flight

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A new Russian military drone equipped with stealth technologies has taken flight for the first time, according to footage published by Russia’s Defense Ministry. The military said over the weekend the Okhotnik (“Hunter”) combat drone made “several circles” for more than 20 minutes at an altitude of up to 600 meters before landing. [embedded content]…

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Russian Designer Lebedev Announces Emigration in Video Address, Sparking ‘Trolling’ Suspicion

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Outspoken designer Artemy Lebedev has announced his emigration from Russia in an emotional video address that has left many viewers dubious about its sincerity. A well-known designer and popular blogger famous for his provocative views, Lebedev owns the design studio Art.Lebedev. The studio has developed the official logos of the Russian cities of Moscow, Yekaterinburg…

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1 in 4 Russian Children Live Below Poverty Line, Official Data Says

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More than a quarter of children in Russia live below the poverty line, double the national average across all age groups, according to official data. As the number of Russians living in poverty grows amid declining real incomes, researchers say children are significantly more likely to experience economic hardship than other population segments. The United…

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Opposition Candidate Sobol Barred From Moscow Vote

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Russian election officials have issued a final decision to block opposition candidate Lyubov Sobol from running for Moscow’s city council next month. Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said it had received 19 appeals from various candidates including Sobol against the Moscow commission’s decision to disqualify them from the ballot on Sept. 8. That decision, based…

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RN-Yuganskneftegaz Reaches New Daily Output Record

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RN-Yuganskneftegaz, part of the Rosneft Oil Company oil-producing complex, has reached a new absolute historic daily output record of 198,008 tonnes.

Tourism + Technology = New Moscow Attraction

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Moscow has a new tourist attraction. Called In.Visible Moscow, it is described on the company’s website as “an authentic cinema-walk through the streets of Moscow.” As it turns out, In.Visible Moscow is a walking tour reimagined. The technology is like any guided walking tour: a pair of headphones and a guide. The difference is that…

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Russia’s Transgender Community Struggles for Acceptance

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Harry, a slight 20-year-old man dressed in a classic white shirt, black trousers and a baseball cap that hides his hair, passes through the turnstiles in the reception area of the high-rise housing The Moscow Times office with a deadpan expression. Harry is not his given name and he is using someone else’s documents to…

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Russian Man Faces 20 Years in U.S. Prison On Arms Smuggling Charges

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U.S. authorities have arrested a Russian immigrant on suspicion of illegally smuggling restricted firearms parts inside packages of jeans and sneakers into Russia. Vladimir Kuznetsov, 58, is alleged to have exported parts to assemble sniper rifles and other firearms without licenses “by methodically mislabeling the packages” for two and a half years. U.S. law enforcement…

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More than 40 students and teachers from Slovakia visited Novovoronezh NPP

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More than 40 students and teachers from Slovakia paid a familiarization visit to Novovoronezh NPP. The visit was supported by ROSATOM. The foreign guests visited the Atomic Energy Information Center in Voronezh and then headed to the viewing point of innovative power units of Novovoronezh NPP. A NRNU MEPhI senior lecturer gave a lecture to…

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Authorities Jammed Moscow’s Mobile Internet During Opposition Protests – NGO

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Russian authorities ordered mobile operators to cut access to mobile data services during last weekend’s opposition protests in Moscow, marking the first documented case in Moscow’s history, Russia’s Internet Protection Society NGO has said. Russia’s first documented instance of authorities ordering to stifle mobile internet access took place in the country’s republic of Ingushetia in October,…

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The concrete works for the Unit No. 2 turbine hall foundation slab completed at the Rooppur NPP site (Bangladesh)

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August 6, 2019 saw the completion of concrete works for the Unit No. 2 of Rooppur NPP (Bangladesh) turbine hall foundation slab. The slab structure received 3 782 tonnes of rebars and 23 550 cubic meters of concrete. As Sergey Lastochkin, the Vice-President of Rooppur NPP construction of ASE (Rosatom Engineering Division), project has pointed…

