The head of Russia’s Rosneft oil giant has asked the government for a 2.6 trillion ruble ($41.3 billion) tax break in exchange for large-scale investment in the Arctic, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday. President Vladimir Putin has promised tax incentives and other benefits to encourage companies to develop the Arctic region and the Northern…
One by one, opposition politicians who say the authorities are trying to remove them from the ballot for elections to Moscow’s city legislature this September climbed onto a ledge on City Hall Sunday afternoon and addressed around 2,000 protestors who had gathered to support them. The protest was the latest in a rising tide of…
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On this day in 1894, the writer, journalist and playwright Isaac Babel was born in Odessa, present-day Ukraine, to a middle-class Jewish family. Called “the greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry” and considered one of the luminaries of 20th-century Soviet literature, Babel is best-known for the semi-autobiographical short story collections “Red Cavalry” and “Story of…
Set on the Kamchatka Peninsula, “Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips explores questions of gender and race ignited by the mysterious disappearance of two ethnically Slavic young girls, Alyona and Sophia. The novel follows different but interrelated female characters wrestling with these questions in their daily lives. A New Jersey native and graduate of Barnard College,…
Russia flew a fresh shipment of advanced air defense equipment to Turkey on Saturday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said, continuing to implement a deal that is likely to trigger U.S. sanctions against a NATO ally. The ministry said a fourth Russian cargo plane landed at the Murted air base near the Turkish capital Ankara, a day after…
Saudi Arabia, Russia and 35 other states have written to the United Nations supporting China’s policies in its western region of Xinjiang, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters on Friday, in contrast to strong Western criticism. China has been accused of detaining a million Muslims and persecuting ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, and 22…
Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims are travelling to Russia’s republic of Buryatia for the Kalachakra festival, celebrating world peace and harmony. An estimated 1 million Buddhists live in Russia, many in the republics of Kalmykia, Tuva and Buryatia — where the religion is traditionally practiced.
Seven men believed to be supporters of the Islamic State terror group have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Russia on Friday for attempting to stage a collision on a high-speed railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The suspects, hailing from post-Soviet Tajikistan, placed a metal object on the tracks in an attempt to…
Paris, July 10, 2019 – ROSATOM and the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy Sources (CEA) signed the Implementation Plan for the Strategic Document on Russian-French Partnership in the Field of Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy. On the Russian side, the document was signed by Alexey Likhachev, the Director General of ROSATOM, from the…
A Russian national accused of fighting for the Islamic State militant group against Syrian government forces was arrested in Albania and will be extradited to Russia, Albanian police said on Friday. Police said the 34-year-old man, identified as R.M., who was born in and a resident of Norilsk in Russia, entered Albania illegally after a…
The weather isn’t ideal, but cultural life, broadly defined, is hot this weekend in and around the Russian capital. Here is a troika of truly wonderful, unusual, and fun events you could join on Saturday. For love and peace On Saturday the 18th-century Apothecary Garden will be rocking a multi-format festival or electronic music, performances,…
A Russian police officer has been convicted of negligence after telling a domestic violence victim to “come back when you’re dead” minutes before she was murdered. Police inspector Natalya Bashkatova received a domestic abuse call in the city of Oryol in late 2016 but refused to investigate the victim’s claims, telling her, “If he kills…
HOLLYWOOD—With awards season around the corner, the mini-series “Chernobyl” continues to gain momentum in the entertainment world. Distributor HBO, now a unit of the AT&T telecom giant, is putting its muscle behind the series, giving it a competitive edge in the Emmy competition. Nominations will be announced on July 16. Jared Harris, who plays scientist…
“The expedition cruises, including the Arctic, will become a trend. And we have already seen that this segment shows growth, faster than the rest of the cruise market, the tickets are commonly sold out six months ahead of the cruise departures,” Alexei Rakhmanov, president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, Russia’s largest state-own shipbuilding company, said. Rakhmanov…
