Year: 2020

Russian photographer Sergey Gorshkov has claimed the top prize in this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition with his photo of an Amur tiger, the British Natural History Museum announced Wednesday.  Gorshkov’s winning photo titled “The Embrace” shows an Amur tigress scent-marking an ancient fir tree in the Land of the Leopard National Park…

Russia has approved its second coronavirus vaccine, President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday as the peptide-based shot developed by a Siberian biotech company readies for large-scale trials. “Novosibirsk’s Vektor [State Virology and Biotechnology Center] has registered the second Russian coronavirus vaccine today,” Putin said via televised video conference. Putin said that Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova…

Russia has been re-elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) following a four-year absence, Moscow’s mission to the UN in Geneva announced Wednesday.  Comprising 47 member states elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term, the HRC is responsible for addressing human rights violations and promoting the human rights agenda across the…

Russia plans to resume flights to Japan, Serbia and Cuba starting next month, the country’s coronavirus crisis center announced Wednesday. From Nov. 1, airports in Moscow will be able to operate two flights per week to Tokyo, Belgrade and the Cuban islands of Cayo Coco and Cayo Santa Maria. One weekly flight will operate from Russia’s…

A three-person crew successfully reached the International Space Station on Wednesday aboard a Russian rocket after the fastest ever journey from Earth of just over three hours. The mission of the Soyuz space craft carrying two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut was of immense importance to Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, coming as the SpaceX…

The EU on Wednesday agreed to impose sanctions on six people and one entity over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny with a Novichok nerve agent, diplomats told AFP. Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries approved sanctions after France and Germany proposed measures last week, saying Russia was responsible for the poisoning. In line with…

Russian peacekeepers should be sent to Nagorno-Karabakh to observe a shaky Moscow-brokered ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.  Russia’s top diplomat made the proposal as new fighting erupted between the Caucasus rivals despite a truce that they reached in Moscow over the weekend.   According to the state-run RIA Novosti news…

First to fifth-grade students in Moscow will return to classrooms next week following a two-week recess aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced Wednesday.  Moscow authorities had extended the traditional weeklong fall school break by a week in an effort to prevent children from contracting and spreading the coronavirus, which has…

Russia has broken its record for new coronavirus infections for the sixth day in a row as authorities grapple with a second wave that has pushed hospitals to near-capacity. Russia’s coronavirus information center confirmed 14,231 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday, setting a record for new infections.  This is the first time that Russia has confirmed more…

Russian hospitals are near capacity with coronavirus patients as new infections break records and authorities attempt to slow the second wave of the virus, a top health official said Tuesday. “To date, hospital bed occupancy is almost 90%,” Deputy Health Minister Oleg Gridnev was quoted as saying at a conference by Interfax. Gridnev said one-fifth…

The United States said Tuesday it had reached an “agreement in principle” with Russia on extending New START, the two nations’ last major nuclear accord, which is due to expire in February. President Donald Trump’s administration has been insisting without success that China enter the nuclear reduction agreement but, with U.S. elections three weeks away, signaled it…

Norway’s government on Tuesday said that it believes Russia was behind an August cyber attack targeting the email system of the country’s parliament. Hackers gained access to some lawmakers’ messages in the attack. “Based on the information the government has, it is our view that Russia is responsible for these activities,” Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen…

Belarus’s exiled opposition leader on Tuesday gave strongman President Alexander Lukashenko a deadline of two weeks to resign, halt violence and release political prisoners, warning he would otherwise face a crippling general strike. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who maintains she was the true winner of an Aug. 9 election, issued what she said was a “people’s ultimatum,”…

Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov on Tuesday asked parliament to vote again on a new prime minister after MPs backed Sadyr Japarov, a nationalist politician recently freed from jail by supporters.  Embattled president Jeenbekov met Japarov and said he would not approve his appointment, citing doubts that rules were adhered to during a vote by lawmakers,…

A young police officer has allegedly strangled his transgender girlfriend to death in Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk, media reported Tuesday.  Investigators said they have detained a 20-year-old traffic officer on suspicion of killing and disposing of the 24-year-old victim’s body. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 15 years if found guilty of murder.…

