Year: 2020

The Russian economy is expected to grow by 1.6% in 2020 and by 1.8% in 2021, the World Bank said in its latest forecast Wednesday. The multilateral development bank trimmed Russia’s forecast for this year by 0.1 percentage point from its previous outlook, but kept its 2021 forecast intact. Stable oil production and the government’s…

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to hold a higher positive rating across the world than U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a Pew Research Center poll published Wednesday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel enjoys the highest positive ratings out of five global leaders, with 46% expressing confidence in her leadership, as well as the lowest negative…

Turkey and Russia urged Libya’s warring parties on Wednesday to declare a Jan. 12 ceasefire as eastern forces carried out air strikes on the government in a conflict drawing increasing foreign involvement and concern. Turkey backs Fayez al-Serraj’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and has said it will send troops as requested, while Russia has sent forces to…

Omar al-Tawil, a 15-year-old school boy in Damascus, is one of 24,000 Syrian youngsters now learning Russian at school after the country added the language of the government’s most powerful ally to the curriculum. Many young people in Syria, where Moscow intervened in 2015 to help President Bashir al-Assad win back territory, are eager to study Russian…

Russia’s prime minister has ordered an inspection of flight and tourism safety in the Middle East following an Iranian missile strike in Iraq and a fatal plane crash in Tehran, Interfax reported Wednesday. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s order comes in response to a Ukrainian airliner crashing shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people…

The presidents of Turkey and Russia on Wednesday formally launched the TurkStream pipeline which will carry Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey, part of Moscow’s efforts to reduce shipments via Ukraine. The pipeline project, stretching 930 kilometers (580 miles) across the Black Sea, reinforces strong energy ties between Moscow and Ankara, which have also increased defense…

A Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran early on Wednesday, bursting into flames and killing all 176 people on board. Debris and smoldering engine parts from the Boeing 737, which carrier Ukraine International Airlines said was last serviced two days ago, were strewn across a field southwest of the Iranian capital where rescue workers in…

Iran launched missiles at U.S.-led forces in Iraq on Wednesday in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing last week stoked fears of a new Middle East war. Iranian state television said Iran had fired 15 missiles at U.S. targets in Iraq in response to Friday’s killing of Qassem Soleimani,…

Russia slid to 51st place in a global ranking of passport holders who can travel to other countries without a prior visa, according to a quarterly index published Tuesday. The Henley & Partners residence and citizenship planning firm ranks the strength of 199 different passports based on the availability of visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to…

Turkey and Russia will inaugurate a third natural-gas pipeline between their countries on Wednesday, deepening Turkish reliance on Russian energy even as the countries dig in on opposite sides of Libya’s escalating proxy war. The ceremonial opening of the TurkStream pipeline by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin underscores the…

With the world on edge over rising tensions in the Middle East, one leader seems unfazed: Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The Russian president arrived in Damascus on Tuesday in just his second visit to Syria since the start of the country’s civil war nearly nine years ago. The timing is significant. The U.S. and its allies…

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has accused lawmakers who seek to re-criminalize domestic abuse of “borrowing” the draft law, as well as the concept of domestic violence, from abroad.  Russia scrapped criminal punishments for first-time domestic abuse offenses in 2017. A series of high-profile murder and domestic violence cases has pushed lawmakers to begin work toward…

Vladimir Putin met Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, the Russian leader’s second trip to Syria since Moscow intervened decisively on the Syrian president’s behalf in the country’s civil war. The visit comes at a time of heightened regional tension — Assad’s other main military ally, Iran, has said it will retaliate against the United States…

At least eight migrants have been killed in a greenhouse fire southeast of Moscow, emergency officials told Interfax on Tuesday. The blaze broke out in the Moscow region district of Ramenskoye and spread across an area of 240 square meters in the early hours of the day, authorities said. A statement on the Emergency Situations…

A St. Petersburg clinic that is run and partly owned by people with ties to President Vladimir Putin has provided medical treatment to Russian mercenaries injured abroad, according to three people with knowledge of military contractors being treated, a clinic employee, a reporter’s witness account and company records. The previously unreported medical treatment for private military…

Two Russian sailors have been captured by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday, citing the Russian Embassy in Abuja. The two Russian crew members of the Ambika oil dredger were abducted by unidentified armed men on Jan. 2 alongside a third crew member from India, Nigeria’s Premium…

Archeologists have for the first time discovered three generations of ancient Amazon women warriors buried in a single tomb around 2,500 years ago in present-day Russia. Experts say the women warriors, who belonged to a nomadic people that dominated Eurasia called the Scythians, may have inspired the Amazons depicted in Greek mythology. A Russian Academy…

