French oil and gas firm TotalEnergies said Wednesday it had pulled out of a Russian oil project. Russian oil firm Zarubezhneft will take over its remaining 20 percent stake in the Kharyaga project in the Arctic pending approval by Russian authorities. No information about the financial terms of the transaction was provided. TotalEnergies had already…
Two Russian armored vehicles, battered, charred and dented, provide a dramatic sight for visitors arriving at Warsaw’s historic Castle Square. The T-72 tank and 2S-19 self-propelled howitzer could almost be mistaken for museum pieces were it not for the mud and grass still stuck to their tracks. The two vehicles were hit and then captured…
A really hot art summer has come to Europe. Right after the 59th Art Biennale in Venice and the Documenta 15 exhibition of contemporary art in Kassel, the world’s biggest international art fair was held in late June: Art Basel. The fair showcased modern and contemporary works in 289 galleries and attracted famous collectors and…
Norwegian authorities have allowed the passage of essential goods bound for Russian miners on the country’s Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) reported Wednesday. Russian officials last week voiced outrage at Norway’s decision to halt the passage of Russian goods, including foodstuffs, destined for the roughly 400 miners in the town of…
Russian society is reeling from a historic crackdown on dissent which has intensified since President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24. Rights activists fear the new legislation will be used to snuff out any last vestiges of dissent. “The changes are an adequate and timely response to the challenges that our country…
Russian lawmakers have approved the creation of a modern-day youth organization in the style of the Soviet pioneers. Children as young as six could join the new group, which was laid out in a bill passed Wednesday by Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma. Artyom Metelev, the bill’s co-author and chairman of the…
A court in southern Russia has ordered the suspension of operations of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), a major exporter of oil from Kazakhstan, the company confirmed Wednesday. The CPC pipeline’s work will be halted for 30 days due to “irregularities in paperwork guiding elimination of oil spill emergencies” that were uncovered by a government…
At first, Natalia Kapustnikova refused to tell the group of men in black balaclavas and military uniforms where they could find the priceless 19th-century paintings owned by her museum in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. As explosions sounded outside, the men said they were particularly interested in luminous landscapes by Arkhip Kuindzhi, a Mariupol-born…
Russia’s grinding, hard-fought military campaign in eastern Ukraine has seen major successes in recent weeks as its forces have captured the strategic cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. The two cities, located in the Luhansk region, are seen as critical to gaining total control over the wider Donbas region, which had been partially held by pro-Russian…
Russian-installed authorities claim to have blocked access to YouTube and Instagram in southern Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region. “We shut down YouTube a few days ago,” Sergei Moroz, a video blogger and spokesperson for the local occupation administration, said in a video message posted on Telegram Wednesday. “We’re now without YouTube or Instagram. But it’s OK,…
Three Russian police generals, including an assistant to the country’s Interior Minister, have been detained on charges of misappropriating funds, Russian law enforcement announced Wednesday. Lieutenant General Sergei Umnov and two senior colleagues — Major General Alexei Semyonov, head of St. Petersburg’s traffic police, and Major General Ivan Abakumov — are accused of embezzling money…
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev invoked Wednesday the possibility of nuclear war if the International Criminal Court (ICC) moves to punish Moscow for alleged crimes in Ukraine. “The idea to punish a country that has the largest nuclear arsenal is absurd in and of itself,” Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said on…
RN-Purneftegaz volunteers initiated the Clean Banks of the Pyakupur River campaign in Gubkinsky (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District).
Employees of the Achinsk refinery (an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s refining complex) planted more than 21,000 pine seedlings in the forests of Krasnoyarsk Territory.
A Russian businessman with ties to state-owned energy giant Gazprom has died outside St. Petersburg in the latest in a series of mysterious deaths to grip the country’s gas industry in 2022. Yury Voronov, 61, headed the Astra Shipping transportation firm that worked on Gazprom’s Arctic projects, according to the company’s website. Voronov’s body was…
A Russian-flagged cargo ship at the center of a fight over grain between Kyiv and Moscow remained anchored Tuesday off Turkey’s Black Sea coast – a full four days after its unexpected arrival. Ukraine alleges that the Zhibek Zholy had set off from its Kremlin-occupied port of Berdyansk after picking up confiscated wheat. Moscow concedes that…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that the publication of a call between President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin was a breach of “diplomatic etiquette.” “Diplomatic etiquette does not provide for unilateral leaks of (such) recordings,” Lavrov said on a trip to Vietnam. The details of the confidential call days before Moscow’s…