New Russian payment system laws could lead the world’s largest credit and debit card companies Visa and Mastercard to exit the country’s market, the Kommersant business daily reported on Friday. U.S.-based Visa and Mastercard stopped servicing bank cards in annexed Crimea after the United States imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014. Russia created its own…
The history of the Mariinsky Theater began on July 12, 1783, when Empress Catherine II approved the establishment of an Imperial drama, opera, and ballet troupe in St. Petersburg. This decree led to the construction of the Bolshoi Stone Theater, the Mariinsky Theater’s predecessor, and placed the first stone in what would become St. Peterbsurg’s…
With public support for President Vladimir Putin wilting, the Kremlin is considering changing election rules in an effort to secure its lock on parliament ahead of potentially vital decisions that could extend his rule. Putin faces the end of what under the constitution must be his final presidential term in 2024. Though he’s given no…
The first parts of a Russian S-400 missile defense system were delivered to NATO member Turkey on Friday, Russia has confirmed. Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian system is a source of tension between Turkey and NATO ally United States. The U.S. has demanded that Ankara abandon its deal with Moscow and purchase American-made Patriot systems…
Over two thousand paratroopers landed at Naimanskaya military site near Black Sea on Thursday, July 11, as Russia staged large-scale aviation drills at the annexed Crimea peninsula. Russian paratroopers were dropped from Il-76 transport planes 100 meters apart and landed on this site for the first time, according to Russian Military Transport Aviation Commander, Lieutenant…
A top official at the Russian national pension fund has pleaded guilty to charges of accepting a bribe and submitted his resignation, Russian media reported. Law enforcement authorities detained deputy chairman of the pension fund Alexei Ivanov on Wednesday, the TAdviser business news website had reported. Ivanov was taken into custody ahead of the fund’s key…
Background Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan is a subsidiary of Gazprom focused on prospecting, exploration and development of hydrocarbon fields. The Levoberezhnaya part of the Astrakhanskoye gas and condensate field with an area of 1,360 square kilometers has been in operation since 1986. The field produces formation fluid with a high content of sulfur (25 per cent) and carbon dioxide (15 per cent). The company has around 300 wells of various use, hundreds…
Moscow’s weather will feel like that of present-day Detroit while St. Petersburg’s will more closely resemble that of Sofia three decades from now, researchers warned. A fifth of the world’s major cities will face “unknown” climate conditions by 2050 as rising temperatures heighten the risks of drought and flooding, according to climate scientists at The…
July 12, 2019 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, today announces its operational results for Q2 2019. Q2 2019 GROUP HIGHLIGHTS Hot metal output declined q/q in Q2 2019 to 2.30 mln tonnes (Q1 2019: 2.36 mln tonnes) due to short-term maintenance works…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy held their first telephone conversation on Thursday and discussed settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the return of prisoners, the Kremlin said. Zelenskiy, a former comic actor with no previous political experience, won Ukraine’s presidential election in April and he has declared the settlement of…
Paris – PhosAgro CEO and head of the Russian Fertilizer Producers Association Andrey Guryev took part in a meeting of world chemistry leaders organised on the sidelines of the 47th World Chemistry Congress hosted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). In addition to Guryev, the heads of other industry leaders also…
Moscow, 11 July – ROSATOM and the Ministry of Energies of the Plurinational State of Bolivia signed a Memorandum of cooperation in the field of developing industrial projects and research in the lithium industry. The document was signed by Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM, from the Russian side, and Rafael Alarcón Orihuela, Minister of…
The AB1 recoverable oil reserves of the Russkoye field have increased 8% following exploration work carried out by Tyumenneftegaz, a petroleum production company belonging to Rosneft. The increase in the hydrocarbon potential of the project became possible thanks to the performance of 3D seismic and the drilling of three prospecting and exploration wells and 164…
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to exclude former Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko from taking part in the Olympic Games, court documents published on Thursday showed. The IOC in 2017 excluded Mutko from “any participation in all future Olympic Games” as part of…
One summer night last year, sisters Krestina, Angelina and Maria Khachaturyan went into the room where their 57-year-old father Mikhail was sleeping and attacked him with pepper spray, a knife and a hammer. The sisters are now on trial for his murder, but thousands of people have come out in support of them, saying the…
