Day: August 30, 2019
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Reliving the News Highlights of Summer 2019 in Russia (in Pictures)
Sept. 1 in Russia marks the beginning of the school year for Russian students and the unofficial start of fall. But with summer barely behind us, we’re not ready to let the season go just yet. The past three months have been tumultuous ones for Russia. It seemed like the country was simultaneously burning, drowning…
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Reliving the Highlights of Summer 2019 in Russia
Russian students are preparing for Sept. 1, which marks the beginning of the school year and the onset of fall. But with summer barely behind us, we’re not ready to let the season go just yet. The past three months have been tumultuous ones for Russia. It seemed like the country was simultaneously burning, drowning…
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98% of Moscow’s Shawarma Joints Are Unsanitary, Consumer Watchdog Says
Ninety-eight percent of Moscow’s popular shawarma restaurants do not comply with Russian food hygiene standards, according to the city consumer protection watchdog. Last year, a Federal Consumer Protection Service (Rospotrebnadzor) inspection uncovered foodborne bacterial pathogens in a majority of the 252 shawarma spots in Moscow. This year, health violations were uncovered in 65 of 66…
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Russia Buys Up Foreign Plastic Waste as Its Own Plastic Goes to Landfills
Russia is ramping up its imports of plastic waste year after year as its lack of a national waste sorting system leaves recycling plants lacking enough raw materials, the RBC news website has reported. Russia generated over 7.2 billion tons of household and industrial waste in 2018, almost 315,000 tons of which were imported, according…
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‘Magical Rescue’: Drug Bust Marriage Proposals Take Russia by Storm
As far as marriage proposal pranks go, Russia is a torchbearer of the extreme and the unsparing. One such proposal — with armed men ambushing a couple and turning up fake drugs with an engagement ring inside — went viral and made international headlines this summer. The scenes of initial horror that turned into hysterical…
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Russia Rebuffs International Concern Over Environment on Northern Sea Route
The development of the Northern Sea Route appeared on the agenda in the Foreign Ministry’s latest weekly press conference after several foreign leaders reportedly commented on the environment in the region. Among them was French President Emmanuel Macron, who was called upon to protect Arctic nature in a meeting with business leaders. According to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Macron had…
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Russian ATMs Accept Fake Bills, Reports Say
At least 40,000 ATMs in Russia operated by at least four major banks accept counterfeit bills, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in theft, according to the Kommersant business daily. The issue reportedly affects 40,000 ATMs made by a single manufacturer, the U.S.-based NCR Corp, out of the 135,000 ATMs that accept cash in…
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Russia’s Mystery Nuclear Explosion Occurred During Missile Recovery at Sea — Reports
The mysterious explosion in northern Russia that caused a spike in radiation levels happened during a mission to salvage a nuclear-powered cruise missile from the bottom of the sea, media have cited a U.S. intelligence assessment as saying. Five nuclear engineers were killed in a liquid propulsion system blast at Russia’s naval missile test facility,…
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Ukrainian President’s Office Says No Prisoner Swap With Russia Yet
Update: The prisoner exchange will not happen Friday and a final date hasn’t yet been determined, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s security service (SBU) told Ukrainian media. She added that the process is going according to plan. The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday said no prisoner swap had taken place with Russia yet and the process was ongoing,…