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…
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.…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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+…
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…
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’…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The first and longtime head of Russia’s Far East region of Khabarovsk has been detained in Moscow for suspected timber-industry fraud, Russian media reported. 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 and 2013. Observers have said that…
Russia has announced a $30 million gift to Kyrgyzstan ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Central Asian country, one of Moscow’s key military and economic allies in the region. As a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kyrgyzstan enjoys close relations with Moscow. Russia, which has maintained a military airbase near Kyrgyzstan’s capital of…
Russia staged large-scale land, air and sea drills in the annexed Crimean peninsula on Wednesday. The drills which lasted three days involved around 1,500 paratroopers and around 300 military hardware units including large naval ships and aircraft. The drills happened less than a week before the presidential election in Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.…
A court in Russia on Wednesday ruled that former government minister Mikhail Abyzov, an ally of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, be held in pre-trial detention for two months ahead of his trial for fraud and organizing a criminal group. Abyzov, 46, who was minister for open government affairs in Medvedev’s cabinet until last year, was detained at…
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Russia to pull its troops from Venezuela and said that “all options” were open to make that happen. The arrival of two Russian air force planes outside Caracas on Saturday believed to be carrying nearly 100 Russian special forces and cybersecurity personnel has escalated the political crisis in Venezuela. Russia and China…
Release March 27, 2019, 18:30 A Gazprom delegation headed by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee, paid a working visit to Kyrgyzstan today. During the visit to Bishkek, Alexey Miller had a working meeting with Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev, Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic. The parties discussed issues related to cooperation in the gas sector, including the upgrading and renovation of the Kyrgyz gas transmission and…
A ballet set to music by The Rolling Stones and choreographed by Mick Jagger’s ballerina girlfriend has premiered in Russia. The eight-minute “Porte Rouge” (Red Door) show, inspired by the veteran British singer’s zany dance style, delighted a packed crowd at St. Petersburg’s famous Mariinsky Theatre on Tuesday night. Jagger’s partner Melanie Hamrick, a U.S.…
Russian opposition politician and Moscow municipal deputy Ilya Yashin has accused the city’s mayor of budgetary waste in connection with plans to seal off one of several controversial landfills outside Moscow. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin pledged in 2017 to close the Malinki landfill 40 kilometers north of Moscow near the town of Troitsk. Activists believe…
Russian lawmakers have passed legislation that extends punishments for those holding senior positions in organized crime groups. Lawmakers estimate that members of organized crime groups in Russia committed more than 15,000 felonies in 2018. Russia’s upper-house Federation Council voted in favor of the organized-crime bill on Wednesday, sending it to President Vladimir Putin’s desk to be…
A Lithuanian court found former Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity on Wednesday for his role in a 1991 crackdown against the Baltic state’s pro-independence movement. The Vilnius court sentenced Yazov, 94, in absentia to 10 years in prison. He was the highest-ranking person on a list of…
Ford will close two of its assembly plants in Russia, a spokeswoman for the company’s joint venture in the country told The Moscow Times on Wednesday. The Vsevolozhsk assembly plant near St. Petersburg and the Naberezhnye Chelny assembly plant in Tatarstan will both close, while the plant in the city of Yelabuga in Tatarstan will…
Using images from U.S.S.R.-era books, postcards and newspapers, Dutch artist Tamara Stoffers delves into the Soviet past to create surreal collages, playing with the old and ordinary to make it experimental and new. Her distinctive style inspires nostalgia for a time and place to which not all have been — including the young artist herself.…
Former Russian minister Mikhail Abyzov was detained by security forces Tuesday on suspicion of embezzling 4 billion rubles ($62 million). Abyzov, 46, faces up to 20 years behind bars if convicted. The ex-minister has denied the charges. He is the second government minister to be detained and face criminal prosecution in the past two years,…
Protesters clashed with security forces in Russia’s republic of Ingushetia early on Wednesday during a protest against a controversial land swap deal. More than 10,000 protesters rallied in Ingushetia’s capital of Magas on Tuesday against legislation that would bar residents from voting on border-related issues. Protest leaders said the rally would continue “indefinitely” to demand…
The Tretyakov Gallery continues its series of retrospectives of prominent turn-of-the-century painters with an enormous exhibition of works by Ilya Repin. Devoted to the 175th anniversary of the artist’s birth, the retrospective at the Tretyakov Gallery is only the first of three shows. After Moscow it will travel to the State Russian Museum in St.…
Russia’s Defense Ministry plans to establish a film studio to produce movies about the modern Russian army, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Tuesday. The announcement was made at an annual awards ceremony that celebrates art and culture about the Russian military. During his awards speech, Shoigu said that despite there being plenty of quality films…
More than 1,300 Russian state officials suspected of violating corruption rules were fired for loss of trust last year, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Russia ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries. Observers have criticized anti-graft campaigns under President Vladimir Putin’s rule as ineffective. The Prosecutor General’s Office said its intervention has led to the dismissal…
Former Russian minister Mikhail Abyzov was arrested Tuesday evening on suspicion of embezzling $62 million, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a press release. In May 2012, Abyzov was appointed as Minister for Open Government Affairs in former President Dmitry Medvedev’s cabinet, a post he held for six years. He is suspected of creating and running a…
The presence of “Russian specialists” in Venezuela is governed by a military-technical cooperation agreement between the two countries, Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry did not provide any further details in its statement about the specialists. Two Russian Air Force planes landed at Venezuela’s main airport on Saturday carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100…
Thousands of residents in Russia’s smallest region protested for the right to hold a referendum on a divisive border-change deal after local leaders sought to remove such proposals from the ballot box. In October 2018, the republic of Ingushetia’s leaders signed the land swap deal with neighboring Chechnya, sparking mass protests. According to proposed rules,…
Football striker Pavel Pogrebnyak has been disciplined by Russia’s Football Union (RFU) over controversial comments he made against naturalized players on Russia’s international team. In an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid earlier this month, the footballer stated: “it’s weird when a black player plays for the Russian national team,” adding that he is “against” the…
The United States on Monday accused Russia of “reckless escalation” of the situation in Venezuela by deploying military planes and personnel to the crisis-stricken South American nation that Washington has hit with crippling sanctions. The Russian planes and military personnel arrived outside the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Saturday, according to local media reports, two months after the Trump…
Russia ranks in the top 25 percent of countries whose citizens can enjoy the most freedom of travel abroad, according to an annual rating of passport “strength.” The Henley & Partners residence and citizenship planning firm ranks the strength of 199 different passports based on the availability of visa-free or visa on arrival travel to…
An autonomous power generation centre has been created at North-Komsomolskoye field to ensure failure-free power supply to drilling units and processing facilities. The centre comprises mobile smart gas-turbine units with a capacity of 2,500 kW each. Their main advantage is associated with low-cost power generation at drilling horizontal wells of up to 3.5 km –…
Volkhov, Leningrad region – PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers has launched a project to build a new, modern phosphate-based fertilizer production facility and energy plant at its Metachem production site. Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of the Leningrad region, Viktor Evtukhov, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of…
Facebook said on Tuesday it has removed more accounts from Iran, Russia, Macedonia and Kosovo, citing what it described as “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” A total of 2,632 pages, groups and accounts were removed from Facebook and Instagram for operations linked to the above-mentioned countries, the social media platform said. Facebook said 1,907 of those accounts…
A London court has ruled against Artem Avetisyan, a businessman who is embroiled in a legal battle with detained U.S. investor Michael Calvey’s Baring Vostok over control of Russia’s Vostochny Bank, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group who was detained on Feb. 14 for fraud,…