Russian authorities have violated an agreement to allow animal rights activists to oversee the release of captive whales back into the wild on Thursday, Greenpeace Russia has said. Russia began last month the release of almost 100 captive whales, caught last year for commercial sale, with the return of two killer and six beluga whales…
European Council President Donald Tusk said on Thursday that Russia’s decision to ban flights to Georgia was “unjustified and disproportional.” Relations between Russia and Georgia came under strain three weeks ago when protests erupted in Tbilisi over a visit by a Russian lawmaker with many demonstrators saying they were angry about the continued presence of…
Russian police on Thursday detained over 40 Crimean Tatars who were protesting outside the Supreme Court in Moscow over what they said was the wrongful conviction of four compatriots on terrorism-related charges, a monitoring group said. OVD-Info, the monitor, said in a statement that police had detained 44 Crimean Tatars who had gathered outside the…
Russian poet and translator Yevgeny Baratynsky was born on March 2, 1800 and spent his childhood on his family’s estate in the Tambov region of southwest Russia. The son of a retired lieutenant general, Baratnysky attended the Page Corps, an elite military academy which prepared sons of noble families for military leadership. At age 15,…
A top official at the Russian national pension fund has been detained on suspicion of accepting a bribe, Russian media outlets reported on Thursday. Ivanov was allegedly taken into custody ahead of the fund’s key $23.8 million data system tender announcement. Law enforcement authorities detained deputy chairman of the pension fund Alexei Ivanov on Wednesday,…
A woman was killed and 13 people were injured in a major fire at a power station in the Moscow region on Thursday that was put out by firefighters, the emergencies ministry and Russian media said. “The open flames have been extinguished,” Interfax cited the emergencies ministry as saying. Earlier, huge flames could be seen…
The building of the Lider nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet could radically alter international shipping and trade routes, Alexei Likhachev, general director of the Rosatom nuclear power company, has said in an interview with Reuters. With the 120-megawatt icebreakers, the most powerful Arctic vessels ever built by far, Russia will be able to open up major shipping lanes…
Two to three Russians have been arrested in Uruguay on suspicion of aiding the escape of a notorious Italian mob boss in the South American country, according to media reports. Rocco Morabito, dubbed the “cocaine king of Milan,” escaped from a Montevideo jail last month as he was waiting to be extradited back to Italy…
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini on Wednesday denied a media report that his far-right League party had sought millions of euros from Russian investors via a secret oil deal. The U.S. website BuzzFeed said it had received an audio recording of talks in Moscow in October among three Italians including a close aide of…
Russians don’t trust the politicians in power and trust the political opposition even less, according to focus-group research by analysts who correctly predicted mass anti-government rallies in 2012. The study’s authors had detailed plummeting support for the ruling elite and growing public discontent in March 2011, less than a year before a wave of anti-Kremlin…
Senior U.S. diplomat David Hale met with Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, in Helsinki on Wednesday to discuss U.S.-Russian relations, the State Department said, amid tensions between the two countries over a range of issues. The meeting between Hale, who is undersecretary for political affairs, and Ryabkov followed June 28 talks between President Donald…
Russia is among the leading countries in Europe where employees regularly work night or weekend shifts, recent research published by the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics (HSE) has said. Nearly half of Russians polled last month said they don’t support the idea of a four-day work week over fears that it would reduce their income.…
Five officials in Moscow’s police department have been dismissed over last month’s arrest and subsequent release of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, a letter by the head of Moscow’s Interior Ministry said. Police detained Golunov, an anti-corruption reporter for the Meduza news website, last month on drug trafficking charges, which his supporters said were fabricated as…
Complaints of torture in Russia’s penal system have doubled over the past year, the country’s top human rights official has said. Russian law enforcement has been rocked by several torture scandals in recent years, with reported victims including LGBT people in Chechnya, Jehovah’s Witnesses and prisoners. Recent polling has said that one in 10 Russians…
Former U.S. President Barack Obama did not keep his promises made while he was in office, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said in an interview with American filmmaker Oliver Stone. The interview appears in a Ukrainian-American director’s documentary scheduled to premiere on Russian state television next week. “You know, Obama is no longer president, but…
