Year: 2020

Ecologists often joke that Europe owes its clean skies to the dirty sky of Norilsk — and there’s more than a shred of truth in this assertion. The Nornickel mining and metallurgical company supplies metals to 37 countries, where they are used in the production of electric cars, electricity stations and solar panels. But in…

KULLAR, DAGESTAN — Along the Caucasus Highway in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, about 30 kilometers from the border with Azerbaijan, hundreds of Azerbaijani migrants are sleeping in tents for weeks at a time as they try to return home.  Although Azerbaijan’s land border with Russia is officially closed, the country allows between 400 and…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid a secret visit to prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny while he was hospitalized in Berlin following his poisoning by Novichok, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday. Merkel’s visit before Navalny was discharged from Berlin’s Charité clinic last week serves as a signal to the Kremlin that Berlin will…

Belarusian police on Sunday detained around 200 people as tens of thousands took to the streets in support of protest figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya days after the country’s strongman president staged a secret inauguration. The opposition movement calling for an end to President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime has kept up a wave of large-scale demonstrations since his…

Arch foes Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday accused each other of initiating deadly clashes that claimed at least 23 lives over a decades-long territorial dispute and threatened to draw in regional powers Russia and Turkey. The worst clashes since 2016 have raised the spectre of a fresh war between long-standing rivals Azerbaijan and Armenia which…

Russia has confirmed 1,151,438 cases of coronavirus and 20,324 deaths. Sept. 27: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 7,867 new Covid-19 cases Sunday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 1,151,438 as the number of new infections across the country continues to rise.  Moscow is urging its businesses to reinstate work-from-home measures and elderly residents to…

Formula One confirmed on Friday that it has recorded the sport’s biggest coronavirus spike this year as it prepares for the Russian Grand Prix, the 10th race of the season. The sport said it had returned its highest number of positive Covid-19 test results, hours before welcoming a significant number of spectators to a race…

Russia on Friday accused Germany of refusing to cooperate with it to establish the cause of opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s illness as he continues to recover in Berlin. The 44-year-old lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner collapsed on a flight to Moscow from Siberia in what his allies say was a state-sanctioned poison attack. He was discharged from…

Germany on Friday pressed Russia and China to allow the release of an interim UN report on violations of the arms embargo on Libya that found violations by Moscow-linked fighters. “We have not been able to reach an agreement on this point. I hope that the two delegations who have problems with this will give a green…

The Russian ruble has fallen to fresh lows at the end of the trading week as markets around the world remain on edge over a surge in coronavirus cases across Europe. The ruble shed 1.8% against the U.S. dollar — a significant movement in the foreign currency markets — to print 78.4 on Friday afternoon…

Moscow health authorities have urged pregnant women to self-isolate indoors as the city saw a new uptick in coronavirus cases on Friday. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin previously urged the elderly and those suffering from chronic diseases to go into self-isolation as the city of 12.7 million confirmed 1,560 new Covid-19 cases for the first time in…

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Friday concluding a pact with Washington against interfering in one another’s elections and internal affairs, just weeks before the U.S. hosts a divisive presidential vote. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov read out Putin’s statement in a video released by the ministry, while the Kremlin chief was visiting massive military drills involving…

Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine confers immunity among some recipients after the first shot, its developer has said in an interview with state media Friday. Sputnik V is an adenovirus-based vector vaccine that is administered in two doses. President Vladimir Putin last month hailed it as the world’s first registered coronavirus vaccine, though large-scale trials…

Russia confirmed 7,212 coronavirus infections Friday, the first time in three months that its daily caseload crossed the 7,000 mark. Overall, the country’s official number of cases has reached 1,136,048, the fourth-highest number of infections in the world. The last time Russia recorded more than 7,000 new coronavirus infections was on June 25, when the…

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, voiced his support for the Belarusian opposition Thursday as the country continues to see mass protests against long-serving strongman Alexander Lukashenko.  His statement came the day after Lukashenko was sworn into office in a secret ceremony following more than a month of unprecedented protests against his…

