Author: admin
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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…
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Moscow Appeal Court Upholds Navalny Prison Sentence
A Moscow court on Saturday upheld a ruling to jail the Kremlin’s most prominent opponent Alexei Navalny, sealing his first lengthy prison sentence in a decade of legal battles with Russian authorities. Judge Dmitry Balashov dismissed Navalny’s appeal against a recent decision to imprison him for violating the terms of a suspended sentence on embezzlement…
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Russia Says Registers Third Coronavirus Vaccine
Moscow announced Saturday it had registered its third vaccine against the coronavirus and promised to introduce the jab to the Russian population by March. Russia was the first country to register a vaccine against Covid-19 in August ahead of clinical trials, and the Sputnik V jab has been authorised in more than two dozen countries…
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South African Comedian Goes for Laughs in Moscow
South African comedian Mamello Mokoena, better known by his stage name Mum-z, came to Russia to be with his girlfriend. A year later, he still finds himself in a pandemic-forced affair — with the country. Mum-z came to Moscow for the first time last February, planning to spend several months with his romantic partner. “When…
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Russia Re-Opens to Foreigners with Work Visas
Foreign nationals may now enter Russia for work purposes as long as their employer obtains permission ahead of time, according to a decree published by the Russian government Friday. The decree, which went into effect on Feb. 16, follows a nearly yearlong suspension on most foreign arrivals to Russia prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. Previously,…
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Moscow to Vote on Restoring Soviet Secret Police Founder’s Statue
The Moscow Civic Chamber plans to launch a citywide vote next week on whether to restore the statue of the Soviet secret police’s notorious founder 30 years after it was toppled, its senior member announced Friday. The monument to “Iron” Felix Dzerzhinsky, who headed the Cheka secret police following the 1917 revolution, was removed from…
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Looming Supply Glut of Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine Could Pave Way for Exports
A surge in production of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine combined with domestic distrust of the jab could lead to a boom in exports, pharmaceutical executives and industry specialists in the country told The Moscow Times. After big promises and a shaky start to production ahead of a wide-scale rollout in the fall — which…
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Russian Police Chief Fired Over Viral School Protest Lesson
Russian police dismissed a western Siberian department chief following an internal review into a viral video showing riot officers teaching schoolchildren to detain protesters, the police force announced Friday. Monday’s televised police presentation in the oil city of Nizhnevartovsk that circulated widely on social media showed teenagers with shields and riot gear carrying out mock…
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Israel’s Netanyahu Thanks Russia for Mediating Syria Prisoner Swap
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for mediating a secretive prisoner swap with Syria, Moscow’s ally in Damascus’ ongoing military campaign against rebels and terrorists. The Israeli government announced early Friday that it exchanged two Syrian shepherds for an Israeli woman with Russian mediation. The unnamed woman in her early…
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U.S. Hits Dozens Belarusians With Visa Restrictions Amid Renewed Crackdown
The United States has imposed visa restrictions on Belarusian law enforcement and justice officials it holds responsible for a renewed crackdown on activists and journalists, the State Department announced Thursday. The State Department condemned this week’s sentencing of two Belarusian journalists for covering 2020 election protests, as well as police raids on dozens of journalists,…
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U.S. Diplomats Request Coronavirus Vaccine From Russia – Washington Post
U.S. diplomats in Moscow have appealed for doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in the face of delivery shortages from Washington, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Unnamed officials cited in the story say the “humbling” experience is prompted by Washington’s inability to promise the delivery of U.S.-made vaccine doses in the near future. While…
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Russian Flights to Egypt’s Sinai to Resume Five Years After Deadly Jet Attack
Russia will resume flights to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts in March after the lifting of a ban imposed following a 2015 attack on a Russian jet, an aviation official said. Flights “to the two cities of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada will resume on March 28 via the Russian company Nordwind at a rate of four…
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What Comes Next After European Rights Court’s Call to Release Navalny?
