Hundreds of people flocked to southern Siberia in late June to celebrate the ancient rituals and traditions of shamanism in one of Russia’s first shaman festivals. Some researchers consider Siberia to be the heartland of shamanism. Today, this ancient religious practice is still performed in Russia, with spiritual healing techniques and ceremonial rites passed on…
Protests erupted in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi last month after a Russian deputy gave a speech in the country’s parliament. Many Georgians said they were offended by the act, citing the 2008 war fought between the countries. We spoke with four young Georgians living in Moscow to hear their views about the protests. Click above…
Release July 1, 2019, 19:05 Rustem Usmanov has been appointed Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Kazan. Rustem Usmanov was born in 1969 in Ufa. He graduated from Ufa Petroleum Institute, majoring in Design, Construction and Operation of Gas & Oil Pipelines and Gas & Oil Storage Facilities, and earned a management degree from the All-Russian Distance-Learning Institute of Finance and Economics. He has a PhD…
A senior Russian lawmaker has backed an Orthodox Church proposal to teach the Bible in schools, suggesting it be included in curriculums instead of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s seminal “Gulag Archipelago.” A Church spokesman, spurred by President Vladimir Putin’s endorsement of the texts, had offered over the weekend to include the Bible, the Torah and the Quran…
An errant missile of possible Russian origin struck Cyprus early on Monday in what authorities described as a spillover from strikes between Israel and Syria. The explosion on the ethnically split island occurred some 20 kilometers northeast of the Cypriot capital of Nicosia and did not result in casualties. An Israeli airstrike was underway against…
Russia called on the United States on Monday to free Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko and proposed a prisoner swap with Washington to win the release of any American national held in Russia, Interfax news agency reported. The comments may fuel speculation that Moscow is seeking a prisoner exchange involving Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine…
On June 28, 2019, loading of additional cobalt absorbers into Unit 3 reactor started at Smolensk NPP. This is the final stage of primary loading in Rosenergoatom’s large-scale project envisaging commercial production of cobalt-60 (Co-60) that is highly demanded on the international market. Co-60 isotope manufacturing project at Smolensk NPP was launched in September 2017,…
Russia’s leading independent media have coordinated to publish journalist Ivan Golunov’s investigation into Moscow’s funeral mafia that his colleagues say was tied to his shock arrest last month. Golunov had reported receiving threats after beginning the investigation into the funeral business in February 2018. He reportedly filed a draft of the piece to Alexey Kovalev,…
Russia has labeled a U.S.-based NGO an “undesirable” organization a month after it published a report on life in Russia after President Vladimir Putin. A Russian law passed in 2015 allows prosecutors to limit or halt the work of foreign organizations deemed “undesirable,” punishing those breaking these limits with fines or prison terms up to…
On June 24-28, a delegation comprising representatives of TENEX participated in the international conference “Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors – 2019” (Vienna, Austria), held under the slogan “Learning from the past, enabling the future” organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Company’s specialists presented reports on various aspects of the back-end…
Russians are significantly more likely to spend their free time watching television than reading books, according to a survey by the independent Levada Center pollster. The number of Russians who name television as a source of their happiness has increased in recent years. While television remains the biggest news source for Russians, it has become…
Sweden’s military said on Monday it would deploy an updated ground-to-air missile defense system on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland in another sign of tension in the region with Russia. The new system, developed and built by defense firm Saab, replaces the mobile anti-aircraft guns the military on Gotland have previously been equipped with.…
TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM and Czech research center Řež (Centrum výzkumu Řež s.r.o.; CVŘ) have signed an agreement on cooperation in materials science studies and research. On the grounds of the agreement, Czech scientists will provide experiments on irradiation of nuclear construction materials in the CVŘ research reactor and also accomplish pre-irradiation and…
Russia’s state-controlled gas giant Gazprom has said it will pay out record dividends to its shareholders on its 2018 results next month. Russia’s Finance Ministry has been pushing for state-owned enterprises to pay out at least 50 percent of their profits as dividends, meeting stiff resistance from businesses for more than two years. Gazprom is…
On Tuesday, NATO kicks off its annual anti-submarine exercise Dynamic Mongoose in the Norwegian Sea west of Andøya, northern Norway. Six frigates, 10 aircraft and several submarines from Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom, as well as host nation Norway, will participate in the drill that will last…