Вещь: thing, something, really something The Russian language has lots of somethings, that is, lots of words that mean “something,” more or less. Что–то is an undefined something, что–нибудь is an unknown something, and кое–что is a something that the speaker knows but doesn’t want to say. Got that? But of course it’s not that clear-cut,…
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said Friday that the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was “practically surrounded” by Russian forces. In a video published by his press service, Prigozhin can be seen saying that Kyiv’s forces had access to only one road leading out of the city, which has been the site of…
March 2, 2023, Moscow, Russia. – A working meeting on training specialists for Akkuyu NPP took place at the National Research University Moscow Energy Institute. The Target Training Program for Akkuyu NPP Personnel among citizens of the Republic of Turkey is being implemented on the basis of the Intergovernmental Agreement between the Government of the…
South Korea’s Justice Ministry is to appeal a court ruling that granted two Russian men fleeing military mobilization the right to apply for refugee status, The Korea Times reported Wednesday. Three men, whose identities haven’t been disclosed to protect their family members in Russia arrived at Incheon International Airport late on various dates last year…
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has warned the country faces an impending financial crisis and used his appearance at an economic forum in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on Thursday to urge the Kremlin to ease its rules on foreign investment in the country’s economy. “There will already be no money next year. We will need…
Like many other independent Russian journalists, the staff of the St. Petersburg-based news website Bumaga relocated to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi last year to avoid censorship, fines or imprisonment amid their country’s wartime crackdown on the free press. Once the dust settled from their relocation, they faced a new challenge: Staying connected with their…
Isotope JSC (included into Rusatom Healthcare JSC Division) signed new contracts for supply of technetium-99m generators GT-5K to the Republic of Armenia and germanium-68/ gallium-68 generators to the Republic of Kazakhstan. The first lot of technetium-99m generators GT-5K with banks was delivered to Isotope Production Center CJSC in Yerevan at the end of February. This…
Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Thursday that drone attacks which Kyiv is alleged to have carried out on Russian military bases would only have been possible with U.S. assistance. Sergei Ryabkov, who is in Geneva to address the UN Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament session, said Washington must have provided intelligence and…
The United States and Russia met in their highest face-to-face contact since the invasion of Ukraine last year on the sidelines of a G20 meeting that ended in disarray due to divisions over the conflict. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke briefly at the meeting of the world’s…
Russian lawmakers on Thursday voted in favor of a bill that would make it a criminal offense to “discredit” anyone fighting on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine, not just the Russian military. The legislation aims to expand current laws criminalizing the discrediting of the Russian Armed Forces to include mercenaries serving in the…
First opened in 1935 with a single line and 13 stations, the Moscow metro has since expanded to encompass a sprawling underground network of over 250 stations. Its newest addition is the completion of the Big Circle Line, a 70-kilometer loop that links 31 stations and which opened Wednesday. Costing an estimated $6.6 billion to…
The viral popularity of a newly emerged Russian subculture has in little more than a week caught the Kremlin’s eye and unsettled the authorities to such a degree that shopping malls in several major Russian cities have seen mass arrests of teenagers in the past few days. In making the arrests, law enforcement officials are…
A G20 meeting in New Delhi on Thursday was in disarray after Russia accused the West of “blackmail and threats” against other countries. India had wanted its G20 presidency this year to focus on issues such as alleviating poverty and climate finance, but Russia’s war with Ukraine has so far crowded out other agenda items. The meeting in…
Moscow claimed that a group of Ukrainian saboteurs crossed into Russia and opened fire on civilians on Thursday, an allegation denied by Kyiv as a “deliberate provocation.” While Russia claims its regions bordering Ukraine are routinely shelled by Ukrainian forces, the alleged incursion, if confirmed, would be a rare instance of fighting inside its territory.…
Russian forces are clashing with a Ukrainian sabotage group that illegally crossed into the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, and opened fire on civilians, law enforcement agencies said Thursday. The statements could not be independently verified, and Kyiv dismissed the claims from Moscow as a “deliberate provocation.” Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said a sabotage and reconnaissance…
