Freedom Words and Dreams on a Russian Stage

The Zverev Center for Contemporary Art, a gallery which occupies half of a small wooden cabin nestled into a shady corner of a park, is generally locked, but a sign on the door gives a number for the determined to call for access to the latest exhibition. Last month, this space was taken over by…

Turkey Will Produce S-400 Systems With Russia, Erdogan Says

Turkish will cooperate with Russia on the production of advanced missile defense systems, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said as the country continues to defy its NATO allies with purchases of Russia’s S-400 system. Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 from Russia has raised tensions with NATO and the United States, which has warned Turkey that…

Hackers Hit Bulgaria Sending Data From Russian Email

Hackers stole thousands of Bulgarians’ personal financial data and distributed it from a Russian-based email in an attack possibly related to the purchase of new F-16 fighter jets from the United States, the government said on Tuesday. The hackers accessed the National Revenue Agency’s (NRA) systems on Monday before sending local media confidential information purportedly…

U.S. Teen Accused of Raping Woman in Russian Beach Town

An American teenager has been accused of raping a woman at a beach town in southern Russia, authorities have said. Investigators say the unnamed 19-year-old U.S. citizen invited the woman to his hotel room in the Black Sea town of Divnomorskoye Friday night, where he proceeded to rape her. A 16-year-old Russian was also allegedly involved…

Putin’s Huge Military Buildup Leaves Industry With Debt Hangover

Vladimir Putin’s 20-trillion-ruble ($300 billion) weapons-buying binge over the last decade has brought advanced hypersonic warheads and drone submarines. It’s also left the country’s defense industry with a massive hangover of debt that officials now say is suffocating the strategic sector. The industry “is living from hand to mouth” and doesn’t have enough money to…

Russia Hints At Swap of Jailed Sailors as Ukraine Nears Key Poll

“It’s being discussed — we’re thinking about it,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Monday, the Interfax news service reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy, a former TV comic who won a landslide election victory in April, discussed the 24 imprisoned sailors during the first phone call between the two leaders last week. Zelenskiy, a…

International Children’s Games held in Ufa

Background Gazprom Transgaz Ufa is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom. It performs gas transmission within the Republic of Bashkortostan. The company operates some 5,000 kilometers of gas trunklines. Gazprom Transgaz Ufa’s 16 branches include 9 gas pipeline operation centers, 12 compressor workshops, 82 gas compressor units, and 146 gas distribution stations. An environmental management system certified to ISO 14001:2015 is adopted at the company. Gazprom Transgaz Ufa has about 5,000 employees…

Moscow Opposition Rallies for Fair Elections, 39 Detained

Police in Moscow detained 39 protesters at a rally calling for opposition candidates to be allowed to run in September’s elections to the Russian capital’s parliament. Opposition leaders cried foul after Moscow’s election commission said most of their candidates failed to secure the required number of signatures to participate in the election.

Night Race and Bike Parade Light Up Moscow

When the sun goes down, Moscow appears in a new light. But last weekend it changed in a special way when more than 22,500 people gathered for a great double event — the night run race and the bike parade. A column of more than 15,000 cyclists traveled about 11 kilometers through the main streets,…

On This Day Anton Chekhov Died

On January 29, 1860 in the Russian city of Taganrog on the coast of the Azov Sea, one of the world’s most famous playwrights and short story writers, was born.  Chekhov had a difficult childhood shaped by his physically abusive father and his family’s precarious financial situation. From his school days, Chekhov supported his family…

Severstal publishes 2018 Corporate Social Resposibility ad Sustaiable Developmet Report

July 15, 2019 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, has published its Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development Report for the year ended 31 December 2018 on the Company’s corporate website. The full report is available at: https://www.severstal.com/files/28593/CSR_SD_Report_2018_EN.pdf

On This Day Writer Isaac Babel Was Born

On this day in 1894, the writer, journalist and playwright Isaac Babel was born in Odessa, present-day Ukraine, to a middle-class Jewish family. Called “the greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry” and considered one of the luminaries of 20th-century Soviet literature, Babel is best-known for the semi-autobiographical short story collections “Red Cavalry” and “Story of…

Julia’s Phillips’ ‘Disappearing Earth’

Set on the Kamchatka Peninsula, “Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips explores questions of gender and race ignited by the mysterious disappearance of two ethnically Slavic young girls, Alyona and Sophia. The novel follows different but interrelated female characters wrestling with these questions in their daily lives. A New Jersey native and graduate of Barnard College,…

Russia Delivers More Air Defense Equipment to Turkey

Russia flew a fresh shipment of advanced air defense equipment to Turkey on Saturday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said, continuing to implement a deal that is likely to trigger U.S. sanctions against a NATO ally. The ministry said a fourth Russian cargo plane landed at the Murted air base near the Turkish capital Ankara, a day after…

Russia Among 37 States Backing China’s Policy in Xinjiang

Saudi Arabia, Russia and 35 other states have written to the United Nations supporting China’s policies in its western region of Xinjiang, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters on Friday, in contrast to strong Western criticism. China has been accused of detaining a million Muslims and persecuting ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, and 22…

Albanian Police Arrest Russian ‘Islamic State Fighter’

A Russian national accused of fighting for the Islamic State militant group against Syrian government forces was arrested in Albania and will be extradited to Russia, Albanian police said on Friday. Police said the 34-year-old man, identified as R.M., who was born in and a resident of Norilsk in Russia, entered Albania illegally after a…