Russian operatives sought to funnel $65 million into the European election campaign of a far-right Italian politician they described as the “European Trump,” BuzzFeed News has reported, citing leaked recordings of negotiations. Italy’s media have repeatedly suggested that the League, the country’s most popular party, has received financial backing from Moscow. Party leader Matteo Salvini,…
Moscow City Hall is tracking people’s movements based on their taxi and metro rides, as well as cellphone data and CCTV footage, a city official has told BBC Russia, in a scheme that has alarmed critics and drawn comparisons to China. The city government has spent $8 million since 2015 on acquiring commuters’ location data…
Russian police detained seven Crimean Tatars on Moscow’s Red Square on Wednesday after dispersing a demonstration that had aimed to draw attention to alleged rights abuses on the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed from Ukraine five years ago. The Tatars, a mainly Muslim community that makes up about 15% of Crimea’s population, have largely…
Russian folklore performer Agrafena Matveevna Kryukova was born on July 10, 1855 in a small village northwestern Russian on the coast of the White Sea. Throughout childhood, her mother and uncle taught her Russian folktales known as byliny and stariny, which the storyteller chants to an audience already familiar with their plots. She stored the…
Paris – UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay together with PhosAgro CEO and member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO Andrey Guryev discussed prospects for continuing successful cooperation. During the meeting at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, which is the venue for events marking the centennial of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry…
Moscow, 9 July – Yesterday, at the 15th session of the Lao-Russian Intergovernmental Panel on cooperation in trade, economy, science and technology, the Ministry of Energy and Mines of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and ROSATOM signed two memorandum of understanding. The first document defines the areas of cooperation in education and personnel…
The number of political prisoners in Russia has grown sixfold since 2015, a prominent member of the pro-democracy movement Open Russia has said. Russia’s Memorial human rights group currently estimates there are 297 political prisoners in Russia, up from 50 four years ago. It lists 77 of the most high-profile cases on its website, including Crimean filmmaker…
Russian President Vladimir Putin questioned on Tuesday the use of wind power, saying wind turbines were harmful to birds and worms. Russia, a world-leading producer of fossil fuel, is lagging other countries in its development of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind-powered energy. Wind power is rarely used in the country to generate…
Norwegian scientists have discovered radiation levels 100,000 times higher than normal near a Soviet-era nuclear submarine that sank 30 years ago in the Arctic, Norway’s TV2 broadcaster reported Tuesday. The Komsomolets sank in a section of the Barents Sea considered to be one of the world’s largest fishing areas in 1989, killing 42 of its…
Russia failed to protect a woman from repeated acts of violence by her former partner, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday, saying her case showed that Moscow was not facing up to its domestic abuse problem. Valeriya Volodina, who now uses a different name for security reasons, was assaulted, kidnapped and stalked…
Russia’s capital ranks third among major cities worldwide for its availability of free public Wi-Fi hotspots, according to a recent report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Moscow surpassed New York, Tokyo and London in the ranking, published ahead of the Moscow Urban Forum. The Russian capital fell behind South Korea’s tech-savvy capital of Seoul in second…
Russia’s capital ranks third among major cities worldwide for its availability of free public Wi-Fi hotspots, according to a recent report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Moscow surpassed New York, Tokyo and London in the ranking, published ahead of the Moscow Urban Forum. The Russian capital fell behind South Korea’s tech-savvy capital of Seoul in second…
To keep our newsroom in Moscow running, we need your support. With your help, we can continue with our mission to keep you informed with breaking news, business analysis, thought-provoking opinions, the best of culture and insights into everyday life.
The 100 wealthiest civil servants and lawmakers in Russia earned a collective 71 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) last year, Forbes Russia has said. The last time Forbes Russia published the ranking in 2017, only 50 government officials were ranked, earning a combined windfall of 35 billion rubles. The highest earner in the latest ranking was…
On a Wednesday morning late last May in Barybino, a drab town in the Moscow suburbs, a passerby spotted a body wrapped in black garbage bags floating in a pond by the main street. Police soon determined it was the corpse of a 38-year-old man named Dmitry Serbinov. Although he wasn’t a resident of Barybino,…