Author: admin
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Melting Arctic Forces Polar Bears to Adapt to Land-Based Diet – Russian Scientists
Polar bears are being forced to adapt to a land-based diet as their hunting grounds in the rapidly melting Arctic shrink, Russian scientists said Friday on the eve of International Polar Bear Day. Polar bears have been forced south by rising temperatures and melting ice cover, limiting their ability to hunt seals and walruses and…
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ROSATOM facility gains record revenues from stable isotopes sales
In 2020, revenue from sales of stable isotopes manufactured by Electrochemical Plant JSC (an enterprise of ROSATOM’s TVEL Fuel Company in Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk region) increased by 14% year on year, exceeding 1.5 billion rubles for the first time. Electrochemical Plant is ROSATOM’s major producer of stable isotopes. Its global market share remains over 40%. This…
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Russia’s Booming Intensive Animal Farming ‘A Ticking Time Bomb’ for Future Viruses
As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s discovery of the world’s first cases of transmission of bird flu from animals to humans is prompting experts to warn that the country’s increasing large-scale industrial meat production could create conditions for future viruses to thrive. While the H5N8 strain of avian flu has been ravaging…
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Komsomolsk Refinery Green Investments Exceed 790 Million Roubles Over Three Years
The Komsomolsk Refinery, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company refining complex, invested more than 790 million roubles in environment-oriented assets in 2018 through 2020.
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Opposition to Putin’s Re-Election Hits Post-Crimea High – Poll
More Russians are opposed to President Vladimir Putin’s re-election today than at any other point since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, an independent survey said Friday. According to the Levada Center polling agency, 41% of Russian respondents said they would not like Putin, 68, to remain president beyond 2024, while 48% said they would. It…
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Russian Prisons Chief Confirms Navalny in Penal Colony
Leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a penal colony where he will serve out his jail sentence, the head of Russia’s prison service said on Friday. President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent was this month sentenced to two years and six months in a penal colony for breaching parole terms while he…
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Popular Political Sports Website Bought by Aspiring Russian Lawmaker
The founder of a new party vying for a spot in Russia’s parliament has acquired a sports website lauded as an independent media outlet unafraid of open political discussions, the site announced Friday. Alexei Nechaev, the founder of a leading cosmetics company, is seeking to gain seats in the State Duma this fall as the…
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Russia Slams ‘Outrageous’ U.S. Airstrikes in Syria
Russian officials have condemned the United States’ airstrikes in Syria, accusing Washington of an “outrageous” violation of international law on Friday. U.S. President Joe Biden directed airstrikes overnight against infrastructure facilities in eastern Syria belonging to what the Pentagon said were Iran-backed militant groups, killing at least 22 people. In its statement, the Pentagon added…
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Rosneft Presents Its Environmental Development Concept
Rosneft presented the Company’s environmental development concept.
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Russia’s Coronavirus Vaccine More Expensive for Africa Than Western Jabs – FT
Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine will cost up to three times as much as western counterparts for African nations, The Financial Times reported Thursday, citing individuals familiar with the procurement process. The African Union said last week it has secured 300 million Sputnik V doses over one-year period starting this May as Russia promotes it…
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Russian Domestic Violence Victim’s Death Blamed on ‘Negligent’ Cops
Russian activists have placed the blame for a young domestic violence victim’s death in Siberia on the police, alleging that they failed to respond as she was being beaten to death in a case that has sparked national attention this week. Women’s rights activist Alyona Popova claimed that police in the city of Kemerovo ignored repeated…
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Boeing 777 With Engine Trouble Makes Emergency Landing in Moscow
A Boeing 777 airliner on Friday made an emergency landing in Moscow with engine problems, the operating airline said, days after another model rained down engine debris over the United States. State-owned Rossiya airline said the crew had registered the “incorrect operation of the engine control sensor” on a cargo flight from Hong Kong to…
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Russian Diplomats Push Railway Handcar Home from North Korea