Four militants allegedly planning a series of terrorist attacks in the republic of Chechnya have been killed in a counterterrorism raid, Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) said Tuesday. The counterterrorism operation in the Chechen capital of Grozny was ordered by regional Federal Security Service (FSB) head Igor Kochnev in order to suppress “possible terrorist acts,” the…

Russia’s humanoid space robot nicknamed FEDOR has been taken off Twitter after it insulted retired cosmonauts who criticized Russia’s space program for falling behind that of the United States. FEDOR’s social media presence came to an abrupt halt this weekend following a barrage of tweets criticizing former cosmonauts Maxim Surayev and Alexander Samokutyayev, both currently…

Russia has set a new record for coronavirus deaths and cases, nearing 14,000 infections for the third time in a week, according to the national coronavirus information center.  Russia confirmed 13,868 new Covid-19 cases Tuesday, bringing its official number of cases to 1,326,178 and setting a new record for daily infections.  The information center also confirmed…

Russia has confirmed 1,326,178 cases of coronavirus and 22,966 deaths. Oct. 12 — Russia confirmed 13,592 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its official number of cases to 1,312,310.  Oct. 11 — Russia confirmed a record 13,634 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its official number of cases to 1,298,718. Oct. 10 — Russia confirmed 12,846 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its official number of cases to 1,285,084. Oct.…

New mass deaths of marine animals have been discovered off the coast of Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka peninsula where an unexplained event recently killed off up to 95% of seabed life, authorities said Monday.  Scientists and witnesses reported seeing dead marine animals along the seabed south of the initial discovery last week, Kamchatka region governor…

Russia is unlikely to participate in the Moon-orbiting station planned by the United States, a Russian official said Monday, marking the probable end of the type of close cooperation seen for two decades on the International Space Station (ISS). The proposed new station, called the Gateway, “is too U.S.-centric, so to speak,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head…

The mass death of sea creatures in Russia’s Kamchatka region was caused by toxins from microalgae rather than man-made pollution, a senior Russian scientist said on Monday, citing preliminary findings of an investigation. Locals on the volcanic peninsula in the Pacific raised the alarm in September as surfers experienced stinging eyes and sea creatures, including…

The European Union on Monday agreed to move ahead with sanctions against Russian officials over the nerve agent poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, further complicating already fraught ties with Moscow. Foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg agreed to sanctions proposals made last week by France and Germany, which said Russia was responsible for the poisoning…

Belarusian police on Monday threatened to fire live bullets at protesters, claiming that opposition demonstrations against strongman Alexander Lukashenko were becoming ever more radicalized. “Law enforcement officers and internal troops will not leave the streets and will use riot control equipment and lethal weapons if need be,” the interior ministry said in a statement on…

In a yard filled with abandoned plane parts next to Moscow’s main Sheremetyevo Airport, handlers are putting a pack of energetic sniffer dogs through their paces.  The small, fox-like canines are Shalaikas, a cross between Arctic Nenets herding dogs known as Laikas and Southern Turkmen golden jackals. Russia hopes it will soon be able to…

Russia on Monday urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to immediately start observing a ceasefire agreed over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region as intense fighting between the two Caucasus rivals cast fresh doubt over the accord. Armenia and Azerbaijan have for the last two weeks engaged in bitter clashes over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenians…

Russia said on Monday it was expelling two Bulgarian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after two Russians were ordered out of the EU country on accusations of spying for the military. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Bulgarian ambassador Atanas Krystin was summoned to be informed that the two Moscow-based diplomats had been declared…

Russian-British media mogul Yevgeny Lebedev is seeking to be the first member of the House of Lords with “Moscow” as his territorial designation, The Daily Mail newspaper reported Sunday.  Queen Elizabeth II conferred a lifetime peerage to Lebedev, 40, the extravagant friend of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and owner of Britain’s Independent and Evening…

