Year: 2019

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s party took a commanding lead in Sunday’s snap parliamentary election, consolidating the power of the novice politician whose stunning rise has upended traditional politics in the war-scarred nation. A former comedian who played a fictional schoolteacher-turned-president in a popular TV series, the 41-year-old Zelenskiy has tapped into widespread voter anger over…

A Scottish exchange student was fined and briefly detained for giving a lecture on feminism in Siberia in the latest incident targeting foreign students in Russia.  Last month, a German student was reported to have been expelled from a Russian university and ordered to leave the country after writing an article about environmental protests. Harriet…

Russian opposition leaders on Saturday led a protest in Moscow against the election commission’s decision to bar a host of candidates from the ballot for city council elections this fall that turned into the largest demonstration in Russia in recent years. Billed as the culmination of a week of daily protests that kicked off last…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had “sympathized” with Donald Trump before the 2016 presidential election that swept Trump to power because of his desire to restore normal relations with Russia. In an interview with U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone dated June 19 and published on the Kremlin web site on Friday, Putin also said that…

Russia’s state railway company appointed the former chancellor of Austria to its management board this week, continuing a trend of retired European politicians landing lucrative posts in Russia. Christian Kern, 53, headed Austria’s national railway system before serving as chancellor of the central European nation from 2016-2017. Austria has been among a minority of EU…

Russia is planning to phase out paper passports within three years as part of its national digitization program, drawing support as well as criticism over privacy concerns, according to the official government website. The government resumed discussions on issuing digital passports last fall, five years after it initially considered the idea. Cost estimates for the…

Half of Russian workers earn salaries of less than 35,000 rubles ($550) a month, despite a small increase in average monthly income over the past year, according to newly released official data. Stagnation in real disposable income has led to a slow deterioration in the quality of life for ordinary Russians and is feeding a…

Roman Ruzhechko, a suspect in a Russian probe into a major oil pipeline contamination earlier this year, has asked for political asylum in Lithuania, a Vilnius district court spokesman told Reuters on Friday. Russian prosecutors have charged Ruzhechko, an executive at a small oil transport firm, and several other people in a criminal conspiracy to pollute…

First unveiled at the Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square in 2017, the Tor-M2DT vehicles with anti-aircraft missiles were specifically designed to be used in Russia’s Arctic regions. This week, two of the vehicles were brought to the southern shores of Novaya Zemlya on board the Northern Fleet’s Kondapoga amphibious ship sailing from the…

New rules could grant Russian authorities the power to ground international flights if Russian airlines fail to provide personal information about passengers or if they pose a “security threat.” Unnamed sources within Russia’s aviation industry told the Kommersant business daily that the Federal Security Service (FSB) has been seeking to tighten regulations governing international flights…

The stage was prepared last week for Russian President Vladimir Putin to hammer tiny Georgia with new economic sanctions after parliament called on him to punish anti-Kremlin protests. Instead, Putin refused “because I respect the Georgians.” The uncharacteristic reaction left some wondering if the Kremlin is beginning to rethink its traditionally tough approach to neighboring states by…

Ursula von der Leyen won’t be getting a bear hug from the Kremlin. Russia’s top diplomat was asked during a visit to Germany about the incoming president of the European Commission and her “strict” view of his country. His frosty response was that the decision by the European Union’s leaders and Parliament was one “we…

Russia’s Investigative Committee has accused social welfare officials in Moscow of criminal negligence for allowing a gay couple to raise children they adopted nearly a decade ago. Russia banned gay adoption, along with “homosexual propaganda among minorities,” in 2013. The Investigative Committee said this week that it has opened a criminal negligence case against officials in…

Greenpeace Russia has named Moscow and St. Petersburg the most polluted cities in the country with the highest concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a toxic particle released from diesel fumes. Environmental issues including air pollution, landfills and a proposed bottling plant have galvanized Russians to take to the streets over the past year. Public polling…

Ukraine and Russia have agreed a prisoner swap expected to involve a total of 277 people taken captive in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official said on Thursday. Roman Bezsmertny said Kiev expected to exchange 208 people serving jail sentences in Ukraine for 69 Ukrainians. “The most important — an agreement was reached…

Moscow ranks third among the world’s cities for its number of billionaire residents, after New York and Hong Kong, according to a recent study from real estate agency Savills.  Forbes’ real-time ranking currently lists 607 billionaires in the United States, 99 in Russia and 71 in Hong Kong. Savills said Moscow has 71 billionaires, New…

Russia’s female Twitter users have started a movement to share stories of everyday harassment and abuse in the country, generating widespread support and some backlash from male users. The #I_Need_Openness hashtag — #Mnye_Nuzhna _Glasnost in Russian in a nod to the reformation of the Communist Party in the 1980s — comes two years after the…

Russia, Ukraine and Europe’s top security body have announced an “indefinite” ceasefire in eastern Ukraine that analysts hail as a substantial step toward ending the five-year conflict. The war between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region has killed 13,000 people since it broke out in 2014. Sporadic fighting went on despite…

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has ordered an overhaul of the process for granting Ukrainian citizenship, in response to a Russian decree expanding the number of Ukrainians who can apply for fast-track Russian passports. Zelenskiy’s office said early on Thursday, just a few hours after the Kremlin published Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order, that the foreign…

