Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Russia Marks Nazi Invasion Anniversary Amid Ukraine War
Russia is commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union on Wednesday amid Moscow’s assault on Ukraine that has killed thousands and triggered Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II. June 22 — the date when Hitler’s forces invaded the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 —…
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Ukraine Says Hit Black Sea Gas Platform Used by Russia Troops
Updated at 4:15 p.m. on June 22 to clarify that a gas drilling platform, not an oil drilling platform, was struck. Ukraine has admitted striking a gas drilling platform in the Black Sea, saying Tuesday it was being used by Russian troops as a military installation. The attack, which took place on Monday, was the…
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Pussy Riot Member Barred From Georgia as Russian Activists Face Entry Problems
A member of Russian protest group Pussy Riot said Monday she was denied entry to Georgia, sparking concerns among the large community of anti-war activists and journalists who fled to the South Caucasus since the invasion of Ukraine. Olga Borisova was stopped in Tbilisi airport Monday afternoon after returning from Pussy Riot’s tour of western…
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Jailed Moscow Deputy Pickets Against War in Court Hearing
A Moscow opposition deputy staged an anti-war picket while on trial for “discrediting” the Russian military, the SOTA news outlet reported Tuesday. Alexei Gorinov, a member of central Moscow’s Krasnoselsky District Council, was arrested in April on charges of spreading “fake” information and “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces under a law passed in the wake…
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Emigre Russians Find Refuge in Remote Kyrgyzstan
KARAKOL, Kyrgyzstan — A sense of deja vu overcame veteran Russian political activist Ilya Shafranov when he was detained at an anti-war protest. Unlike in the past, he was not being picked up at an opposition demonstration in Moscow — he was being taken into custody by police officers in a remote town in the…
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Moscow Vows ‘Serious Consequences’ for Lithuania Over Kaliningrad Rail Ban
Russia’s response to Lithuania’s rail blockade of its exclave Kaliningrad will carry “serious negative consequences” for the Baltic country’s citizens, Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev said Tuesday. European Union member Lithuania banned the rail transit of sanctioned Russian goods through its territory on Saturday, enforcing an earlier decision made by the bloc. The move…
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Surviving Moskva Sailors Could Face Redeployment – Novaya Gazeta
The surviving sailors of Russia’s sunken Moskva battleship could be deployed into battle again this month, the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported Tuesday. According to a letter the outlet said was authored by the sailors’ parents, 49 conscripts who were rescued from the Moskva have been assigned to the Ladny missile frigate. They could go…
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Ukraine Says Attacks Escalating, as Russia-EU Tensions Rise
Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports sparked fresh tensions with Europe as fears grow of a global food crisis, while Kyiv accused Moscow of stepping up attacks in the east of the country. In New York, Dmitry Muratov, the Russian editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize gold medal…
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China Scales Down Car Exports to Russia – Kommersant
China’s car exports into Russia have been dropping for two months amid slowing demand and supply chain disruptions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the Kommersant daily reported Tuesday. China delivered nearly $32 million worth of passenger vehicles to Russia in May, down from $84.6 million in April and $190.7 million in March, according to Chinese…
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Russia’s Refugee Numbers Plummet to All-Time Low – Research
Russia accepted an all-time low number of refugees so far this year despite authorities boasting of hundreds of thousands Ukrainians being brought into the country to escape war at home, researchers said Monday. Interior Ministry data revealed that only two people have been granted refugee status between January and March 2022, according to the Civic…
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Kremlin Spokesman Says Americans Captured in Ukraine Committed ‘Crimes’
Two Americans captured in Ukraine while fighting with Kyiv’s military were “endangering” Russian soldiers and should be “held accountable for those crimes,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday in an interview with NBC News. The interview marks the first time the Kremlin has commented on the cases of Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, both U.S. military…
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Russian Nobel Laureate Sells Medal for $103.5M to Benefit Ukraine Kids
Dmitry Muratov, the Russian editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, on Monday auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize gold medal for $103.5 million to benefit children displaced by the war in Ukraine. The medal was sold to an as yet unidentified phone bidder at the sale in New York organized by Heritage Auctions. The…
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ROSATOM and Yakutia planning for SHELF-M small nuclear plant
