Year: 2020

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Russia’s Far East for a fifth consecutive weekend as anti-Kremlin rallies showed little sign of dying down on Saturday. The rallies in the city of some 600,000 people on the border with China is a major show of defiance against Moscow’s policies and present a…

Russia has confirmed 882,347 cases of coronavirus and 14,854 deaths. Aug. 8: What you need to know today Russia’s statistics agency Rosstat said 11,917 people with the coronavirus died in June, compared to an official death toll of 4,880 for the same period. Rosstat said Covid-19 was confirmed or believed to be the main cause of death…

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…

KHABAROVSK — From pink salmon to chum salmon to the glistening orange globes of their roe, Nadezhda Donkan remembers the tables of her childhood always being fully laden in her village in the Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk. Now a 57-year-old pensioner, Donkan, a member of the indigenous Nanai people whose livelihoods have for centuries depended…

A Russian virologist has questioned the country’s swiftly developed coronavirus vaccine, warning that it could be dangerous for people who have antibodies against the virus. Russia is one of several countries racing to develop a vaccine to halt the disease that has killed more than 700,000 people and slammed the global economy. One vaccine, developed…

The head of Russia’s space agency said Friday that Roscosmos wants to return to Venus and bring back soil samples and build spacecraft that will surpass Elon Musk’s rockets. Last week America’s first crewed spaceship to fly to the International Space Station in nearly a decade returned safely to Earth, splashing down in the Gulf…

Belarus on Friday announced it had loaded fuel into its Russian-built nuclear power station as strongman Alexander Lukashenko prepares to contest a presidential poll on Sunday. The country is launching its first ever nuclear plant to gain cheaper energy despite suffering severe radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and against strong opposition from neighboring Lithuania.…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he wants ex-Soviet neighbor Belarus to remain stable ahead of a presidential vote on Sunday, after Minsk accused Moscow of sending mercenaries to foment riots. The Kremlin released a statement after a phone call between Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to discuss ties as Belarus ramped up tensions…

Indigenous groups in Siberia and the Russian Far East have asked Elon Musk to boycott a mining giant linked to several recent environmental disasters in the Arctic. Last month, the Tesla CEO urged global mining companies to ramp up nickel production as current costs of the metal, a key ingredient in electric car batteries, were…

Russians are receiving spam text messages offering huge rewards in exchange for information about their country’s efforts to interfere in the United States’ presidential election. News of the SMS messages came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the $10 million reward in an attempt to prevent foreign interference in the November vote, pointing…

Twitter and Facebook on Thursday announced moves to thwart efforts to deceive or divide voters as the U.S. nears a contentious presidential election. Twitter unveiled new steps to prevent the spread of content from “state-affiliated media” used to advance a government’s political agenda — a move affecting key outlets from Russia and China. Facebook, meanwhile, said it…

Strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled over ex-Soviet Belarus for nearly three decades, is facing down the greatest challenge to his rule yet ahead of presidential elections on Sunday. In the run-up to the vote in which Lukashenko will seek a sixth term, protests have erupted across the country straddling Russia and Europe, with 37-year-old…

A 15-year-old girl living in a Russian Orthodox monastery controlled by a defrocked coronavirus-denying priest has died, Interfax reported Wednesday. The Sredneuralsk women’s monastery near Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg has been under the control of Father Sergei Romanov since he forced out its mother superior in June. Since then, Russian media outlets have reported…

Belarus holds presidential polls on Sunday with a novice opposition candidate posing the greatest challenge in years to long-ruling strongman Alexander Lukashenko. The 65-year-old authoritarian leader has headed the ex-Soviet country bordering Russia since 1994 and Sunday’s polls could hand him his sixth term. After appearing to guarantee himself a smooth path to victory by…

Moscow city government employees and healthcare workers are being offered early access to Russia’s coronavirus vaccine as the country rushes to approve what it says is the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Officials in recent weeks have said Russia aims to launch mass production of a coronavirus vaccine next month and produce “several…