Russia has confirmed 1,128,836 cases of coronavirus and 20,056 deaths. Sept. 25: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 7,212 new Covid-19 cases Friday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 1,136,048 as the number of new infections across the country continues to rise. Moscow is urging its businesses to reinstate work-from-home measures and elderly residents to…

Moscow is urging its businesses to reinstate work-from-home measures and elderly residents to avoid going outside starting next week as the city sees a new uptick in coronavirus cases, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Friday. The city of 12.7 million confirmed more than 1,000 Covid-19 cases for the first time in three months Thursday. Hospitalizations in…

Russian cosmonauts set to blast off for the International Space Station said on Thursday it was too early to get a coronavirus vaccine touted by President Vladimir Putin. “I’d personally say that I would not get vaccinated because I tread very carefully on this issue,” said Sergei Ryzhikov, the 46-year-old leader of the next expedition…

Russia has confirmed 1,128,836 cases of coronavirus and 19,948 deaths. Sept. 24: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 6,595 new Covid-19 cases Thursday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 1,128,836 as the number of new infections across the country continues to rise. Moscow confirmed more than 1,000 coronavirus cases for the first time since June…

Russia’s coronavirus treatment drug Avifavir will be made available in 17 more countries in addition to the six countries where it is already sold, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund said in a statement Thursday.  Avifavir, manufactured by Russia’s ChemRar biotechnology firm, was the world’s first drug to be registered for coronavirus treatment. Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan…

Russian authorities have seized Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s apartment days after he was discharged from German hospital where he was being treated for poisoning by Novichok, his spokeswoman said Thursday.  Kira Yarmysh said court marshals came after Navalny’s three-bedroom apartment in southeastern Moscow to enforce a $1-million court ruling in favor of catering magnate Yevgeny…

Russia is staging a series of military exercises with China and other allies amid growing alarm over fresh tensions with the West. The largest of these games, Caucasus-2020, kicked off in southern Russia this week and include land and naval exercises involving a total of 80,000 people including more than 12,000 troops. China, Iran and…

Russia’s second candidate vaccine against the coronavirus is less than a month away from state approval after completing small-scale human trials, the vaccine’s developers have said this week.  The Siberia-based Vektor State Virology and Biotechnology Center concluded Phase 2 trials on 100 volunteers last week, with results due to be published Wednesday. Volunteers were said…

Russian investigators refused to allow jailed U.S. investor Michael Calvey to remove his electronic ankle bracelet in order to undergo an MRI scan required for cancer treatment, the Financial Times reported Thursday.  Lawyers for Calvey, who was detained last February on embezzlement charges that he says are being used to pressure him in a business…

New coronavirus cases in Moscow on Thursday reached the highest level since late June, raising fears of a new wave of cases in the world’s fourth most affected country. The caseload increase had remained relatively stable in the capital at around 700 per day for several months, but the numbers began to climb again from…

TikTok has deleted hundreds of Russian videos at the government’s request since the start of 2020, the popular short video app’s European policy executive said this week. The Chinese-owned app removed or restricted nearly 700 videos worldwide following government requests between Jan. 1-June 30, according to its latest transparency report published this week. Nearly 300…

Belarus police fired tear gas and arrested more than 150 protesters on Wednesday after the secret inauguration of President Alexander Lukashenko triggered new demonstrations and fresh condemnation in the West. Several thousand protesters, many carrying the red-and white opposition flag, took to the streets of the capital Minsk and other cities following a surprise announcement…

Bulgaria has expelled two Russian diplomats accused of spying on the military, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The pair were given 72 hours to leave the EU country, a former Russian ally during Soviet times, after the Bulgarian public prosecutor alleged they had been seeking out classified information on military modernization plans since 2016.…

The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday sanctioned associates and businesses connected with a wealthy financier close to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Moscow’s security service. Eight people and seven entities related to Yevgeniy Prigozhin and the Federal Security Service (FSB) were targeted in the sanctions, which Treasury said in a statement were aimed at…

