Day: August 13, 2020
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Thousands Form Human Chains in Belarus After Post-Vote Crackdown
Thousands of protesters formed human chains in Belarus on Thursday in a growing wave of peaceful demonstrations over President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election and an ensuing brutal police crackdown. Russia claimed the protests were being orchestrated from abroad to destabilise its ex-Soviet neighbour while European countries condemned police violence and backed fresh sanctions against Lukashenko.…
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Workers at Major Belarus Plants Strike in Growing Protest Against Police Violence
Workers at two major automotive plants and several other companies in Belarus went on strike in protest against police violence following the country’s disputed election, local media reported Thursday. Thousands of Belarusians have taken to the streets in the five days since election officials declared strongman Alexander Lukashenko winner in Sunday’s polls. Authorities have detained…
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Masked Men Raid Uber and Yandex’s Belarus Offices Amid Election Protests
Armed and masked men raided the Belarus offices of Uber and Russian tech giant Yandex on Thursday as authorities continued to crack down on protesters disputing the country’s presidential election results. The black-clad men blocked entrances to Uber and Yandex’s office in Minsk with some employees still stuck inside, early reports said and Yandex confirmed.…
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MT’s Coronavirus Coverage Gets U.S. Journalism Nod
The Moscow Times’ coverage of Russia’s student recruitment to help battle the coronavirus following years of healthcare cuts has received an honorable mention from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). ASJA’s 2020 healthcare crisis coverage award went to the Center for Public Integrity’s investigation on healthcare policies on rationing ventilators in 25 U.S.…
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Russian Region Orders Mass Vaccination Against Bubonic Plague
The head of a remote Russian region on Thursday said that herders and other residents of two districts on the border with Mongolia should be vaccinated against bubonic plague. The order was issued after Mongolia’s health ministry said Wednesday that bubonic plague killed a man in the country’s west. It was the latest in a…
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Belarus Detains Hundreds More in Post-Election Crackdown
Police in Belarus said Thursday they had detained hundreds more protesters as demonstrations continued against strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election. Four nights of unrest since Sunday’s vote have seen thousands arrested, dozens wounded and two people dead as police used stun grenades, tear gas, water cannon and, in at least one case, live fire…
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Russian YouTuber Arrested for Obtaining State Secrets
A Russian YouTuber famous for exploring abandoned sites was arrested and charged with obtaining state secrets last week, authorities and activists said Wednesday. Andrei Pyzh has uploaded hundreds of videos showing his visits to industrial sites and abandoned bunkers to his YouTube channel, which has about 800,000 subscribers. He faces up to eight years in jail…
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Duterte to Skip Philippine Trial of Russia Virus Vaccine
The Philippines will begin large-scale human testing of Russia’s coronavirus vaccine in October, but President Rodrigo Duterte will not receive the inoculation until regulators guarantee its safety, his spokesman said Thursday. Duterte had offered himself up as a guinea pig for the very first jab, expressing “huge trust” in the vaccine, despite growing skepticism about…
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Russia’s Coronavirus Cases Continue Rise Past 900K
The highest number of new cases were in Moscow and Sverdlovsk in the Urals. Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. Russian authorities began easing anti-virus measures in June ahead of a massive World War II military parade in Moscow and a nationwide…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Aug. 13
Russia has confirmed 907,758 cases of coronavirus and 15,384 deaths. Aug. 13: What you need to know today The Brazilian state of Parana signed a deal Wednesday to test and produce Russia’s new coronavirus vaccine, though officials stressed they would have to be sure of its safety and effectiveness first. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will be a guinea…
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Brazil State Signs Deal to Make Russian Vaccine
The Brazilian state of Parana signed a deal Wednesday to test and produce Russia’s new coronavirus vaccine, though officials stressed they would have to be sure of its safety and effectiveness first. The vaccine would have to receive Brazilian regulatory approval and complete Phase 3 clinical trials, or large-scale testing in humans, before being produced…
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Belarus Nobel-Winner Alexievich Urges Lukashenko to Go
Belarusian Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich condemned police violence against protesters in her country and urged strongman Alexander Lukashenko to go peacefully in an interview published Wednesday. The 72-year-old author won the 2015 Nobel Literature Prize for her work chronicling the horrors of war and life under the repressive Soviet regime including the 1986 Chernobyl…
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Russian Violinist and Conductor Spivakov Rejects Lukashenko Award Over Belarus Crackdown
Renowned Russian conductor and violinist Vladimir Spivakov will return an award from Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko due to police violence against protesters in the days since Belarus’ presidential election. Spivakov, 75, condemned the police crackdown in neighboring Belarus in an open letter published by the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper. More than 6,000 demonstrators have been…
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Jailed Belarus Protester Dies During Crackdown
Belarus on Wednesday confirmed the death of a jailed protester as demonstrators took to the streets for a fourth night of clashes with riot police over a disputed presidential election. Riot police have roughly detained thousands at street protests across the country after long-serving leader Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in Sunday’s poll. The…