Russia is likely to ignore the European rights court’s demand for the immediate release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, legal experts said as Moscow categorically rejected the calls. Navalny, 44, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for his release on Jan. 20, days after his arrest at a Moscow airport. The…
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Latvia Bans Russian TV Host Over Hitler Remarks
Latvia on Thursday said it would ban entry to a Russian TV host after he called Hitler a “very brave man” while disparaging Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. “The glorification of Nazism in any form is unacceptable to Latvia,” Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics wrote on Twitter. На основании ч. 2 ст. 61 Закона об иммиграции я…
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Russia Has One of the World’s Highest Excess Death Rates. Why Aren’t Russians Angrier?
Russians are showing few signs of anger over the government’s handling of the health aspects of the coronavirus pandemic, despite the country recording one of the world’s largest increases in mortalities last year. Russia’s excess death toll — calculated by comparing the number of people who died over a given period compared with the number…
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Russian Pro-Democracy Activist Gets Suspended Sentence in ‘Undesirable Org’ Case
Prominent Russian activist Anastasia Shevchenko will walk free after receiving a suspended sentence for her involvement in a pro-democracy group that the government labeled “undesirable.” Shevchenko, 41, is the first activist to be prosecuted under Russia’s 2015 law against “undesirable organizations.” She has been under house arrest since 2019, when one of her three children…
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World’s Oldest DNA Found in Siberian Mammoth Teeth
Siberian mammoth teeth have contributed to the discovery of the world’s oldest DNA, the scientific journal Nature reported Wednesday. Before the latest findings, the oldest DNA sequences were believed to have come from a 700,000-year-old Canadian horse’s leg bone in 2013. Geneticists have now uncovered DNA as much as 1.2 million years old from molar…
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Kremlin Says U.S. Should Focus on Texas Instead of Nord Stream 2
The Kremlin has said the U.S. should mind its own business when it comes to Moscow’s work on the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline and focus on power outages in Texas instead. Millions of people in Texas were left without power and drinking water this week due to an abnormally severe winter storm. Meanwhile, the…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Feb. 18
Russia has confirmed 4,125,598 cases of coronavirus and 81,926 deaths. Feb. 18: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 13,447 new coronavirus cases and 480 deaths. Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine has been certified and approved for mass use in Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan’s state coronavirus commission announced Wednesday. Muslim Spiritual Board of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan announced Tuesday…
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Russian 3D Model Details Explosive Origins of Arctic ‘Pit to Hell’
Russian scientists believe that a massive crater above the Arctic Circle described as a “pit to hell” was formed as a result of an explosion caused by built-up methane. The researchers based their conclusions on a 3D model they created from drone footage from inside the well-preserved crater that has not yet eroded or filled with water.…
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Spain’s Reopened Case Against Russian Tycoon Mikhail Fridman ‘Technical Error’
Spain’s move to reopen a criminal case against Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman and two of his associates over their alleged role in the deliberate bankruptcy of a Spanish tech firm was a “technical error,” a judge said Thursday. Spain’s National Court first opened a case against the tycoon in 2019, with prosecutors accusing Fridman of…
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Spain Reopens Criminal Case Against Russian Tycoon Mikhail Fridman
Spain has reopened a criminal case against Kremlin-linked billionaire Mikhail Fridman over his alleged role in the deliberate bankruptcy of a Spanish tech firm, Deutsche Welle reported Wednesday. Spain’s National Court first opened a case against the tycoon in 2019, with prosecutors accusing Fridman of market manipulation, fraudulent insolvency, business corruption and misuse of company…
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Actor Andrei Myagkov Dies at Age 82
Andrei Myagkov, an actor most famous for his role of Zhenya Lukashin in the 1975 New Year’s hit, “Irony of Fate,” directed by Eldar Rozanov, died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 82 at his home in Moscow. Myagkov was born in Leningrad in 1938 and graduated from the Moscow Art Theater…
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Belarus Court Sentences Journalists to 2 Years in Prison
A court in Belarus on Thursday sentenced a pair of young television journalists to two years in prison for covering a protest last year, the first lengthy jail term in a legal crackdown on independent media. Standing defiant in a cage, Katerina Bakhvalova, 27, and Daria Chultsova, 23, flashed V for victory signs as they…
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Russia Rejects Calls From Europe Court To Release Navalny
