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…
26 March 2022, Buyukeceli, Turkey. – The Office for the Prevention and Response to Emergency Situations (AFAD) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Turkey awarded the firefighters of AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC with the Certificates of Appreciation for their participation in extinguishing the forest fires in the summer of 2021 in the…
Hollywood —Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul says she still cannot believe what is happening in her home country. In an emotionally charged roundtable session before the Hollywood Foreign Press Association the skating star said when “Putin announced the invasion I couldn’t believe it.” “I speak to people [in Ukraine] frequently and what Russian soldiers…
Our comments in relation to the appearance of a video message on 25 March 2022 on Energoatom’s website featuring employees from JSC Atomspetstrans who are being held at the Rovno NPP are as follows. A special shipment that was delivered to the Rovno NPP was accompanied by employees of one of the enterprises of the…
International sanctions against Russia, the devaluation of the ruble and politics at the governmental and individual level have left works of art stranded and are causing museums to frantically revise exhibition schedules that had been set years ago. The Morozov collection of late 19th and early 20th century European and Russian art, so valuable that…
The Communications Department of ROSATOM confirmed that on 23 February, four employees of the central branch of Atomspetstrans JSC – Vladimir Lapin, Ilgiz Khusnetdinov, Ivan Kryachko and Vladislav Shishkin – delivered goods to the Rovno NPP in accordance with contractual obligations. Since then, the Russian specialists have been unable to return to Russia. Through the…
Since Putin unleashed Russia’s war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, a number of Hollywood celebrities have publicly condemned Russia’s actions. Through Instagram posts, heartfelt speeches or raising funds for Ukrainian victims, Hollywood celebs seem to have come together to help the war-torn country. Here are just some of the celebrities who raised their voices to…
Concreting of walls of accident localization area has been completed from elevation +8.140 to +14.450 in the reactor building of Kursk NPP 2 Unit 2 (general designer and general contractor is ROSATOM Engineering Division). The works were performed by Kursk Branch of Trest RosSEM LLC (part of ROSATOM Engineering Division). In less than 24 hours,…
Andrei Molodkin, a Russian conceptual artist famous for using human blood and crude oil in his bold mixed-media installations, spoke out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through the medium he knows best. Molodkin created a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin using real blood as a graphic condemnation of Putin’s regime and Russia’s “special military…
Despite the city’s rapidly changing landscape and rising prices, many Muscovites go about their day as usual, enjoying warmer weather, local restaurants and events. While many Hollywood studios suspended releases of their films in Russia, Moscow residents can see Russian and other foreign films in local cinemas. Muscovites can still also enjoy the city’s vibrant…
A Russian actress has criticized her well-known actor father’s support for the war against Ukraine, in a high-profile example of how the war has split many Russian families. Vladimir Mashkov spoke at Friday’s massive rally marking the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and supporting Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. “We are Russian…
ROSATOM has launched educational program for the “Engineering Design” competency on the basis of the Engineering Design (Atomenergoproekt JSC ICC “Engineering Design”, part of the ROSATOM Engineering Division) industry competence center. The training course is intended for specialists of the Joint Design Institute of Atomenergoproekt JSC (JDI) involved in the design of nuclear power facilities.…
The Russian stage and screen actress Chulpan Khamatova told Ekaterina Gordeyeva in an interview released on Monday that she would not be going back to Russia. Khamatova, who heads the Gift of Life charity foundation, was abroad when Russia began its attack on Ukraine. “For the first few days I didn’t know what to do,”…
Russian movie theaters are about to be hit with another financial challenge after the coronavirus closed theaters for months. This time they are likely to lose their most profitable films: Hollywood blockbusters. Instead, as Cinema Park, Formula Kino, Premier Hall, Karo, Kinomax, and Cinema Star told the newspaper Vedomosti, they will show domestic fare, films…
Zemfira, one of Russia’s leading rock artists, has released an anti-war music video amid her country’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The iconic musician on Friday deleted all her existing videos from YouTube, replacing them with a new clip for her 2017 song “Don’t Shoot.” The video contains footage from Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine as…
The writer, poet, and playwright Yuz Aleshkovsky died March 21 at the age of 92 in Tampa, Florida. Aleshkovsky, who full name was Iosif, grew up in Moscow until he and his family were evacuated to Siberia during WWII. When he came of age he served in the Soviet Navy, but was charged with a…
March 21, 2022, Büyükeceli, Mersin province, Turkey – Welding of the main circulation pipeline (MCP), a key assembly operation scheduled for 2022, has started in the reactor building of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1. MCP connects the main equipment of the reactor plant – reactor, steam generators, and reactor coolant pumps, thus shaping the…
