Day: August 4, 2022
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Finland Preparing to Limit Russian Tourist Visas
Finland’s Foreign Minister on Thursday presented a plan for limiting tourist visas issued to Russians after increasing tourism from its eastern neighbor spurred discontent due to the war in Ukraine. As flights from Russia to the EU have been halted, Finland has become a transit country for many Russians seeking to travel further into Europe. “Many saw…
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Russian Court Sentences U.S. Basketball Star Griner to 9 Years in Jail
A Russian court on Thursday found U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner guilty of smuggling and storing drugs and sentenced her to nine years in prison. Griner will spend a “total of nine years in a Russian penal colony,” judge Anna Sotnikova told the court, adding that the 31-year-old athlete will also have to pay a…
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Russia’s Tatar Minority Mourns Loss of Regional Presidency
It was just two lines on an otherwise minor bureaucratic document. But President Vladimir Putin’s designation of the leader of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov last month as “head” of the region in an executive order was a symbolic moment for the erosion of regional autonomy. It was the first time the leader of…
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Russia Calls for ‘Restraint’ in Restive Karabakh
Moscow on Thursday called for “restraint” following a new escalation in fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that has left three people dead. Earlier in the day Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan voiced rare criticism of ally Moscow, questioning the work of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. “We express our extreme concern…
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Russia to Revive Soviet-Era Shops Selling Western Goods to Foreign Diplomats
Russia will revive the Soviet-era practice of duty-free shops for foreign diplomats, allowing them to buy goods no longer imported to Russia due to Western sanctions, according to a government order issued last week. The stores could open in the capital Moscow and St. Petersburg shortly after the order takes effect on Aug. 27. “The…
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Norway Consul Shown the Door After ‘I Hate Russians’ Outburst
Moscow said on Thursday that a Norwegian consul can no longer stay in Russia after she was filmed declaring “I hate Russians” during an angry outburst at a hotel reception. “After what happened, Elisabeth Ellingsen’s presence in Russia is impossible,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Earlier in the day the Foreign Ministry summoned Norwegian…
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Italian Doctors Confirm Ex-Putin Aide’s Rare Disease as Poisoning Not Ruled Out
Italian doctors have confirmed the rare neurological disorder that debilitated President Vladimir Putin’s former senior aide as authorities continue to await in-depth test results to rule out poisoning, according to a family friend and Italian media. Veteran reformer and former Kremlin climate envoy Anatoly Chubais, 67, was hospitalized with what he said was Guillain-Barré syndrome…
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Putin Recognizes Border Guards as War Veterans
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Thursday recognizing border guards who repel cross-border attacks from Ukraine as war veterans. The legislation confers war veteran status to active and retired members of the security forces who “repel an armed invasion and provocations on the border and in territories adjacent to war areas in Ukraine since…
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Komsomolsk Refinery Implements Unique Stream Conservation Project in Komsomolsk-on-Amur
The Komsomolsk Refinery (part of Rosneft’s oil refining complex) has completed the first stage of a project unique to the Far East for the construction of a closed reservoir of the Klyukvenny stream
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Gazprom Says Sanctions Make Gas Turbine Delivery ‘Impossible’
Russian energy giant Gazprom said Wednesday that delivery of a turbine needed to keep gas flowing to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was “impossible” due to sanctions on Moscow. “Sanctions regimes in Canada, in the European Union and in Britain, as well as the inconsistencies in the current situation concerning the contractual obligations…