Europe’s rights court told Russia on Wednesday to release jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny out of concern for his life, but Moscow swiftly rejected the call. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken opponent, was arrested and jailed upon returning to Russia last month following months of treatment in Germany for a nerve agent poisoning he…
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Russia Is the World’s ‘Last Island of Freedom,’ Parliament Speaker Says
Russia is the world’s last bastion of freedom in the face of the U.S. labor movement’s decline and pressure on Russian media in the Baltics and Ukraine, the head of Russia’s lower house of parliament said Wednesday. “Russia is the last island of freedom,” State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said during a legislative session, according to…
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European Rights Court Demands Navalny’s ‘Immediate’ Release
Europe’s top human rights court has called on Russia to release jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny “immediately.” Navalny was sentenced to nearly 3 years in prison on Feb. 2 for violating his probation in a 2014 fraud conviction while he recovered from a near-fatal poisoning in Germany. The ECHR in 2017 ruled that Navalny’s 2014 conviction…
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Authenticity Dispute Over Hermitage Fabergé Exhibit
The “Fabergé: Jeweler to the Imperial Court” exhibit at the Hermitage Museum finds itself at the center of a scandal about fakes. It began with an accusation by one Russian art dealer about another Russian art dealer. On Jan. 10 André Ruzhnikov, a London-based art and antiques specialist, wrote an open letter to the head…
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Lukashenko Rival in Court as Belarus Sees New Crackdown
A leading opposition figure went on trial Wednesday in Belarus, where authorities are pursuing a series of criminal cases against activists and journalists following months of anti-government protests last year. Viktor Babaryko had planned to run against strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko but was arrested in June ahead of elections and charged with bribery and money laundering. …
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North Korea Offers $10K Bounty on Runaway Laborers in Russia – Reports
North Korea is offering a bounty of up to $10,000 to help find runaway workers in Russia, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Tuesday, citing Russian citizens of Korean descent in the country’s Far East. The United Nations demanded that all countries send home North Korean laborers by late 2019 to stop Pyongyang from funneling a cut of…
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ROSATOM will manufacture unique equipment for the BREST-OD-300 power unit
Within the project of construction of the power unit with the BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC, an enterprise of TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM in Seversk, Tomsk Region, West Siberia), the contracts are signed for manufacturing and supply of main technological equipment of the reactor installation. In…
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Karabakh Eyes Making Russian an Official Language
The unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has introduced a bill to add Russian as an official language alongside Armenian, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday. The bill follows a recent Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan regain most of its former territories in the region, including the strategic city of Shusha, from Armenian control.…
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Russia Arrests 19 Suspected Islamist Terrorists
Russian security forces have detained 19 suspected radical Islamists accused of plotting attacks across southern Russia, Interfax reported Wednesday, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB). The security operation took place in the Black Sea regions of Krasnodar, Crimea, Rostov and Karachayevo-Cherkessia. Authorities identified the suspects as members of Takfir wal-Hijra, a group that Russia banned…
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Turkey Detains Russian IS Suspect at Syria Border
Turkish border guards have detained five Russians, including a woman suspected of being a member of the Islamic State group and a Libyan, who were attempting to cross from Syria, officials said Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether all six were suspected of being members of the jihadist group. “Our border guards stationed in…
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Belarusian Police Mount Raids on Journalists, Activists
Police in Belarus raided the homes and offices of dozens of journalists, rights defenders and trade union members on Tuesday, investigators and activists said, as part of a probe into mass protests. Belarus was gripped by months of demonstrations against the rule of President Alexander Lukashenko after he claimed an overwhelming victory in an August…
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Yulia Navalnaya Turns Down Calls to Enter Politics in Rare Interview
Yulia Navalnya does not yet plan to replace her jailed husband Alexei Navalny as Russia’s main opposition politician, she said in an interview with the Harper’s Bazaar fashion magazine. Navalnaya’s latest refusal to engage in politics comes amid calls from supporters for her to take up her husband’s cause as he faces multiple criminal charges that…
