The Czech government on Wednesday gave Moscow an ultimatum, warning it may expel more Russian diplomats unless the 20 Czech nationals ejected from Russia are allowed to return to work by noon on Thursday. Prague expelled 18 Russian embassy staff and Moscow sent back the Czech diplomats in retaliation on Monday, in a row over…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s team have called for protests across the country on the day President Vladimir Putin gives his annual address to the nation. Putin’s most vociferous critic has been on hunger strike for three weeks, demanding to see his own doctors for a host of ailments. They have said he “could die…
Russian investigators on Wednesday said they are inspecting an oil spill in the Gulf of Finland near the city of Vyborg in the Leningrad region, hours after President Vladimir Putin called for stronger action against polluters. The Investigative Committee’s northwestern transport investigation department said it dispatched a team of its investigators and specialists from environmental…
Czech police have detained five of its nationals suspected of fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Czech prosecutors announced Wednesday as ties between the countries eroded over allegations of Moscow’s involvement in a 2014 explosion. The Prague High Public Prosecutor’s Office said on its website that the suspects taken into custody are suspected of…
With troops massing on the border with eastern Ukraine, Alexei Navalny languishing in jail, mass protests planned across Russia, rumors of closer integration with Belarus and relations with the West at a new low, President Vladimir Putin’s annual state of the nation address Wednesday had promised fireworks. In the end, few exploded. Instead, Putin’s speech…
Background Achim Development was established with the purpose of pre-development and development of Blocks 4A and 5A in the Achimov formations of the Urengoyskoye oil, gas and condensate field. The production activities of the company are focused on natural gas and unstable gas condensate production. In 2015, Gazprom and BASF/Wintershall closed the asset swap deal. As a result, Wintershall obtained 25.01 per cent in the project for developing…
The ex-wife of a Russian billionaire on Wednesday won a British court case against her son, whom she accuses of helping his father hide his assets during the bitter divorce battle. The High Court of England and Wales in 2016 awarded Tatiana Akhmedova 41.5% of Farkhad Akhmedov’s $1-billion-plus fortune. But she said 65-year-old businessman Akhmedov…
President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday of Russia’s “swift” and “severe” response to foreign hostile actions and decried Western sanctions, which he likened to a sporting competition. “I hope that no one will think of crossing the ‘red line’ in relation to Russia, which we ourselves will define in each specific case,” Putin said in his…
Russian President Vladimir Putin is addressing the nation in the annual speech to the Federal Assembly as tensions brew at home and abroad. The Russian president’s address to lawmakers and regional heads comes hours before planned nationwide protests in support of hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose failing health in prison has drawn worldwide concern.…
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet in war-torn eastern Ukraine, stressing that millions of lives were at stake from fresh fighting in the separatist conflict. The blunt offer for talks came following a flare-up in clashes between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russian separatists controlling two regions in the country’s east,…
The number of scientists and highly qualified specialists leaving Russia has risen fivefold in nearly a decade, Russia’s Academy of Sciences (RAS) said Monday. Nikolai Dolgushkin, the RAS presidium’s chief scientific secretary, estimated that emigration among Russian researchers increased from 14,000 in 2012 to almost 70,000 last year. He contrasted the figures with China, the…
April 21, 2021, 10:20 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about hydrogen production and utilization, as well as exports of hydrogen and methane-hydrogen mixtures with the use of the existing gas infrastructure. It was highlighted that in recent times many countries are viewing hydrogen energy as an area essential for the implementation of national low-carbon development strategies. However, hydrogen is a secondary energy source, i.e. additional…
April 21, 2021, 10:10 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about the measures undertaken to inventory ownerless gas facilities in Russian regions, as well as to optimize the procedure of their transfer to specialized organizations for further operation in line with the laws of the Russian Federation. It was highlighted that timely inspection, maintenance and repair of gas networks is a guarantee of reliable gas supplies to consumers. The obligation…
April 21, 2021, 10:00 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about the effect achieved as a result of the utilization of the funds allocated for scientific research, experimental development, and technological works (R&D activities), as well as about the approval of the overall key performance indicator of innovative activities for 2021, and approved the 2020 Report on the implementation of Gazprom’s Innovative Development Program until 2025. Gazprom…
