Day: September 5, 2022

Russia and China have slowed construction of what would have been the world’s first cross-border cable car due to EU sanctions, the governor of a region where Russia’s section was to be built said Monday. Construction of the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe cable car across the Amur River began in April 2021 and was due to wrap up…

Russia barred 25 U.S. citizens from entering the country Monday, including actors Ben Stiller and Sean Penn, in its latest round of personal sanctions.  The Hollywood actors were included on a list published by the Russian Foreign Ministry alongside high-ranking business and political figures.  “The hostile actions of the American authorities, which continue to follow…

Updated with reaction to the sentence.  A Moscow court sentenced reporter Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison Monday, Russia’s first treason conviction for a journalist since 2001. Safronov, a defense journalist at top Russian newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti who went on to work for state space agency Roscosmos, was convicted of collecting secret information…

Chinese tech giant Huawei has moved some of its staff from Russia to Central Asia over fears of Western sanctions, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday, citing sources close to the company. Huawei began relocating Chinese and Russian managers and heads of divisions to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Vedomosti.…

The Afghan interior ministry told AFP that a suicide attacker was shot dead by Taliban guards at the embassy. “It was a suicide attack, but before the bomber could reach his target, he was targeted by our forces and eliminated,” Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor told AFP. Asked whether the target was the…

Updates with Novaya Gazeta statement. A Moscow court on Monday revoked the print license of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose chief editor last year was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. “The Basmanny court of Moscow invalidated the registration certificate of the print version of Novaya Gazeta,” the outlet said on social media. Novaya Gazeta’s chief…

Eight climbers have died on the highest active volcano in Russia’s Far East, the Interfax news agency reported Monday. A party of 12 climbers from seven Russian regions, including two Novosibirsk-based guides, set off to climb the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula last week. Six people fell to their deaths, Interfax reported Sunday,…

The ambassadors of the United States and the European Union in Russia have left Moscow after ending their diplomatic tenures as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine plunged relations to their lowest point since the Cold War. John Sullivan, 62, left Russia on Sunday and will retire from four decades of public service under five U.S. presidents,…