Ukraine said it had survived a months-long winter onslaught of Russian strikes on water and energy infrastructure, as it marked the first day of spring Wednesday. But Kyiv was under intense pressure in eastern Ukraine, while Moscow said it had downed a “massive” barrage of Ukrainian drones launched at the Crimean peninsula, annexed by the…
Russia has opened a criminal case against Pussy Riot founding member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova for allegedly “insulting religious sensibilities,” human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said on his Telegram channel on Wednesday. The Investigative Committee opened the case due to various of Tolokonnikova’s posts on social media, Chikov said, adding that a series of police searches had…
New legislation preventing the general public from accessing entries to Russia’s real estate register came into force on Wednesday, independent Russian-language news website Meduza reported. The move, which restricts information on the register to “competent state agencies” is expected to act as a massive hindrance to Russian investigative journalists, who have used the register on…
Russian President Vladimir Putin officially opened the Moscow metro’s Big Circle Line on Wednesday, though he surprisingly elected to do so via video link rather than attending the ceremony in person. Calling the new line “a much-needed project for the city,” Putin congratulated “Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region,” on the opening of the…
Russian authorities have arrested a single father and sent his daughter to an orphanage after she drew an anti-war picture at school, the independent rights watchdog OVD-Info reported Wednesday. Alexei Moskalev, 53, and his daughter Masha Moskaleva, 12, came to the attention of local law enforcement in the town of Yefremov in the Tula region,…
Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufmann’s long-awaited documentary about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which recently premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, is proof that even with the best luck and access imaginable, an extraordinary journalistic opportunity can easily be missed. Double Oscar-winning actor-turned-activist Penn and his crew were in Kyiv filming the documentary as the Russian…
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that his country “fully supports” Beijing’s proposals for ending the Ukraine war when the two leaders met Wednesday. The state visit to the Chinese capital by Lukashenko — a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin — comes after Beijing published a position paper on…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation that bans government officials from using foreign words in official documents and correspondence as well as while carrying out their duties. “When using Russian as the state language of the Russian Federation, it is not allowed to use words and expressions that do not correspond to the norms…
Russian tech giant VK has effectively banned employees from working abroad permanently, state news agencies reported Wednesday, citing a company letter to workers. VK, which employs more than 10,000 people, owns the popular Mail.ru email and news services as well as the VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks, among others. Its letter to employees comes as…
Pressure is mounting on Ukrainian forces as fighting for the eastern frontline city of Bakhmut is getting ever more brutal with Russia losing hundreds of troops a day, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday. As the battle raged, Moscow said it shot down Ukrainian drones targeting civilian sites in Russian territory while another one crashed near the capital.…
Russia’s governing body for chess said Tuesday it had been admitted into the game’s Asian federation and will leave Europe as Russian players face restrictions over Moscow’s assault in Ukraine. The shift, finalized by a vote at the Asian Chess Summit in Abu Dhabi earlier Tuesday, comes as other Russian sports federations, including football, are…
Finland has begun construction of its planned 200-kilometer fence along part of its border with Russia, the country’s border guard announced on Tuesday, as Helsinki fears Moscow could use migrant flows at the frontier for political purposes. Terrain work would begin on Tuesday “with forest clearance and will proceed in such a way that road…
Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the loss of life members of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) have suffered in the war in Ukraine and urged the agency to step up its counterintelligence activities in a speech to an expanded FSB board meeting in Moscow on Tuesday. “I would like to thank the leadership and all…
Russian President Vladimir Putin may have earned up to $500 million from sales of a popular vodka branded under his own name between 2004 and 2019, according to an investigation published on Tuesday by independent media outlet Proekt. Russian vodka sold under the Putinka brand hit the shelves in Russia in 2002 and became the…
The lists of Russia’s war dead may be hundreds and thousands of names long but some casualties stand out to the journalists who painstakingly compile them. Olga Ivshina, a senior reporter at the BBC Russian Service, can instantly recall Mikhail Shuvalov, a retired power plant worker who volunteered to fight in Ukraine at the age…
Moscow and Baku on Tuesday criticized the deployment of an expanded EU monitoring mission to Armenia’s volatile border with Azerbaijan. Arch Caucasus foes Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh border region but have recently made progress toward a peace deal. The EU announced last week it had deployed a…