Russian nuclear power company ROSATOM’s director general Alexey Likhachev and the head of the Republic of Sakha (also known as Yakutia) Aysen Nicolayev have signed an agreement “on intentions and a procedure for organising cooperation for promoting projects involving a small nuclear power plant based on the SHELF-M reactor”. The agreement will see the two…
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The Chechens Fighting Russia on the Front Line
Islam is not just another soldier. “If the Russians take me, I won’t be exchanged”, said the Chechen fighting with the Ukrainian army near the front line. “They’ll torture me then show me on television.” The 33-year-old dissident, a refugee who has been in Poland for nearly two decades, joined the Sheikh Mansur battalion in…
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Russian Army Has Lost Up to 4% of Soldiers in 4 Months of War – Report
The Russian army is unlikely to return to its full force in the near future after it has incurred significant losses of troops and military equipment during its four-month war in Ukraine, the investigative outlet iStories reported Monday. Before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the country’s army was ranked the second-best in the world.…
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In Photos: Ukrainian Medics on the Frontlines
Ukraine on Sunday celebrated Healthcare Workers Day, which was established by the U.S.S.R. in 1980, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated nurses who “have literally been on the frontlines since Feb. 24” and called them an example of “extraordinary heroism.” During the four months of Russia’s offensive, these medical…
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Rooppur NPP Power Unit 2 Has Started to Install the Dome Part of the Inner Containment
At the Rooppur NPP construction site in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (with the ROSATOM’s Engineering Division being the general designer and general contractor), installation of the first of the three tiers of the inner containment dome has just been finished at the reactor building of power unit 2. The large-dimensioned structure being 195 tons…
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Panic Buying in Kaliningrad as Lithuania Bans Rail Cargo From Russia
A wave of panic buying spread across the Kaliningrad region after a rail blockade imposed by neighboring Lithuania on Saturday threatened to isolate Russia’s strategic Baltic exclave. One unverified video shared Sunday showed anxious shoppers loading up on cement at a hardware store in the outskirts of the regional capital. “On the first day [of…
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Russia Adds Ukraine Separatist Recognition to School Curriculums
Russian high schools will start teaching students about the Kremlin’s recognition of eastern Ukraine’s breakaway republics as independent states in the upcoming academic year, according to a course outline published on the federal Institute for Education Development Strategy website. In a break with the international community, President Vladimir Putin formally recognized the independence of the…
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Russia Threatens To Retaliate as Lithuania Bans Rail Transit to Kaliningrad
Russia on Monday demanded the immediate lifting of Lithuania’s “openly hostile” restrictions on the rail transit of EU-sanctioned goods to Moscow’s exclave of Kaliningrad that borders Lithuania and Poland. Moscow accused the Baltic nation of banning the rail transit of goods subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union over Russia’s miliary campaign in Ukraine.…
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Ukraine Strikes Offshore Gas Drilling Rig – Crimean Official
Updated at 4:15 p.m. on June 22 to clarify that a gas drilling platform, not an oil drilling platform, was struck. Offiicals Russia-annexed Crimea has accused Ukraine of firing upon a gas drilling platform in the Black Sea Monday morning, with three injured and seven missing. “This morning the enemy struck the drilling platforms of…
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Ukraine Strikes Offshore Oil Drilling Rig – Crimean Official
The head of Russia-annexed Crimea has accused Ukraine of firing upon an oil drilling platform in the Black Sea off the coast of the peninsula. “This morning the enemy struck the drilling platforms of Chernomorneftegaz…I am in touch with colleagues from the Defense Ministry and the FSB. We are working to rescue people,” Aksyonov wrote…
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Russian Player Changes Nationality to Avoid Wimbledon Ban – Report
A Russian tennis player has avoided a Wimbledon ban on all competitors from her country by changing her nationality to Georgian, according to a report in The Times newspaper. Natela Dzalamidze, a 29-year-old doubles player ranked No. 44 in the world, will compete in the women’s doubles with Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic when the tournament starts…
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Russia to Expand High-Tech Surveillance to Ukraine Border Areas – Kommersant
Russia plans to expand its high-tech surveillance program to areas near Ukraine amid a spate of cross-border attacks during Moscow’s nearly four-month invasion, the Kommersant daily reported Monday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the project. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry plans to deploy the “Safe City” program in annexed Crimea, as well as the Krasnodar, Voronezh and…
