Russia Confirms 4 New Coronavirus Cases

Four new cases of coronavirus have been identified in Russia, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Saturday. The new cases take the total number of people who have been infected with coronavirus in Russia to 17, three of whom have since recovered. Three of the four live in Lipetsk, a city 460 kilometers south…

‘The Shadow in the East’

Restive Russian-speaking minorities, contentious memory politics, and turbulent Europeanization.  No, we are not talking about Ukraine, but the Baltic states: Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, and these are just some of the themes that Aliide Naylor covers in “The Shadow in the East: Vladimir Putin and the New Baltic Front.”  In this riveting debut, Naylor combines…

Putin Says Will Not Bend Law to Extend Grip on Power

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he would not bend the law to extend his term in power and is seeking to amend the constitution to secure the country’s future for decades to come. Speculation has swirled over the 67-year-old president’s future after he unleashed a political storm in January by proposing major constitutional changes.…

Putin Critic Navalny Takes Russia to European Court Over Money Laundering Case

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny lodged a complaint against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights on Friday to contest a money-laundering investigation he says authorities have opened to thwart his political activities. Russian investigators opened the case against Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation last August after he called on people to attend rallies that grew…

Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | March 6

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people continues to spread around the world, Russia has stepped up measures to tackle the health risk, including closing most entry points along its 4,200-kilometer border with China and temporarily banning Chinese citizens from entering the country.  Russia has a total of seven confirmed coronavirus…

Gazprom and OMV introducing amendments to asset sale deal

Background OMV AG is Gazprom’s main partner in Austria. The companies cooperate in gas production, transportation and supplies. On October 3, 2018, Gazprom and OMV signed the Basic Agreement on Asset Sale. In accordance with the document, OMV will obtain a 24.98 per cent stake in the project for developing Blocks 4A and 5A in the Achimov formations of the Urengoyskoye field. As a result, the Gazprom Group’s stake in the project will…

Alcohol Deaths Plummet as ‘Warmest Winter’ Hits Russia

Experts are attributing a sharp drop in the number of deaths from alcohol poisoning in Russia to the unseasonably warm winter. Some 619 people died from alcohol poisoning in January 2020, down 37.3% from January 2019, Russia’s National Center for Alcohol Policy Development said Thursday. The past winter was the warmest since records began in…

Russian Women Are Ready to Reclaim Once-Forbidden Jobs

Yevgenia Markova dreamed of being a truck driver all her life. There was just one problem — working as one would have been against the law. “I’ve loved everything that can be driven since childhood — cars, river boats, trains. But these were all forbidden,” she told The Moscow Times. For decades, women in Russia…

Russian Game Designer Launches Political Party

Before Vyacheslav Makarov announced in January he was leaving gaming, few could have expected the man who helped create the mega-hit World of Tanks wanted a career in Russian politics. Yet on the sidelines of a digital technologies conference in Moscow on Thursday, the 40-year-old online gaming legend launched his latest creation: the Direct Democracy…

Russia Unveils Arctic Ambitions With 2035 Strategy

Russia is hoping to lure more people to live in the Arctic with promises of payouts and infrastructure development in the environmentally vulnerable territory, according to its 15-year strategy published Thursday. The Kremlin document on the “foundations of state policy in the Arctic to 2035”, signed by President Vladimir Putin, set out its policy plans for…

Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | March 5

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people continues to spread around the world, Russia has stepped up measures to tackle the health risk, including closing most entry points along its 4,200-kilometer border with China and temporarily banning Chinese citizens from entering the country.  Russia has a total of seven confirmed coronavirus…

Turkey, Russia Agree Ceasefire in Syria’s Idlib

Turkey and Russia announced a ceasefire in northern Syria on Thursday, agreeing to end weeks of heavy fighting that sparked a humanitarian disaster and raised fears of their armies clashing. After more than six hours of talks in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on the ceasefire to take…

Coronavirus Hits Russian Tourism for $400M Loss

Russia’s tourism sector has already taken a 27 billion ruble  ($406 million) hit from the impact of coronavirus, the head of the Russian Association of Tour Operators said on Thursday in a plea for government support. The coronavirus outbreak has caused havoc across the global travel industry as companies restrict employee trips, airlines axe flights,…

Arnold Schwarzenegger Sues Russian Robot Maker Over Lookalike

Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger is suing Russia’s robot maker Promobot for using his likeness without permission, the TMZ tabloid reported Wednesday. Schwarzenegger’s company is demanding $10 million in damages, as well as profits made off the lookalike robot and other expenses, according to TMZ. It also reportedly wants an injunction blocking Promobot from using the…

Russian Planes Targeted in Wave of Bomb Threats

Three Russian passenger planes flying domestic routes on Thursday were targeted with anonymous bomb threats while airborne, local media said. Anonymous messages were passed to emergency services and a Moscow airport warning that the planes had a bomb on board, Russian news agencies said. One plane was flying from Saint Petersburg to the Crimean city…

‘Extremist’ Jehovah’s Witness Jailed in Crimea

A court in annexed Crimea sentenced a Jehovah’s Witness to six years in prison on charges of extremism Thursday in the ongoing crackdown on the religious group in Russia. Sergei Filatov, the local branch leader, was among several worshippers swept up in raids in the Crimean town of Dzhankoy in 2018. Russia, which seized the…

Atelier E.B. Passerby at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Passerby, a new exhibition at Garage museum, presents a visual and social history of the humble shop mannequin. This mass-produced everyday object is revealed to be a surprisingly rich social phenomenon; the clothes mannequin is, on one hand, a disposable life-sized coat hanger, but in Passerby it is reimagined as an art object, a human…

