Day: June 30, 2022
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Moscow Summons U.K. Envoy Over Johnson’s Putin Remarks: Statement
Russia on Thursday summoned Britain’s ambassador to Moscow to protest at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “offensive” remarks about President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Russia told the envoy, Deborah Bronnert, it “firmly” opposed “the openly offensive comments by the British authorities towards Russia, its leader, its officials as well as…
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Putin Denies Russia’s Role in Looming Global Food Crisis
President Vladimir Putin denied Thursday that Russia bore any responsibility for a looming global food crisis due to the conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine, a major exporter of grain, especially corn and wheat, has seen its production blocked by Moscow’s military offensive, sparking a surge in prices and fears of food shortages that will particularly affect…
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Withdrawal from Snake Island Symbolic ‘Defeat’ for Russia in Ukraine
Columns of heavy smoke were visible in the first images of Snake Island published by the Ukrainian military Thursday as Russia announced it had retreated from the strategic outpost near the Danube Delta. Russia’s decision to withdraw was likely the result of repeated Ukrainian attacks, including those launched with Western-supplied weaponry. “From a military point…
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Oil Market Faces Shortfall With G7 Price Cap Plan – Russia
Moscow said Thursday that G7 plans to cap the price of Russian oil would lead to a shortfall on world markets and soaring prices for European consumers. “This is another attempt to interfere in market mechanisms, which can only lead to market imbalance,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said, warning of “price increases” and market…
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New ‘Iron Curtain’ Descending Between Moscow and the West – Russian Minister
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that a new “Iron Curtain” was descending between Moscow and the West amid the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. “As far as an Iron Curtain is concerned … essentially it is already descending,” Lavrov told journalists during a press conference in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. “The process has…
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Russians Urged to Snitch on Ukraine War Critics in Return to Soviet-Style Denunciations
Following Russia’s bombing of a drama theatre in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March, St. Petersburg-based artist Alexandra Skochilenko swapped supermarket price tags with stickers containing information about the attack that reportedly killed hundreds of civilians. A fellow store customer reported her act of resistance to the police. “I was extremely outraged by the…
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War Crimes Court Issues Warrants for 2008 Russia-Georgia War
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for three people over alleged war crimes during the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia in South Ossetia, it said Thursday. Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev, Gamlet Guchmazov and David Georgiyevich Sanakoev, who were officials in the pro-Moscow breakaway republic, allegedly detained civilians to use as “bargaining chips” in negotiations, the ICC…
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Top Russian University Head Vladimir Mau Detained on Fraud Charges
The head of one of Russia’s leading universities was detained Thursday in connection with a fraud investigation targeting a former senior education official. Vladimir Mau, head of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), was detained as a suspect in a 21-million-ruble ($399,810) embezzlement case, Russia’s Interior Ministry said. Investigators have…
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Kirill Serebrennikov’s Gogol Center Closed
On June 29, the Moscow Department of Culture announced that the contracts with the current artistic director and director of Gogol Center would not be extended. The announcement stated that the theater, which “has been working under the pseudonym Gogol Center,” would revert to its original name: Gogol Theater. And so ends a theatrical era.…
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Russian Lawmakers Approve Bill to Fast-Track Foreign Media Bans
Russian lawmakers Thursday approved legislation allowing officials to block foreign news outlets in retaliation for clampdowns against Russian state media abroad. The bill gives Russia’s Prosecutor General the right to ban foreign outlets without court approval if another government is found carrying out “hostile actions against Russian media abroad.” The new measures also give officials…
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What Was Putin Doing in Tajikistan?
For his first trip abroad since he sent his country’s armed forces into Ukraine in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin chose Tajikistan. And few are entirely certain why. The official agenda for Putin’s June 28 working visit sounded mostly unexceptional. The Kremlin said in a pre-trip statement that talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon would dwell on…
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State Firms Gazprom, Sberbank Opt Out of Dividend Payout
Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom and top lender Sberbank decided Thursday not to pay their investors dividends for 2021, sending the companies’ shares downward. Gazprom’s canceled 2021 dividends would have marked an all-time record payout for the company, giving investors an expected 1.24 trillion rubles ($23.37 billion). “The shareholders decided that in the current situation…
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Russia Withdraws Troops From Ukraine’s Snake Island
Russian forces have withdrawn from the strategic Black Sea outpost of Ukraine’s Snake Island. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Thursday that the withdrawal was a voluntary show of “goodwill” as Moscow seeks to discredit claims that it is enforcing a naval blockade in the area. “On June 30, as a step of goodwill, the Russian Armed…
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Russian Cinemas Sit Idle Amid Hollywood Walkout
More than a third of Russian movie theaters were forced to temporarily close in June as visitor numbers dwindled amid the disappearance of Hollywood blockbusters, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. Russia’s film industry was thrown into turmoil after the five major Hollywood studios — Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, Sony Pictures and Paramount — halted…
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ROSATOM received construction permit for the El-Dabaa NPP Unit 1
On June 29, 2022, the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) issued a permit for the construction of the El-Dabaa NPP Unit 1. This permit, along with excavation works at site, is a prerequisite for the start of the main stage of construction. “Obtaining construction permit for the Unit 1 is a momentous occasion…
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Russia Begins Shipping Grain From Occupied Ukraine Port
Russia on Thursday began shipping grain from Ukraine’s occupied territory, with a vessel carrying 7,000 tons of cereal sailing from Ukraine’s occupied port of Berdyansk. Kyiv has for weeks accused Russia and its allies of stealing its grain from southern Ukraine, contributing to a global food shortage caused by grain exports blocked in Ukrainian ports.…
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China’s Honor Smartphone Maker Halts Russia Shipments – Vedomosti
Chinese smartphone maker Honor has stopped shipments to Russia over fears of secondary sanctions for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday. Honor halted deliveries to Russia as early as March without an official announcement, the publication cited two unnamed industry sources saying. The United States and its Western allies announced export…
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Russia’s Car Manufacturing Collapses by 97% in May
Auto production in Russia has slowed to a crawl after major automakers exited and Western governments imposed debilitating sanctions on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Russia manufactured 3,700 cars in May, 97% fewer than the same month last year, the country’s statistics agency Rosstat said late Wednesday. Output fluctuated at the start…
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Expanding NATO Squares Up to Russia as Putin Slams ‘Imperial’ Alliance
The United States vowed Wednesday to reinforce Europe’s defenses in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as NATO declared Moscow the West’s greatest threat — prompting Vladimir Putin to lash out at the alliance’s “imperial ambitions.” Meeting in Madrid, NATO leaders said Russia “is the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and…