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Russia Exports Record 8.42M Tons of Oil to China in May – Reuters
Russia exported a record 8.42 million tons of discounted crude oil to China in May amid Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported Monday. That amounts to 1.98 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 1.59 million bpd in April, according to Chinese customs data cited by the news agency. Russia displaced…
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Evading Restrictions, Russians Access Western Entertainment Platforms
For Russian users, watching a television series on U.S. streaming service Netflix or downloading a new online video game from Steam used to be a matter of a few clicks. But an exodus of Western companies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made accessing hundreds of popular entertainment platforms much harder, spawning a network of…
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Putin Slams Western ‘Economic Blitzkrieg’ at Muted Economic Showcase
Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the West’s “economic blitzkrieg” and vowed that Russia would withstand sanctions levied over its invasion of Ukraine in his address at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) Friday. After starting nearly two hours late due to alleged cyberattacks, the Russian president delivered an impassioned speech that scorned the U.S.-led…
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Russian Blogger Stuck at Georgian Border After Fleeing ‘Political’ Terrorism Charges
A Russian blogger and activist has been trapped in the border zone between Russia and Georgia for nearly a week after Tbilisi authorities denied her entry to the country. Russian authorities accuse Insa Lander of recruiting others to a terrorist organization, a claim she rejects as politically motivated. She fled house arrest and attempted to…
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Russian Gaffes, Goofs, and Assorted Blunders
Оплошность: misstep, misdeed, goof, gaffe Last week after taking a look at my column on various ways to fail in Russian, a reader suggested another word and form of failure: the noun оплошность and verb pair плошать/оплошать. These aren’t the words you’d use to describe a complete flop or disaster. Оплошность is a mistake, an…
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In Photos: Russia Holds Showcase Economic Forum in War’s Shadow
Russia held the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), its annual showcase event for investment and business, this week in the shadow of its military campaign in Ukraine. This year’s event lacked the Western presence of years past due to the far-reaching sanctions and business exits seen after Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb.…
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EU Backs Ukraine’s ‘European Dream’ as Russia Cuts Gas Supplies
Europe sent a powerful symbol of solidarity with Ukraine on Friday, when Brussels backed Kyiv’s bid for EU candidate status, even as Russia shelled frontline Ukrainian cities and cut back gas supplies to the West. With the European Commission’s backing, Ukraine could now be added to the list of countries vying for EU membership as…
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Ukraine Says Struck Russian Tugboat in Black Sea
Ukraine’s navy said it struck a Russian ship in the Black Sea on Friday. Russian tugboat Vasily Bekh was allegedly transporting supplies to Snake Island, a remote island off the coast of Ukraine occupied by Russia since the first day of its invasion that has become a focal point of the conflict. The vessel was…
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Russia Says Nearly 2,000 Foreign Fighters Killed in Ukraine
Russia on Friday said that close to 2,000 foreign mercenaries have been killed in Ukraine since the start of Moscow’s military intervention in the pro-Western country. Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that 6,956 “mercenaries and weapons specialists” from 64 countries had arrived in Ukraine since the start of the conflict and that “1,956…
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Russian Economy Faces 10 Years of Recession Without Reforms – Sberbank CEO
The Russian economy will return to 2021 levels in a decade unless the country takes reform measures amid unprecedented Western sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, the head of the country’s largest lender Sberbank said Friday. “If nothing is done in the current situation, then… the return of Russia’s economy to the level of 2021 could…
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Russia Launches Tourist Route to Putin’s Vacation Spots
Russian tourism authorities have developed a new tourist route that will take travelers to some of President Vladimir Putin’s holiday destinations as the country’s invasion of Ukraine has limited Russians’ international travel options. The Russian president is known for taking well-publicized vacations in the Siberian taiga, where he is photographed performing various outdoor exploits in…
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Hundreds of Ukrainians ‘in Limbo’ at Moscow Deportation Centers – Kommersant
Hundreds of Ukrainian citizens are stuck in limbo at detention centers in and around Moscow awaiting deportations that were halted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. Members of Russia’s presidential human rights council and its prison watchdog say at least 358 Ukrainians have been held at Moscow detention centers as…
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Russian Senator Denies Automatic Citizenship for Babies in Occupied Ukraine
