Day: May 26, 2023

  • Brazil’s Lula Turns Down Putin Invitation to Visit Russia

    Brazil’s Lula Turns Down Putin Invitation to Visit Russia

    Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday declined an invitation to travel to St. Petersburg during a telephone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The refusal came just days after a spat between Lula and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit in Japan, where a planned meeting between the pair fell…

  • Rostekhnadzor has issued a license for nuclear facilities construction to Atomenergoproekt JSC

    At the beginning of May, Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) issued a new license to Atomenergoproekt JSC (Engineering Division of Rosatom) granting the right to nuclear facilities construction. The license will be valid for 5 years.  The current license will expire in July. Thus, there will be no idle period due…

  • The Delegation from Indonesia visited ROSATOM Enterprises

    From May 23 to 26, 2023, representatives of Indonesia visited Russia to get acquainted with ROSATOM’s competencies in the construction of large- and small-scale nuclear power plants and to discuss the perspectives of the bilateral cooperation in the nuclear sphere.  The delegation included Dr. Agus Puji Prasetyono, Co-Chair of the Nuclear Power Development Program Organization…

  • Russia’s Lavrov Tells China Envoy ‘Serious Obstacles’ to Ukraine Peace

    Russia’s Lavrov Tells China Envoy ‘Serious Obstacles’ to Ukraine Peace

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told China’s special envoy Li Hui on Friday that there were “serious obstacles” to resuming peace talks, blaming Ukraine and Western countries. “The Russian foreign minister reaffirmed Moscow’s commitment to a political-diplomatic resolution of the conflict, noting the serious obstacles to the resumption of peace talks created by the Ukrainian…

  • Canceled MAKS Air Show Made Obsolete by War, Sanctions – Experts

    Canceled MAKS Air Show Made Obsolete by War, Sanctions – Experts

    Amid reports this week that Russia has canceled its biggest air show, experts told The Moscow Times that there was little point in holding the International Air and Space Salon (MAKS) because the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions mean there will be so few foreign buyers present. Western countries imposed stringent sanctions on Russia’s…

  • Writing Music and Paintings

    Writing Music and Paintings

    Пишущая машинка: typewriter Here’s an easy word that everyone knows: писать. To write, right? Right. For the most part. There are always what one of my friends calls нюансики — from the word нюанс (nuance), нюансики are small details, almost inconsequential differences, minor distinctions that of course in the end turn out to be major.…

  • Michelin Sells Russian Tire Business to Local Distributor

    Michelin Sells Russian Tire Business to Local Distributor

    French tire maker Michelin announced Friday that it had agreed to sell its Russian assets to a local distributor in the latest international business exit following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  Michelin was among hundreds of mostly Western major companies to suspend Russian operations in March 2022 after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine.  The…

  • WSJ Reporter Appeals Extended Detention: Moscow Court

    WSJ Reporter Appeals Extended Detention: Moscow Court

    Lawyers representing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on spying charges, have appealed the latest extension of his arrest, Russian news agencies reported Friday.  Gershkovich, who continued reporting from Russia after the Kremlin launched its large-scale offensive in Ukraine, became the first Western journalist to be arrested and accused of spying since…

  • 2 Killed in Russian Strike on Medical Facility in Ukraine’s Dnipro

    2 Killed in Russian Strike on Medical Facility in Ukraine’s Dnipro

    At least two civilians have been killed and 23 wounded when a Russian missile struck a veterinary clinic in the south-central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said Friday following an overnight barrage. “A 69-year-old man has died. He was just passing by when the Russian terrorists’ missile struck the city,” the head of the regional…

  • Ukrainian Civilians Tortured in Russian Jails – Meduza

    Ukrainian Civilians Tortured in Russian Jails – Meduza

    Ukrainian civilians forcibly deported to Russian jails are regularly beaten and threatened with death, Russia’s independent news website Meduza reported Friday, citing former inmates. Prison guards routinely subject Ukrainian detainees to beatings, air gun shootings, electric shocks and threats of execution, Meduza cited several detainees as saying.  “We were turned into hunted animals,” said Alexander Tarasov,…

  • Explosion Rocks Southern Russia’s Krasnodar in Apparent Drone Attack

    Explosion Rocks Southern Russia’s Krasnodar in Apparent Drone Attack

    Updates with official statement.  Two drones crashed and exploded in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar early Friday morning, local authorities reported. “The crash of two drones was the cause of this morning’s incident on Morskaya St. in the regional capital. There is damage to buildings, but critical infrastructure has not been affected,” Krasnodar region…

  • Japan Unveils New Sanctions on Russia Over Ukraine Invasion

    Japan Unveils New Sanctions on Russia Over Ukraine Invasion

    Japan announced fresh sanctions against Russia on Friday over its invasion of Ukraine, targeting its military as well as the construction and engineering sectors. Russia was hit with a wave of sanctions after it sent forces into Ukraine in February last year, but calls have grown from Kyiv and its allies for tougher action against…

  • African Mediator to Focus on Grain, Fertilizer in Russia-Ukraine Talks – FT

    African Mediator to Focus on Grain, Fertilizer in Russia-Ukraine Talks – FT

    An Algerian-born French commodities trader is seeking to broker an African peace initiative between Russia and Ukraine, The Financial Times reported Friday. Jean-Yves Ollivier, 78, is known as a fixer close to the long-time president of the Republic of Congo and as someone who has also advised Russia’s state nuclear power group Rosatom. The Ollivier-founded…

  • Ex-Putin Son-in-Law’s Land Seized as Part of Dutch Criminal Probe – Guardian

    Ex-Putin Son-in-Law’s Land Seized as Part of Dutch Criminal Probe – Guardian

    Authorities in the Netherlands have seized land belonging to the Dutch former son-in-law of Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a criminal investigation, The Guardian reported Thursday. The confiscated land southeast of Amsterdam was owned by Jorrit Faassen, who married Putin’s eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova in 2008. The couple reportedly subsequently divorced. Protesters had…

  • Kyiv Repels Russia Air Strikes: Ukraine Officials

    Kyiv Repels Russia Air Strikes: Ukraine Officials

    Russian forces launched overnight air attacks on Kyiv, military officials in the Ukrainian capital said Friday, adding that all the missiles were intercepted and destroyed. “Another air attack on Kyiv, 13th in a row since the beginning of May! And, as always, at nighttime,” the city’s military administration said on its Telegram account. It said…