Russian prosecutors have asked a court to dissolve jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and his regional network of headquarters, Interfax reported Tuesday. The demand comes ahead of planned protests on Wednesday calling for Navalny’s immediate treatment at a civilian hospital as his allies sound the alarm over his deteriorating health in prison. …
April 21, 2021 PAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, has successfully tested a machine learning model on kiln No. 1 at Karelsky Okatysh. The model helps to conserve mazut consumption and curb emissions of carbon oxides and sulfur during pellet firing, while maintaining the high quality of…
Russia is once again facing questions over its coronavirus-related data after it claimed its Sputnik V vaccine has 97.6% effectiveness based on an analysis of infections among vaccine recipients in Russia. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is funding and marketing the vaccine, said Monday it had analyzed the number of coronavirus cases among…
Alexei Navalny’s doctors were again denied access Tuesday to the jailed Kremlin critic, as lawyers for the hunger-striking opposition figure said he was “very weak” and demanded he be transferred to a civilian hospital. A team of medics has been trying to see the 44-year-old since early this month, after President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken…
The Czech Republic on Tuesday called on its EU and NATO partners to expel Russian diplomats in solidarity, accusing Moscow of orchestrating an “unprecedented terror attack” on Czech territory. Foreign and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said he would summon the Russian ambassador Wednesday to disclose further steps after the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats believed…
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law Tuesday that will require electoral candidates who receive any amount of financial support from abroad to label themselves as “foreign agents.” Russia’s “foreign agents” law, first passed in 2012, has been gradually expanded in recent years to apply to any politically active individual or organization receiving funding from…
Today is the National Blood Donor Day.
President Vladimir Putin is due to give his annual state-of-the-nation speech Wednesday as tensions brew both at home and abroad. The Russian president’s address to lawmakers and regional heads comes hours before planned nationwide protests in support of hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose failing health in prison has drawn worldwide concern. Putin’s address also…
April 20, 2021, 15:00 The TPP will supply process steam and electricity to the Amur GPP. Its design solutions provide the maximum reliability possible for energy supplies. Domestic equipment and digital control system were used in the project. The commissioning ceremony for the Svobodny TPP was held today in the town of Svobodny, Amur Region. The ceremony took place…
Russia has blocked flights over annexed Crimea and the Black Sea for naval and aviation drills this week, Interfax reported Tuesday, citing an alert to pilots. The so-called “notice to airmen” (NOTAM), which is filed to warn aircraft pilots of potential hazards, reportedly applies to territorial waters off the southern coast of Crimea and parts…
The Myanmar military regime imported $14.7 million in radar equipment in February, Russian customs data published on Monday showed. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu agreed to supply Myanmar with Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems, Orlan-10E surveillance drones and radar equipment during a visit to the capital Naypyidaw in January. The deal was made a week before…
All through April, indigenous nomadic communities across Russia’s Far North are celebrating one of the most important festivities of the year: the Reindeer Herders’ Festival. Observed annually for nearly 70 years, the festival gives nomadic herders a chance to see their extended family and friends, compete in traditional indigenous games and showcase centuries-old traditions to…
Russia’s space agency said Tuesday it hoped to launch its own orbital station in 2025 as Moscow considers withdrawing from the International Space Station program to go it alone. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said work had begun on the fist module of a new station, after officials warned that Russia was considering pulling out of the ISS,…
Updated at 1:00 p.m. on April 20 to add U.S. Embassy confirmation. The United States’ Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan will briefly return to Washington for consultations following tit-for-tat sanctions and diplomatic expulsions amid heightened tensions, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow confirmed Tuesday. Axios reported Monday that the State Department recalled Sullivan after he initially defied…
Italy will begin accepting Russian tourists this summer as it eases coronavirus restrictions, Russian state media reported Tuesday, citing Rome’s envoy to Moscow. Italian Ambassador to Moscow Pasquale Terracciano made the promise days after officials in Rome announced reopening dates for the country’s schools, restaurants, swimming pools and gyms in response to anti-lockdown protests. Pasquale…
