Day: October 18, 2019
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DIRECTOR GENERAL OF ROSATOM ALEXEY LIKHACHEV HAS VISITED THE ITER CONSTRUCTION SITE
On October 17, Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev visited the construction site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France. The project aims to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of industrial use of thermonuclear energy, as well as develop the required technological processes. During his visit, the head of ROSATOM conducted a…
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Russian Lawmakers Accuse BBC, Meduza, RFE/RL of Violating Election Law
A State Duma commission on foreign interference says it has found violations of election law by six foreign and independent outlets operating in Russia, Interfax reported Friday. Russian lawmakers created the commission after this summer’s wave of opposition protests in Moscow. At the time, Russia had accused Germany’s Deutsche Welle news outlet, the U.S. Embassy…
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Putin Oversees Nuclear Submarine Drills Across Russia
President Vladimir Putin supervised major test launches of ballistic and cruise missiles on land, air and sea Thursday. The three-day Grom (Thunder)-2019 exercises involved five submarines, more than 100 aircraft, 200 missile launchers and 12,000 Russian troops. They aimed to test the readiness of Russia’s command structure and how efficiently its orders are carried out…
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Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ Left Russia for the First Time
For the first time in history, the original manuscript of Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” has left Russia and the Tolstoy Museum in Moscow for a stay at the Martin Bodmer Foundation museum in Geneva. Three pages of one of the most famous Russian novels, written between 1864 and 1869, became part of an exposition devoted…
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Kolomenskoye: Moscow’s Hidden Gem
Lesser-known than the Kremlin and the Hermitage, the vast Kolomenskoye estate in southern Moscow is still a true gem well worth a visit. The estate, which was a favorite country estate for Russia’s grand princes and tsars, is full of historic constructions and natural beauty. Here’s a bit more about what it has in store:
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Russian Spies Are Recruiting MGIMO Students – Proekt
Russian intelligence services are actively recruiting students from the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), the independent Proekt online outlet reported in an investigation Thursday. MGIMO is considered one of Russia’s elite academic institutions, training future government leaders and diplomats, as well as businesspeople, journalists and thinkers. Its alleged ties to Russia’s secret services came…
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Russia’s Thawing Permafrost May Cost Economy $2.3Bln a Year
Russia plans to pay more attention to the impact climate change is having on its vast permafrost area. Thawing of once permanently-frozen ground covering more than half of Russia is putting buildings, pipelines and other infrastructure at risk of damage. With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, that’s a…
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Last Soviet Leader Gorbachev Urges Russia, U.S. to Hold Nuclear Talks
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, warned on Friday that the world was drifting into a dangerous era of militarized politics and appealed to Moscow and Washington to sit down for urgent nuclear arms control talks. Gorbachev, whose 1980s arms control push and democracy-oriented reforms helped end the Cold War, made the comments to the…
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Working meeting held between Dmitry Medvedev and Alexey Miller
Message to the Media October 18, 2019, 14:00 A working meeting took place today between Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee. Alexey Miller briefed Dmitry Medvedev on the main accomplishments of the Company since the start of 2019, including the preparations for the autumn/winter period. Particular attention was paid to interactions with Ukraine…
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History Is Not on Putin’s Side, Says Former U.S. Ambassador
Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul believes President Vladimir Putin is fighting against the tide of history and that Russian society will not “tolerate disenfranchisement and oppression forever.” In an interview with The Moscow Times touching on topics from Putin through sanctions to arms treaties, Barack Obama’s former man in Moscow said it would…
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Experts Raise Questions Over Strong Russian Official Economic Statistics
Economists have raised questions over a surprisingly healthy batch of economic data released by the Russian statistics agency Rosstat. Statistics published Thursday evening showed an unexpected and significant jump in real disposable incomes of an annual rate of 3% in the third quarter of the year, off the back of a 0.1% fall in the…
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Russia Moves to Phase Out Plastic Bags in New Draft Law
Russia’s consumer-protection watchdog has drafted a bill to phase out production of single-use plastic bags, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia tabloid reported Friday. Greenpeace estimates that more than 26 billion plastic bags are handed out annually in shops across Russia. State polling has shown this year that almost one in four Russians are willing to give up…
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Russia Was Involved in Online Attacks During Protests, Ecuador Official Says
Ecuador’s interior minister has said that Russian IP addresses were used in online attacks against the South American country’s government amid weeks of protests against austerity measures. Ecuador‘s President Lenin Moreno declared a state of emergency Oct. 4 as massive nationwide protests broke out against the elimination of four-decade-old fuel subsidies. On Monday, Moreno officially…