A Russian anti-war activist has been detained upon arrival in Armenia’s capital Yerevan, he told independent Russian human rights watchdog OVD-Info. Nikita Kamensky had arrived at Zvartnots International Airport on a flight from Istanbul early Tuesday, OVD-Info reported, when he was detained for an unknown reason. The detention could be linked to Armenia’s obligations under…
Russian authorities said Tuesday that several regional television and radio stations that have recently broadcast air raid alerts had been breached by hackers. The alerts are common across Ukraine, which is routinely targeted by drone and missile attacks, but the impact of fighting within Russia is limited to regions bordering the conflict. “As a result of hacking…
A Russian journalist was fined Tuesday for “discrediting” the Russian army by describing her anti-war tattoo in a televised interview, the independent Mediazona news website reported. Yulia Starostina, a former journalist for news outlets The Bell, Proekt and RBC, spoke to the independent broadcaster Dozhd for a December segment about Russians providing assistance to Ukrainian…
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Central Asia hoping that greater U.S. engagement will reassure former Soviet republics rattled by the Ukraine war, although Russia’s historic clout limits the extent of cooperation. Days after the anniversary of the Ukraine invasion, the top U.S. diplomat will hold talks Tuesday in Kazakhstan and then Uzbekistan and…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has submitted more than 50 official complaints to Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova during his year-long incarceration, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. “Of the more than 50 appeals that we received — none of them was ignored, each was investigated by the prosecutor’s office, the leadership of the Federal…
The Multipurpose Fast Neutron Research Reactor (MBIR), being constructed by State Corporation Rosatom within the framework of the comprehensive program “Development of Technology, Technologies and Scientific Research in the Field of Atomic Energy Use in the Russian Federation”, became a participant in the GRAIN International Platform (Global Research Advanced Infrastructure Network). BRICS GRAIN platform was…
Days after the United Nations General Assembly in New York voted overwhelmingly to demand Russia’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine, Moscow’s war also dominated the opening sessions of the UN Human Rights Council and Conference for Disarmament, both of which opened in Geneva on Monday. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most massive violations…
The Moscow custom of leaving floral tributes to honor the memory of murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov on Feb. 27 each year appears to have spread throughout Russia, according to reports from six other cities. Makeshift flower memorials have appeared in Russia’s five biggest cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Kazan, on the eighth anniversary…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday awarded Steven Seagal, the U.S. action star turned vocal Kremlin supporter, the Order of Friendship medal, an award given to those working to improve Russia’s international relations. Seagal, 70, was granted Russian citizenship in 2016 and has been serving as a special envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry for…
Prosecutors in Moscow-allied Belarus have asked the courts to jail Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and a close aide to nearly two decades behind bars as they are tried in absentia. The recommendation reported on Belarusian state media is part of a long-running and brutal campaign to silence critics who led historic rallies in 2020…
Jailed Russian journalist Ivan Safronov has been transferred to the maximum-security prison where he will serve his sentence, he wrote on Monday in a letter to his supporters. Savronov, 32, has been moved to the IK-7 prison in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region, where inmates serve a combination of penal detention and compulsory labor. “My route from…
People in Russia heralded the end of another cold winter as Maslenitsa festivities took place across the country this weekend. Maslenitsa, which is rooted in ancient Slavic tradition, involves the burning of effigies, wearing traditional costumes, singing and dancing. But most important is the cooking and eating blini, a thin, crepe-like pancake that symbolizes the…
The Kremlin on Monday acknowledged China’s proposal for a political solution in Ukraine but said the conditions for a peaceful resolution of the conflict were not in place “at the moment.” “We paid a lot of attention to our Chinese friends’ plan,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, adding that: “for now, we don’t…
Prominent Russian political scientist and former Kremlin adviser Gleb Pavlovsky has died at age 71 following a serious illness, Simon Kordonsky, head of the local self-government department at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, told the Vedomosti business daily Monday. Pavlovsky had been an influential figure in Russian politics in the first decade of President Vladimir…
