Day: May 24, 2019
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Dagestan’s Last Tightrope Walkers: A Photo Essay
Dagestan, a mountainous republic in Russia’s North Caucasus, has long been known for its tradition of tightrope walking. Now the preserve of a few devoted practitioners, it is said that the practice was originally born out of the need for mountain peoples to commute between different auls, or villages. As legend goes, locals simply strung…
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U.S. Ambassador Will Boycott St. Petersburg Forum Over Detained Investor
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman will boycott Russia’s showcase economic forum in St. Petersburg in June in response to the house arrest of American investor Michael Calvey, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson told media. Calvey, who was transferred to house arrest last month, faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted on embezzlement charges…
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Russia Warns It Will Take Measures in Response to Norwegian Spy Radar in Arctic
Vardø is a small fishing village on a little island off Norway’s coast in the Barents Sea. A huge military radar facility forms its skyline. In clear weather, if you look east across the water, you can see the shoreline of Russia’s Fishermen Peninsula, a northern appendix of the Kola Peninsula. Officially, the intelligence service…
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Russian Army Introduces New Military Rank
Russia’s armed forces have introduced a new military rank of sergeant major, “experimenting” with 370 of the new recruits in the southern district. Plans to add the new rank as part of Russia’s military reform have been considered since the early 2010s. A sergeant major would undergo grueling recruitment procedures and oversee the military’s sergeant…
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PhosAgro AGM Approves Dividends
Moscow – The Annual General Meeting of shareholders (AGM) of PhosAgro (“the Company”) (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR) has approved a final dividend payment for 2018 of RUB 6.6 billion, which represents RUB 51 per ordinary share (RUB 17 per GDR) from undistributed net profit for 2018. The dividend record date was set as 10 June…
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Russia’s High-Tech Nuclear Submarine Delayed By Design Flaws
The delivery of Russia’s most expensive and technically advanced nuclear submarine to the Russian Navy is being delayed by design flaws, Russian media have reported. “Kazan” (K-561) is the first modernized multipurpose submarine of the Yasen-M class after “Severodvinsk” was handed over to the Northern Fleet in 2013. There are considerable changes in the auxiliary systems on…
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On This Day: Mikhail Sholokhov
Born on May 24,1905, Mikhail Sholokhov was a Russian writer and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize for Literature for his massive work on the Cossacks of southern Russia, “And Quiet Flows the Don.” After joining the Red Army at the early age of 15, Sholokhov returned from Moscow in 1925 to his home: a…
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May Governed in ‘Very Difficult’ Time for Russia-U.K. Ties – Kremlin
British Prime Minister Theresa May led her country at a difficult period for its ties with Russia, the Kremlin said after she announced her resignation on Friday. May said she will step down on June 7, ending her three-year tenure following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in 2016 and deepening the Brexit crisis.…
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Russia and Congo have signed the intergovernmental agreement of the cooperation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy
During an official visit of President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso, on May 23, 2019 in Moscow the Intergovernmental Agreement concerning the cooperation in the field of the peaceful use of atomic energy was signed. Director General of ROSATOM Aleksey Likhachev signed the document for the Russian party. For the Republic of…
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Russian Police Official Decries Falling Living Standards for Police, Declares $600K Salary
Russia’s deputy chief of police declared an income of 38 million rubles ($588,000) two days after complaining that law enforcement officers’ living standards are falling. Deputy Interior Minister Arkady Gostev’s income grew tenfold between 2017 and 2018, according to declarations published on Thursday, making him the richest police officer in Russia. Police spokeswoman Irina Volk…
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Ex-U.S. Marine Held in Russia Says His Espionage Case Is Politically Motivated
A former U.S. Marine held in Moscow on suspicion of spying said on Friday he had been threatened by a Russian investigator and harassed in custody, accusations that added to strains in U.S.-Russian relations. Paul Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28 and accused…
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Oleg Vakhovsky put in charge of Gazprom Transgaz Surgut
Release May 24, 2019, 13:45 Oleg Vakhovsky has been appointed Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Surgut. Oleg Vakhovsky was born in 1971 in Artyomovsk, Donetsk Region. He graduated from the Gubkin State Academy of Oil and Gas, majoring in Oil and Gas Field Development and Operation, and received an MBA in Human Resource Management from the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the…
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Dreams, Death and Beyond at Zverev Center of Modern Art
Dreams, death, the subconscious, the gap between what’s alive and what isn’t. These are some of the themes explored in subCONSCIOUS, an exhibition of art by five Moscow artists working with paint, photography, poetry, video and illustration. In different media, Ilmira Bolotyan, Polina Gisich, Liza Neklessa, Saida Sattarova and Jane (Zhenya) Sharvina all ask questions…
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Russia Plans to Import Polluted Oil Back From Belarus
Russia plans to take back around 1 million tons of contaminated oil from Belarus, cleaning up the Druzhba export pipeline section leading to Poland and Germany, four industry sources familiar with the plan told Reuters. The plan was discussed at talks in Warsaw on Thursday between Russian, Belarussian and European companies. Another roughly 1 million…
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Nationalist Activists Harass LGBT Film Fest in Moscow
Pro-Kremlin activists tried to shut down the opening of an LGBT film festival in Moscow on Thursday. Two fringe nationalist groups called the National Liberation Movement (NOD) and SERB harassed attendees and poured ammonia on an employee of the Canadian Embassy in Moscow, organizers said. The two groups are known for attacks on opposition activists…
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Russia to Send Military ‘Specialists’ to Republic of Congo
Russia has signed a bilateral agreement to send military “specialists” to the Republic of Congo to advise their counterparts and repair Soviet equipment in a move that further increases Moscow’s footprint on the continent. The Republic of Congo is the latest sub-Saharan African nation where Russia has stepped up its presence recently. Since Western nations…
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Russia Beat U.S. in Hockey World Championship to Reach Semis
Ice hockey heavyweights Russia and Canada reached the world championship semi-finals after thrilling wins while holders Sweden crashed out after a 5-4 sudden-death overtime defeat by traditional rivals Finland on Thursday. On a day of enthralling action in Bratislava and Kosice, the Czech Republic were the only side to enjoy a smooth ride into the last four…
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Okroshka: Summer’s Simple Pleasure
Late spring and early summer are all about change and transition. Glass windows are swapped out for screens, kids flee school for summer holidays, and wool sweaters and coats take their annual trip to the dry cleaner. In Russia, for many the summer months mean the slower, simpler life of the dacha, where there are…
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Russia to Arm Police With AR Face Recognition Glasses By 2020
Police officers in large Russian cities will be able to identify criminals using face recognition glasses by 2020, the head of state-owned industrial conglomerate Rostec said Thursday. The augmented-reality (AR) glasses will use technology that helped catch more than 180 criminals during the football World Cup in Russia last year, Sergei Chemezov said at a…