Kazakhstan has admonished a pro-Kremlin television presenter after he unleashed a tirade against the ex-Soviet country over its perceived distancing from Moscow since Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Central Asia’s richest country, Kazakhstan shares a land border with Russia, has a significant ethnic Russian minority and was forced to call in troops from a Russia-led bloc to quell unprecedented unrest in January. But…
Russian tech giant Yandex will sell its digital news and blogging products to fellow internet conglomerate VK, the companies announced Thursday. The sale of Yandex.News and Yandex.Zen to VK comes as Yandex, once the jewel of Russia’s rising IT scene, faces an increasingly uncertain future due to Western sanctions and an exodus of Russian IT…
Some 1,200 Syrian and Russian mercenaries have been pulled out of Libya as Moscow’s protracted invasion of Ukraine begins to place strain on the country’s military, the Financial Times reported Thursday. Unnamed Libyan officials told FT that 1,000 Syrians and 200 Russians from the Wagner Group had been moved from the war-torn North African country in…
Western countries’ increased supply of military assistance and weaponry to Ukraine endangers the whole of Europe, the Kremlin said Thursday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s comments came as British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called on all Western countries to double their military support for Kyiv and start shipping heavy weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend…
Russia on Thursday raised the alarm over “acts of terrorism” in Moldova’s Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transnistria after separatist authorities reported several attacks there this week. “We are alarmed by the escalation of tensions in Transnistria,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during her weekly briefing, pointing to reports of shootings and explosions. “We regard…
Occupying Russian forces have appointed a new “military-civilian administration” in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region amid pro-Kyiv protests and rocket attacks. Russian soldiers occupied the city of Kherson on the banks of the Dnieper River in early March. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it gained control of the entire Kherson region this week. Russian troops have dismissed Kherson’s…
The Russian border region of Belgorod has confirmed using its air defense systems early Thursday, the day after an unexplained fire at a nearby ammunition dump. Regional authorities told state news agencies that late-night explosions heard by residents just 30 kilometers from the Russia-Ukraine border were the work of air defense systems. They provided no further…
Russia’s war in Ukraine and double-digit inflation drove down real disposable incomes in early 2022, the Rosstat statistics agency reported Wednesday. Real disposable income, a closely tracked indicator of Russian households’ financial wellbeing, calculates the amount residents have left to spend or save after payments. According to Rosstat, Russian households spent 17.1 trillion rubles ($231…
Russia’s oil production is on track to drop to an 18-year low this year as Western sanctions and departing foreign oil companies complicate extraction and reduce demand. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters Wednesday that Russian oil output could decline 17% this year. “How sales will be conducted further is difficult to asses now,” Siluanov…
A handful of hacker groups aligned with the Russian government have carried out hundreds of cyberattacks against Ukraine since Moscow invaded, U.S. tech giant Microsoft said in a report Wednesday. It added that in “hybrid” warfare tactics, Russia often matches cyberattacks with military assaults on the battlefield. “Starting just before the invasion, we have seen…
President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that if any other country intervenes in Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, Russia will launch a quick-fire military response. Speaking to lawmakers, Putin said that “if anyone sets out to intervene in the current events from the outside and creates unacceptable threats for us that are strategic in nature, they…
Since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February, the country’s streets have been filled with both anti-war messages and symbols of support for Russian troops. But with the Russian authorities cracking down on anti-war sentiment, some Russians have rushed to clear away anything that could be seen as support for Ukrainian forces. Sometimes farcically, this has included…
Specialists of Kursk Branch of SMU No 1 LLC (part of ROSATOM Engineering Division) are carrying out concreting works at a record speed for this type of work – one 1.5 m high layer in less than three days. These works are carried out at Unit 1 evaporation cooling tower of Kursk NPP-2 (general designer…
A Russian journalist and activist has been jailed ahead of her trial on accusations of spreading “fake” news about the war in Ukraine in a social media post, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday. Maria Ponomarenko, a journalist for the RusNews outlet, was charged over a March 17 Telegram post that said Russian…
