Russia on Friday formally designated the United States and the Czech Republic as “unfriendly states” amid the biggest crisis in ties between Moscow and Washington in years. The Russian government released a decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin that was accompanied by a list of “unfriendly states” that “have carried out unfriendly actions” against…
Authorities in the northern Russian republic of Komi have declared an emergency this week after roughly seven tons of crude oil spilled into local soil and waterways, threatening the area’s ecosystems and populated areas. The spill was likely the result of an accident at a pipeline operated by Russian oil producer Lukoil, officials have determined.…
Azerbaijani forces advanced significantly into territory along the border with Armenia this week, sparking a security crisis in which Russia — Armenia’s treaty ally and the broker of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides — has taken a conspicuously passive role. The details of precisely what happened remain unclear, but Armenia says that Azerbaijani…
India on Friday started inoculating its population with Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the jab’s developers said. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which helped finance the jab, said vaccination started in the southern city of Hyderabad on Friday, making Sputnik V the “first foreign-made vaccine that is used in India”. It said a first…
A Siberian muckraking journalist who investigated oil-theft schemes has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of blackmail and distributing pornography, authorities said Friday. Eduard Shmonin, 50, was arrested in 2017 after he released an investigative documentary alleging industrial-scale oil theft with Federal Security Service (FSB) and police involvement in the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous…
Night in the Museum Moscow began to celebrate a Night in the Museum not long ago, but the event quickly became a favorite of Muscovites of all ages. There is something delightfully transgressive about being in a public place after hours, when the lights are usually off and the doors shut tight. Last year it…
Moscow city bailiffs have visited the offices of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to take inventory of the news outlet’s equipment, the independent Meduza news website reported Friday. The U.S. government-funded news outlet has come under increasing pressure in Russia since being added to the country’s “foreign agents” registry in February 2020. By last month,…
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Friday to respond to what he said was the persecution of Moscow-friendly politicians in Ukraine, accusing the West of turning a blind eye to Kiev’s political “clean-up.” With tensions between Moscow and Kiev high, Ukraine this week placed Putin’s top ally Viktor Medvedchuk under house arrest on suspicion of high…
Russian oil giant Rosneft said Friday that its earnings were back in the black in the first quarter after oil prices recovered following Moscow’s production deals with OPEC. State-controlled Rosneft reported a net profit of 149 billion rubles ($2 billion) in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 156 billion rubles in the same period last year. It…
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow will temporarily resume routine U.S. citizen services and processing of immigrant visas in priority and urgent cases after Russia paused a ban on it hiring foreign nationals, the Embassy said Friday. On Wednesday, the Embassy halted most of its consular services to U.S. nationals and Russians seeking a visa after…
Russia has declared The Moscow Times’ Russian-language partner VTimes a “foreign agent” on Friday amid what critics call the Kremlin’s ongoing crackdown on free speech and independent media. The designation puts the independent news site’s future in jeopardy as it risks cratering its advertising budget and levying steep fines for auditing violations. VTimes was launched…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday jointly called for an end to fighting between Israel and Palestinians. “In light of the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it was stated that the primary task is to stop violent actions on both sides and ensure the safety of the civilian population,”…
May 13, 2021, 17:30 The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the information about the prospects for the expansion of the gas supply and gas infrastructure network in Russian regions through 2030. It was noted that Gazprom, being a socially-oriented company, pursues the creation of the conditions for connecting the residential and industrial consumers to gas as one of its key activities. Gazprom is actively developing the gas supply…
May 13, 2021, 17:15 The Gazprom Management Committee reviewed the operating results of the Gazprom Group entities and organizations for the 2020–2021 autumn/winter period and discussed the measures to be taken for ensuring uninterrupted gas supplies to consumers in the upcoming 2021–2022 autumn/winter period. It was noted that the autumn/winter period of 2020–2021 was marked by lengthy cold spells in the area covered by Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System (UGSS).…
Maezawa, 45, who made his fortune in online retail, said he plans to document the mission and share it with the world on his YouTube channel with over 700,000 subscribers. The Roscosmos space agency said Maezawa would make the flight from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with production assistant Yozo Hirano aboard a Soyuz MS-20…
