Day: August 1, 2019

Russia’s independent Dozhd news channel has been hit by a tax audit Thursday over what its founder says is connected to its coverage of rallies for fair elections in Moscow. Dozhd opened its broadcasts to non-subscribers last Friday to cover the weekend’s rallies in support of opposition candidates who had been disqualified from running for…

A former associate of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has allegedly earned 6.5 billion rubles ($101.9 million) from deals with the ministries of defense and emergency situations, according to an investigation by Russia’s The Insider news website. The Insider’s investigation follows the high-profile sentencing for embezzlement and quick parole in 2015 of Yevgenia Vasilyeva, a Defense…

Some of Russia’s most well-known celebrities and public figures are speaking out in support of the mass opposition protests that have rocked central Moscow over the past three weeks. On Saturday, nearly 1,400 protesters were detained during the most recent unauthorized rally as thousands took to the streets to demand that opposition candidates be allowed…

DRONTEN REFUGEE CENTER, THE NETHERLANDS — Artyom Shitukhin decided last March that enough was enough. Following what he described as months of harassment by police, and expulsion from the university in his hometown of Pyatigorsk, the LGBT activist bought a one-way ticket to Morocco with a stopover in Amsterdam, where he got off the plane…

Russia‘s media regulator said on Thursday it planned to change the law so it could fine British and other foreign media working in Russia for breaching impartiality standards, a step it called retaliation for London fining Russia‘s RT television channel. Moscow last month warned British media operating on its territory that they should be ready for consequences after…

Russia‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday it had the impression that the United States was looking for a pretext for conflict in the Persian Gulf, the state-run RIA news agency reported. “Events there are really moving to a dangerous point and there are risks of a large-scale military clash,” RIA cited Foreign Ministry…

Five people have been detained as part of criminal proceedings into mass civil unrest related to last weekend’s opposition protest in Moscow, with more apprehensions expected, Russian investigators said. Police detained more than 1,300 people in central Moscow on Saturday, some violently, at a march in support of fair local elections this fall. Observers have…

More than 10,500 Russian soldiers and dozens of warships will take part in the country’s second annual naval drills in the Baltic Sea, the Defense Ministry has said. The exercises come amid simmering tensions between Russia and its NATO-member neighbors in the Baltics. The Russian Navy’s Aug. 1-9 “Ocean Shield” exercises involve 10,634 troops, 49…

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has softened its refusal to issue visas for teachers at a Moscow school run by the U.S., British and Canadian embassies amid signs of a slight thaw in tensions between the Kremlin and Washington. The Foreign Ministry on Thursday issued seven of the 30 visas requested, which will allow all current students…

Russians’ trust in television news as a news source dropped by 25% in the past decade, according to the independent Levada Center pollster’s latest report on the national media landscape. Television remains the biggest news source for Russians despite becoming less trusted over the past decade, past Levada polling has said.  Trust in television news…

Russia has tested its high-speed military internet that can send encrypted data over long distances, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported Thursday. The secure military internet tests come three months before parts of a Russian law tightening state control over the internet come into effect. Lawmakers say “internet sovereignty” will protect the Russian-language segment of the…

Russia’s law enforcement authorities will look into whether arson was a factor behind the raging wildfires across Siberia, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday as emergency officials decried insufficient firefighting efforts. The vast wildfires that have engulfed forest areas the size of Belgium were initially thought to be triggered by a combination of dry lightning and…

U.S. President Donald Trump offered his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin help in putting out vast wildfires that are raging in Siberia, the Kremlin said late on Wednesday, a move it said Putin took as a sign that battered ties can be restored. The Kremlin said the two leaders had spoken by phone at Washington’s initiative, hours…