Russia exchanged jailed ex-U.S. Marine Trevor Reed for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was in an American prison on drug smuggling charges, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said Wednesday. The surprise prisoner swap comes as Moscow and Washington’s diplomatic relations crumble over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The exchange took place “as a result of a…
The CSKA (Central Army Sports Club) ice hockey arena is no longer up to international standards, so its main sponsor, Rosneft, has joined with the Defense Ministry to build a new sports complex. Since the new complex requires more space, a historic swimming pool that was a pale blue fixture for decades on Leningradsky Prospekt…
From her California home, quantum computer scientist Maria Vyushkova uses open-source information to track how many Russian soldiers from the Siberian republic of Buryatia have been killed in the invasion of Ukraine. An ethnic Buryat born in Russia and member of the anti-war Free Buryatia Foundation, Vyushkova analyzes social media posts, official statements and media…
The Netherlands said it has stopped issuing visas to Russian nationals from Wednesday following a slew of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions during Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Dutch Embassy in Moscow told Russian media it still plans to issue humanitarian visas and temporary residence permits. The Netherlands is a member of the European Union and the Schengen…
Russia’s energy giant Gazprom said Wednesday it had stopped all gas supplies to Poland and highly dependent Bulgaria after not receiving payment in rubles from the two EU members. President Vladimir Putin last month said Russia will only accept payment for deliveries in its national currency, with buyers required to set up ruble accounts or…
The interior ministry of Transnistria, a Moscow-backed separatist region of Moldova bordering Ukraine, said Wednesday that shots were fired at a village housing a Russian arms depot after drones flew over from Ukraine. This came after the unrecognized region has reported a series of explosions that it called “terrorist attacks,” raising fears of a spillover…
27 April 2022, Buyukeceli, Turkey – As part of the work on establishing a unified water discharge system at the construction site of Akkuyu NPP Unit 1, construction workers connected the discharge channel and the siphon well. The facilities. will ensure the removal of sea water and desalinated water to be used for cooling the…
On April 25-27 Tashkent hosts the International Industrial Exhibition “INNOPROM. Central Asia”. At the exhibition, the Russian State Corporation ROSATOM has presented advanced technologies and products in various fields – from radiation technologies for agro-industrial complex and medicine to effective solutions in the field of energy storage. The stand presents a project of a Multipurpose…
Russian artist Ksenia Sorokina, who won the prestigious theater award Zolotaya Maska (Golden Mask) for best costume design, donated her prize to Sasha Skochilenko. Skochilenko, an artist and a political activist, was jailed this month for an anti-war action. Sorokina’s friend and fellow Zolotaya Maska laureate, theater director Yevgeniya Berkovich, shared Ksenia’s words on Facebook.…
Leading Russian nuclear scientists participated in the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles: Sustainable Clean Energy for the Future (FR22), which was dedicated to the fast-neutron reactor technology development. The conference was held on April 19 – 22 in Vienna, Austria in a hybrid format (both online…
The “Import Phase-Out. Experience in the Development and Implementation of Multi-D Products in the Engineering Division” industry workshop has been held at ASE JSC (belonging to the Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division). The seminar has been the first in a series of events planned by Rosatom to ensure the technological sovereignty of the industry. The…
The artist Daria Apakhonchich, who was declared a “foreign agent” in 2020, sent a decidedly non-standard quarterly report to the Russian Justice Ministry. On her Facebook page she explained that every three months she is required by law to send a report on her activities, including details of her income, to the ministry. Since the…
The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a “rehabilitation of nazism” case against a Kyiv-born Russian artist Oleg Kulik, art magazine Artgid reported today. Kulik’s 2018 installation titled “The Big Mother” was exhibited at an art fair in Moscow’s Gostiny Dvor. The central piece of the installation was a statue of a woman holding a…
The Tretyakov Gallery, one of Russia’s biggest and oldest arts museums, has closed the exhibition of Russian-American artist Grisha Bruskin’s works allegedly at the request of the Ministry of Culture. According to the museum’s website, the exhibition was closed for “technical reasons.” However, independent Russian arts magazine Artgid reported that the Ministry of Culture demanded…
An awarding of certificates on the successful completion of the Russian language course by specialists of the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant, which is being built in accordance with the Russian project, took place in the St. Petersburg branch of the Technical Academy of Rosatom. The event was attended by Vice-Rector-Director of St. Petersburg Branch of…