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Russian Scientists Probe Prehistoric Viruses Dug From Permafrost
Russian state laboratory Vektor on Tuesday announced it was launching research into prehistoric viruses by analyzing the remains of animals recovered from melted permafrost. The Siberia-based lab said in a statement that the aim of the project was to identify paleoviruses and conduct advanced research into virus evolution. The research in collaboration with the University of…
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Russia Backs Myanmar Military After China Raises Concerns
Russia remains supportive of Myanmar’s military after China’s ambassador expressed concern with the crisis in its neighboring country and denied rumors of its involvement. Ambassador Chen Hai said Beijing maintained “friendly” ties with both the Burmese army and its former ruling civilian government, noting that the current political situation was “absolutely not what China wants…
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Gazprom strengthening its gas processing business
February 17, 2021, 10:00 High-capacity facilities are under construction in eastern and western Russia. Amur GPP construction project is 72 per cent complete. The Gazprom Board of Directors expressed its approval of the Company’s ongoing efforts on expanding gas processing facilities and promoting cutting-edge technologies in the segment. It was noted that Gazprom is actively strengthening its gas processing business, primarily due to the growing share of multi-component…
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Gazprom continues to expand Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas pipeline
February 17, 2021, 09:55 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about gas supplies to the Khabarovsk Territory. It was highlighted that, in compliance with the Directives of the Government of the Russian Federation “On gas supplies to the Khabarovsk Territory from 2025,” the Company is expanding the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas trunkline at the section between Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Khabarovsk. Over 315 kilometers of the linear part – more than 3/4 of…
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Russian Security Forces Teach Schoolchildren How to Detain Protesters
Updated at 2:52 p.m. on Feb. 17 to add the Interior Ministry’s statement. Russian security forces have taught Siberian schoolchildren how to detain protesters in a simulated riot, according to video published by local television Tuesday. The footage comes on the heels of a mass protest crackdown during rallies calling for jailed opposition leader Alexei…
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Iran, Russia Start Joint Naval Drill in Indian Ocean
Iran’s armed forces on Tuesday launched a joint naval drill with Russia in the north of the Indian Ocean designed to “enhance security” of maritime trade, state television reported. The “Maritime Security Belt Exercise” is to cover an area of 17,000 square kilometers and include units from the Iranian army and the elite Revolutionary Guards as well…
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Russian Court Rejects Gulag Historian’s 13-Year Sentence Appeal
A St. Petersburg court has upheld prominent Gulag historian Yury Dmitriyev’s 13-year prison sentence Tuesday in a child sexual abuse case that activists and other prominent figures call politically motivated. Dmitriyev, 65, was due to be released in November 2020 after serving 3.5 years on charges of sexually abusing his adopted daughter, but a court…
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Novaya Gazeta Publishes New Evidence of Chechen Extrajudicial Killings
The independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper has published new findings into the alleged extrajudicial killings of nearly 30 Chechens in 2017. The newspaper says the new evidence corroborates its 2017 investigation which claimed that Chechen security officials executed 27 of more than 100 people detained in sweeping anti-terror raids in late 2016 and early 2017. Novaya…
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Russia Re-Opens to Foreign Students, Easing Coronavirus Travel Ban
Russia is re-opening its borders to foreign students who show two negative coronavirus tests and arrive from countries with flight resumption agreements in place, authorities said Tuesday. More than 300,000 international students are estimated to have been unable to enter Russia due to the pandemic. Russian universities resumed in-person courses earlier in February after nearly…
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Clubhouse Blocks Pro-Kremlin TV Host Following User Complaints
Pro-Kremlin spin doctor Vladimir Solovyov has been banned from the Clubhouse app after attempting to start a discussion on LGBT issues in Russia. The conservative talk show host was banned from the audio-based social media platform Monday shortly after he created a discussion room titled “Why didn’t Russia’s queer revolution take off?” “This is very…
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Prosecutor Seeks Defamation Fine in Latest Navalny Case
A Russian prosecutor on Tuesday called for Alexei Navalny to face a $13,000 fine in a defamation case, one of a series of legal proceedings the jailed Kremlin critic says are aimed at silencing him. President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal opponent was taken into police custody immediately after returning to Moscow in January from Germany,…
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ROSATOM topped the rating of the best employers of Russia according to the skilled staff platform of HeadHunter