Cypriot police said Thursday they had questioned a Russian over alleged links to a ship and its cargo of ammonium nitrate said to have caused the devastating explosion in Beirut. “Lebanese authorities asked us to locate the individual and ask him some questions which we did,” a Cypriot police spokesman told AFP. “His response has been…

A Moscow court on Thursday sentenced three young activists to long jail terms for plotting to overthrow President Vladimir Putin in a case that has sparked protests and allegations of police overreach. In 2018, authorities detained 10 people accusing them of belonging to an anarchist cell called the “New Greatness” that was plotting an uprising…

Belarus has arrested a number of U.S. nationals, its President Alexander Lukashenko said days before the country’s presidential election. Authorities have cracked down on the Belarusian opposition as Lukashenko seeks a sixth term in office, with rights groups saying more than 1,300 people have been detained. “Some people were detained with American passports, married to…

Russia has confirmed 871,894 cases of coronavirus and 14,606 deaths. Aug. 6: What you need to know today Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot has canceled flights to 87 international destinations for the rest of August due to the coronavirus situation. The list doesn’t include countries where Russia has already resumed or plans to resume flights: Britain, Turkey, Tanzania and…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow, the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk 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…

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday offered a $10 million reward aimed at preventing foreign interference in the November election, as the State Department accused Russia of waging an increasingly sophisticated disinformation campaign. The reward marks one of the most public signs that members of President Donald Trump’s administration are taking election meddling seriously, despite…

A group of Russians completed an icy swim across Lake Baikal in Siberia on Wednesday in an effort to draw attention to ecological threats facing the world’s largest freshwater lake. The four men and one woman finished their continuous relay of 55 kilometers (34 miles) spanning the width of the lake and ending near the…

Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko seems set on burning once “brotherly” bridges with the Kremlin during a volatile election campaign that has seen him arrest Russian citizens and raid a bank with links to Moscow. The strongman leader of ex-Soviet Belarus has accused “puppeteers” and “Telegram channels” with ties to Moscow of meddling in the Aug.…

Russia’s state nuclear agency plans to remove several nuclear objects from the depths of Russia’s Arctic waters in an effort to reduce environmental hazards, Rosatom said this week as it presented a clean-up plan for the region. From the late 1960s to the late 1980s, about 18,000 radioactive objects were dumped into Russia’s remote northern…

About 500 migrants from Uzbekistan clashed with police in southern Russia as they tried to force their way toward the border into Kazakhstan, Russian media reported Tuesday. Thousands of migrant workers, mostly from ex-Soviet states, have been stranded in Russia since late March, when countries closed their borders and halted international flights due to the…

Nearly 3,000 tons of a highly explosive fertilizer that caused Tuesday’s devastating blast in Beirut came from a ship owned by a Russian businessman, the Mediazona news website reported Wednesday, citing Lebanese television and members of the ship’s crew. Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in a statement Tuesday that 2,750 metric tons of ammonium…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow, the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk 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…

Foreigners whose countries have visa-free travel agreements with Russia will once again be able to come to the country for short business trips, according to a decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday. Russia sealed its borders to nearly all foreigners in late March in an effort to contain the spread of the…

Record-setting summer temperatures across Siberia are opening up the Batagaika megaslump, which locals call the “gateway to the underworld,” at an unprecedented pace, scientists say. The Batagaika crater in the eastern Siberian republic of Sakha appeared in the 1960s after forest in the area was cleared, causing the land to sink. Currently the world’s largest…

The World Health Organization on Tuesday urged Russia to follow the established guidelines for producing safe and effective vaccines after Moscow announced plans to start swiftly producing COVID-19 jabs. Russia said Monday it aims to launch mass production of a coronavirus vaccine in September and turn out “several million” doses per month by next year.…