The Moscow Times had a chance to speak with Maria Danilova, one of our former reporters who is the author of a novel for children that has, sadly, relevance today. “Anya, Here and There” is the story of a little girl who moves to New York City from Russia. Danilova was born in Moscow but…
Russians seeking to leave their country amid the war in Ukraine have limited options. Many have flocked to Armenia, where they don’t need a visa to enter, creating a small, makeshift community in the capital Yerevan in a matter of weeks. Some members of this new diaspora have left in protest against the war, some…
Artist Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi grew up in Kyiv before moving to Israel with her family at age 14 in 1991. Except for a brief visit in 1996, she didn’t start to visit her homeland until 2014. A few years later when she was pregnant with her daughter, she began to paint what she remembered of her…
Dozens of paintings by renowned Russian artists including Wassily Kandinsky are stuck in Seoul after an exhibition due to flight sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, organizers said Monday. The paintings by around 50 Russian artists — including Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, and Alexander Rodchenko, among others — have been on display in central Seoul…
On April 14, First Deputy General Director for Nuclear Energy of ROSATOM – President of JSC ASE Alexander Lokshin and Board Chairman of the Egyptian Nuclear Power Plant Authority (NPPA) Dr. Amged El-Wakeel visited the construction site of the El-Dabaa NPP (Arab Republic of Egypt). As part of the delegation, they were accompanied by JSC…
Russia’s most prominent political cartoonist Sergei Elkin announced Wednesday that he had left Russia amid a wartime crackdown on journalism. He is now in Bulgaria. Over the years, Elkin has lampooned politicians, businessmen, and international elites in media outlets across the world — including The Moscow Times, who published his series, “Putin’s Russia” in print…
A circular electric overhead travelling crane (polar crane) of 390t design load capacity has been put into operation in the reactor building of Kursk NPP-2 Unit 1 (with the Rosatom engineering division being its general designer and general contractor). This is one of the key machines of the reactor compartment belonging to the first (highest…
Moscow police halted a piano recital featuring a well-known Ukrainian composer’s music Wednesday after receiving an anonymous bomb threat warning. Video from the Rassvet cultural center shows two uniformed officers disrupting Russian pianist Alexei Lyubimov’s performance of Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s song cycle “Stufen” accompanied by verses of classic Russian poets. Lyubimov continues to play…
The author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America” told the audience at a roundtable event at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that the world was seeing his playbook unfold “right in front of our eyes.” A former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officer, Koffler, 56, said, “Putin’s ultimate goal with Ukraine is to…
“First Face of War,” a portrait of a woman badly wounded during a Russian military attack in Ukraine, has become an image that encapsulates the calamity of war. Zhenya Gershman, a Russian-born American artist, was inspired by a photograph by Wolfgang Schwan that was taken after the 52-year-old Ukrainian teacher survived a bombing by Russian…
Russian art works valued at $46 million impounded by Finland last week were released and arrived in St. Petersburg today. On Monday the Russian state news agency RIA reported that three vehicles containing the art works had left Finland on April 9 and arrived in St. Petersburg. The works, which included paintings, statues and antiques, had…
ROSATOM Engineering Division took part in employers’ exhibition ‘Career Start. Spring-2022’ which was held in Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MSTU). More than 35 leading Russian companies participated in the event. The exhibition was visited by 300+ students who had a chance to exchange contact information with employers, send their CVs, as well as to…
Northern (Arctic) Federal University (NArFU) is Russia’s largest in the north and from the campus near the city center of Arkhangelsk, rector Elena Kudryashova has signed numerous partnership agreements with universities in the Scandinavian north. In 2011, the founding father of the Barents Euro-Arctic cooperation, Thorvald Stoltenberg, was appointed Honorary Doctor at the university. Now,…
At Rooppur NPP (the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, General Designer and General Contractor – ROSATOM Engineering Division), the main concrete works for the construction of auxiliary reactor building, where process instrumentation and control devices of Unit 1 are concentrated, have been completed 8 months ahead of schedule. The facility is included in the ‘nuclear island’.…
After years spent translating Hollywood films, Russian Mila Grekova was suddenly thrown out of work after Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine. Five Hollywood giants — Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, Sony Pictures and Paramount — have all stopped releasing new films there, leaving Russian cinemas bereft of the latest blockbusters. But it has not made Grekova…