Russian state lender VTB has filed a lawsuit in Britain’s High Court against a Mozambican government company it lent hefty sums to as part of a project now at the center of a $2 billion debt scandal, an online court filing shows. The filing, dated Dec. 23, names as defendants the Mozambique state and Mozambique…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Russia on Jan. 11 for talks with President Vladimir Putin on the crisis triggered by the killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. air strike, the Kremlin press service said. The Kremlin said Merkel is traveling to Russia at Putin’s invitation and that the two leaders also plan…

Russia’s government has published a plan of action that outlines 29 broad measures to both mitigate damage and take advantage of opportunities created by climate change. Climate change is warming Russia at a faster rate than the rest of the world, the country’s environment ministry said last summer. Economists have predicted that Russia stands to…

Regional issues took center stage in Russia in 2019 — from trash protests in the north to contested elections in the Far East, from border disputes in the North Caucasus to the effects of climate change in Siberia. As Russians increasingly turn their attention to local problems, independent media organizations have stepped in to provide…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron expressed their concerns in a phonecall over the U.S. killing of Iran’s Major-General Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement on the Kremlin’s website Friday evening. The U.S. early on Friday killed Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and architect of Iran’s spreading military influence…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron expressed their concerns in a phone call over the U.S. killing of Iran’s Major-General Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement on the Kremlin’s website Friday evening. The U.S. early on Friday killed Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and architect of Iran’s spreading military…

Russian Senator Konstantin Kosachev has called the U.S. killing of a key Iranian military commander “the worst-case scenario,” and said he believed that Iranian retribution “will not take long,” while Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the world is now “confronted with a new reality.” The U.S. early on Friday killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of…

Russia has halted oil supplies to refineries in Belarus, the Belarusian state energy firm said on Friday, amid a new contract dispute that is also threatening large Russian oil deliveries to Western Europe crossing the country. Belarus’s state firm Belneftekhim said deliveries had been halted as of Jan. 1. Two trading sources told Reuters Russian oil transit to…

Eight months after simplifying the procedure of acquiring a Russian passport for residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, Russia announced that it has granted over 196,000 citizenships to Ukrainians. The figures came from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian TASS news agency reported on Jan. 1. Moscow says it is protecting the Russian-speaking…

Popular Russian video blogger Nastya Ivleyeva asked Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his end-of-year press conference in early December if the new sovereign internet law will lead to YouTube being banned in the country.   “I think you understand how I will answer that question,” said Medvedev, chuckling. “The purpose of the law is to keep…

Russia’s crude oil and condensate output hit a post-Soviet high last year even as it curbed production under an agreement with OPEC. The 11th consecutive year of output growth underscores the reality of Russia’s cooperation with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Despite being one of the architects of the original 2016 deal, Moscow has…

Turkey‘s parliament on Thursday passed a bill that allows troop deployment to Libya, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop said, paving the way for increased military cooperation despite criticism from opposition lawmakers. Sentop said the legislation passed with an 325-184 vote in the parliament, where President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party and its nationalist allies hold a…

Quickfire agreements on energy and the Kremlin-backed war that erupted after Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea show Ukraine and Russia can increasingly look past their differences to strike deals. The natural-gas pact agreed late Monday, which ended fears of disruptions to European Union supplies, comes a day after the former allies’ second prisoner swap in four months.…

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved the country’s development plan for its Northern Sea Route. The document, which has been in the making for some time, was signed by Medvedev on Dec. 21 and published on the government website on Dec. 30. It was considered to be of great importance that it was approved…

Clean Russian athletes should be allowed to compete in individual events at this year’s Tokyo Games under the banner of “Independent Olympic Participants,” historian Bill Mallon suggests. It is a designation used for athletes from Yugoslavia in 1992, and one that Mallon thinks offers a good road map of how to issue Russia a meaningful punishment without imposing…

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a police traffic post in the capital of Russia’s republic of Ingushetia in the North Caucasus on New Year’s Eve, the Site Intelligence Group reported. Two men reportedly drove into a policeman manning the post in Magas before attacking his colleagues with knives. One law…

The Russian state-controlled news agency Sputnik said Wednesday that it is closing its bureau in Tallinn after nearly three dozen of its employees resigned saying they were facing pressure from the Estonian local authorities. Sputnik published a statement on Jan. 1 saying 35 of its staff in Estonia had terminated their labor contracts and resigned,…

Russian bankers ended 2019 as the most pessimistic executives in the Russian corporate world, a recent survey of Russia’s top firms, found. With inflation and interest rates coming down, Russia’s businesses in little need of corporate loans, and new regulations to tighten the consumer loan market coming into force — more than one in every…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…