Day: January 28, 2019
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To Mourn or Celebrate? St. Petersburg Divided Over Anniversary of Leningrad Siege
Seventy-five years after the Leningrad siege ended, the city’s residents won’t be told how to remember. Daniel Kozin / MT There are no individual graves at the Piskaryovskoye Cemetery in northern St. Petersburg. So, the crowds of mourners who brought wreaths threw them in one big pile at the feet of “The Motherland,” a towering…
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A Daring Theft in a Moscow Museum
When the news broke Sunday night of the theft of a painting at Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery, it first seemed like a low-tech version of the “The Thomas Crown Affair.” At 6 p.m. on Sunday, in the very popular show of works by 19th-century landscape painter Arkhip Kuindzhi — that is, one of the busiest times…
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Moscow Hit by Freak Snowstorm, in Photos
Alexander Avilov / Moskva News Agency Moscow was hit with its heaviest snowfall in nearly 70 years over the weekend, Russian media reported. While snow piled up on the pavements and snowplows hit the streets, many Muscovites rejoiced. The snowstorm started on Saturday morning and continued uninterrupted for some 37 hours, the weather news website Meteonovosti reported. …
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Gazprom and OMV discuss relevant cooperation issues
Background OMV AG is Gazprom’s main partner in Austria. The companies cooperate in gas production, transportation and supplies. Since 2017, OMV has been partnering with Gazprom in the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil, gas and condensate field development. In June 2018, an Agreement was signed to extend until 2040 the existing contract between Gazprom Export and OMV Gas Marketing & Trading GmbH for Russian gas supplies to Austria. In November 2018, an Amendment to the contract on gas supplies to Austria…
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The Kremlin Denies Sending Russian Mercenaries to Venezuela
The Kremlin has denied reports that private military contractors who carry out secret missions for Russia flew into Venezuela to reinforce security for its leader in the face of mass protests. Global superpowers split into two camps last week after the United States, Europe and Latin American allies backed opposition leader Juan Guaido declaring himself…
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St. Petersburg Named Russia’s Most LGBT-Friendly City
Russia’s cultural capital, St. Petersburg, has also distinguished itself as most tolerant of the LGBT community, according to the results of a recent survey. Russia banned “homosexual propaganda” among minors in 2013, leading the courts to ban gay pride events and public polling show surging anti-LGBT sentiment. In recent weeks, authorities in the North Caucasus…
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ROSATOM Starts Testing of Accident Tolerant Fuels for Light Water Reactors
First Russian-made experimental nuclear fuel assemblies based on accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) have been loaded for testing into the water loops of MIR research reactor at the State Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region. This work is a part of the project of TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM to develop Russian accident tolerant…
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Russian Official Fired for Forcing Teachers to Clear Snow in Freezing Weather
A public official has been dismissed following reports that she had forced teachers to remove snow in freezing weather, authorities in the Saratov region southeast of Moscow said Monday. Reports and footage of women identified as Saratov school teachers shoveling snow into wicker bags sparked outrage across Russia over the weekend. Heavy snowfall and slow…
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U.S. Lifts Sanctions on Rusal, Other Firms Linked to Oligarch Deripaska
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday lifted sanctions on aluminum giant Rusal and other Russian firms linked to oligarch Oleg Deripaska, defying a Democratic-led push in the U.S. Congress to maintain the restrictions. Earlier this month, 11 of Trump’s fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate joined Democrats in a failed effort to keep the…
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Russian Police Turn Up Painting Stolen From Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery
Russian police have recovered a painting by prominent artist Arkhip Kuindzhi stolen from a Moscow gallery on Sunday and detained the suspected thief, TASS state news agency said on Monday, citing a police official. A 31-year-old man told police where he had hidden the painting, TASS quoted a spokeswoman for the Russian Internal Ministry, Irina Volk,…
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Tanks and Flowers: St. Petersburg Celebrates End of Leningrad Siege (in Photos)
St. Petersburg marked the 75th anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad this weekend with a military parade in the center of the city and commemorations of the fallen. The World War II-era siege, which lasted for 872 days and killed an estimated one million people, is remembered every year on Jan. 27 —…
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77% of Russians Oppose Ceding Kuril Islands to Japan, Poll Says
Over three-quarters of Russians have said they oppose handing a chain of Pacific islands to Japan as the countries seek to resolve a long-standing territorial row, according to a state-funded poll released on Monday. Tokyo has been seeking the return of the Kuril Islands — known in Japan as the Northern Territories — since Soviet…