Russia blamed “equipment failure” at the state internet provider for mass government website outages after authorities said they will slow down Twitter for Russian users Wednesday. The websites of the Kremlin and Russian government as well as both chambers of parliament briefly went down after Russia announced it will slow Twitter’s loading speed within the country…
Eurasia’s highest active volcano, Kluchevskaya Sopka, erupted in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula earlier this month. Luckily for those who are not able (or too scared) to witness the equally dangerous and spectacular natural phenomenon with their own eyes, the continuous explosive activity is being documented on camera and widely shared on social media. Kluchevskaya Sopka was…
Moscow’s decision to defy a second wave of the coronavirus and keep its economy firing helped the country’s largest companies book a strong end to the year and cement their recovery from the early blows of the coronavirus pandemic, analysis of company results shows. Over the full year, corporate profits at Russia’s large and medium-sized…
09 March 2021, Moscow – Akkuyu Nuclear JSC (ROSATOM’s subsidiary) receives two loans of up to $200 million and $100 million respectively for a period of 7 years from Sovcombank to finance the construction of the Akkuyu NPP in Turkey. The loan agreements were signed by Sovcombank and Akkuyu Nuclear JSC. The loans are being…
Russia’s media watchdog announced Wednesday that it will disrupt Twitter’s loading speeds within the country for failing to remove banned content, a move that experts say represents a new crackdown on foreign social media. “Starting March 10, 2021, centralized response measures have been taken against Twitter to protect Russian citizens and force the internet service to…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation Wednesday allowing phone companies to jam communication in prisons in order to prevent scams. The legislation’s authors say that convicts use contraband cellphones to commit fraud and witness intimidation as well as control the actions of fugitive members of criminal organizations. Under the newly signed amendments to Russia’s criminal…
Russia and China unveiled plans Tuesday for a joint lunar space station, as Moscow seeks to recapture the glory of its space pioneering days of Soviet times, and Beijing gears up its own extraterrestrial ambitions. Though Moscow was once at the forefront of space travel — it sent the first man into space — its cosmic…
A Turkish court on Tuesday sentenced five suspects to life in jail over the 2016 murder of Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov in Ankara, state news agency Anadolu reported. The suspects were accused of links to the 22-year-old gunman, Mevlut Mert Altintas, who was killed by Turkish special forces shortly after he shot dead Karlov at…
Russia and China agreed Tuesday to build a lunar space station, as Moscow seeks to modernize its extraterrestrial might and catch up with the United States in the space race. Russia, which sent the first man into space during the Soviet Union, has been lagging behind Washington and Beijing in the exploration of the Moon…
Russian gas pipelines emitted more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, in 2020 than the previous year despite a coronavirus-related slump in demand, the European Space Agency has said. Citing analysis of its satellite images by the data firm Kayrros, the ESA said Thursday that methane emissions increased by 40% despite a 14% drop in Russian…
Moscow said Tuesday that claims it was spearheading a disinformation campaign against U.S.-made coronavirus vaccines to boost its own homegrown jab were “absurd and groundless.” The comments come a day after Washington said Russian intelligence was behind four websites involved in a campaign to undermine U.S.-made vaccines, accusing Russia of putting lives at risk. Russian…
Russia and the United States will work together to tackle climate change-related issues in a rare moment of cooperation between the two powers with increasingly frayed ties, President Vladimir Putin’s representative on climate issues said Tuesday. Ruslan Edelgeriyev identified protection of the rapidly warming Arctic, forest sector projects and nuclear energy as key priorities in Russian-U.S.…
A Kyrgyz ballet troupe’s refusal to perform in a show featuring stars from Russia is shining light on the woeful condition of state-funded culture. On March 6, local performers who had been due to support Russian leads in a production of Swan Lake took to the stage of the State Opera and Ballet Theater in Bishkek…
One of Galina Yanchikova’s earliest memories is playing with her grandfather’s feet as a three year old the last time she saw him before he left exile in Kazakhstan to try to return to Moscow. Prominent Marxist activist and academic Friedrich Bauermeister had left Germany with his family for Stalin’s U.S.S.R. in 1934, and been…
Russia has secured an agreement to produce its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Italy, marking the first such deal for producing the vaccine in Europe, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Similar talks are underway in France and Germany despite the vaccine not yet being approved for use within the 27-member bloc. The EU’s medicines regulator, the European…
RN-Yuganskneftegaz, Rosneft’s largest production asset, has remediated over a thousand land plots with a total area of over 230 hectares in 2020 as part of its long-term environmental protection and restoration programme