This story has been recast to add the denial from Moscow. A Russian senator has denied that children born in Moscow-occupied Ukraine will automatically receive Russian passports. Officials in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions’ pro-Moscow military-civilian administrations had claimed earlier Thursday that babies born there after Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine would automatically be given Russian citizenship. “There…
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Russia Jails U.S. Teacher for 14 Years on Drug Charges
A Russian court has jailed a former U.S. teacher and diplomat for 14 years on charges of “large-scale” drug smuggling and possession, media reported Thursday. Marc Fogel was detained passing through customs at a Moscow airport in August 2021, when 11 grams of marijuana and eight grams of hash oil was reportedly found in his…
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Putin’s Health: Pivotal Yet Shrouded in Uncertainty
Baths in blood extracted from the antlers of Siberian deer. Excrements scooped up by loyal officials to evade analysis. Mysterious absences for emergency medical treatment. The claims made about the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be 70 in October, are lurid and macabre, as well as impossible to verify. But they illustrate…
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Russian Spy Tried To Penetrate War Crimes Court, Say Dutch
The Netherlands said Thursday it had stopped a Russian spy posing as a Brazilian intern from infiltrating the International Criminal Court, which is investigating war crimes in Ukraine. The Russian, identified as Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, flew to the Netherlands in April using an elaborate deep cover story that he had built up over the…
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Investigation Links Gazprom Head With $240M Palace
The head of Russian state-owned energy firm Gazprom has been linked with assets worth $3 billion, a new investigation revealed Thursday. The joint investigation, carried out by media outlet Proekt and a team working with Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, found that Gazprom chief Alexei Miller had been in residence at a number of luxurious…
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ROSATOM and Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Plan to Build Small NPP with SHELF-M Reactor
On June 16, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, ROSATOM and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) signed an agreement on intentions and a procedure for organizing cooperation for promoting projects involving a small nuclear power plant based on the SHELF-M reactor. The document was signed by ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev and…
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ROSATOM to Build Small Nuclear Power Plant in Yakutia Under Far Eastern Concession Program
On June 16, on the sidelines of the XXV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Rosatom signed a cooperation agreement. The agreement was signed by the Russian Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov and ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev. The parties agreed…
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‘It’s Our Way to Protest’: Anti-War Russians Volunteer to Help Ukrainian Refugees
Networks of anti-war volunteers are among those helping more than a million Ukrainian refugees inside Russia despite difficulties with gaining access to temporary accommodation centers and a risk of criminal prosecution. After leaving war-torn eastern Ukraine, many refugees are not only traumatized, but find themselves trapped in Russia without money, documents or even clothes. “It’s…
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‘Our Product, Our Rules,’ Says Russia’s Gazprom Chief
The head of Russian energy giant Gazprom said Thursday that Moscow will play by its own rules after cutting daily gas supplies to Germany. “Our product, our rules. We don’t play by rules we didn’t create,” Alexei Miller said during a panel discussion at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. Earlier this week, Gazprom slashed…
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Dutch Say Prevented Russian Spy From Accessing ICC
The Dutch intelligence service said Thursday it had stopped a Russian spy posing as an intern from accessing the International Criminal Court, which is investigating war crimes in Ukraine. The man used a Brazilian cover identity but was unmasked as a member of Russia’s GRU military intelligence and refused entry in April as a “threat…
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Russia Blacklists 121 Australians, Including Defense Officials and Journalists
Russia’s Foreign Ministry placed sanctions on 121 Australian citizens Thursday, accusing them of promoting a “Russophobic agenda.” The list of sanctioned individuals include politicians and journalists, such as Defense Force Chief General Angus Campbell, Chief of Air Force Mel Hupfeld, and Chief of Navy Michael Noonan, as well as journalists from Australia’s ABC News and…
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EU Leaders Vow to Back Ukraine in Visit To War-Torn Kyiv
The leaders of major EU powers France, Germany and Italy vowed Thursday to help Ukraine defeat Russia and to rebuild its shattered cities, in a visit to a war-torn Kyiv suburb. French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian premier Mario Draghi arrived in Ukraine by train and headed to Irpin, scene of…
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Britain Sanctions Russian Patriarch for ‘Prominent Support’ of Ukraine War