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Resume Peace Talks, Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Urges Putin After 4 Soldiers Killed in Donbass

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday pressed Russian leader Vladimir Putin for a resumption of peace talks after four Ukrainian soldiers were killed by shelling in the eastern Donbass border region. Conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed forces has killed an estimated 13,000 people since 2014. A ceasefire deal brokered by France and Germany ended…

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Crime Rates Up Among Russian Security Officials, Report Says

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Russia’s law enforcement and security officials have committed more crimes in 2018 than they did the previous year, according to a media report citing official data. Authorities investigated 6,613 crimes committed by members of 10 key security and law enforcement agencies in 2018, according to data from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office cited by the…

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Russia Says Outgoing U.S. Envoy Failed to Repair Poor Ties

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Russia called outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman a professional diplomat late on Tuesday, but said he had been unable to improve battered Russia-U.S. ties because he had been hamstrung by domestic U.S. politics, the state-run TASS news agency reported. Huntsman, who was appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017, said in a…

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Russia Says Siberian Wildfires Started on Purpose by Illegal Loggers

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Russian prosecutors said on Tuesday that some of the vast Siberian wildfires that environmentalists have dubbed a climate emergency were started on purpose by arsonists trying to conceal illegal logging activity. President Vladimir Putin called in the army last week to help firefighters battle fires raging in remote Siberian forestland that had spread to an…

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Muscovites More Likely to Support Opposition Protests Than Oppose Them – Poll

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Moscow residents are more likely to support the recent wave of opposition protests in Russia’s capital than oppose them, according to the independent Levada Center polling agency. Thousands have taken to the streets of Russia’s capital for the past four weekends in support of the opposition candidates barred from running for the Moscow City Duma…

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Russia Summons Japanese Envoy Over Disputed Islands Comments

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Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had summoned the Japanese ambassador in Moscow to complain about what it said was criticism from Tokyo that bordered on “an attempt to interfere in Russia‘s domestic affairs.” Tokyo earlier this month called a visit by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to one of four islands claimed by both Japan…

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U.S. Ambassador to Russia Huntsman Resigns After 2-Year Tenure

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The U.S. ambassador to Russia has resigned after two years as he considers a run for governor in his home state of Utah, the state’s Salt Lake Tribune newspaper reported Tuesday. Jon Huntsman served as the U.S. envoy to Moscow for two years during a fraught period in relations between the two countries. During his…

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Fabergé and the Link of Times

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No object is as synonymous with Romanov Russia as a Fabergé imperial Easter egg. Each of the fifty eggs commissioned by the last Russian tsars is intricate, flawless, and unique. Gleaming and glittering behind bullet-proof glass in well-fortified museums, they are vibrant talismans of the lost sepia-colored world of the Romanovs. Of the fifty imperial…

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Russia’s FSB Branch Authorized to Block Websites Without a Court Order

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A newly formed Federal Security Service (FSB) cybersecurity branch will gain the power to block websites without a court order, Russia’s national domain coordinator announced Tuesday. The FSB branch joins the ranks of several IT firms, as well as the state media watchdog Roskomnadzor, that hunt down websites that spread malware and are used for…

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Norway Worried by Russian Sea, Air Maneuvers

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Russia has told Norway its navy and air force will hold exercises near the Nordic nation’s Arctic waters later this month, a worrying sign of greater assertiveness by its eastern neighbor, the Norwegian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. NATO member Norway and neighboring Russia have both increased their military presence along NATO’s northern flank following…

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Russian Parents Investigated for Bringing Toddler to Moscow Protest

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Moscow prosecutors have asked a court to strip a couple of parental rights for “endangering” their toddler by bringing him to an opposition protest two weeks ago. Footage published shortly after the July 27 demonstration in support of opposition candidates barred from running in Moscow’s local elections claimed to have identified an “instigator” as a…