Belarus’s exiled opposition said Sunday that partisans had destroyed a Russian plane at an airstrip near the capital Minsk. “Partisans… confirmed a successful special operation to blow up a rare Russian plane at the airfield in Machulishchy near Minsk,” tweeted Franak Viacorka, a close adviser of opposition figurehead Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. “This is the most successful…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked an exodus of cultural and sporting stars, many of whom publicly stated their opposition to the war. From pop legend Alla Pugacheva to five-time Olympic gold medalist and synchronized swimming champion Anastasia Davydova, there has been a steady emigration of the country’s luminaries in the year since Russian tanks rolled…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused NATO members of entering the Ukraine conflict by donating arms to the country and said the West planned to break Russia up. “They are sending tens of billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine. This really is participation,” Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 channel that aired…
Since Feb. 24, 2022, a new curtain has descended on the Russian arts. Major Western auction houses and galleries are no longer working with Russian artists, Western companies have left Russia, and many Western suppliers are no longer exporting to Russia. But the impact of sanctions and other actions have impacted big cities and small…
The EU approved a new round of sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine late on Friday, only just meeting a self-imposed deadline for a 10th sanctions package to mark the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, the bloc’s Swedish presidency announced. The full details of the package, which contains “targeted restricted measures against individuals and entities…
New EU sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine adopted on Saturday target 121 individuals and entities, including Iranian drone manufacturers, officials said. The measures, which were formally adopted on Saturday, are the 10th round of European Union sanctions aimed at undercutting Russia’s finances and military supplies used in its invasion of Ukraine. They echo sanctions…
Maslenitsa — the week before the start of Lent — is a time of gastronomic madness and blini-eating records. This weekend Maslenitsa comes to an end. For most Russians it has always been a short holiday of abundance in the middle of ordinary and gray everyday life. That’s why no one wants to see Shrovetide —…
TBILISI, Georgia — Thousands of people took to the streets of the Georgian capital on Friday in a show of support for Ukraine, one year after Russia launched its invasion of the country. Large crowds moved down Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare Rustaveli Avenue, carrying Ukrainian flags, pro-Ukrainian banners and anti-Putin signs. Some 30,000 demonstrators gathered outside…
President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Friday to do everything to defeat Russia this year, as the first highly sought Leopard battle tanks arrived in Ukraine on the anniversary of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. The German-made Leopard tanks from Warsaw rolled in to help Ukraine repel Russian troops as Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki…
The United States on Friday announced sweeping sanctions aimed at increasing economic pain for Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and sharpening efforts to crack down on Moscow’s ability to evade existing restrictions. The White House said the latest measures against Russia were rolled out “in coordination with G7 partners and allies,” while Britain announced…
Dozens of Russians have been detained for staging anti-war pickets and other acts of remembrance across the country, as Feb. 24 marks exactly one year since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Mass anti-war protests are effectively outlawed under legislation passed in the wake of the invasion last year, and most prominent opposition activists have…
Нормы: norms In the past year after Russia went from annexation and limited war in Ukraine to a full-scale invasion of the country, the Russian language has undergone a great change. If you dig into the archives and watch a day of Russian television in, say, June of 2021 and then a day in June…
Over 15,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the start of the Kremlin’s invasion, according to an independent tally published on the war’s one-year anniversary Friday. The independent Mediazona news website and the BBC Russian service have been verifying the number of Russian troops killed in Ukraine using publicly available information from media…
SHEBEKINO, Belgorod region — When Russian tanks began rolling through the streets of this small town six kilometers from the Ukrainian border in late February last year, most locals didn’t believe that Russia was about to invade its neighbor. “It just sounded unbelievable,” recalled Alexander, 27, a local businessman who requested his name be changed…
Oligarchs reportedly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin who have had bank accounts frozen or property seized after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine are pushing back against the Western sanctions — or finding ways around them. Authorities have frozen about £18.4 billion ($22.2 billion) of Russian assets in Britain, and 17 billion euros worth ($18 billion)…