Putin Suspends Passenger Flights From Russia to Georgia

President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to suspend passenger flights carrying Russian citizens from Russia to Georgia. The move comes amid a brewing political crisis between the two countries after mass anti-Russian protests sparked by a Russian lawmaker’s visit rocked Georgia’s capital on Thursday. In a decree signed Friday, Putin also instructed the Russian…

The Night of Ivan Kupala

The summer solstice is here! Get out your sleep masks and blackout curtains. In Moscow the sun rose on June 21 at 3:44 a.m. and will set at 9:18 p.m., giving the city 17 hours and 33 minutes of sunlight — a whopping 10 hours and 33 minutes longer than the amount of sunlight we…

Russians Are Losing Interest in Foreign Policy, Poll Says

Less than half of Russians pay attention to foreign policy issues, according to a new poll by the state-run Foundation of Public Opinion (FOM) pollster. Polling in recent years has suggested Russians are becoming less focused on endeavors abroad as the economy stagnates and living standards fall. In the FOM poll published Friday, 49 percent…

Gazprom’s Financial and Economic Policy Press Conference held

Accreditation of journalists for the Press Conferences in the lead-up to the Shareholders Meeting Listen to audio For Gazprom’s Press Conferences audio broadcast please dial: +7 495 719-35-77 (Russian) +7 495 719-30-00 (English) June 21, 2019, 02:30 pm (Moscow time) [embedded content] Participants: Famil Sadygov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Elena Vasilieva, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Chief Accountant, Gazprom; Alexander Ivannikov, Head of Department, Gazprom;…

Russian Hermit Seeks Peace in Remote Siberia

Viktor, 62, turned his back on society 16 years ago and moved to the remote forest wilderness of Russian Siberia where he lives in seclusion in a wooden hut, studying the Bible and foraging for food. Gray-bearded, enigmatic and with a huge tattoo of Christ across his back, the former barge operator refuses to disclose…

Georgian Parliament Leader Resigns Over Mass Anti-Russian Protests

The head of Georgia’s parliament has resigned after mass anti-Russian protests rocked the capital this week. Thousands of protesters on Thursday tried to storm the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi after Russian lawmaker Sergei Gavrilov addressed an event for Orthodox Christian leaders in his native Russian from the parliamentary speaker’s seat. Demonstrators violently clashed with police,…

EU Extends Economic Sanctions on Russia Until 2020

European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to prolong until the end of January 2020 economic sanctions against Russia over the turmoil in Ukraine, a spokesman for the bloc said. The EU first slapped sanctions on Russia after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and supported rebels fighting Kiev troops in the east of…