Far to the east of Moscow, a group of young people are hard at work in a cemetery. The Tekutyevsky Cemetery is in the very center of old Tyumen, the first settlement in Siberia that was founded in 1586 as part of the Russian Empire’s expansion eastward. Burials there were conducted from 1885 to 1962.…
Muslims across Russia celebrated Eid al-Fitr on Thursday, bringing the holy month of Ramadan to a close and marking the end of the traditional fasting that goes along with it. With over 10 million believers across the country, or about 10% of its overall population, Russia’s Muslim population is the largest in Europe. Eid al-Fitr,…
A Belarusian court jailed a drummer for six years on Thursday after his band played at mass protests in the wake of disputed presidential elections last year, a rights group said. Belarus was for months gripped by weekly demonstrations demanding the resignation of strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed a landslide victory in the August vote…
An international group of scientists has reiterated “serious concerns” over what they call a lack of transparency, missing data and questionable findings in the clinical research behind Russia’s homemade Sputnik V vaccine. In an open letter to The Lancet — the leading medical journal which published Russia’s interim research showing an efficacy of 91.6% for…
Vitalik Buterin, the Russian-born co-founder of the Ethereum digital currency and the world’s youngest crypto billionaire, has donated more than $1 billion to coronavirus-stricken India’s relief fund. The Russian-Canadian programmer moved $1.2 billion worth of dog-themed SHIB meme tokens on Wednesday and about $600,000 in Ether and Maker tokens last month, Forbes reported, citing Buterin’s…
Only 16% of Russians viewed last month’s nationwide protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny positively, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center published Thursday, a signal of flagging momentum for his embattled opposition groups. Navalny’s team had called on supporters to take to the streets on April 21 to demand proper…
Russia has confirmed the first cases of the Indian coronavirus mutation within its borders among a group of Indian students, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, citing the regional consumer protection watchdog. The national headquarters of Rospotrebnadzor later denied the presence of the Indian strain among the students. The news comes amid heightened fears worldwide…
An influential Russian feminist activist and sex blogger, Tatiana Nikonova, has died from an unknown illness at age 43, a message on her website said Wednesday. Nikonova had advocated gender equality, sexual literacy and adolescent sex education, and supported the LGBT movement since 2001. She launched a feminist blog in 2012 and had since gained…
The European Union claims Russia is seeking “de facto integration” with separatist-held eastern Ukraine through its actions, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing a document shared with member states. Kiev has been at war with pro-Russia rebels in the eastern breakaway region called Donbass since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea. Tensions flared this year with a spike…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called for an urgent meeting of the Middle East Quartet in order to halt violence between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking alongside United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Lavrov said: “Today we’ve come to the common opinion that the most pressing task is to convene the Quartet of international…
A British police officer poisoned in the Novichok nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy is suing the force he worked for at the time, his lawyers said on Wednesday. Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who left the police in October last year, became critically ill following the Novichok poisoning attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal…
Slovakia’s health minister said Wednesday that the EU member would start offering Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in June, months after Bratislava’s purchase of the coronavirus jabs triggered a government crisis. The announcement comes a day after the health ministry said it would suspend first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as it investigates a fatal blood…
A former student opened fire at a high school in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday, killing seven students and two adults and injuring more than 23 people in one of the country’s worst shooting incidents in recent history. Officers detained the gunman at the scene, whose official motive remains unclear. Here’s what we…
Russia’s Arctic and Far North regions could become arable in as soon as 20 to 30 years as climate change accelerates permafrost melt, opening up vast swathes of land to agriculture, the country’s environment minister said Tuesday. Some 60-65% of Russia’s territory is covered in permafrost, the upper layer of soil that stays frozen year-round.…