Russian diplomats and their family members returning from North Korea were forced to push a handcar with their belongings over the border as the reclusive country remained closed due to the coronavirus, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday. North Korea has not reported any Covid-19 cases more than a year into the global pandemic that…
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Thousands Rally in Armenia After PM Warns of ‘Coup Attempt’
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan defied calls to resign and accused the military of an attempted coup on Thursday, as divisions over his handling of last year’s war with Azerbaijan brought thousands to the streets. Hours after the general staff of Armenia’s military made a shock call for the government to step down, Pashinyan rallied…
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Russian Pranksters Trick Amnesty Heads in Navalny ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ Call
A pair of notorious Russian pranksters duped top Amnesty International directors into saying their widely panned move to revoke jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s “prisoner of conscience” status caused damage. Amnesty was hit with widespread backlash for the decision Wednesday, with critics saying the group had caved in to a “targeted campaign” to discredit Navalny…
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In Photos: Russia’s Imperial Capital Embraces ‘Snowpocalypse’
While the first day of calendar spring is just around the corner, the brutal Russian winter has yet to ease its grip. This week, abnormally cold temperatures have been recorded across the country — with Russia’s second-largest city St. Petersburg battling one of the heaviest onslaughts of snow. Within days, Russia’s imperial capital was covered…
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Moscow City Hall Develops App to ‘Replace’ Skype, Slack – RBC
Moscow authorities have developed an internal messaging app intended as a “full replacement” for workplace communication platforms like Slack, Skype and Telegram, the RBC news website reported Thursday. The app’s appearance comes as Russia slams what it calls censorship and discrimination of government-affiliated accounts by western social media platforms. Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin…
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Anti-Putin Shaman Charged With Sword Attack on Police
A Siberian shaman who was re-committed to a mental hospital ahead of his planned journey to expel President Vladimir Putin from power has been charged over a sword attack on a police officer, authorities announced Thursday. Investigators in the Far East republic of Sakha said a 51-year-old resident resisted detention on Jan. 27 after the…
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German Man Charged for Spying at Bundestag for Russians — Prosecutors
German prosecutors said Thursday they have filed spying charges against a German man suspected of passing on data from parliament to Russian secret services. The suspect, named only as Jens F., worked for a company that was contracted by the Bundestag to carry out regular checks on electric equipment in parliament. “Against this background, the…
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Armenia PM Takes to the Streets to Denounce ‘Coup Attempt’
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused the military of an attempted coup and brought supporters to the streets on Thursday, as months of tensions over its defeat in last year’s war with Azerbaijan came to a head. Thousands marched through the streets of the capital Yerevan in support of Pashinyan, with the opposition urging him…
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Moscow To Expand Metro Facial Recognition Network
Moscow authorities have allocated more than $10 million to purchase and install across the city’s sprawling metro system high-definition cameras that can recognize faces and track fast movements, Russian media reported Thursday. Russia’s capital Moscow in recent years has developed a vast network of some 100,000 facial recognition cameras, sparking concerns from activists over state…
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A Vote on Restoring a Secret Police Chief’s Statue Opens Old Wounds in Russia
On the night of Aug. 23 1991, as a coup attempt by communist hardliners bent on preserving the dissolving Soviet Union collapsed, Sergei Stankevich rushed to the KGB headquarters on Moscow’s Lubyanka Square. With victorious anti-coup Muscovites preparing to pull down the statue of Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzherzinsky outside the building, Stankevich —…
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Russian Imprisoned for Handing ‘State Secrets’ to China
A Russian national has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for treason by handing state secrets to China, a court in Siberia announced Thursday. Vladimir Vasilyev, 52, had pleaded guilty to passing state secrets to China’s intelligence services, the state-run TASS news agency quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying. He is at…
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Rare Deer Mauled to Death by Stray Moscow Dogs