On April 5, installation of the generator stator in its design position has been completed successfully in the turbine hall of Rooppur NPP Unit 1 (ROSATOM Engineering Division being the general designer and general contractor). The works were performed by specialists of VdMU LLC branch office in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The generator stator…
Despite the ban on virtually any form of protest – even standing alone on the street with a blank piece of paper will get you detained – Russians are protesting anyway. In Moscow a man in a black wool hat with his hands tied behind his back with a strip of sheeting lay in street…
Apr 04, 2022 – 05:37 pm Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has moved into its second month, has forced millions to flee their homes. The attacks have been targeting Ukraine’s civilian sites and pose a great threat to the country’s historical and cultural heritage. As Ukrainians show stiff military resistance, Kyiv’s residents do all they…
The highlight of the Grammy music awards presentation in Las Vegas on Sunday turned was the appearance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who in a pre-taped address told audience to spread the “truth about this war” and asked for support. “War. What could be more the antithesis of music but the silence of ruined cities…
Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater held a performance Saturday to support the families of Russian soldiers who died during Russia’s “military operation” in Ukraine. The performance was Aram Khachaturian’s ballet Spartacus, the story of a gladiator who led a rebellion of slaves against the Roman Empire. The Bolshoi site noted that this was the first performance of…
As Ukrainian citizens are forced to leave their apartments and houses to hide or flee the country, most people are bringing their cats and dogs along with them. Some of the pets settle in with their humans in cellars, bomb shelters, underground bunkers or metro stations. Others make the long trek on foot, car, or…
The day before Russia launched its war against Ukraine, I was in the seaside city of Sochi in southern Russia, not far from the Ukrainian border, attending an arts festival and enjoying a break from the dark and snowy Moscow winter among palm trees and verdant hillsides. Sochi is on the Black Sea, as is…
The 15th ArtDocFest, Russia’s largest festival of documentary films, ended before it began last night in Moscow. As Vitaly Mansky, a documentary filmmaker and president of the festival, was about the enter the theater for the opening, he was splashed with paint by protesters from Russian nationalist group SERB (South-East Radical Bloc). Over the years…
The Kremlin on Friday offered to “explain” Moscow’s actions in Ukraine to French actor Gerard Depardieu after he denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “crazy, unacceptable excesses.” Depardieu, a long-time star in France before Peter Weir’s 1990 film “Green Card” made him a Hollywood celebrity, left France and took up Russian nationality in 2013 to protest…
On April 1, Kaliningrad (Russia) hosted the official meeting between Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev and Director General of the International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi, who arrived in Kaliningrad after his visit to Ukraine. Following the meeting, Alexey Likhachev stated that the key topic of the talks was the issue of ensuring…
The Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater announced on Friday that it was cancelling a performance of opera singer Anna Netrebko scheduled for June 2. The announcement cited the statement Netrebko made this week condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine. Noting her European residence, the theater concluded that the “opportunity to perform on European stages…
The Russian art world continues to be in political and physical flux. The Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko, whose previous support for Vladimir Putin and ambiguous statements about the war in Ukraine resulted in dozens of cancelled performances, tried to set the record straight again on Wednesday. “I expressly condemn the war on Ukraine and…
On March 3, a week after Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. and other governments around the world introduced harsh sanctions against Russian officials and the oligarchs who benefited from the regime in Moscow. The White House announced that governments “all over the world will work to identify and freeze the assets Russian elites and their…
The cargo ship with the next batch of the equipment for Rooppur NPP (in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, its General Designer and General Contractor being the Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division) has left the port of St-Petersburg. The equipment for NPP units 1 and 2 including 1300 various items is on board. The total…
On Feb. 23, Daria Serenko, a Moscow political activist, was finally released from a fifteen-day jail sentence. Daria had been arrested for an Instagram post she had made in 2021 that featured “extremist” symbols associated with anti-corruption firebrand Alexei Navalny. She was exhausted. Her only wish was to get some sleep. The next day when…
In St. Petersburg there is a new kind of protest that so far has not been stopped by the authorities. Participants make tiny protesters out of clay, paper, wire or other craft material. Most of them hold placards against the war in Ukraine. After they are made, their creators – all anonymous – place them…