Russian officials, businesses and media have been reporting shortages of workers across different sectors of the economy for over a year. Now some are saying that the reality of labor deficit is a new reality that the country will have to live with in the coming years. “There will never be cheap labor in our…
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday hailed his country’s ties with Russia in a “chaotic” world as he met President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan. “The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is chaotic and intertwined,” Xi told Putin, praising the “profound friendship” between their…
Postwoman Tatyana Voronkova delivers mail, periodicals and groceries to residents of Kemtsy, a small village in the Tver region between Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Kemtsy, which lacks a train station and is an hour-and-a-half drive from the nearest large town, her work is a lifeline for many. The starting salary for a postal worker…
Russian forces have advanced over a key waterway in the eastern Ukrainian stronghold of Chasiv Yar, a Ukrainian military official said, marking a setback for Kyiv’s embattled forces. The town of Chasiv Yar, which had an estimated pre-war population of around 12,000 people, sits on a strategic hilltop and its capture would likely speed Russian…
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it summoned Germany’s ambassador to protest a new NATO naval command center along the Baltic Sea coast. On Monday, Germany inaugurated the center to boost defense readiness in the Baltic Sea region as Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine. Authorities in Moscow said they expressed a “decisive protest”…
Poland has ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the western city of Poznan over Moscow’s alleged “sabotage” attempts inside the country, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Tuesday. “I have information that Russia is behind sabotage attempts in Poland and allied countries. I have therefore decided to withdraw my permission for the Russian…
A Moscow court on Tuesday prohibited an elderly resident from keeping goats at his home in the Russian capital after receiving complaints about the animals wandering the streets and producing foul smells. Valery Anikeev, 77, has kept 16 goats at his home in southern Moscow’s Zyuzino district since at least the mid-1990s, state media reported.…
Authorities in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan have limited access to mobile internet services as part of enhanced security measures during this week’s BRICS summit in the city, local media reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous telecommunications source familiar with the matter. “Security measures have been tightened due to the BRICS summit in Kazan, with possible temporary…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted the war in Ukraine to be resolved peacefully and “quickly” as he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the annual BRICS summit on Tuesday. The three-day gathering, held in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan, is the biggest international event to take place in Russia since the…
Russia’s Defense Ministry discharged 85 Indian citizens who were misled into joining the army to fight in Ukraine, Indian authorities said Monday, as efforts continue to secure the release of some 20 others remaining in Russia. “Our understanding is that nearly 20 people still remain [enlisted in the Russian military] and we are pressing our…
At the Rooppur NPP construction site in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (with the ROSATOM Engineering Division being the general designer and general contractor), the reactor assembly has been completed. The work was carried out by specialists from Atomstroyexport JSC, Atomtekhenergo JSC and Rosenergoatom Concern JSC. The reactor assembly process included installing of reactor internals,…
Police in the Moscow region arrested two men suspected of trying to assassinate a former Chechen and Ingush official who has ties to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s late father. Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said those arrested in the town of Odintsovo included an alleged hitman and the person who hired him. Volk shared a…
A Moscow court said Tuesday that French researcher Laurent Vinatier filed an appeal against the three-year prison sentence handed to him last week for breaking Russia’s “foreign agent” laws. Vinatier, a 48-year-old researcher working for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, was arrested in Moscow in June and charged with gathering information on Russia’s military without…
Russian overnight attacks left three people dead in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, where Moscow has stepped up its bombardments in recent months, local officials said Tuesday. Sumy lies across the border from the Kursk region in southwestern Russia, where Ukrainian troops launched a major offensive in August and have managed to hold a…
South African President Cyril Rampahosa arrived in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday to attend the annual BRICS summit as Moscow seeks to project the economic bloc as a geopolitical counterweight to the West. Russian media outlets shared videos of Ramaphosa being greeted by Rustam Minnikhanov, who heads the republic of Tatarstan where Kazan…
South Korea may soon deploy military intelligence personnel in Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops claimed to be fighting for Russia, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous government source. Seoul’s spy agency said Friday that Pyongyang sent a “large-scale” troop deployment to fight in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, claiming that 1,500 North…