Russia recorded more than 55,000 excess deaths in January, data from the country’s official statistics agency (Rosstat) published Friday showed. Since the start of the pandemic until the end of January — the latest such data is available — Russia has now recorded 394,000 more deaths than in the previous period. That represents a 24%…
RENERA LLC, ROSATOM’s integrator company for the energy storage business (subsidiary of TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom) has finalized the deal to acquire 49% share of Enertech International Inc, a South Korean manufacturer of electrodes, lithium-ion storage cells and energy storage systems. The signed agreement also includes building a facility for manufacturing of lithium-ion cells…
Four Russians and one Ukrainian photographer have been shortlisted for this year’s prestigious Sony World Photography Awards. Works by Sasha Bauer, Fyodor Savintsev, Alexey Pavlov and Igor Kryukov of Russia, as well as Maryna Masel of Ukraine, were selected from a record-breaking number of over 300,000 entries from 220 countries. Another notable entry, a portrayal…
March 5, 2021, 17:40 A working meeting of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, with Vladimir Semashko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation, and Viktor Karankevich, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus, took place today in Moscow. Particular attention at the meeting was paid to the ongoing heating season. It was noted that Gazprom is reliably providing Belarus…
Ukraine said Friday that renewed fighting with Russian-backed separatists was undermining a fragile ceasefire in the east of the country, and urged Western backers to intervene. The halt to fighting agreed last July raised hopes for a resolution to the bitter trench war that was sparked in 2014 by the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea and…
Russia’s top cellphone carrier MTS said Friday it has launched the country’s first pilot 5G network in Moscow. MTS said it opened 14 hotspots across the city’s main tourist attractions, including Lubyanka Square near Red Square, the Moscow City financial district and the VDNKh exhibition center. Participants of MTS’ pilot project with eligible smartphones will…
At the end of the 19th century, the director of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, had an idea for a ballet based on a tale by Charles Perrault called “La Belle au bois dormant.” Vsevolozhsky wrote the scenario and sketched the costumes for the ballet, which would be called “Sleeping Beauty,” and…
Germany has convicted two of its citizens on charges of violating the European Union’s arms embargo with Russia, the DPA news agency reported Friday. German investigators said the two defendants sold equipment for missile production to a Russian entrepreneur seven times between 2016-2018, bypassing export checks by using fictitious recipients, Deutsche Welle reported. The Russian…
Dozens of Russian non-profits have pleaded for President Vladimir Putin to strike down upcoming requirements to disclose their donors’ foreign funding, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. The dormant rules set to reactivate this spring will leave the homeless, elderly, orphans and seriously ill without support due to fewer donations, said a group representing 57…
Belarus said on Friday it had requested the extradition of exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was forced from the country during a crackdown on critics of leader Alexander Lukashenko. Tikhanovskaya, who challenged Lukashenko in last year’s presidential vote that the opposition said was rigged, sought refuge in EU member Lithuania as the crackdown intensified on…
Russia’s ruling party is looking to ban the propaganda of polyamory and bisexuality as it weighs options to reverse its population decline and defend what it calls traditional values, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. The ban was among a number of proposals floated at Thursday’s United Russia party conference on supporting families. The conference…
The Russian ruble and government bonds sank Friday morning on reports that the U.S. and U.K. are considering a second round of tough sanctions against Russia over the poisoning and jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Washington and London could be prepared to slap asset freezes and travel bans on Russian oligarchs deemed supporters of the…
For activists preparing to mark International Women’s Day in Kyrgyzstan, recalling the ambush that broke up last year’s march is still traumatic. That day, a group of masked men charged the marchers, hitting them with sticks and trampling banners dedicated to equality. What followed shocked the activists even more. As the men strolled away, police…