The Czech government said Monday it will no longer consider using Russia’s coronavirus vaccine before EU approval amid the diplomatic fallout from its accusations of Russian secret services’ involvement in a fatal arms depot explosion. Prague announced the expulsion over the weekend of 18 Russian diplomats whom it identified as secret agents of Russia’s intelligence…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it had killed “up to 200 fighters” in Syria during airstrikes on a “terrorist” base northeast of Palmyra, where fighters were planning attacks ahead of presidential polls next month. “After confirming data through multiple channels on the location of terrorist facilities, Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft carried out airstrikes,” the ministry…
Rosatom has always been a strong supporter of fair market competition, which ensures that the customer receives the best possible technological solution at the most attractive price. Excluding Rosatom from the tender to expand the Dukovany NPP in the Czech Republic is an anti-market, politically motivated decision that does not encourage the development of mutually…
April 20, 2021 PAO Severstal (MOEX: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, is pleased to announce that the Saint-Petersburg Exchange has admitted Global Depository Receipts (GDR) for Severstal shares to regulated trading under the ticker “SVST@GS”. A corresponding announcement was published on the Saint-Petersburg Exchange website on 20…
Russia has launched a probe against YouTube for “abusing” its dominant position in the market by making “biased” decisions about comment moderation, a government regulator said on Monday. The move comes as Russia ramps up pressure on foreign tech platforms, with Moscow stepping up its efforts to control the Russian segment of the internet. The…
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska on Monday softened his criticism of federal poverty statistics to instead praise President Vladimir Putin’s government for supporting workers and small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. In his initial Telegram post, Deripaska accused state statistics service Rosstat of under-reporting the number of Russians living in poverty. “They are trying to convince us…
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that Russia has massed over 150,000 troops along the Ukrainian border and in the annexed Crimea peninsula. “It is the highest Russian military deployment at Ukrainian borders ever,” Borrell told journalists after talks involving Ukraine’s foreign minister, refusing to disclose the source of the figure. “The risk of further…
Russian President Vladimir Putin will on April 22 address an international climate summit hosted by the United States, the Kremlin said Monday, despite a sharp deterioration in ties between Moscow and Western capitals. “Vladimir Putin will outline Russia’s approaches within the context of establishing broad-ranging international cooperation aimed at overcoming the negative consequences of global climate…
It is nearly three weeks since jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny went on hunger strike to demand his own doctors be allowed to visit him in prison. Navalny’s health has deteriorated rapidly since he went on hunger strike, his doctors say, and an international chorus of protest is growing amid rising tensions between Moscow and…
The United States’ aviation authority has warned airlines to exercise “extreme caution” when flying over areas near the Russia-Ukraine border as tensions surge over Russia’s military buildup and renewed clashes in eastern Ukraine. Tensions between Moscow and Kiev have escalated in recent weeks following an uptick in fighting between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russia separatists in…
Parents of victims of the deadly Beslan school siege have started a hunger strike in solidarity with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny amid increasing concern among supporters that his life is in danger, the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported Monday. Ella Kesaeyva, who co-chairs Russia’s Voice of Beslan grassroots organization, likened Navalny’s plight to the…
The Kremlin on Monday denounced the “provocative and unfriendly” expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic who were accused by authorities in Prague of spying. “We categorically do not agree with these conclusions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, describing the Czech move as “provocative and unfriendly.” Czech authorities on Saturday said they…
The Kremlin on Monday rejected Western concerns over hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s health as supporters warn that he is at risk of dying in prison. World leaders, celebrities and media organizations have called on President Vladimir Putin to allow Navalny see his doctors after the medics warned that he could suffer cardiac arrest at “any…
Russian epidemiologists have detected two mutated strains of the coronavirus within the country but said they aren’t necessarily deadlier or more contagious, the head of state consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor announced Monday. “We are seeing the formation of a Siberian version and the formation of a northwestern version” of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes coronavirus…
At the end of March, residents in an apartment house in St. Petersburg suddenly saw that the bulky gray and green ceramic lump in their entryway was actually a majolica heating stove made by Peter Vaulin with a panel based on a drawing by Mikhail Vrubel. They could see it because a group called the…
Thanks to Rosneft in 2020 about 800 ancestral lands residents of the indigenous small-numbered North peoples on the territory of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra gained access to the Internet.
Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Sunday handed over 34 orphaned children, whose parents were suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group, to a Russian delegation to be repatriated. An AFP correspondent in the city of Qamishli said the children aged between three and 14 were handed over to a delegation headed by the…
Russia on Sunday said it would retaliate against the Czech government’s “unprecedented” decision to expel 18 Russian diplomats identified as secret agents and summoned the Czech ambassador. “We will take retaliatory measures that will force the authors of this provocation to understand their full responsibility for destroying the basis of normal relations between our countries,”…
France, Germany and the European Union on Sunday joined a growing international chorus of protest at Navalny’s plight, and EU foreign ministers will discuss the situation on Monday. Concerns over Navalny’s health have mounted against the background of a new spike in tensions between Moscow and the West over a litany of issues, including Russia’s…
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned Sunday that Russia will face “consequences” if hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny dies. Jailed opposition leader Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, was arrested in January upon returning to Russia after recovering from a near-fatal poisoning attack he says was orchestrated by Moscow. “In terms of the…
The Czech government said Saturday it will expel 18 Russian diplomats identified by local intelligence as secret agents of the Russian SVR and GRU services that are suspected of involvement in a 2014 explosion. “Eighteen employees of the Russian embassy must leave our republic within 48 hours,” Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek told reporters. Prime Minister…
Russia on Saturday said it would expel a Ukrainian diplomat, prompting an immediate pledge of retaliation from Kiev, further escalating tensions over Moscow’s troop build-up on Ukraine’s eastern flank. The detention of a Ukrainian consul in the second city St. Petersburg comes at a time of global concern of a repeat of Moscow’s 2014 aggression, when Russia annexed…
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Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny risks cardiac arrest at “any minute” as his health has rapidly deteriorated, doctors warned Saturday, urging immediate access to Russia’s most famous prisoner. On March 31, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent went on hunger strike to demand proper medical treatment for back pain and numbness in his legs and…
Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut touched down Saturday on the steppe of Kazakhstan following a half-year mission on the International Space Station, footage broadcast by the Russian space agency showed. Russia’s Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov as well as NASA’s Kate Rubins landed on barren land at 0455 GMT around 150 kilometres (90 miles)…
Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut touched down Saturday on the steppe of Kazakhstan following a half-year mission on the International Space Station, footage broadcast by the Russian space agency showed. Russia’s Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov as well as NASA’s Kate Rubins landed on barren land at 04:55 GMT around 150 kilometers (90 miles)…
I am an inveterate hoarder of dark leafy greens. I consume baby spinach nearly every day, and the hardier winter spinach invariably finds itself in some cooking project or other, be it soup, smoothie, or spanakopita. I am helpless to resist the vibrant jewel tones of rainbow chard, kale, and my beloved beet greens. But…
Russia’s FSB security service said on Saturday it had detained a Ukrainian diplomat, accusing him of receiving sensitive information from a Russian national. In recent years Russia has detained a number of Ukrainian nationals on suspicion of spying but the detention of a diplomat is rare and seen as a sign of sharply rising tensions. “A Ukrainian…
Russian prosecutors on Friday asked a Moscow court to designate the network of regional offices of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) as “extremist organizations.” “Under the disguise of liberal slogans, these organizations are engaged in creating conditions for the destabilization of the social and socio-political situation,” the Moscow prosecutor’s office…
The success of HBO’s 2019 miniseries “Chernobyl” left Russian filmmakers inspired to shoot their own version of the tragic events that took place in Soviet Ukraine in 1986. But Russian director Danila Koslovsky’s “Chernobyl,” which premiered Thursday, has so far failed to generate the same critical acclaim as Craig Mazin’s miniseries. Instead of offering a…
German prosecutors said Friday they are investigating a Russian man on suspicion that he helped to plan the murder of a Chechen dissident living in Germany on orders of the Chechen regime. Named as Valid D., the suspect is accused of “making a declaration of readiness to commit murder, preparing a serious act of violence…