Day: March 15, 2023
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Navalny Reacts Belatedly to Documentary’s Oscar Win From Jail
Jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny on Wednesday praised all those resisting dictatorship and war while thanking the team that made the Oscar-winning film about his 2020 poisoning. “I dedicate my entire contribution to this film to honest and courageous people across the world who day after day find the strength to confront the monster of…
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Kadyrov Laughs Off Reports of Serious Illness
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov insisted he was in good health on Wednesday amid growing rumors he has been suffering from serious kidney problems and even the aftereffects of a poisoning attempt. “I am healthy and full of energy,” Kadyrov said in a Telegram post, adding that he was “sorry to upset” anyone hoping he was…
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Putin Eyes Rapprochement Between Syria and Turkey at Assad Meeting
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for talks on Wednesday as the Kremlin sought to mend ties between Damascus and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting follows the surprise announcement last week of a Chinese-brokered re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Middle Eastern rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Ties between Erdogan and Assad…
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Russia Races to Salvage U.S. Drone Wreckage in Black Sea
Moscow said Wednesday it would try to retrieve the wreckage of a U.S. military drone that crashed over the Black Sea in a confrontation Washington blamed on two Russian fighter jets. Russia also warned that it would react “proportionately” to any future US “provocations” as tensions simmered and Moscow denied its Su-27 military aircraft had…
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Wagner Boss Defends Russians’ Right to Criticize Military Top Brass
The outspoken founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Wednesday that he thought Russians should be free to criticize the country’s top military commanders after lawmakers introduced tougher penalties for anyone deemed to have discredited those fighting on Russia’s side in Ukraine. On Tuesday, the Russian parliament’s lower house approved legislation introducing long…
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ROSATOM and Algerian Atomic Energy Commission discussed nuclear energy solutions in a jointly organized workshop in Algeria
March 13, 2023 – Algeria (Algeria) – ROSATOM and the Algerian Atomic Energy Commission (COMENA) jointly organized a workshop on nuclear energy solutions for key stakeholders and companies in the Algerian energy market. This is the first event organized by the two parties taking place at the COMENA headquarters. Abdelhamid Mellah, COMENA commissioner, and Boris…
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Books Removed and Movies Banned Under Russia’s ‘LGBT Propaganda’ Law
Amid reports of books being banned in Russia as a result of the country’s December anti-LGBT law, Alina Kuznetsova, a marketing specialist from Yekaterinburg, couldn’t help but recall family stories about her grandmother, who worked in a library in the Soviet Union. Alina’s grandmother routinely saved books banned by the Soviet authorities from being thrown…
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Staff at Russian E-Commerce Giant Wildberries Begin Protest
Employees of Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries launched a nationwide industrial action on Wednesday to protest against a new payment system, the Russian edition of Forbes reported, citing one of the protest organizers. “We will go to work so as not to violate the terms of labor contracts, but we won’t hand over goods to buyers,”…
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One more batch of Russian equipment for Rooppur NPP has been delivered to Bangladesh
One more batch of equipment for Rooppur NPP that is under construction in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (general designer and general contractor is Rosatom’s Engineering Division) has been delivered from Russia to the sea port of Mongla. About 1 200 tons of industrial equipment has been transported on the MV Aparajitа vessel. The vessel…
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Putin Calls to Step Up Fight Against Destabilization
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called on prosecutors to increase pressure on “attempts to destabilize” Russia’s domestic situation amid the Ukraine offensive. Moscow has heightened its crackdown on critical voices since sending troops to Ukraine last year, introducing new legislation to silence dissent. “I ask you to react harshly to attempts to destabilize the socio-political…
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Kremlin Denies Second Mobilization as Military Offices ‘Clarify’ Data of Draft-Eligible Men
The Kremlin on Wednesday denied that Russia was considering a second round of military mobilization for the war in Ukraine as military offices in a number of regions started asking reservists to “clarify” their personal information. Military commissariats in the Voronezh and Lipetsk regions have announced they will send summons to men eligible for the…
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Russia Moves to End Tax Deal With ‘Unfriendly’ Countries
Russia moved Wednesday to suspend double tax agreements with “unfriendly” countries in response to sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. Double tax treaties prevent people or companies who receive income abroad also being taxed by their home countries. Russia’s foreign and finance ministries said they had proposed that President Vladimir Putin “issue a decree…
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Russia Turns to Foreign IT Workers After Wartime Brain Drain
Russia is simplifying its bureaucratic requirements for foreign IT workers to live and work in the country, authorities announced Wednesday, in a reflection of how the country’s tech sector has been hit by the wartime exodus of Russian software engineers. “The employment and residence permit acquisition procedures have been simplified for foreign citizens who are IT…
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Russia Seeks to Lure Foreign IT Workers After Wartime Brain Drain
Russia is simplifying its bureaucratic requirements for foreign IT workers to live and work in the country, authorities announced Wednesday, in a reflection of how the country’s tech sector has been hit by the wartime exodus of Russian software engineers. “The employment and residence permit acquisition procedures have been simplified for foreign citizens who are IT…
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Prominent Soviet Dissident Sergei Grigoryants Dies Aged 82
Sergei Grigoryants, a leading dissident in the Soviet Union and a Russian human rights activist, has died at the age of 82, his family said Tuesday. “My father passed away today,” Grigoryants’ daughter Anna Grigoryants wrote on Facebook without specifying the cause of his death. “Eternal memory.” Grigoryants, an Armenian-Ukrainian national who was born in Kyiv…
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Russia’s Oil Revenue Sinks as Sanctions Bite – IEA
Russia’s oil-export revenue sank by almost half in February compared to last year as Western powers tightened sanctions on the country, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday. The country earned $11.6 billion from its oil exports last month after the European Union imposed a ban on Russian petroleum products alongside a price cap agreed…
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Russia Urges U.S. to Stop ‘Hostile’ Flights After Drone Crash
Moscow warned against “hostile” U.S. flights on Wednesday, as tensions simmered after a Russian fighter jet was accused of colliding with an American drone over the Black Sea. Though Russia has denied its Su-27 plane clipped the propeller of an unmanned Reaper drone, Kyiv said the incident over international waters was a Kremlin attempt to…
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U.K., Germany Make First Joint Interception of Russian Aircraft Near NATO Airspace – Reports
The British and German air forces carried out their first joint interception of a Russian aircraft near NATO airspace, the BBC reported Wednesday. The U.K. Royal Air Force and the German Air Force reportedly scrambled two Typhoon fighters to intercept an Il-78 refueling plane near Estonian airspace Tuesday. The Il-78 was said to fail to…
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‘Like an Animal’: Replica of Navalny’s Cell Set Up in Paris
A small concrete box marked with the word SHIZO (punishment cell in Russian) in giant red letters sits incongruously next to a 13th-century church just behind the Louvre museum in Paris. The grey box is a mock-up of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s punishment prison cell that his team unveiled in the French capital on Tuesday. The…