Russia is the world’s last bastion of freedom in the face of the U.S. labor movement’s decline and pressure on Russian media in the Baltics and Ukraine, the head of Russia’s lower house of parliament said Wednesday. “Russia is the last island of freedom,” State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said during a legislative session, according to…
Europe’s top human rights court has called on Russia to release jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny “immediately.” Navalny was sentenced to nearly 3 years in prison on Feb. 2 for violating his probation in a 2014 fraud conviction while he recovered from a near-fatal poisoning in Germany. The ECHR in 2017 ruled that Navalny’s 2014 conviction…
The “Fabergé: Jeweler to the Imperial Court” exhibit at the Hermitage Museum finds itself at the center of a scandal about fakes. It began with an accusation by one Russian art dealer about another Russian art dealer. On Jan. 10 André Ruzhnikov, a London-based art and antiques specialist, wrote an open letter to the head…
A leading opposition figure went on trial Wednesday in Belarus, where authorities are pursuing a series of criminal cases against activists and journalists following months of anti-government protests last year. Viktor Babaryko had planned to run against strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko but was arrested in June ahead of elections and charged with bribery and money laundering. …
North Korea is offering a bounty of up to $10,000 to help find runaway workers in Russia, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Tuesday, citing Russian citizens of Korean descent in the country’s Far East. The United Nations demanded that all countries send home North Korean laborers by late 2019 to stop Pyongyang from funneling a cut of…
Within the project of construction of the power unit with the BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC, an enterprise of TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM in Seversk, Tomsk Region, West Siberia), the contracts are signed for manufacturing and supply of main technological equipment of the reactor installation. In…
The unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has introduced a bill to add Russian as an official language alongside Armenian, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday. The bill follows a recent Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan regain most of its former territories in the region, including the strategic city of Shusha, from Armenian control.…
Russian security forces have detained 19 suspected radical Islamists accused of plotting attacks across southern Russia, Interfax reported Wednesday, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB). The security operation took place in the Black Sea regions of Krasnodar, Crimea, Rostov and Karachayevo-Cherkessia. Authorities identified the suspects as members of Takfir wal-Hijra, a group that Russia banned…
Turkish border guards have detained five Russians, including a woman suspected of being a member of the Islamic State group and a Libyan, who were attempting to cross from Syria, officials said Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether all six were suspected of being members of the jihadist group. “Our border guards stationed in…
Police in Belarus raided the homes and offices of dozens of journalists, rights defenders and trade union members on Tuesday, investigators and activists said, as part of a probe into mass protests. Belarus was gripped by months of demonstrations against the rule of President Alexander Lukashenko after he claimed an overwhelming victory in an August…
Yulia Navalnya does not yet plan to replace her jailed husband Alexei Navalny as Russia’s main opposition politician, she said in an interview with the Harper’s Bazaar fashion magazine. Navalnaya’s latest refusal to engage in politics comes amid calls from supporters for her to take up her husband’s cause as he faces multiple criminal charges that…
Russian state laboratory Vektor on Tuesday announced it was launching research into prehistoric viruses by analyzing the remains of animals recovered from melted permafrost. The Siberia-based lab said in a statement that the aim of the project was to identify paleoviruses and conduct advanced research into virus evolution. The research in collaboration with the University of…
Russia remains supportive of Myanmar’s military after China’s ambassador expressed concern with the crisis in its neighboring country and denied rumors of its involvement. Ambassador Chen Hai said Beijing maintained “friendly” ties with both the Burmese army and its former ruling civilian government, noting that the current political situation was “absolutely not what China wants…
February 17, 2021, 10:00 High-capacity facilities are under construction in eastern and western Russia. Amur GPP construction project is 72 per cent complete. The Gazprom Board of Directors expressed its approval of the Company’s ongoing efforts on expanding gas processing facilities and promoting cutting-edge technologies in the segment. It was noted that Gazprom is actively strengthening its gas processing business, primarily due to the growing share of multi-component…
February 17, 2021, 09:55 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about gas supplies to the Khabarovsk Territory. It was highlighted that, in compliance with the Directives of the Government of the Russian Federation “On gas supplies to the Khabarovsk Territory from 2025,” the Company is expanding the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas trunkline at the section between Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Khabarovsk. Over 315 kilometers of the linear part – more than 3/4 of…