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Russian Parents Risk Losing Custody Rights for Bringing Toddler to Moscow Protest

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Moscow prosecutors have asked a court to strip a couple of parental rights for “endangering” their toddler by bringing him to an opposition protest two weeks ago. Footage published shortly after the July 27 demonstration in support of opposition candidates barred from running in Moscow’s local elections claimed to have identified an “instigator” as a…

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Russia’s Workforce Shrinks for Third Year Straight, Research Says

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Russia’s labor force has declined for the third year straight, totaling 75 million people of working age during the first three months of 2019, researchers say. Russia is attempting to increase labor productivity by the end of President Vladimir Putin’s current term in 2024, following a failed attempt to increase productivity by 2018. Unpopular pension…

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Who Are the 10 Russians Risking Prison Time for Opposition Protests?

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Nine men have been placed in pre-trial detention while one is wanted on suspicion of taking part in “mass unrest” by protesting in support of opposition candidates barred from running in Moscow’s local elections. Police detained more than 2,000 people overall during protests on July 27 and Aug. 3 in central Moscow, using violence in…

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Russia Delivers Weapons to New Arctic Garrison

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As Russia’s Northern Fleet strives to complete its newest Arctic base on the coast of the remote Laptev Sea, construction works have been progressing at a hectic pace. The establishment of the garrison in Russia’s Far East town of Tiksi was first announced by the Northern Fleet’s then-Head Commander Nikolai Yevmenov in September 2018. In a meeting with regional…

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TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom to supply nuclear fuel for Rooppur NPP in Bangladesh

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The solemn ceremony with regards to the Nuclear Fuel Supply Contract for Rooppur NPP was held between JSC TVEL and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission in Dhaka on August 6, 2019. TVEL JSC is designated as the single source supplier of nuclear fuel for both units of Rooppur NPP during their entire lifecycle. “As a…

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Rocket Attack Hits Russian Base in Syria, Injuring Civilians

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At least four civilians have been wounded in a rocket attack on Russia’s military base in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry has said. Rebel commanders and rights groups have said Russia and its Syrian ally stepped up aerial strikes last week in a new and bloodier phase of a three-month-old assault on the last opposition…

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‘Human Error’ Likely Caused Siberian Arms Depot Blast, Official Says

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A series of blasts at a Russian military base in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk may have been caused by “human error,” a senior Defense Ministry official said Tuesday. Dramatic footage posted online Monday showed huge explosions on the horizon after an ammunition depot caught fire, with flames leaping into the sky followed by belching…

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On This Day Ilya Repin Was Born

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The most well-known and renowned Russian artist of the 19th century, Ilya Repin’s influence and significance in art has been likened to Leo Tolstoy in literature – a writer who was one of his best and most famous subjects. Repin was born in Kharkhov – now Ukraine – where his father traded horses and…

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LGBT Activists Detained at St. Petersburg Pride Event

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Police in St. Petersburg have reportedly detained at least 11 LGBT activists, three of whom were taken away in an ambulance, at an unauthorized Pride event on Saturday. Local administrations in recent years have either banned gay pride parades outright or backtracked on earlier promises to allow them, often citing a 2013 law banning “homosexual…

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FC Zenit St. Petersburg Fans Accused of Racism Over Reaction to Black Player’s Signing

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Fans of FC Zenit St. Petersburg have been accused of racism following the signing of black Brazilian winger Malcom, an allegation that the club has since denied. FC Zenit signed Malcom from Spanish champions Barcelona for an initial fee of $44.39 million last week. Days later, a banner spotted in the fan section during Zenit’s…

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Russia Will Develop New Nuclear Missiles if Washington Does, Putin Says

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Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday that Moscow would be forced to start developing short and intermediate-range land-based nuclear missiles if the United States started doing so after the demise of a landmark arms control treaty. The United States formally left the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia on Friday after determining that…

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