Day: June 8, 2022
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‘Fierce Battle’ in Key East Ukraine City Largely Under Russian Control — Zelensky
Russian forces are now largely in control of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk amid fierce fighting, Kyiv said Wednesday, as UN chief Antonio Guterres starkly warned the war’s impact on the world was worsening. The strategic city has become the focus of Russia’s offensive as it seeks to seize an eastern swathe of…
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Aeroflot Issue Emergency Shares to Boost Funds Amid Sanctions Fallout
Russian flag carrier Aeroflot hopes to raise $3 billion by issuing new shares amid ongoing economic turmoil sparked by Western sanctions and Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Aeroflot shareholders approved the emergency issue of new shares worth 185.2 billion rubles on Wednesday, news agency Reuters reported. More than half of that amount, 107 billion rubles ($1.74…
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“Rusatom Healthcare” JSC and NIIEFA JSC conducted a training on the maintenance of the cyclotron complex for the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT)
Recently, the experts from “Rusatom Healthcare” JSC and NIIEFA JSC completed one of the most important stages of the cyclotron-radiochemical complex project in the Kingdom of Thailand. The Russian team, headed by “Rusatom Healthcare” JSC project expert Ilya Grigoryev and NIIEFA JSC head of the ion accelerator department Roman Klopenkov organized in-depth training on the…
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Russia’s Interior Ministry Creates New Department to Enforce Martial Law
Russia’s Interior Ministry has created a new department to help enforce martial law, the country’s state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday. The Main Directorate of Rapid Response will also coordinate ministry forces if a state of emergency or a counter-terrorism operation is declared in the country. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the new measures reflected…
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Putin Postpones Marathon Phone-In for First Time in 18 Years
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual telephone marathon, Direct Line, will not be held this June for the first time in almost two decades. It is the first time that the program, which see ordinary citizens speak directly to the Russian leader about their daily problems, has been delayed since 2004. In a statement, Kremlin’s spokesman…
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Russian Radio Station Hacked to Play Ukrainian National Anthem
Hackers targeted Russian radio station Kommersant FM on Wednesday, broadcasting the Ukrainian national anthem and anti-war songs to protest Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The station was quickly pulled off the air. “The radio station has been hacked. The internet stream will soon be reinstated,” the station confirmed in a statement. The hackers’ anti-war offering included…
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No Progress at Russia-Turkey Talks on Ukraine Grain Exports
Russia and Turkey made little headway on Wednesday in talks aimed at securing safe passage for Ukrainian grain exports, as a Russian sea blockade triggered new warnings of deadly famine. Prior to the war, Ukraine was a major exporter of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but shipments have been blocked since Russia invaded its neighbor…
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A Non-Russian Russian Year at the Cannes Film Festival
Every year the Cannes Film Festival is dominated by certain topics with a particular political focus. This year’s theme was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Discussions and disputes began when the film “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” by Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov was entered into the main competition. The president of the European Film Academy Agnieszka Holland criticized…
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Europe’s Top Rights Court Rules Against Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Ban
Europe’s highest human rights court ordered Moscow to overturn its ban on the country’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Tuesday, just hours before Russian lawmakers passed legislation ending its jurisdiction. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said Tuesday that Russia violated 1,444 worshippers’ right to religious freedom when it declared the Christian organization an “extremist” group in…
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Belarus Tops German Exports to Russia as Global War Backlash Hits Imports
The value of Russian imports from Belarus has surpassed that of goods arriving from Germany, news service Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Data from Moscow’s largest trading partners shows that Russian imports have plummeted amid a global backlash against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Figures show a 40% drop in imports to Russia in April compared to…
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Borjomi Workers Strike as Georgia Prepares To Take Over Russian Shares
Up to 400 workers at Georgia’s Borjomi mineral water factory have gone on strike as the firm’s Russian owner has been hit by sanctions and the company stopped paying salaries. The Georgian government, meanwhile, says it has worked out a plan to bail out the company by taking over the Russian shares. Borjomi’s salty tasting…
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Kremlin Eyes ‘Crimea-Style’ Annexation of Ukraine’s Kherson
The Kremlin hopes to annex southern Ukraine’s Kherson region just as it did Crimea, a senior Russian lawmaker said Tuesday. Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, staging a referendum later condemned as illegal by the West. “The Kherson region’s admission into Russia will be complete, similar to Crimea,” State Duma member…
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Moscow Chief Rabbi Leaves Russia, Alleging State Pressure Over War
Moscow chief rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt fled Russia two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine due to pressure to support the military campaign, his daughter-in-law said Tuesday. Journalist Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, the wife of Goldschmidt’s son Benyamin, tweeted that Goldschmidt “refused” to support the war. Goldschmidt and his wife, Dara Goldschmidt, traveled to Hungary in March to…
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Russia Claims Progress in Fight for Ukraine Flashpoint City
Russia claimed Tuesday that its forces had taken full control of residential neighborhoods in eastern Ukraine’s Severodonetsk, after Kyiv said its outnumbered troops were fighting on in the key eastern hub. The brutal weeks-long contest for the key city in the Luhansk region continued to grind on, with civilians fleeing and some 800 taking refuge…