Day: March 28, 2023
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IOC Backs Return of Russian Athletes as Individuals, No Timeline for Paris Olympics
Olympic chiefs on Tuesday recommended the return to competition of Russian and Belarusian athletes as individual neutrals, but refused to give a timeline on their potential participation at next year’s Paris Olympics. IOC president Thomas Bach said the body’s Executive Board had recommended to international federations and international sports event organizers that “athletes with a…
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Mayor of Russian Arctic Town to Serve on the Frontline in Ukraine
The mayor of Vorkuta, a coal-mining town in the Arctic republic of Komi, has enlisted in the Russian army to fight in the country’s war against Ukraine. “The time has come to offer direct support to our boys and for me to join the special military operation as a military serviceman of Russia’s Defense Ministry,”…
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Damaged Russian Soyuz Capsule Returns to Earth — Roscosmos
A Russian unmanned Soyuz MS-22 capsule returned to Earth on Tuesday from the International Space Station (ISS), landing in Kazakhstan three months after experiencing a coolant leak. The vessel landed at 5:46 p.m. local time in the vast Central Asian country, a Roscosmos live transmission showed. Russia’s space agency said the capsule carried “around 218…
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Father Facing Charges After Daughter’s Anti-War Drawing Escapes House Arrest
A local court in the town of Yefremov in Russia’s Tula region on Tuesday sentenced single father Alexei Moskalev to two years in a penal colony for repeated violation of wartime censorship laws that criminalize “discrediting” the Russian military, Mediazona reported. However, Moskalev himself reportedly escaped from house arrest on the eve of his sentencing…
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Berlinale 2023: Foreign Films on Russian Screens
Foreign films have always been the backbone of the film distribution industry in modern Russia. According to the Russian Cinema Fund, foreign films made up almost 75 percent of all ticket sales in 2021. In March 2022, the situation changed dramatically, especially after Hollywood studios left the Russian market. But the latest edition of the…
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Russian Secret Services Likely Helped Siberian Governor’s Son Flee Italy
A Russian entrepreneur accused of smuggling American technologies to Russian arms manufacturers may have received help from Russian security services to flee house arrest in Italy, the Italian newspaper la Repubblica reported, citing unnamed sources. Artyom Uss, 40, the son of the governor of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region, is known to have removed his electronic bracelet…
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Student Expelled for Anti-War Stance Wins Payout From Russian University
A court in Russia’s southwestern Kaluga region last week ordered a university in St. Petersburg to pay compensation to a student who was expelled for his anti-war stance, media outlet iStories reported on Tuesday, citing the student’s lawyer. Andrei Kotenko, a former journalism student at St. Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences (SPbGUP),…
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Belarus Blames Western ‘Pressure’ for Decision to Accept Nuclear Weapons
Belarus said on Tuesday that it felt compelled to host Russian nuclear weapons after “unprecedented” Western pressure, insisting their deployment did not violate international agreements. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, its closest ally, which drew condemnation from the West. “Belarus is forced to…
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Russian Court Overturns Acquittal of LGBT Activist on Pornography Charges
A court in Russia’s Far East has overturned feminist and LGBT activist Yulia Tsvetkova’s acquittal for charges of “pornography,” her lawyer and mother said on Tuesday. A judge in the remote city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in July 2022 cleared Tsvetkova of all charges brought against her after she was detained in late 2019 and placed under house…
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Russian Demand for Online Mysticism Courses Jumps 20-Fold
Online mysticism courses have experienced a nearly 20-fold surge in popularity among the Russian public, the Vedemosti business daily reported Tuesday, citing data provided by telecommunications companies. Analysts attribute Russians’ growing interest in mysticism to the stress and uncertainty being caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Online schools offering lessons in fortune telling, astrology, and…
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Russian Oil Exports to India Surge 2,200% Following European Sanctions
Russia has increased its oil exports to India by a massive 2,200% since sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine cut the country off from its European markets, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Tuesday. “Most of our energy resources have been redirected to other, friendlier markets,” Interfax quoted Novak as saying. “If we look at…
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Russian Navy Fires Anti-Ship Missiles at Mock Targets in Sea of Japan
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Tuesday that its navy had fired test anti-ship missiles at mock targets in the Sea of Japan during military exercises. Russia’s Pacific Fleet drills came a week after Tokyo’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Ukraine. Moscow holds regular naval drills off its Pacific coast, but Tokyo said these had been “increasing”…
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Russia Records First Rise in Murder Rate for 20 Years – Kommersant
The number of murders in Russia last year increased for the first time in 20 years in what some analysts suggest is a knock-on effect of the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Russian business daily Kommersant reported Tuesday, citing a bar association report. The past two decades had seen a steady decline in the number…