Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
Russian publishers plan to “retell” foreign bestsellers that will not hit bookstores due to Western companies halting work with their Russian counterparts over the war in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday. Russia’s largest publisher, Eksmo-AST, will release 3,000 copies of Prince Harry’s memoir “Spare” on Thursday as a “summary, which involves the retelling of…
A Russian court has imposed a 40-year entry ban on a Chinese-American animal rights activist after she was jailed while walking a young cow near the Kremlin, the woman said Tuesday. Alisa Day, 34, was sentenced to 13 days of arrest earlier this month on charges of disobeying police orders after being detained with the calf…
Russia has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine in camps aimed at re-education in what could constitute a war crime, a U.S. study said Tuesday. Since the start of the war nearly a year ago, children as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, including in Moscow-annexed Crimea and Siberia, for…
A Russian court has sentenced a Siberian journalist and activist to six years in prison for spreading so-called “fake news” about the war in Ukraine. Maria Ponomarenko, a journalist for the RusNews outlet, was arrested in April for publishing information about the Russian bombing of a theater in southern Ukraine’s Mariupol. The Kremlin denies responsibility for…
The once publicity-averse founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has for the first time confirmed the widespread belief that he also founded the Internet Research Agency, better known as the network of troll farms used to push Kremlin propaganda narratives around the globe over the past decade. “I was never just a financier…
Dozens of damaged military vehicles with Russian markings could be seen scattered chaotically across a snow-covered field in footage released last week of a battlefield near the eastern Ukrainian mining town of Vuhledar, southwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk. The hulls of some of the armored vehicles were covered in black soot from what…
The Russian governor of the city of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea has called on Russians not to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the grounds that the holiday is alien to the country’s traditions and was “imposed by the Western entertainment and consumption industry.” Instead, Mikhail Razvozzhayev suggested in a telegram post on Tuesday that people write…
Russian anti-Kremlin activist group Pussy Riot has canceled its upcoming performance at a music festival in Germany due to the inclusion of a pro-Putin singer in the festival lineup. Pussy Riot had been scheduled to perform at the International May Festival in Wiesbaden, one of Germany’s oldest cultural festivals, but the group pulled out after…
A Russian airports operator has bought a stake in running an airport in northwestern Kazakhstan close to the Russo-Kazakh border. With its first foreign acquisition, Russia’s Airports of Regions company is hoping to develop the Oral airport as a regional hub, most likely to serve travelers affected by the shortage of flights out of Russia…
The European Union added Russia to its tax haven blacklist on Tuesday, the latest in a series of economic and diplomatic measures taken against Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine. In a statement, the bloc said Russia’s 2022 tax legislation had failed to allay concerns over its opaque treatment of the tax affairs of international holding companies. “In…
An elite Russian naval infantry unit made up of mostly mobilized troops has lost nearly all its troops in fighting near the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, Russian media reported Monday, citing one of the survivors. The 5,000-strong 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade has been “nearly destroyed” after up to 300 marines per day were killed…
Russia on Tuesday slapped down as “completely unfounded” accusations from Moldova that Moscow was plotting to violently overthrow the country’s pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs. “Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Moldova’s President Maia Sandu on Monday accused Russia of plotting her government’s overthrow. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
Hospitallers is one of the main organizations training and deploying volunteers to work as medics near the frontlines in Ukraine. Those who apply range from people with no medical experience who are given courses in basic first aid to fully qualified doctors. The organization has now trained over 800 volunteers from all over the world,…
Hospitallers is one of the main organizations training and deploying volunteers to work as medics near the frontlines in Ukraine. Those who apply range from people with no medical experience who are given courses in basic first aid to fully qualified doctors. The organization has now trained over 800 volunteers from all over the world,…
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
The Russian authorities have placed popular blogger Nikolai Lebedev, who is more widely known by his TikTok handle Nekoglai, on its wanted person list. Though Russia’s Interior Ministry didn’t specify the criminal offense Lebedev is suspected of, his appearance on the list comes just days after the authorities opened a criminal libel case against him. Lebedev,…
The Russian authorities have placed popular blogger Nikolai Lebedev, who is more widely known by his TikTok handle Nekoglai, on its wanted person list. Though Russia’s Interior Ministry didn’t specify the criminal offense Lebedev is suspected of, his appearance on the list comes just days after the authorities opened a criminal libel case against him. Lebedev,…
Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Monday accused Russia of plotting to violently overthrow the country’s pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs disguised as anti-government protesters. Moscow’s alleged plan would involve “saboteurs with military background, camouflaged in civilian clothes, to undertake violent actions, attacks on state institutions and taking hostages,” Sandu told journalists. Under the…
Russia’s state media watchdog has launched a tool to scrape the internet for banned content, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday as the country presses onward with its wartime censorship efforts. The web crawler, dubbed Oculus, can detect videos and images of protesters, “positive depictions” of LGBTQ+ culture and memes criticizing President Vladimir Putin, according to…
A Wagner Group fighter who deserted in Ukraine was kidnapped and executed by fellow fighters, a Telegram channel with links to the Russian mercenary outfit claimed Monday, sharing video of the alleged killing. This is the second publicly shared video of a Wagner recruit’s apparent death by sledgehammer in recent months after its leader threatened extrajudicial…
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has urged its citizens to leave Russia “immediately” due to a slew of security risks that include possible forced enlistment into the Russian army. “U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately,” the embassy said in a travel advisory Sunday. It pointed to the “unpredictable consequences” of Russia’s…
The leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner claimed on Sunday that forces under his control had taken a village a few kilometers from the key city of Bakhmut, which Moscow has been trying to capture for months. “Today, Wagner’s assault units took the town of Krasna Hora,” Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement…
Orthodox priest Maxim Nagibin has been an outcast in his village in southern Russia since the sermon he gave at his local church, St. Michael the Archangel, during the Easter service where he condemned the Ukraine war as a “crime.” “I wanted to express my point of view for people to hear me, wanted to…
“The rabbit is Stalin’s bull.” This ridiculous slogan of the early 1930s is almost forgotten today. But at the time it was emblazoned on the front pages of newspapers, on posters and enormous street banners. Like the poems of Vladimir Mayakovsky and “Red Square” by Kazimir Malevich, this slogan encapsulated the mood and ideology of…
Путёвка: trip voucher, package tour, trip sheet, good start I have been traveling a lot in the last six months — more than in the last five (if not 10) years combined — which means that I have been talking a lot about travel in Russian and, as is my wont, thinking about how the…
On Wednesday Moscow’s Sovremenik Theater announced that “The Gin Game,” which starred award-winning actress Liya Akhedzhakova, would not be performed. This effectively ended the actress’s career at the theater, which she joined in 1977. Akhedzhakova is a celebrated Soviet and Russian actress of film and stage, who has performed in more than 50 films, including…
On February 9 this year, Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev had a regular meeting with Director General of IAEA Rafael Grossi in Moscow. From the Russian side, the meeting was also attended by Alexander Trembitsky, Head of Rostekhnadzor (Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia), Igor Kirillov, Chief of Radiation, Chemical, and…
A new director has been appointed to the State Tretyakov Gallery, one of Russia’s most renowned fine arts museums, following a reported clash with the Culture Ministry over its exhibitions’ alignment with state values. Zelfira Tregulova, who has served as the Tretyakov Gallery’s general director since 2015, will step down from her role, the Culture…
February 7, 2022, Büyükeceli, Mersin Province, Türkiye. – Companies involved in Akkuyu NPP construction collected warm clothes and primary commodities for those hurt or displaced by the earthquake. Collection points are located in Silifke, Kum Mahallesi and Taşucu, where most of the Akkuyu NPP site employees live. Project personnel and residents of the region bring…
On February 6, in Yangon (Republic of the Union of Myanmar), ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev and the Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Myo Thein Kyaw signed the Intergovernmental Agreement on cooperation in the field of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of…
Today if you want to really outrage the Russian Foreign Ministry, just tell them that borshch is Ukrainian. Even soccer fans’ notorious and obscene chant about Putin is less painful to Russia’s professional patriots than having to admit that there is Kievan, Poltavan, and Chernigov borshch. When someone says the word “borshch,” we all imagine…
At the Rooppur NPP construction site in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (the general designer and general contractor being the Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division), welding of the main coolant pipeline (MCP) has been completed successfully in the reactor building of Unit 2. Junction, welding-up and heat treatment of the pearlitic part of 28 weld…
Новый: new (more or less) И снова я… (It’s me again), still thinking in February about новый год (new year) — and of course старый новый год (old new year, i.e., by the old Julian calendar) — and how things новый that happen снова are often not new at all. In fact, снова (literally “anew”)…
February 4, 2023, Silifke, Türkiye – AKKUYU NUCLEAR, which is building the first nuclear power plant in Türkiye, has signed a contract with the Turkish construction company Özaltın İnşaat for the construction of a residential campus for Akkuyu NPP operating personnel. The residential campus will be formed of single-section blocks with comfortable flats of different…