Concerts, Night Runs and Cucumbers

The weather isn’t ideal, but cultural life, broadly defined, is hot this weekend in and around the Russian capital. Here is a troika of truly wonderful, unusual, and fun events you could join on Saturday. For love and peace On Saturday the 18th-century Apothecary Garden will be rocking a multi-format festival or electronic music, performances,…

A Talk with ‘Chernobyl’ Producer Craig Mazin

HOLLYWOOD—With awards season around the corner, the mini-series “Chernobyl” continues to gain momentum in the entertainment world. Distributor HBO, now a unit of the AT&T telecom giant, is putting its muscle behind the series, giving it a competitive edge in the Emmy competition. Nominations will be announced on July 16. Jared Harris, who plays scientist…

Russia Eyes Own Arctic Cruise Liners

“The expedition cruises, including the Arctic, will become a trend. And we have already seen that this segment shows growth, faster than the rest of the cruise market, the tickets are commonly sold out six months ahead of the cruise departures,” Alexei Rakhmanov, president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, Russia’s largest state-own shipbuilding company, said. Rakhmanov…

On This Day in 1783 a Decree Founded the Mariinsky Theater

The history of the Mariinsky Theater began on July 12, 1783, when Empress Catherine II approved the establishment of an Imperial drama, opera, and ballet troupe in St. Petersburg. This decree led to the construction of the Bolshoi Stone Theater, the Mariinsky Theater’s predecessor, and placed the first stone in what would become St. Peterbsurg’s…

Putin Seeks to Lock in Parliament Control

With public support for President Vladimir Putin wilting, the Kremlin is considering changing election rules in an effort to secure its lock on parliament ahead of potentially vital decisions that could extend his rule. Putin faces the end of what under the constitution must be his final presidential term in 2024. Though he’s given no…

Russia Started Large-Scale Air Drills in Annexed Crimea

Over two thousand paratroopers landed at Naimanskaya military site near Black Sea on Thursday, July 11, as Russia staged large-scale aviation drills at the annexed Crimea peninsula. Russian paratroopers were dropped from Il-76 transport planes 100 meters apart and landed on this site for the first time, according to Russian Military Transport Aviation Commander, Lieutenant…

Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan wins award in Reliable Partner – Ecology national competition

Background Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan is a subsidiary of Gazprom focused on prospecting, exploration and development of hydrocarbon fields. The Levoberezhnaya part of the Astrakhanskoye gas and condensate field with an area of 1,360 square kilometers has been in operation since 1986. The field produces formation fluid with a high content of sulfur (25 per cent) and carbon dioxide (15 per cent). The company has around 300 wells of various use, hundreds…

Moscow’s Climate to Resemble Detroit’s by 2050 – Study

Moscow’s weather will feel like that of present-day Detroit while St. Petersburg’s will more closely resemble that of Sofia three decades from now, researchers warned. A fifth of the world’s major cities will face “unknown” climate conditions by 2050 as rising temperatures heighten the risks of drought and flooding, according to climate scientists at The…

Severstal reports Q2 2019 operatioal results

July 12, 2019 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, today announces its operational results for Q2 2019. Q2 2019 GROUP HIGHLIGHTS Hot metal output declined q/q in Q2 2019 to 2.30 mln tonnes (Q1 2019: 2.36 mln tonnes) due to short-term maintenance works…

ROSATOM and the Ministry of Energies of Bolivia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of developing the lithium industry

Moscow, 11 July – ROSATOM and the Ministry of Energies of the Plurinational State of Bolivia signed a Memorandum of cooperation in the field of developing industrial projects and research in the lithium industry. The document was signed by Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM, from the Russian side, and Rafael Alarcón Orihuela, Minister of…

Russia’s Georgia Flight Ban ‘Unjustified,’ EU’s Tusk Says

European Council President Donald Tusk said on Thursday that Russia’s decision to ban flights to Georgia was “unjustified and disproportional.” Relations between Russia and Georgia came under strain three weeks ago when protests erupted in Tbilisi over a visit by a Russian lawmaker with many demonstrators saying they were angry about the continued presence of…

On This Day in 1844 Poet Yevgeny Baratynsky Died

Russian poet and translator Yevgeny Baratynsky was born on March 2, 1800 and spent his childhood on his family’s estate in the Tambov region of southwest Russia. The son of a retired lieutenant general, Baratnysky attended the Page Corps, an elite military academy which prepared sons of noble families for military leadership. At age 15,…

Russians Detained in Uruguay Over Mafia Boss Escape

Two to three Russians have been arrested in Uruguay on suspicion of aiding the escape of a notorious Italian mob boss in the South American country, according to media reports. Rocco Morabito, dubbed the “cocaine king of Milan,” escaped from a Montevideo jail last month as he was waiting to be extradited back to Italy…

Russians Gripped By Distrust Toward Politicians – Study

Russians don’t trust the politicians in power and trust the political opposition even less, according to focus-group research by analysts who correctly predicted mass anti-government rallies in 2012. The study’s authors had detailed plummeting support for the ruling elite and growing public discontent in March 2011, less than a year before a wave of anti-Kremlin…

U.S., Russian Diplomats Meet in Helsinki to Discuss Relations

Senior U.S. diplomat David Hale met with Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, in Helsinki on Wednesday to discuss U.S.-Russian relations, the State Department said, amid tensions between the two countries over a range of issues. The meeting between Hale, who is undersecretary for political affairs, and Ryabkov followed June 28 talks between President Donald…