Ukrainian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top ally in Kiev, has slammed a treason investigation against him, calling it a “political reprisal.” The 66-year-old business tycoon, who counts the Kremlin chief among his personal friends, is a hugely controversial figure in Ukraine for his ties to Russia, which has backed separatists…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to halt fighting in a call with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the world needs to give Israel a “strong” lesson. “Serious concern was expressed about the continuing clashes and the growing number of people killed and wounded,” the Kremlin said in…
Every year audiences in Wiesbaden, Germany come together to watch films from their neighbors to the East. The GoEast Film Festival shows about 100 films from almost 40 countries in Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. This year the festival audiences on- and offline saw an enormous variety of films in every…
The former opposition mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city has been sentenced to nine days in jail for promoting this year’s nationwide pro-Navalny protests on his Twitter, the MBKh Media news website reported Wednesday. Mass protests calling for the release of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were held across Russia on Jan. 23, Jan. 31 and…
Russia-U.S. relations have been in tatters with Washington accusing the Kremlin of interference in U.S. elections, a massive cyber attack and other hostile activity. Joe Biden has increased pressure on Moscow since becoming U.S. president, and comments he made likening Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to a killer were met with fierce criticism in Moscow. Washington…
The majority of Russians (62%) are still not ready to be vaccinated with their country’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center published Wednesday. The results are the latest sign that Russians are largely still skeptical of the domestically-produced vaccine amid Russia’s attempts to boost its slower-than-hoped vaccination campaign. …
Mourners laid flowers Wednesday at the gates of a Russian school where a day earlier a lone gunman killed nine people, mostly children, in one of the country’s worst shooting incidents in recent history. Flags were flown at half-mast on official buildings Wednesday, an official day of mourning, while funerals were planned for some of…
President Joe Biden said Monday that a Russia-based group was behind the ransomware attack that forced the shutdown of the largest oil pipeline in the eastern United States. The FBI identified the group behind the hack of Colonial Pipeline as DarkSide, a shadowy operation that surfaced last year and attempts to lock up corporate computer systems…
Russia on Tuesday expelled the aide to Romania’s military attache, as part of an ongoing diplomatic spat between Moscow and Western capitals. The move comes in response to Bucharest’s decision last month to remove Russia’s deputy military attache from the country as part of the dispute that has embroiled several EU countries formally under the…
Ukraine has formally accused two leading pro-Russian lawmakers, including one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close allies, of high treason, the country’s top prosecutor said Tuesday. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced that she authorized suspicion against two members of parliament, whom she identified only as “M and K,” of attempted theft of natural resources…
May 11, 2021, 16:30 The Gazprom Board of Directors approved the Sustainable Development Policy of the Gazprom Group. The document enshrines the Group’s sustainable development mission, which is to make a positive contribution to the social and economic development of the Russian Federation and other regions of the Company’s operation in line with environmental and social responsibility standards. The Policy outlines the goals and responsibilities of the…
Nine people, most of whom were children, have been killed after a lone teenage gunman opened fire at a school in the Russian city of Kazan, regional officials said Tuesday. The victims at Kazan’s School No. 175 some 820 kilometers east of Moscow include one teacher, one female school employee and seven eighth-grade students — four…
Russia’s parliament will next week debate a bill to ban members of “extremist” organizations from being elected as lawmakers, a deputy said Tuesday, in a move targeting supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The legislation can affect not only senior members and activists of Navalny’s political network but tens of thousands of Russians who…
Russia has sentenced a prominent young activist to over two years of home confinement on vandalism charges amid the country’s widening crackdown on dissent, the Mediazona news website reported Tuesday. Olga Misik, 19, became a symbol of Russia’s pro-democracy movement after she read the Constitution to a line of armored riot officers at a July…
President Vladimir Putin has submitted a bill Tuesday to withdraw Russia from an international treaty that allowed surveillance flights after the United States’ exit last year. Russia said in January it was launching the necessary procedures to leave the Open Skies Treaty after the U.S. quit it in November, citing Russian violations including blocking certain…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has countered reports that it plans to relocate to Georgia as it faces an “extremism” ban in Russia. The RBC news website on Monday cited two unnamed sources familiar with FBK’s activities as saying that several key staffers and equipment have allegedly been moved to the Caucasus country.…
