Putin Says Will Not Bend Law to Extend Grip on Power

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he would not bend the law to extend his term in power and is seeking to amend the constitution to secure the country’s future for decades to come. Speculation has swirled over the 67-year-old president’s future after he unleashed a political storm in January by proposing major constitutional changes.…

Putin Critic Navalny Takes Russia to European Court Over Money Laundering Case

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny lodged a complaint against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights on Friday to contest a money-laundering investigation he says authorities have opened to thwart his political activities. Russian investigators opened the case against Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation last August after he called on people to attend rallies that grew…

Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | March 6

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people continues to spread around the world, Russia has stepped up measures to tackle the health risk, including closing most entry points along its 4,200-kilometer border with China and temporarily banning Chinese citizens from entering the country.  Russia has a total of seven confirmed coronavirus…

Gazprom and OMV introducing amendments to asset sale deal

Background OMV AG is Gazprom’s main partner in Austria. The companies cooperate in gas production, transportation and supplies. On October 3, 2018, Gazprom and OMV signed the Basic Agreement on Asset Sale. In accordance with the document, OMV will obtain a 24.98 per cent stake in the project for developing Blocks 4A and 5A in the Achimov formations of the Urengoyskoye field. As a result, the Gazprom Group’s stake in the project will…

Alcohol Deaths Plummet as ‘Warmest Winter’ Hits Russia

Experts are attributing a sharp drop in the number of deaths from alcohol poisoning in Russia to the unseasonably warm winter. Some 619 people died from alcohol poisoning in January 2020, down 37.3% from January 2019, Russia’s National Center for Alcohol Policy Development said Thursday. The past winter was the warmest since records began in…

Russian Women Are Ready to Reclaim Once-Forbidden Jobs

Yevgenia Markova dreamed of being a truck driver all her life. There was just one problem — working as one would have been against the law. “I’ve loved everything that can be driven since childhood — cars, river boats, trains. But these were all forbidden,” she told The Moscow Times. For decades, women in Russia…

Russian Game Designer Launches Political Party

Before Vyacheslav Makarov announced in January he was leaving gaming, few could have expected the man who helped create the mega-hit World of Tanks wanted a career in Russian politics. Yet on the sidelines of a digital technologies conference in Moscow on Thursday, the 40-year-old online gaming legend launched his latest creation: the Direct Democracy…

Russia Unveils Arctic Ambitions With 2035 Strategy

Russia is hoping to lure more people to live in the Arctic with promises of payouts and infrastructure development in the environmentally vulnerable territory, according to its 15-year strategy published Thursday. The Kremlin document on the “foundations of state policy in the Arctic to 2035”, signed by President Vladimir Putin, set out its policy plans for…