The documentary filmmaker Marina Goldovskaya died in Latvia on March 20 at the age of 80. Goldovskaya made nearly one hundred documentaries, many of which were intimate portraits of her subjects. She is perhaps best known for her work during the late Soviet and early post-Soviet period that opened doors into the inner lives of…
Collective guilt and responsibility are major issues for young Russian people since the start of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine and harsh backlash from the international community. Many began to question if they should share responsibility for the state’s wrongdoings. The Moscow Times spoke to almost three dozen young people from Russia about…
From her shelter in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, Vera Lytovchenko has become a social media sensation with her violin performances that help her forget the war, if only for a few minutes. Her renditions of Vivaldi and Ukrainian melodies have triggered an avalanche of messages of support from around the world and she has used…
Russia’s Education Ministry will allocate nearly $3 million to create “digital educational content,” according to a tender filed on the public procurement portal Tuesday. The 300-million-ruble tender includes the creation of at least 3,000 scripted teaching plans and a thousand videos. One of the specified goals is the “formation of Russian civil identity among students…
On March 15, 2022, Tomsk Polytechnic University hosted a ROSATOM Career Day for international students. It gathered more than 150 students from ROSATOM partner universities from Egypt, Ghana, Bolivia, Rwanda, Nigeria and Kazakhstan. On the online platform, they were able to communicate with representatives of 12 foreign companies, national nuclear agencies and ROSATOM enterprises, meet…
Prima ballerina Olga Smirnova has quit the Bolshoi in Moscow to join the Dutch National Ballet, it was announced Wednesday, becoming the biggest star to leave Russia over the war in Ukraine. The 30-year-old’s departure from Russia’s most prestigious cultural institution carries echoes of defections during the Cold War. Smirnova, considered one of the greatest…
The main components of Unit 1 turbine plant including stator, turbine generator rotor and low pressure (LP) cylinder, were delivered to the Eastern cargo terminal at the Akkuyu NPP construction site. The total mass of the cargo batch exceeded one thousand tons. The heaviest piece of equipment delivered was the turbine generator stator, which weights…
ISTANBUL – One of Russia’s biggest rappers performed a sold-out charity concert Tuesday in a show of Russians’ opposition to their country’s war in Ukraine. Some 400 Russians, many of whom fled to Turkey following the invasion, crowded into the basement club to watch Oxxxymiron perform a high-energy mix of old and new songs on…
The Soviet, Russian and Azerbaijan writer and screenwriter died in Moscow on March 11 after a long illness, his family reported. Born in Azerbaijan Republic, Ibragimbekov graduated from the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute and then the main cinematography institute in Moscow. He wrote and cowrote the scripts for dozens of films, as well as…
Orthodox churches, clergy and congregants inside Russia and abroad are breaking with the Russian Orthodox Church and its patriarch over the war in Ukraine and the ideology of the “Russian world” that underpins it. This weekend the Russian Orthodox parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, requested “a canonical dismissal” from the…
Atomstroyexport JSC (ASE JSC) and Atomenergoproekt JSC (being part of ROSATOM Engineering Division)have undergone successfully the first supervisory audit of the integrated management system against the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 international standards (quality management system), ISO 14001:2015 (environmental management system) and ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health and Safety Management System). The audit was implemented by the…
With regard to the incoming requests, we inform you that the management and operation of the Zaporozhskaya and Chernobyl NPPs is carried out by the Ukrainian operating personnel. A group of several Russian experts provides them consultative assistance. In the framework of providing technical support, the priority needs of plants are being determined to ensure…
The ceremony of the first concrete pouring has been held in accordance with the project schedule at the Tianwan NPP power unit No. 8 (China). “Cooperation between Russia and China in the area of NPP construction has been going on for decades. We know and appreciate each other as successful partners, reliable friends and help-mates…
ROSATOM is yet again among the leaders of the “Best Employers of Russia” of 2021 rating, which was compiled by the HeadHunter recruitment platform. ROSATOM scored the first place among industrial companies in three categories: “Power Engineering, Mining and Raw Materials Processing”, “Industrial Manufacturing” and “Manufacturing and Industrial Companies.” This year, the amount of job…
Rusatom Overseas and Air Liquide announced the completion of a feasibility study for the construction of a hydrogen production complex on Sakhalin Island and presented the results at a meeting with the Government of the Sakhalin Region. Based on the positive results of the feasibility study, RAOS and Air Liquide are preparing for the next…
On February 9, the lead universal nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika of Atomflot FSUE began escorting vessels Engineer Trubin and Polar King from the port of Pevek. For the first time ever, the atomic ship of project 22220 will take part in the east-west escort of a convoy. Traditionally, in this sector of the Arctic the piloting…