Russia on Tuesday rejected U.S. accusations that a Russia-based group was behind a ransomware attack that forced the shutdown of the largest oil pipeline in the eastern United States. “We categorically reject the baseless fabrications of individual journalists and reiterate that Russia does not conduct ‘malicious’ activity in the virtual space,” the Russian Embassy in the United States said…
A Danish court on Monday sentenced a Russian man to three years in prison followed by expulsion from Denmark with no possibility of return, after he was found guilty of espionage. The 36-year-old Denmark resident, whose name was not made public, was arrested in July 2020 but his case only came to light in December.…
President Vladimir Putin will likely remain in self-isolation despite receiving both doses of one of Russia’s domestically made coronavirus vaccines, the Proekt investigative outlet reported Monday. Putin, 68, has lived in one of the most protected virus-free bubbles since the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic swept across Russia last spring. He has worked via…
The former head doctor at the Siberian hospital which first treated Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny who denied his poisoning has been found alive following a three-day search after he went missing on a hunting trip, authorities said Monday. Alexander Murakhovsky was chief doctor at Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1, which admitted Navalny when he fell gravely ill on…
Russia marked 76 years since victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with a massive military procession Sunday. Held every year on May 9, the date of the Nazi surrender, Russia’s landmark military parade on Red Square aimed to boost patriotic sentiment at home and project Russia’s military might abroad. This year’s parade also…
President Vladimir Putin on Sunday vowed Russia will “firmly” defend national interests and denounced the return of “Russophobia,” as the country marked the 76th anniversary of victory in World War II. His speech to thousands of soldiers and veterans on Red Square came as recent tensions between Moscow and the West have recalled the Cold…
Russia on Saturday condemned attacks on civilians after violent clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound and urged both sides to refrain from escalating violence. More than 200 people were wounded when Israeli riot police clashed with Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound late Friday, capping a week of violence…
“Do you have a decent recipe for solyanka?” “Yikes,” I thought. The request came from a friend who is firmly in the “I need recipes to be precise” camp. Tell her to use a bell pepper, and a barrage of texts from the supermarket invariably ensues demanding to know how much the individual pepper should…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday attacked a U.S. proposal to hold a “Summit for Democracy,” saying such a gathering would only deepen fissures on the international stage. Speaking in a UN ministerial session organized by his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the veteran Russian diplomat said that developing multilateralism should “be done on a…
Amnesty International has re-designated jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny as a “prisoner of conscience” Friday months after its controversial move to strip him of the label over his past nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. The human rights organization said it has launched a review of its designation practices after it withdrew Navalny’s “prisoner of conscience” status…
Ukrainian authorities have confiscated the first batch of spirit drinks made from apples grown near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the beverage’s British makers said Friday. Prosecutors in Kiev seized the shipment of 1,500 UK-bound bottles of “Atomik,” which British and Ukrainian scientists started making in 2019 following years of research on the transfer of…
Siberian schoolchildren marched with portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin to celebrate his “era” during their town’s processions dedicated to Victory Day, media reported Thursday. The Irkutsk region children were photographed holding photos of Putin and wearing signature military-style uniforms and red berets of the “Youth Army” movement that the president formed in 2015. Critics…
YouTube has briefly restricted access to a leading Russian independent media outlet’s account and warned others for linking to the website of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s anti-Kremlin voting project. Navalny and his allies plan to use his “Smart Voting” strategy — which was first deployed in 2018 after authorities barred him and nearly all…
Belarus’ exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called on the U.S. Thursday to impose more sanctions so as to isolate President Alexander Lukashenko, whose election win Washington considers fraudulent. “I urge you, the elected representatives of American people, to continue acting decisively. We call on the U.S. to engage in international mediation jointly with European partners,”…
May 7, 2021 PAO Severstal (MOEX: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, is pleased to inform that it has completed the last transaction for the alienation of global depositary receipts (GDR’s) as part of the conversion of the $250 million Zero Coupon Convertible Bonds due 2022 issued in…