Day: October 27, 2020
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Anti-Lukashenko Strike ‘Just the Beginning,’ Belarus Opposition Leader Says
Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has called Monday’s general strike aimed at putting pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko a “collective success” and vowed to continue calling for his resignation. Tikhanovskaya had given Lukashenko until Sunday to quit, halt violence against protesters and release political prisoners, warning he would otherwise face a general strike from Monday.…
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Russia Foreign Minister Self-Isolates After Covid Contact
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, his ministry said Tuesday. Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook that the minister, 70, “feels well” but that planned visits and meetings will be postponed to a later date. On Monday, Lavrov was on a working…
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Azerbaijan Accuses Armenia of Deadly Missile Strike on Civilians
Azerbaijan accused Armenia of a missile attack that killed four civilians Tuesday, as Washington urged the two sides to abide by a ceasefire aimed at halting weeks of fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh. With clashes over the disputed Caucasus region entering a second month, international mediators are pushing to bring a stop to frontline clashes and shelling…
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‘Very Nice’: Kazakhstan Adopts Borat’s Catchphrase for Tourism Drive
“Very nice!” Kazakhstan is adopting its fictional resident Borat Sagdiyev’s famous catchphrase as its new tourism slogan alongside the release of the comedy-slash-mockumentary’s sequel. The lean-in attitude marks a reversal from the confrontational stance the Central Asian country adopted upon the release of the first Borat movie in 2006. Back then, Kazakh authorities banned the…
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Russia Seeks Accelerated WHO Registration for Virus Vaccine
Russia has applied to the World Health Organization for accelerated registration and prequalification of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the country’s sovereign wealth fund said on Tuesday. Russia announced in August it had registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, named Sputnik V after the Soviet-era satellite. On Tuesday, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which…
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Putin Orders Government to Improve Abortion Prevention Efforts
President Vladimir Putin has urged the government to improve abortion prevention strategies in an effort to reduce the number of terminated pregnancies and offset Russia’s population decline. Putin’s order was made public days after Poland’s top court deemed abortions performed in cases of fetal defects to be unconstitutional. For Poland, which already had some of…
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Beyond Moscow: People With Disabilities Are Stepping Out
With the baby carriage I can go to the store but not to the pharmacy, because there is no ramp. That was part of my daily planning when I became a mother. Life with a baby carriage was sometimes complicated, but the lives of many disabled people, especially in smaller Russian cities and towns, often shrinks…
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Russian State TV Anchor Ignites Backlash With Anti-Mask Social Media Post
A prominent Russian news anchor has sparked backlash after publicly backing the anti-mask movement and questioning the dangers of Covid-19 in a viral Instagram comment published just hours before the Russian government reinstated a countrywide mask mandate. In his original post, businessman Yan Yanovsky complained that most spectators at Spanish opera singer Plácido Domingo’s recent performance at…
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France’s Macron ‘the No. 1 Terrorist in the World,’ Chechen Mufti Says
The grand mufti of Russia’s southern republic of Chechnya has joined a growing chorus of Muslim figures and countries condemning France over its assertion of the right to mock religion following the murder of a French schoolteacher. The Islamic world’s backlash came after French President Emmanuel Macron, reacting to the Oct. 16 beheading of teacher…
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Rosneft Subsidiaries Release Over 700,000 Fries of Valuable Fish into Volga River
The subsidiaries of Rosneft Oil Company operating in the Volga Region have finished the seasonal works of replenishment of aquatic biological resources by releasing more than 700,000 fries of sterlet, common carp, and silver carp into the Kuibyshev, Saratov, Volgograd and Sorochinsk reservoirs.
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New natural gas filling stations opened in Moscow
October 27, 2020, 11:30 Gazprom’s gas refueling network in the region has been expanded to seven facilities. Two stations of the network are the largest in Europe. Two more CNG filling stations will be opened this year. A ceremonial event celebrating the commissioning of two new infrastructure facilities for refueling motor vehicles with natural gas, eco-friendly vehicle fuel has taken place today in Moscow via…
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Russia Reports Record Daily Coronavirus Deaths
Russia has confirmed a record daily coronavirus death toll at 320 fatalities Tuesday as the country seeks to slow a record-breaking surge in cases with new restrictions. The previous record death toll of 317 Covid-19 deaths was recorded less than a week ago last Wednesday. Tuesday’s increase brings Russia’s overall Covid-19 death toll, as reported…
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‘We’re in Hell’: Russia’s Second Wave of Covid-19 Is Catching the Regions Off Guard
In a video widely shared across Russian social media last week, dozens of bodies wrapped in black plastic bags line the walls of a decrepit basement in a hospital in Barnaul, the capital city of the Altai region in Siberia. “The deceased Covid-19 patients were being stored in the basement of the hospital due to…
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Russia Reinstates Mask Mandate, Restricts Nightlife to Stop Virus Spread
Russia has reinstated a nationwide mask mandate starting Wednesday amid a record-setting second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has announced. Russians will be required to wear masks in all crowded places, including public transport, taxis, parking lots and elevators, Rospotrebnadzor said Tuesday. Russia imposed a national mask mandate and other quarantine…
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Urals Doctors Appeal for Russian Army Medics as Coronavirus Surges – BBC
Medics in the Ural Mountains city of Kurgan have appealed for the Russian government to send in army medics to help the local health care system stretched thin by the coronavirus pandemic, BBC Russia reported Monday. The national Covid-19 information center ranks the Kurgan region, with a population below 830,000, Russia’s eighth least-affected subject with…