Moscow said Wednesday it was expanding a list of European officials who are banned from entering Russia as a response to what it said were aggressive EU actions. A Foreign Ministry statement did not specify what the sanctions were a response to, but referred to “hostile steps” against Russia and its citizens. Russia’s ties with…

The Kremlin-funded RT broadcaster leaned into its reputation as a U.S. election bogeyman with an ad offering President Donald Trump a job as “special host” if he loses the 2020 race.  RT used deepfake technology to transport Trump 44 days into the future, where he takes up Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to become RT’s…

A series of nuclear byproduct shipments to Russia from Germany is likely importing more than officially declared, Greenpeace Russia said Tuesday.  European enrichment firm Urenco resumed exports of uranium hexafluoride, a byproduct known as “tails,” last year after a 10-year pause initiated by Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom. The shipments have sparked outcry from environmental…

A series of toxic radioactive waste shipments to Russia from Germany is likely importing more waste than officially declared, Greenpeace Russia said Tuesday.  European enrichment firm Urenco resumed exports of uranium hexafluoride, a waste product known as “tails,” last year after a 10-year pause initiated by Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom due to storage safety…

Yandex shares have surged to a record high after the technology giant announced it has reached a preliminary agreement on a $5.5 billion deal for Tinkoff, Russia’s leading online bank. Analysts and investors are overwhelmingly upbeat on the potential takeover, saying it will make Yandex Russia’s leading fintech player and bring together two of the…

A Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet that crashed this week may have been accidentally shot down by another plane during exercises, the state-run TASS news agency reported Wednesday. The Su-30 was on a routine training mission with two pilots on board Tuesday when it crashed near a village in the Tver region northwest of Moscow.…

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been discharged from hospital after more than a month of treatment in Germany for his near-fatal poisoning with Novichok, Berlin’s Charité hospital said Wednesday. Navalny, 44, was flown to Germany two days after falling violently ill on a flight in Siberia on Aug. 20. Germany says it has evidence backed…

Six convicted criminals in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan have escaped from prison by digging a tunnel, authorities said Wednesday.  Wardens discovered the tunnel during a routine inspection around midnight and found out after a roll call that they were six prisoners short, the regional prison service said in a statement. Images shared on social media…

A senior Russian narcotics officer is suspected of growing marijuana with the intent of planting the drugs on innocent people, investigators have said. Authorities opened the investigation after the suspect, the deputy head of a local drug enforcement agency, staged a drug bust in the western Russian town of Velikiye Luki last week. Investigators and…

Russian officials are continuing to reassure the public that they won’t reimpose lockdown measures despite a renewed rise in coronavirus cases. Russia has seen an uptick in its daily Covid-19 caseload in September, with more than 5,000 confirmed infections per day since the start of the month and more than 6,000 in each of the…

President Vladimir Putin in a speech at the United Nations on Tuesday boasted of Russia’s creation of the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, though it has not completed large-scale clinical trials. Putin in a video address to the General Assembly said that Russia was open to partnership with other countries over “the first vaccine in the…

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny may have poisoned himself with Novichok, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told French President Emmanuel Macron in a recent phone call. Navalny, 44, who came out of a coma two weeks ago after falling violently ill on a flight in Siberia, mocked Putin’s reported claims as illogical. Germany says it has…

Russian authorities are considering chartering a plane from China to fly over parents who have been estranged from their babies born to surrogates in Russia due to coronavirus restrictions, they said Tuesday. With the practice banned in China,  parents pay to have surrogate babies abroad, but the system has been tipped into chaos by the pandemic, which…

A week after Belarus’ contested presidential elections, senior police investigator Andrei Ostapovich decided he could no longer stay silent.  He had already started to lose faith in President Alexander Lukashenko and even took part in one of the first post-election protest marches. The turning point came on his first weekend shift after the Aug. 9…

Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, touted as the most powerful of its kind and a symbol of Moscow’s Arctic ambitions, set off on its maiden voyage on Tuesday. Designed to transport liquefied natural gas from the Arctic, the giant vessel is 173 meters (570 feet) long and 15 meters high. “The unique domestically-built vessel will for…