Moscow to ‘Shut Down’ in Case of Coronavirus Outbreak

Moscow authorities have drafted an emergency plan that envisions a shutdown of the Russian capital in case of a coronavirus outbreak, BBC Russia and the Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday. Russia has confirmed seven coronavirus cases, two of whom have recovered last month, with the latest case reported Thursday. Temperature checks in arrivals for international…

Warm Winter Wakes Moscow’s Bears Early

This unseasonably mild winter has caused the in Moscow Zoo bears to wake up earlier than usual, the city’s mayor’s office said Wednesday. Last year, the two Himalayan bears and one Kamchatka brown bear began coming out of hibernation in April. “Our zoologists were preparing for the bears to wake up earlier due to the…

Rosneft Joins Russia’s Gene-Editing Tech Program

Russia’s oil giant Rosneft and the Russian government will join forces to develop gene-editing technology, according to a government decree published Wednesday. The deal, which President Vladimir Putin ordered in December, aims to accelerate Russia’s $1.6 billion program to create 30 new varieties of genetically modified crops and animals by 2027.  Rosneft is tasked with…

Putin Says Fake Coronavirus Rumors ‘Organized From Abroad’

False rumors about the new coronavirus circulating in Russia are being directed from abroad, President Vladimir Putin claimed Wednesday at a government meeting. He told ministers the country’s FSB security service had reported to him that false information was being planted to create panic, while in reality the situation is not critical. “As for these provocative fake…

Celebrating Women: 5 Soviet and Russian Stars on the Ice

Although competitive figure skating is a relatively young sport, Russia is already well-established as a powerhouse of the icy stage. In the lead-up to International Women’s Day and as skater Adelina Sotnikova has just announced her retirement, we look back on some of the women who have defined Russian and Soviet skating in the past…

Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | March 4

As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people continues to spread around the world, Russia has stepped up measures to tackle the health risk, including closing most entry points along its 4,200-kilometer border with China and temporarily banning Chinese citizens from entering the country.  Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus…

Is Russia Finally Waking Up to Climate Change?

Even skeptics can no longer ignore the effects of climate change in Russia. First, there’s the weather. Last year was the hottest on record; the ice in the Arctic is melting at a dramatic pace, as is the permafrost; while forest fires and flash floods have ravaged swathes of Siberia, and methane is spewing from…

Deadly Russian Plane Crash ‘Not Terrorism,’ Egypt Says

A Russian passenger plane crash in Egypt was not an act of terrorism and the identities of its victims are unknown, an Egyptian appeals court ruled recently, according to the Kommersant business daily. Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed minutes after takeoff from the Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg on Oct. 31, 2015, killing all…

Russia Bans Export of Masks, Hazmat Suits to Fight Coronavirus

Russia has banned the export of masks, respirators and hazmat suits to ensure access to the items for medics treating coronavirus patients and the public, under a decree published Wednesday. The ban covers 17 types of equipment including face masks, plastic shoe covers, gloves, surgical scrubs, gas masks, hazmat suits and “reusable anti-plague” suits. The ban…

Severstal discloses 2020 IT ad digital ivestmet

March 4, 2020 PAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, announces plans to invest 6.7 bn roubles in IT and digital projects, a 7% increase on 2019 investment levels. In 2020, the Company will work on developing new solutions for managing material flows and optimising the quality of…

Putin Says Protesters Welcome to ‘Get Shaved’ in Jail

Russian President Vladimir Putin mockingly suggested on Tuesday that participants in unsanctioned protests were welcome to go to prison and “get shaved.” In the latest in a series of interviews with state-run news agency TASS, Putin said opposition supporters who take part in unapproved rallies should expect to be given jail time. “If you have…

Opposition Leader Navalny Says Bank Accounts Frozen

Russia’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Tuesday that authorities had frozen all of his bank accounts and those of his family, including his elderly parents. “All accounts have been blocked,” Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner who has emerged as President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, said on Twitter.  His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told AFP that…

Russia Sends 4th Warship to Syria Amid Turkey Tensions

The Russian Navy has dispatched a fourth warship to Syria’s Mediterranean coast as tensions over the northwestern province of Idlib spiral with Turkey, amateur ship spotters reported Monday. The large landing ship Novocherkassk was photographed crossing Turkey’s busy Bosphorus strait days after Russia sent two warships equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles toward the Syrian coast.…

Russian Police Turn to ‘Name Profiling’ to Spot Criminals

The Russian police force’s official gazette has interviewed an expert who claims to be able to identify criminals based on their name, birth date and other traits.  Psychologist Boris Khigir claims his method, which he says is based on personal observations and statistics, has an 80% accuracy rate. Critics have questioned the reliability of criminal…

Russia Sends Punk-Rave Sensations Little Big to Eurovision

Little Big, the self-described punk-pop-rave juggernaut behind the infectious Skibidi Challenge, will represent Russia at the Eurovision song contest this spring, organizers announced Monday. The choice represents a break with Russia’s reliance on more traditional pop stars to bring home the trophy and hosting rights for the first time in more than a decade. This…

Severstal discloses 2020 evirometal ivestmet pla

March 3, 2020 PAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, announces its plans to invest plan approximately 1.1 billion roubles in environmental projects in 2020. The investment will cover a full environmental refurbishment programme at Severstal’s main assets to further reduce the Group’s environmental impact. 671 million roubles…

Coronavirus Alert: Russian Cossacks Told Not to Kiss Orthodox Icons

Russian Cossacks have been told by one of their leaders not to kiss icons or clerics’ hands to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The order was issued by Gennadiy Kovalev, head of the Council of Cossack Hetmans (leaders) of Russia which represents several thousand Cossacks, traditional militia units that once protected Russia‘s borderlands. Kissing icons…