A Russian military transport helicopter has been filmed dispersing protesters rallying against Russia’s expansion into northeast Syria on Sunday, local independent media reported.  Dozens of residents of Ayn Diwar village near the Turkish border took to the streets to oppose the Russian forces’ fifth attempt to establish a military outpost there, according to the North…

Foreign-born parents of Russian citizens over 18 years old can now obtain Russian citizenship through a simplified naturalization procedure, according to a new amendment that comes into force Monday.  All alien parents residing in Russia at the time of application can now forgo the five-year residence requirement. Previously, only parents of children with disabilities were…

Police deployed water cannon and stun grenades against opposition demonstrators in Minsk Sunday after strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko raised hopes for change by meeting jailed opposition figures. Large numbers of black-clad masked police, internal troops and men in plain clothes emerged from unmarked minibuses and ran towards protesters in the capital Minsk, pulling some to…

Hopes that a Russian-brokered ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan might hold were further dashed Sunday, with both sides accusing the other of intense shelling on civilian areas and escalating two weeks of fierce clashes. Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said that overnight shelling by Armenian forces on the country’s second largest city, Ganja, had left seven people…

Russia confirmed 13,634 new coronavirus cases Sunday, setting a record for new infections as authorities at the epicenter of the outbreak consider new restrictions to slow the spread of the disease. Russia, which has the world’s fourth-highest number of infections at 1,298,718 cases, has seen its daily caseload double over the past month. According to…

Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations of new attacks on Saturday in breach of a ceasefire deal to halt nearly two weeks of fierce fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The agreement, which was reached in the early hours of Saturday and took effect at noon, did seem to be having some impact, with the regional…

Russia has confirmed 1,285,084 cases of coronavirus and 22,454 deaths. Oct. 10: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 12,846 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, bringing its official number of cases to 1,285,084. Russia has carried out more than 500,000 coronavirus tests in a single day for the first time since the start of the pandemic, consumer protection watchdog…

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on Saturday to a ceasefire and to begin “substantive talks” over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh after nearly two weeks of fierce clashes. Bitter fighting in the South Caucasian region has claimed hundreds of lives, forced thousands to flee, and stirred fears of a full-blown war that could suck in regional…

Hundreds of dead marine animals washed up onshore in Russia’s Far East region of Kamchatka this month in what environmentalists call an ecological disaster. While the cause of the disaster is still unknown, Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into pollution. Senior scientists told The Moscow Times that the mass die-off may be…

At least five people were injured during fresh clashes between rival groups in Kyrgyzstan on Friday as the volatile Central Asian country slipped deeper into crisis. Political factions were jostling for power as President Sooronbay Jeenbekov ordered military forces to enter the capital after claiming he was ready to resign to calm tensions. Fresh clashes…

Armenia and Azerbaijan held their first high-level talks in Moscow on Friday after nearly two weeks of fierce clashes over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, amid hopes that a ceasefire could be brokered. The talks between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia continued for some six hours but it was not immediately clear if the…

Russia’s billionaires have increased their net worth by 20% during the coronavirus pandemic, as a boom in global stock markets and asset prices has pushed the fortunes of the world’s ultra-wealthy to dizzying new levels. Despite the rapid growth — which comes against a backdrop of unprecedented economic uncertainty, with millions of Russians losing their…

A school in western Siberia has been fined for shocking children with a hostage-taking simulation during class, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday.  A national scandal erupted last month when footage showed fifth-graders cowering under their desks as masked men stormed their classroom. The school later explained that it staged the act to mark Russia’s…

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) is backing its Kyrgyz colleagues in their efforts to prevent the Central Asian country gripped by political unrest from sliding into “total chaos,” the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday.  FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov this week held phone talks with former Kyrgyz deputy national security chief Omurbek Suvanaliyev, who has claimed…

Russia confirmed 12,126 new coronavirus cases Friday, setting a record for new infections as authorities at the epicenter of the outbreak consider new restrictions to slow the spread of the disease. Russia, which has the world’s fourth-highest number of infections at 1,272,238 cases, has seen its daily caseload double over the past month. The new…