Moscow Security Forces Raid Jehovah’s Witnesses

Security forces detained several Moscow-based Jehovah’s Witnesses during raids in connection with a new extremism investigation into the religious group’s members, authorities announced Wednesday. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said Federal Security Service (FSB) agents, National Guardsmen and police officers assisted in the raids at 16 addresses in and around Moscow. The investigative…

Russia Floats Pre-Emptive ‘Intimidation’ Strike to Counter U.S. Strategy

Russian military scientists have proposed a pre-emptive strike using manned and unmanned aircraft to counter the United States’ multidomain war-fighting strategy against adversaries, according to excerpts cited in an Armed Forces academic journal. The Russian Aerospace Force academics describe the Pentagon’s air, land, sea, cyber and space integration strategy to paralyze an enemy — known…

PIK reactor is put into energy operation mode

On February 8, 2021, on the Day of Russian Science, PIK neutron reactor was put into power operation at the National Research Center Kurchatov Institute in St Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics (PNPI) with president of the Kurchatov Institute Mikhail Kovalchuk and ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev attending the launch. The unique features of neutron…

Valentine’s Day at the Hyatt Regency

The romantic months of February and March begin with Valentine’s Day this coming Sunday (Feb. 14). Even though Russians traditionally celebrate men on Feb. 23 (Defender of the Homeland Day) and women on March 8 (International Women’s Day), they have happily joined their foreign friends and added this celebration of couples in honor of St.…

Navalny Allies Announce New Courtyard Protests

Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team has announced fresh protests for this Sunday, shifting their strategy from street demonstrations to neighborhood gatherings in an effort to avoid direct confrontations with riot police. Russian authorities clamped down on two weekend rallies held in Navalny’s support late last month. Videos showed riot police using force against those…

Russia Annoyed by EU Inclusion of Navalny Allies in Sanctions Talks

Russia has admonished the European Union for discussing potential sanctions with jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s close associates. On Monday, Navalny’s regional network coordinator Leonid Volkov and his Anti-Corruption Foundation executive director Vladimir Ashurkov joined a video call on the EU’s Russia policy, Volkov said on social media. Diplomats from Britain, the United States, Canada…

Barbed-Wire Police Protest Lands Russian Performance Artist in Jail

A Russian performance artist has been jailed a second time for attempting to stage a barbed-wire stunt in protest of police overreach in central Moscow last month, the OVD-Info police-monitoring website reported Monday. Authorities detained Pavel Krisevich on Sunday immediately after he finished serving a two-week administrative arrest on charges of disobeying police orders with the stunt…

Russia Defends Expulsion of European Diplomats

The Kremlin defended Monday Russia’s shock expulsion of EU diplomats during the high-profile visit of the European Union’s top diplomat but insisted it remained interested in reviving relations with Brussels. Russia on Friday announced the expulsion of diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden during the rare meeting in Moscow between EU foreign policy chief Josep…

1 in 4 Russians Watched Navalny’s ‘Putin Palace’ Investigation – Poll

More than one out of every four Russians, or 26%, have watched opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s recent investigation into President Vladimir Putin’s alleged $1.3 billion palace, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center published Monday. Navalny’s team released the in-depth YouTube investigation — which alleges that Putin and his close associates laundered money…

Russian State TV Attempts ‘Putin Palace’-Style Exposé on Navalny’s German Apartment

Russian state television has filmed what it called an exposé into opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s villa in Germany where he lived while recovering from nerve agent poisoning last year. The detailed segment, interspersed with scenes from Navalny’s viral video investigation into President Vladimir Putin’s alleged Black Sea palace, ran during one of the country’s most-watched…

Hungary Approves Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine

Hungarian health authorities have approved Russia’s coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, the government said Sunday, with 40,000 doses of the jab already to be given. Official testing has been completed “and the vaccine may be administered”, Miklos Kasler, the human resources minister who is in charge of health, said on social media. The government had announced…

North Meets South in Mini Golubtsy

Since antiquity cooks have tucked meat and grains in vegetable leaves: wrapping food in pickled fig leaves was common in both Greece and Rome. The Byzantines used vine leaves as their primary wrapper, and this mania in Asia Minor for stuffing one food into another led to the ubiquitous dolmas, small vine leaf logs stuffed…

Russia Expels European Diplomats Over Navalny Protests – Foreign Ministry

Russia will expel diplomats from Sweden, Poland and Germany over their alleged participation in recent “unauthorized” rallies in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. The expulsions come amid European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell’s visit to Moscow, where he lamented to his counterpart Sergei Lavrov that ties between…

Russia Slams Biden’s ‘Very Aggressive Rhetoric’

The Kremlin on Friday slammed Joe Biden’s “very aggressive rhetoric” after the new U.S. president said Washington’s relationship with Moscow would change and demanded opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s release.  “We’ve already said that we will not heed patronizing statements of this sort. We will not do it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.  “This is…

Top U.S. Diplomat Raises Navalny, Jailed Americans With Russia

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced concern over jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny and imprisoned Americans in a telephone call Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. President Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly voiced alarm over Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic whose doctors say he was poisoned and who was promptly detained…

‘No Repressions’ Against Pro-Navalny Protesters, Kremlin Says

There has been “no repression” against Russians detained while protesting in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin said Thursday amid mounting criticism of the harsh law enforcement tactics used against peaceful demonstrators. Independent monitors estimate that more than 10,000 people and dozens of journalists have been detained nationwide during the protests on…

Severstal publishes 2020 Aual Report

February 4, 2021 PAO Severstal (MOEX: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, has published its Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020 on the Company’s corporate website. The full report is available at: https://www.severstal.com/files/55798/Annual_Report_2020_ENG_final_light.pdf

Severstal aouces 2021 capital ivestmet programme

February 4, 2021 PAO Severstal (“Severstal”; “the Company”), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, today announces its capital investment programme for 2021. Severstal plans to invest approximately $1.35 billion in 2021, focusing on a number of major projects in its Russian Steel and Resources divisions, as well as on…