Day: February 11, 2022

  • Rosatomflot’s nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika to provide first east-west escort

    On February 9, the lead universal nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika of Atomflot FSUE began escorting vessels Engineer Trubin and Polar King from the port of Pevek. For the first time ever, the atomic ship of project 22220 will take part in the east-west escort of a convoy. Traditionally, in this sector of the Arctic the piloting…

  • Russia Hikes Rates By Another Full Percentage Point

    Russia Hikes Rates By Another Full Percentage Point

    Russia’s Central Bank raised its key rate by a full percentage point to 9.5% on Friday in its latest attempt to tame surging inflation, bringing borrowing costs to their highest level in five years.  This is the second time in a row the regulator has made the rare move of hiking the rate by a…

  • Macron’s Refusal of Russian Covid Test Behind Distanced Putin Talks

    Macron’s Refusal of Russian Covid Test Behind Distanced Putin Talks

    Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talks with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron this week was held with social distancing after the French leader declined to take a Russian-administered coronavirus test, the Kremlin said Friday. Putin and Macron spoke from opposite ends of a 13-meter table in the Kremlin on Tuesday, with the French president hoping to convince…

  • Russia Sees Record 200K Covid-19 Cases

    Russia Sees Record 200K Covid-19 Cases

    Russia reported more than 200,000 new Covid-19 infections Friday for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The country has been gripped by a surge in cases since the start of the year, fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.  The country reported 203,949 new infections over the last 24 hours, Russia’s nationwide…

  • New Satellite Images Indicate Ongoing Russian Military Buildup on Ukraine Border

    New Satellite Images Indicate Ongoing Russian Military Buildup on Ukraine Border

    New satellite images released by the U.S.-based technology company Maxar appear to reveal continuing Russian military buildup near Ukraine, despite a flurry of international efforts to defuse the Ukraine crisis.  Stephen Wood, a senior director at Maxar, told CNN that the firm identified new large deployments of troops and equipment in annexed Crimea as well…

  • Britain’s Top Diplomat ‘Mocked’ Over Russia Trip Gaffes

    Britain’s Top Diplomat ‘Mocked’ Over Russia Trip Gaffes

    The British Embassy in Moscow was forced Thursday to clarify a series of remarks made by Foreign Minister Liz Truss during a tense meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. In the closed-door meeting, Lavrov had asked Truss whether the U.K. accepted that two Russian regions — Voronezh and Rostov — belonged to Russia and…

  • On This Day 1993: Women Should Stay at Home, Minister Says

    On This Day 1993: Women Should Stay at Home, Minister Says

    Feb. 11, 1993 — Russia’s labor minister turned back the clock Wednesday with a startling official message for working women: Stay at home, raise children, keep house — and leave the other jobs to men. “Why should we employ women when men are unemployed? ” Gennady Melikyan said at a news conference. “It’s better that…

  • Biden Urges Americans to Leave Ukraine as Fears of Russian Invasion Mount

    U.S. President Joe Biden urged Americans Thursday to immediately leave Ukraine, as Russia’s live-fire drills and build-up of troops around the ex-Soviet state deepened fears of an invasion. Washington-Moscow tensions are at their highest since the Cold War, with some U.S. estimates saying some 130,000 Russian soldiers are grouped in dozens of combat brigades near…