Day: March 22, 2023

  • Arrival of the first heavy and oversized equipment to the El-Dabaa NPP construction site

    On March 21, 2023, the first heavy and oversized equipment for the El-Dabaa NPP, the core catcher for Unit 1, arrived to the El-Dabaa NPP construction site in Egypt (the general designer and general contractor is ROSATOM Engineering Division). In the beginning of March 2023, the ship carrying three main components of the core catcher…

  • Maria Pevchikh to Replace Leonid Volkov as Head of Navalny Foundation Board

    Maria Pevchikh to Replace Leonid Volkov as Head of Navalny Foundation Board

    Maria Pevchikh, an investigator for Alexei Navalny, has been named the new chair of the board of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the jailed Kremlin critic announced Wednesday. Navalny’s announcement follows the scandal-ridden resignation of his right-hand man Leonid Volkov from the FBK board chairmanship earlier this month.  “Her public work over the past two years has…

  • Russia to Modernize Moscow’s Air Defense Systems

    Russia to Modernize Moscow’s Air Defense Systems

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced plans to modernize anti-missile defense systems in Moscow on Wednesday following a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory. Several air defense systems have appeared on rooftops around Moscow this year amid fears that Ukraine, supplied with advanced weaponry from its Western allies, could be capable of targeting Russia’s capital. …

  • Moscow Bars Targeted in Police Raids Defy Intimidation

    Moscow Bars Targeted in Police Raids Defy Intimidation

    MOSCOW — Underdog, a tiny bar in the central Kitai-Gorod neighborhood, was crowded and noisy on Tuesday night despite a violent police raid days earlier in which visitors had been threatened with electric shock devices and forced to sing pro-Kremlin songs. “I think we need to show our support,” one visitor at this punk, hipster…

  • Report: Russian Soldiers in Ukraine Face Increasing Payment Delays

    Report: Russian Soldiers in Ukraine Face Increasing Payment Delays

    Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine and their families have increasingly been complaining of delayed salary payments, independent news outlet Verstka reported on Wednesday.  Residents of 52 Russian regions as well as the annexed Crimean peninsula have said their family members currently fighting in Ukraine have been receiving delayed or partial salary payments, while some haven’t been…

  • Russia to Introduce Benefits for Children Wounded in Ukraine

    Russia to Introduce Benefits for Children Wounded in Ukraine

    Russia will introduce special social security benefits for children wounded in the war in Ukraine, the state-run TASS news agency reported Wednesday, citing presidential children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. “The president supported this [decision] and now it is being worked out by the corresponding government departments,” the agency quoted Lvova-Belova as saying. “I hope there…

  • 3 Anthrax Cases Confirmed in Central Russia

    3 Anthrax Cases Confirmed in Central Russia

    Authorities in the agricultural heartland of central Russia are bracing for the spread of anthrax after a rash of three cases were registered there in recent days, according to state media. Two people were hospitalized with anthrax symptoms in the republic of Chuvashia 600 kilometers east of Moscow last Wednesday. Authorities quarantined the village of Staroye…

  • Poland Voices Concern About ‘Dangerous’ Russia-China Alliance

    Poland Voices Concern About ‘Dangerous’ Russia-China Alliance

    Poland’s prime minister on Wednesday branded the China-Russian alliance “dangerous” after Chinese leader Xi Jinping wrapped up a three-day visit to Moscow. “The Chinese president’s visit to Moscow makes us anxious, this China-Moscow axis is dangerous,” Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters after hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Warsaw. Xi left Russia on Wednesday following…

  • ROSATOM and the Atomic Energy Agency of China signed the long-term cooperation program in the area of fast reactors and nuclear fuel cycle closure

    The Comprehensive Long-Term Cooperation Program in the area of fast reactors and nuclear fuel cycle closure was signed on March, 21, on the sidelines of the state visit of Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, to Russia. The document was signed by Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM, and Zhang Kejian, the…

  • In Photos: Putin and Xi Shore Up Sino-Russian Alliance Despite Differing Agendas

    In Photos: Putin and Xi Shore Up Sino-Russian Alliance Despite Differing Agendas

    Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first trip to Russia since 2019 this week in a state visit that was designed to project the ever-closer relationship between Moscow and Beijing to the world.  While Beijing sought to frame the visit as a peacemaking endeavor, positioning itself as a potential mediator in peace talks with Ukraine,…

  • Russia’s Former Election Chief Vladimir Churov Dies Aged 70

    Russia’s Former Election Chief Vladimir Churov Dies Aged 70

    Russia’s former election chief Vladimir Churov, who was ultimately removed from his post after overseeing massive electoral fraud that led to some of Russia’s biggest pro-democracy protests, has died at age 70, state media reported Wednesday. Churov suffered a “massive stroke” last week and died in hospital on Wednesday morning after undergoing surgery, the state-run…

  • Situation in Sevastopol ‘Under Control’ as Russian Navy Repels Drone Attack

    Situation in Sevastopol ‘Under Control’ as Russian Navy Repels Drone Attack

    The Russian navy “repelled” a drone attack on the port of Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea early on Wednesday, the Kremlin-backed governor of the city said. The peninsula, seized by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, is home to Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet and has been hit by a series of drone attacks since the Kremlin’s offensive…

  • EU Imports of Russian Fish Soar by Almost 20% Despite Ukraine War

    EU Imports of Russian Fish Soar by Almost 20% Despite Ukraine War

    Russia ramped up its fish exports to the European Union in 2022 despite tensions over the war in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday, citing trade data. Last year’s supply volumes to the European Union increased by 18.7% to a total of 198,800 metric tons, according to the Russian Fishery Industries Association (VARPE). The…