Several spotted deer at Moscow’s Losiny Ostrov (Elk Island) forest preserve have been mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs, park management told Russian media Thursday. Environmental activists reported 10 killings over the long holiday weekend, blaming the park’s new administration for making cuts to the ranger service that left approximately 150 spotted…
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Russia’s Wildberries Launches in France, Italy and Spain
Russia’s top online retailer, Wildberries, launched in three major European countries Wednesday. The company has started selling in France, Italy and Spain, it said in a statement sent to The Moscow Times. The move follows other recent expansions, including into Germany, and means Wildberries is now active in all four of the EU’s largest consumer…
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Rosatomflot Ensured Ultra-Late Ice Escort along Northern Sea Route, First-Ever in Arctic Navigation
50 Let Pobedy, a nuclear-powered icebreaker operated by FSUE Atomflot had completed the ice escort of Christophe de Margerie, an LNG carrier (Sovcomflot PJSC) in the port of Sabetta, Gulf of Ob, Kara Sea, on Feb 19. For the first time in the history of Arctic navigation in this period, a nuclear icebreaker escorted a…
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2 Gay Chechens Held on Terror Charges Without Proof – NGO
Two gay men who were forcibly returned to Chechnya this month have been charged with terror-related offenses without proof and face up to 15 years in prison, a rights group said Wednesday. Authorities in Russia’s restive region of Chechnya have come under fire in recent years from rights groups, which accuse officials of jailing and torturing…
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Putin Accuses West of Wanting to ‘Shackle’ Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his domestic intelligence agency Wednesday to be on guard against Western attempts to “shackle” the country, after the EU agreed on new sanctions on Moscow. The comments came as relations between Russia and the West approach their lowest point since the Cold War, with new EU and U.S. penalties looming…
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First Woman Jehovah’s Witness Sentenced to Prison in Russia
A court in southern Siberia has sentenced a woman Jehovah’s Witness to a real prison term for the first time as part of Russia’s ongoing campaign against members of the Christian denomination, the religious group said. The court in the republic of Khakassia’s regional capital of Abakan ruled that Valentina Baranovskaya, 69, and her son…
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BN-800 fast reactor undergoes the first full refueling with MOX fuel
Power unit No. 4 of the Beloyarsk NPP with the BN-800 reactor has been connected to the grid and resumed operations upon completion of the scheduled maintenance. For the first time the refueling has been carried out with uranium-plutonium fuel only. The first batch of 18 MOX fuel assemblies was loaded into the reactor core…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Feb. 24
Russia has confirmed 4,200,902 cases of coronavirus and 84,430 deaths. Feb. 24: What you need to know today Russia on Wednesday confirmed 11,749 new coronavirus cases and 383 deaths. The Egyptian Drug Authority gave emergency authorization to Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the jab’s developers confirmed Wednesday. Georgia will be open to Russian tourists from March 1, Russia’s…
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Sand Stories: Performances Flow Through Your Fingers
Sand master Yelena Kadyrova touches sand on the table, and on a big screen, spectators see waves, a ship, and the Little Mermaid swimming on the waves. Each scene stays on the screen for no more than a couple of seconds. Actors, musicians, and a storyteller help to give life to the story unfolding and…
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Russia’s Lavrov Slams West for Pandemic ‘Selfishness’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lambasted the West for failing to unite globally in the fight against the pandemic and its economic fallout, in an address to the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday. In his speech to the United Nations’ human rights body, Lavrov criticized the West for refusing to suspend sanctions in the…
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Russia to Assist Armenia With Military Reform Following Karabakh Conflict
Russia is helping Armenia reform its military following the country’s deadly war with Azerbaijan last year over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian defense minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. The reforms are aimed at optimizing the Armenian military’s numerical strength as well as implementing new weapons systems and military equipment,…
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Alexey Miller elected as Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee for another 5-year term
Background Alexey Miller has been Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee since 2001. On February 16, 2016, the Board of Directors reelected Alexey Miller as Chairman of the Management Committee for a 5-year term starting from May 31, 2016.