Russia’s Central Bank raised its key rate by a full percentage point to 9.5% on Friday in its latest attempt to tame surging inflation, bringing borrowing costs to their highest level in five years. This is the second time in a row the regulator has made the rare move of hiking the rate by a…
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talks with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron this week was held with social distancing after the French leader declined to take a Russian-administered coronavirus test, the Kremlin said Friday. Putin and Macron spoke from opposite ends of a 13-meter table in the Kremlin on Tuesday, with the French president hoping to convince…
Russia reported more than 200,000 new Covid-19 infections Friday for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The country has been gripped by a surge in cases since the start of the year, fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The country reported 203,949 new infections over the last 24 hours, Russia’s nationwide…
New satellite images released by the U.S.-based technology company Maxar appear to reveal continuing Russian military buildup near Ukraine, despite a flurry of international efforts to defuse the Ukraine crisis. Stephen Wood, a senior director at Maxar, told CNN that the firm identified new large deployments of troops and equipment in annexed Crimea as well…
The British Embassy in Moscow was forced Thursday to clarify a series of remarks made by Foreign Minister Liz Truss during a tense meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. In the closed-door meeting, Lavrov had asked Truss whether the U.K. accepted that two Russian regions — Voronezh and Rostov — belonged to Russia and…
Feb. 11, 1993 — Russia’s labor minister turned back the clock Wednesday with a startling official message for working women: Stay at home, raise children, keep house — and leave the other jobs to men. “Why should we employ women when men are unemployed? ” Gennady Melikyan said at a news conference. “It’s better that…
U.S. President Joe Biden urged Americans Thursday to immediately leave Ukraine, as Russia’s live-fire drills and build-up of troops around the ex-Soviet state deepened fears of an invasion. Washington-Moscow tensions are at their highest since the Cold War, with some U.S. estimates saying some 130,000 Russian soldiers are grouped in dozens of combat brigades near…
Today’s Google doodle is an image of the Russian State Historical Museum, one of Russia’s oldest and most revered collections of Russian culture and history. It commemorates the museum’s 150th anniversary celebrated on Wednesday. The doodle was created by Russian-guest artist and Muscovite Toma Vagner. “I would like my doodle to serve as a reminder…
The Russian short film “Boxballet,” directed by Anton Dyakov, was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Short category, the Russian news agency TASS reported Tuesday. “I’m very happy,” Dyakov told TASS, commenting on the nomination. “I think that Russian non-profit animation deserves to be talked about and highlighted.” “Boxballet,” an eccentric, 2D-animated short,…
Message to the Media February 8, 2022, 16:55 The meeting of the Supervisory Board of Moldovagaz slated for February 2, 2022, did not take place due to non-attendance by representatives of the Moldovan Government. The Supervisory Board was supposed to harmonize the approaches to be used in auditing the debt owed by Moldovagaz to the Gazprom Group for consumer gas supplies to the right bank of the Dniester, as provided for…
Rosneft will report its Q4 and 12M 2021 IFRS financial results on Friday, February 11, 2022.
If you’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed and burnt out after the January holiday and return to work, here are our top five wellness getaways in and around Moscow. From Soviet sanatoriums to communal dacha experiences, you can relax yourself back to health and good spirits in no time. The Walrus Club of Serebryany Bor…
A new art installation has opened in Malevich Park outside Moscow. Titled “White Forest,” it features artwork by Gregory Orekhov, Alexei Luka and the Artistic Solitude art group. Visitors are invited to reflect on how nature interacts with themes such as urbanization, power and fame. The exhibition is free and runs until March 1.
A St. Petersburg high-school teacher said she was forced to quit for reciting the work of poets who had been declared Soviet “enemies of the people” to her students. Serafima Saprykina said her secondary school’s director reprimanded her at an emergency meeting in December for reciting Daniil Kharms and Alexander Vvedensky’s works to her 10th-grade…
In Russia today more than 1.5 million women are living with a cancer diagnosis, and the vast majority of them need psychological support in addition to medical treatment. Headed by cancer survivor Olga Pavlova, the Fund for the Development of Intersectoral Partnership launched a media campaign in Moscow to destigmatize cancer, eradicate false stereotypes, assuage…
“What’s your absolute favorite soup?” asked a non-foodie friend recently. Only a non-foodie would ask something so inflammatory: it’s like asking someone to identify a favorite child. But I wondered afterwards if it were feasible to determine my Top 5 Favorite Soups. I scratched a preliminary list on the back of an envelope and was…
The heads of some of Russia’s most prominent theaters have voiced their opposition to a proposed Culture Ministry initiative that aims to “strengthen traditional values” in Russian arts and culture. The Culture Ministry unveiled its full proposal — entitled “Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values”…