The United Kingdom Thursday has unveiled sanctions against the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, for his support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Today we are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of Putin’s war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine,” the British government said in a statement. The measures, which include a…
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Ex-Russia Football Captain Denisov Denounces War in Ukraine
The former captain of Russia’s national football team has publicly denounced Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “To me, this war is a catastrophe, a complete horror,” Ivan Denisov, 38, told Russian sports reporter Nobel Arustamyan in an interview on the journalist’s YouTube channel Wednesday, more than 100 days since the start of the conflict. Denisov also…
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Following War, Russian Jews Congregate in Yerevan
Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, tens of thousands of Russians have fled to the Caucasus. Among them are members of one unexpected community: hundreds of Russian Jews who have relocated to Yerevan. Nathaniel Trubkin, a 40-year-old Muscovite, moved to Yerevan on March 8, about two weeks after Russia launched its war in…
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Baker Hughes Withdraws From Russia’s LNG Projects – Kommersant
The U.S. oil industry company Baker Hughes has stopped servicing all of Russia’s liquefied natural gas projects, putting the launch of new plants and the further operation of existing projects at risk, the Kommersant daily reported Thursday. Baker Hughes has reportedly recalled service engineers from Gazprom’s Sakhalin-2 and Novatek’s Yamal LNG projects, as well as…
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Two U.S. Volunteers in Ukraine Feared Captured by Russia
Two Americans who volunteered to support Ukraine have gone missing and are feared to have been taken prisoner by Russia, officials and family members said Wednesday. Captive Americans would add another layer of complexity to efforts by the United States, which is pumping billions of dollars into Ukraine but trying to steer clear of direct…
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China Vows Support for Russia, Drawing U.S. Ire
President Xi Jinping on Wednesday assured Vladimir Putin of China’s support on Russian “sovereignty and security” — leading Washington to warn Beijing it risked ending up “on the wrong side of history.” China has refused to condemn Moscow’s massive military assault on Ukraine and has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Russia by blasting…
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U.S. Announces $1Bln More in Arms for Ukraine
U.S. President Joe Biden announced $1 billion worth of new arms for Ukraine Wednesday as Pentagon officials defended the pace and quality of supplies as meeting Kyiv’s battlefield needs. Ukrainian troops shelled Russian targets on the frontlines in the eastern Donbas region with newly arrived French Caesar howitzers, as Ukraine officials met in Brussels with…
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Berlin Blasts ‘Political Decision’ in Gazprom’s Gas Squeeze
Russia on Wednesday stepped up the energy pressure on Europe, slashing gas supplies to the continent for the second day in a row in a move blasted as “political” by Germany. A day after Gazprom said it was cutting deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline by around 40%, the Russian state-owned energy giant said it…
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Chechen Authorities Using Threats and Blackmail to Recruit Soldiers for Ukraine — Investigation
Authorities in the Russian republic of Chechnya are forcing local men to join “volunteer” battalions for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, investigative news outlet The Insider reported Wednesday. Soldiers have reported the use of intimidation, blackmail, or threats of torture and kidnapping against their loved ones, according to The Insider’s sources. While the exact number of…
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ROSATOM takes part in SPIEF-2022
ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev, First Deputy Director General for Development and International Business Kirill Komarov, Deputy Director General for Human Resources Tatyana Terentyeva, and other ROSATOM executives take part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2022) on June 15-18. On June 16, Alexey Likhachev will take part in the plenary session Northern Sea…
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Gazprom To Cut Nord Stream Gas Deliveries by a Third
Russian gas giant Gazprom said Wednesday it was cutting daily gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline by a further 33%, after Germany slammed an earlier cut as political. “From 01:30 a.m. Moscow time on June 16 the daily output of the Portovaya compression station will be up to 67 million cubic metrers per day,”…
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Expert RA confirmed compliance of JSC Atomenergoprom’s bonds with “green” bonds issue principles
On June 14, 2022, the rating agency Expert RA confirmed that JSC Atomenergoprom’s (a part of ROSATOM) bonds comply with the “green” bonds issue principles and “green” financial instrument criteria. The agency’s release says: “Following the methodology of the second party opinion on compliance of bonds with the green bond principles, Expert RA confirms that…
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