ROSATOM topped the Rating of the Best Employers of Russia of the country’s largest platform HeadHunter by results of 2020. The rating is compiled for the tenth time. The numbers of rating participants exceed 500. ROSATOM took the first place among the largest employers of the country who employ more than 5,000 people. The second…
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Russia in Talks With U.S. to Swap Paul Whelan – Reuters
Russia is in talks with the United States on a prisoner swap involving Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine that Moscow jailed for spying, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing his Russian lawyer. Whelan’s attorneys previously suggested that prisoner exchange talks had stalled over the 2020 U.S. elections and the Trump administration’s reluctance to release a Russian…
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Kazakhstan To Roll Out First Locally Produced Sputnik Vaccine
Kazakhstan will be the first country in the world to locally produce Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine after a pharmaceutical company received government authorization to make the jab, the company said Tuesday. The company, called the Karaganda Pharmaceutical Complex (KPC), “was granted certification” to produce the vaccine by Kazakhstan’s health ministry on Monday, KPC…
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Russian Activists Face Death Threats Over Women’s ‘Solidarity Chain’ Protest
Russian women activists have received hundreds of death threats after their Valentine’s Day “chain of solidarity” for female victims of political repression, the Mediazona news website reported Tuesday. Around 300 participants formed human chains in central Moscow and St. Petersburg on Sunday following weeks of harsh police crackdowns at pro-Navalny protests. The event’s organizer, activist…
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Russian Academics Protest State Permits for Public Outreach
Russian academics are warning that lawmakers seek to curb their freedoms with a new law that would require state permission for public outreach, the weekly journal Nature reported Monday. Amendments to Russia’s education law advancing through the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, seek to stamp out “anti-Russian” influence in educational activities outside formal settings.…
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French Cyber Agency Reveals Suspected Russian Hacks
France’s national cyber security agency said Monday it had discovered a hack of several organizations that bore similarities to other attacks by a group linked to Russian intelligence. It said the hackers had taken advantage of a vulnerability in monitoring software sold by French group Centreon, which lists blue-chip French companies as clients, such as…
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‘Optimists-2’ and Russian Film Classics Online
Film lovers, particularly those who love films from the early golden age of Soviet films, are in luck. Two collections are now available online, and one modern series with a retro theme is about to air. Kino Klassika Kino Klassika was founded in 2015 as a U.K. charity to preserve and make available Soviet classical…
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Annual March for Boris Nemtsov Canceled Due to Coronavirus
The annual march in honor of slain Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov will not take place this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, one of its organizers announced on Monday. Supporters have held memorial marches for Nemtsov every Feb. 27 near the site on a bridge steps away from the Kremlin where he was shot…
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Pro-Navalny Flashlight Flashmob a Success Despite Lack of Crowds, Allies Say
Courtyard protests across Russia in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were a success despite lacking the massive crowds of previous rallies, his team said Monday. The Valentine’s Day demonstrations saw Navalny supporters hold up flashlights and candles in residential courtyards rather than stage traditional street protests. Photos from the event flooded social media…
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Arrested Billionaire Banker Tinkov Switches Focus to Cancer Foundation
Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov, arrested in London on tax fraud charges, said he plans to dedicate himself to charity work including fighting leukemia, with which he was diagnosed in 2019. “To be honest, I no longer have the motivation to do business. I’m done; I’m retired,” Tinkov, who founded the online bank Tinkoff, was quoted…
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Russian Covid Medic Says Fired Over Pro-Navalny Flashlight Photo
A Moscow coronavirus hospital medic said he has been fired for joining a flashlight protest in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny while wearing his protective gear. Saidanvar Sulaimonov was among the tens of thousands to share photos of themselves holding up phone flashlights Sunday in a show of muted solidarity after weeks of…
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Bali Police Hunt Russian Wanted by Interpol
Indonesian police are on the hunt in Bali for a Russian fugitive wanted by Interpol after he escaped from custody while waiting to be deported from the resort island, authorities said Monday. CCTV footage released by the authorities showed Andrei Kovalenko sneaking out of the immigration office in Denpasar detention center on Thursday while officials…