Russia on Thursday denied allegations by Syrian rebels that Russian special forces or ground troops were fighting in the campaign for the rebel-held region of Idlib, the state-run RIA news agency reported. Senior rebel commanders said on Wednesday that Russia has sent special forces in recent days to fight alongside Syrian army troops struggling to…

Russian police have violently detained two National Guardsmen suspected of planting drugs on an underage victim in St. Petersburg and demanding a bribe, as seen in a video published by the Fontanka.ru news website. Footage of the sting operation Tuesday showed plainclothes officers handcuffing the two men in National Guard uniforms and pressing them face-forward…

Russia has sent special forces in recent days to fight alongside Syrian army troops struggling to make gains in a more than two month assault in northwestern Syria to seize the last opposition bastion, senior rebel commanders said. They said although Russian officers and troops had been behind front lines directing the operations, using snipers and firing…

A delegation from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which oversees national cyber policy, met officials at Russia’s state communications watchdog in Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian regulator said. Critics have accused Russia’s authorities of trying to implement creeping China-style Internet curbs. Cooperation in this area between the two regulators could alarm Russian proponents of Internet freedom. The presence of the Chinese delegation in Moscow has not previously…

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order on Wednesday further expanding the number of Ukrainian citizens who can apply for fast-track Russian passports. Moscow made the move ahead of a Ukrainian parliamentary election on Sunday, when a Russia-friendly party may become the strongest competitor of the more popular Servant of the People party, led by new president…

Three units have been unplugged at a nuclear power plant in Russia after a short circuit, less than a week after another nuclear plant unit was briefly taken down in the country over an unspecified malfunction. Russia operates 10 nuclear power plants, including the four-reactor Kalinin plant 350 kilometers northwest of Moscow, according to the…

U.S. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called on the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a national security and privacy investigation into FaceApp, a face-editing photo app developed in Russia, in a letter sent on Wednesday. The viral smartphone application, which has seen a new surge of popularity due to a filter that…

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rose to lead his nation as a political novice and questions still surround his plans, especially regarding Ukraine‘s relations with Russia. As he closes in on solidifying his control at home, some answers are starting to emerge. With less than a week to go until parliamentary elections and his upstart party firmly…

The Kremlin raised the possibility of changing Russia’s constitution after a top lawmaker proposed bolstering parliament’s powers, in a move that could help to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule. The idea of constitutional amendments, including allowing parliament a say in forming the government, received “a widespread response” and are “a matter for discussion,” Putin’s spokesman,…

The Netherlands is “exploiting” the grief of victims’ families over the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy on Wednesday. Russia has denied any role in the July 17, 2014, downing of MH17 by a missile over territory in eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists.…

A court in Moscow on Wednesday ordered the first six of 24 Ukrainian sailors seized by Russia off the coast of Crimea last year to be held in pre-trial detention for another three months. The court is due to rule on the remaining sailors later on Wednesday. The Russian navy captured the Ukrainian sailors and…

The Klavdiya Yelanskaya motor vessel was built in Yugoslavia in 1977. Since then, it has sailed along the coast of the Kola Peninsula bringing passengers to and from remote towns and villages in the area. For many, it has been the only connection to the rest of the country. But sailings have been increasingly irregular…

The European Union and victims’ families have called on Russia to accept its role in the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine on the fifth anniversary of the crash. A missile shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala…

Two Russian boxers serving doping suspensions have competed while banned, highlighting inconsistencies in Russia’s efforts to reform its anti-doping practices. Competition records show that Russian amateur boxers Islam Dashaev and Alyona Tokarchuk fought in official tournaments last year despite bans announced by Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, which is forbidden under international anti-doping rules. These lapses…

Fewer Russians believe that a Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster could happen now than at any point in the past two decades, according to an independent Levada Center poll published Wednesday. The April 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl power plant in Soviet Ukraine spread radioactive material across much of the Northern Hemisphere, affecting tens of thousands of…

Russia has denied visas to more than two dozen foreign teachers at a school attended by the children of diplomats, the New York Times has reported. Diplomatic tensions between Russia and Western countries resulted in the closing of the Anglo-American School’s branch in St. Petersburg last September after 43 years in operation. The Anglo-American School…

A tide of weak reports are casting doubt on the Russian government’s optimistic economic forecasts for the second half. “There are a lot of worrisome signals from the second quarter,” said Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank in Moscow. “My forecast for the year is for 0.8% growth, but if there are no improvements…

President Donald Trump confirmed reluctantly that Turkey won’t be able to buy the U.S. F-35 fighter that it helps build after the country began taking delivery this week of a Russian missile defense system. “We are now telling Turkey that ‘because you have really been forced to buy another missile system, we are not going…

Spartak squeezed out a 1:0 victory at home against the league’s second newcomer, Sochi, at the Otrkritiye Arena. The referee, Vladimir Moskalyov, was suspended after the match over controversial calls, including a decision to give Spartak the winning goal on the 93rd minute after an offensive foul. FC Spartak

Russia’s media regulator has ordered Facebook and Instagram to remove images that it said were disrespectful of the Russian flag from their platforms. This appears to be the first case of a foreign entity being pressured to comply with Russia’s new law that bans the disrespect of state symbols and the authorities. To date, only…

Russia’s S-400 is the “best all-around” missile defense system out there, the U.S. intelligence firm Stratfor has said in a new report, but it is severely limited if operating alone. Russia began delivering the S-400 surface-to-air system to Turkey last week, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling it “the strongest defence system against those…