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Putin Tightens Fines for Protesters, ‘Biased’ Social Media Giants
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a handful of new laws Wednesday that impose heavy fines on protesters and “foreign agents,” as well as on social media giants accused of “discriminating” against Russian media. Observers have described legislators’ recent activity as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to tighten restrictions on dissent ahead of this fall’s…
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Moscow Blocks Nemtsov Supporters From Laying Flowers at Memorial Site
Moscow police have blocked supporters of slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov from laying flowers at the site of his death on a bridge steps away from the Kremlin. Nemtsov’s supporters have maintained and guarded a makeshift memorial at the site where he was shot dead on Feb. 27, 2015, day and night for nearly six…
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Russian Fugitive Nabbed in Bali After Dramatic Escape
A Russian fugitive whose dramatic sprint out of an Indonesian immigration office was captured on CCTV has been caught again after two weeks on the run, authorities said Wednesday. Andrey Kovalenko fled the office on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali to avoid deportation, with the surveillance footage showing him keeping pace on foot with a…
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Arctic Shipper Shows Off Historic Icebreaking Voyage
The voyage of the Christophe de Margerie from Jiangsu in China to the remote Arctic terminal of Sabetta was made in the Arctic winter dark and through thick sea-ice, marking the first time that a commercial vessel has sailed the Northern Sea Route in February. Glimpses of the voyage have now been put on display by shipping company Sovcomflot and…
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Russian Priest Blesses Police Van in Siberia
A Russian Orthodox priest has blessed a police van on a recent visit to the Siberian republic of Buryatia, the regional Interior Ministry announced. Russian priests have previously been seen sprinkling holy water on military hardware including ballistic missiles, submarines and space rockets as part of blessing rituals. The practice has become so widespread that…
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Amnesty International Revokes Navalny’s ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ Status
Amnesty International has withdrawn its “prisoner of conscience” designation from jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny due to past nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric, the human rights organization said Tuesday. Amnesty declared Navalny a prisoner of conscience after he was detained upon his Jan. 17 return from Germany, where he had spent months recovering from nerve…
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Thousands Protest in Georgia After Opposition Leader Arrested
Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied in Georgia on Tuesday after the arrest of an opposition leader, deepening a political crisis that erupted after disputed elections last year. Hundreds of riot police used tear gas against Nika Melia’s supporters who were camped out at his United National Movement party’s headquarters in the capital Tbilisi before he was arrested…
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Novaya Gazeta Publishes New Torture Videos From Notorious Russian Prison
New video footage claiming to show the brutal torture of Russian inmates, one of whom died shortly after the footage was filmed, has surfaced, the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported on Tuesday. Novaya Gazeta says the two videos came from the same prison colony where gruesome leaked footage of guards torturing inmates sparked a national…
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Russians Increasingly Get Their News from Social Media, Internet – Poll
A growing number of Russians get their news from social media and the internet, according to a survey published by the independent Levada Center pollster on Tuesday. Forty-two percent of Levada’s Russian respondents use social media to get their daily news, while 39% get it from the internet. While television remains the primary news source…
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Ukraine Takes Russia to Europe Rights Court Over ‘Targeted Assassinations’
Ukraine has accused Russia of targeted assassinations of “perceived opponents” in a case lodged at the European Court of Human Rights, the latest salvo by Kiev in a barrage of legal complaints against Moscow. The case, which was filed last week, accuses Russia of carrying out “state-authorized” assassinations “in Russia and on the territory of…
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St. Petersburg Ballerina Dances on Ice to Save Local Beach
A ballerina from St. Petersburg’s renowned Mariinsky Theatre has filmed herself dancing on the ice of the Gulf of Finland in a move to save a local beach from development. Ilmira Bagautdinova is one of thousands speaking out against plans to construct a port terminal for grain shipments on Batareinaya Bay, a beach roughly 100…
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Georgian Police Arrest Top Opposition Leader, Use Tear Gas in Party HQ Raid
Georgian police on Tuesday arrested a top opposition leader and used tear gas in a violent raid on his party headquarters, further deepening a political crisis sparked by last year’s disputed parliamentary elections. Live television footage showed Nika Melia, the leader of the United National Movement, the country’s main opposition party, being dragged from his…
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Kremlin-Critical NHL Star Takes Leave Over Assault Allegations