Russia has confirmed 861,423 cases of coronavirus and 14,351 deaths. Aug. 4: What you need to know today The World Health Organization on Tuesday urged Russia to follow the established guidelines for producing safe and effective vaccines after Moscow announced plans to start swiftly producing COVID-19 jabs.  Moscow authorities have issued 5,000-ruble fines ($68) to more than 40,000 people…

Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday vowed to protect his country from the opposition and Russia which he said were coordinating violent protests ahead of presidential elections this week. The 65-year-old has ruled over the ex-Soviet country wedged between Russia and Europe with an authoritarian grip for 26 years and has cracked down on the…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow, the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk 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…

At a small-town campaign rally held by the rising star of Belarus’s political opposition, Elena stood among the unusually large crowd, wrapped in a red and white flag — the colors of the ex-Soviet country’s emboldened opposition. Like many others at the gathering for opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, she preferred to give her first name…

A judge in Paris has ordered a French trial for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian suspected of money laundering on the bitcoin exchange BTC-e, also wanted by Washington and Moscow, his lawyer and other sources told AFP. Vinnik was extradited to France in January from Greece, where he had been arrested on an American warrant in…

Eight Russians have been arrested and charged with human trafficking in the country’s first surrogacy probe, and a court on Monday was to consider extending the arrests. Surrogacy is legal in Russia and has been a lucrative business for many years. However, a criminal probe was made possible due to “ambiguities” in legislation, defense lawyer Igor Trunov…

A new Russian law that allows deforestation and construction near the shores of Siberia’s Lake Baikal has sparked backlash among environmental activists who say the law threatens protected natural areas. Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake, has been plagued with environmental problems caused by industrial pollution, mining and agricultural run-off. Plans to construct a…

Each year on Aug. 2, current and former members of Russia’s Airborne Troops meet up to raise a drink (or, more likely, many drinks) to each other’s achievements and remember fallen comrades. The holiday falls on the anniversary of the Soviet military’s first parachute flight, which was held during exercises near the southern Russian city…

U.S. President Donald Trump called Sunday for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be re-sentenced to death after an appeals court overturned the death penalty. “Rarely has anybody deserved the death penalty more than the Boston Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,” Trump tweeted. “So many lives lost and ruined. The Federal Government must again seek the Death…

Russia said Monday it aims to launch mass production of a coronavirus vaccine next month and turn out “several million” doses per month by next year. The country is pushing ahead with several vaccine prototypes and one trialled by the Gamaleya institute in Moscow has reached advanced stages of development and is about to pass…

Russian authorities could resume all international flights with countries that grant reciprocity as early as Aug. 11, the state-run TASS news agency cited aviation industry sources as saying Saturday. Most flights to and from Russia have been grounded since March 27 in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Russia also closed…

Some of the 33 Russian mercenaries detained in Belarus told investigators they were on their way to Istanbul to see the Hagia Sophia, the head of Belarus’ Investigative Committee told President Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus authorities detained the men last week for allegedly plotting to destabilize the country ahead of the country’s Aug. 9 presidential election.…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow, the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk 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…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow, the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk 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…

KHABAROVSK — As the rain beat down, a sea of umbrellas filled the valley that has become part of the well-trodden path protesters take on their daily march around the city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East. Despite a torrential summer downpour, thousands took to the streets for the fourth straight massive Saturday protest, the…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow, the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk 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…

Russia has confirmed 850,870 cases of coronavirus and 14,128 deaths. Aug. 2: 3 things you need to know today Authorities in Moscow have issued sweeping fines for violating face mask and glove requirements in recent weeks as the city looks to enforce coronavirus safety rules, the state-run TASS news agency reported Friday. Russia confirmed 5,427 new coronavirus infections Sunday, bringing the country’s…

Russia has confirmed 845,443 cases of coronavirus and 14,058 deaths. Aug. 1: 3 things you need to know today Authorities in Moscow have issued sweeping fines for violating face mask and glove requirements in recent weeks as the city looks to enforce coronavirus safety rules, the state-run TASS news agency reported Friday. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the Russian capital has…