NHL star Artemi Panarin will take a leave of absence from the New York Rangers after a Russian tabloid published assault allegations that his team links to his criticism of the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin. Panarin, 29, was accused of attacking an 18-year-old woman in Latvia in 2011 by his former KHL coach…
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EU Agrees to Sanctions on Russia Crackdown
EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed to impose sanctions on Russian officials for the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and to target Myanmar’s military over its seizure of power, the bloc’s top envoy said. Diplomats told AFP the sanctions against Moscow would target four senior officials deemed responsible for persecuting Navalny, using the…
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State Duma Considers Making Insulting Veterans a Crime
Russian lawmakers are seeking to criminalize insulting World War II veterans, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. Amendments to a bill on the protection of historical memory will be included in its second reading in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma. They come on the heels of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s conviction…
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Swede Charged With Spying for Russia
A Swedish tech consultant has been charged with espionage for allegedly selling information about truckmakers Volvo and Scania to Russia that put Sweden’s security at risk, prosecutors said on Monday. The 47-year-old man, whose name was not disclosed, was arrested in dramatic fashion in February 2019 while dining at a restaurant in central Stockholm with…
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Looking Back at Kirill Serebrennikov’s Gogol Center
As Kirill Serebrennikov steps down as the director of the Gogol Center this week, it will signal an end of an era for this theater. The dismissal was to be expected after Serebrennikov was found guilty of embezzlement last summer and got a suspended sentence on what most observers believe to be completely trumped-up charges.…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Feb. 22
Russia has confirmed 4,177,330 cases of coronavirus and 83,630 deaths. Feb. 22: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 12,604 new coronavirus cases and 337 deaths. Ghana’s Ministry of Health has authorized Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, The Russian Direct Investment Fund announced Saturday. Montenegro started using Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in its coronavirus vaccination drive, Russia’s…
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Russia Starts Giving Coronavirus Vaccine To Homeless
40 homeless people in Saint Petersburg received coronavirus vaccine jabs on Sunday under a charity initiative that has received the backing of local officials. “Here, there are many people at risk. It is important for them to be vaccinated,” said Taisia Suvorova of the Nochlezhka non-governmental organization that provides aid to the homeless in Russia’s second-largest…
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Sergei Lebedev Spins a Dark Thriller in ‘Untraceable’
One hot day in August an older gentleman in rather poor health decides to celebrate the fine weather with a walk through his favorite forest on the outskirts of a European city. Tired from his walk, he wends his way to a small town, past a soaring old cathedral to an outdoor restaurant in the…
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3 Dead in Russian Mining Giant’s Arctic Accident
Three workers died and three more were injured on Saturday during repair works at a processing plant owned by Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel, the company said. In the small hours of Saturday an ore-reloading facility and the adjacent walkway collapsed during repairs to reinforce the structure, said the company. The plant is located in the…
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EU Likely To Approve Sanctions Over Russia Crackdown
European Union foreign ministers are expected to give the go-ahead Monday to sanctions on Russia over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and a crackdown on protests. The top diplomats from the 27-nation bloc meet in Brussels for talks that will also include a wide-ranging videoconference with new U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The move…
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Moscow Court Upholds Prison Term for Kremlin Critic Navalny
A Moscow court on Saturday upheld a ruling to jail the Kremlin’s most prominent opponent Alexei Navalny, sealing his first lengthy prison sentence after a decade of legal battles with Russian authorities. Another court also convicted Navalny on defamation charges — part of a slew of cases he has faced since returning to Russia from…
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Russia Detects First Case of H5N8 Avian Flu in Humans
Russia said Saturday its scientists had detected the first case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian flu to humans and had alerted the World Health Organization. In televised remarks, the head of Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said scientists at the Vektor laboratory had isolated the strain’s genetic material from seven workers…
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Huzzah for Hussar-Style Beef!
Defenders of the Fatherland Day is upon us, that most masculine of all holidays. Feb. 23 nominally celebrates the foundation of the Red Army in 1918, during a hastily organized rout of Kaiser Wilhelm’s forces in the waning months of World War I. No sooner was the Red Army founded than it locked horns with…