Verkhnechonskneftegaz, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s oil and gas production complex, has pumped 2.5 bcm of associated petroleum gas (APG) into an underground gas storage facility since the start of its rational use programme
Russians are most likely to see rising prices as the main issue facing the country, according to an independent survey from the Levada Center polling agency published Tuesday. Several months of inflation have driven prices for basic commodities like sugar, sunflower oil and pasta, prompting President Vladimir Putin to call for emergency measures to cap…
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)’s internal estimates for recent marches in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny placed the protester count at much higher numbers than officially acknowledged, the Meduza news website reported Tuesday. The data is reportedly part of the highly secretive FSB military counterintelligence unit’s first known comprehensive review of public…
Russia exported a record amount of food supplies in 2020, becoming a net seller of agricultural products for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country sold $30.7 billion worth of agricultural goods abroad last year, news site RBC reported Tuesday, citing a report by AgroExport, a division of Russia’s agricultural…
Russia has selected Manizha to represent it in this year’s Eurovision song contest with her song “Russian Woman.” The Tajikistan-born singer-songwriter will replace punk-rave group Little Big, who were chosen to represent Russia in the 2020 sing-off which was ultimately canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Manizha said her song, written a year ago on…
Russia is demanding a public apology from the European Union’s medicines regulator for comparing its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to “Russian roulette.” Christa Wirthumer-Hoche, management board chairwoman of the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA), made the errant remark Monday while advising EU members against emergency use authorization of Sputnik V. “Such comments are inappropriate and…
On March 7, the specialists initiated loading dummy fuel assemblies (DFA) into the reactor of power unit No.2 of Belarus NPP (the General Designer and the General Contractor – Engineering Division of ROSATOM). This process is a prerequisite and a kind of a dry run of the fuel load into the reactor, and includes, inter…
The head of the management board at the EU’s medicines regulator warned late Sunday against emergency national authorizations of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, comparing the idea to “Russian roulette”. Last week the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) launched a rolling review of the Sputnik V vaccine, a key step towards being approved as the first…
Russian women in cities nationwide held a strike for equal rights ahead of International Women’s Day. In cities like Moscow, Kazan and Ulyanocsk, protesters called on the authorities to abolish all “repressive, sexist and homophobic laws,” to pass anti-domestic violence legislation and to institute laws against sexual harassment in the workplace. “We planned the strike…
International Women’s Day remains one of Russia’s most beloved holidays, even though its popular meaning has evolved over the years. In the Soviet era, the holiday celebrated the revolutionary struggle for equality, a far cry from today’s flowery celebration of womanhood and femininity. Though the holiday’s critics blame it for re-enforcing harmful gender stereotypes, March…
“The Charmed Wife,” Olga Grushin’s fourth novel, is not easy to categorize. It isn’t a fantasy, although certainly much of it is fantastical. It isn’t a parody of fairy tales, although it does poke fun at the Disney-like sweetness of “happily ever after.” It isn’t the story of women’s lives, although it does follow the…
About half of Russian men believe that women are better off not working while only 22% of women feel the same, according to an Otkritie Bank poll published by the state-run TASS news agency ahead of International Women’s Day. According to the poll, more than half of men surveyed (55%) believe that a woman’s primary…
When Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was arrested upon his January return to Russia, his supporters and enemies alike turned their attention toward his wife Yulia Navalnaya. They prophesied that she was poised to replace her husband as Russia’s main opposition politician in a move that would mirror the political rise of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in neighboring…
Nearly every weekday, Yelena Lysenko-Saltykova puts on her navy blue uniform and gets in the driving carriage of an electric commuter train to ferry passengers between Moscow’s Kievsky Railway Station and the suburb of Novoperedelkino. It’s not something she takes for granted. As the first female suburban light rail train driver in Russia, Lysenko-Saltykova, 25,…
“How’s March 8 shaping up,” I asked my Russian husband on our morning walk. “Just fine,” he said, “absolutely fine.” “Because,” I said, “we’re still sort of in lockdown, you know, and we aren’t expecting anything over the top — “ “It’s fine!” he hollered, which stopped me from offering to help him shop for…
International Women’s Day may have started out as a way to support women workers, but it has morphed into a day to fete, celebrate, and treat the favorite women in your life. The Hyatt Regency in Petrovsky Park offers to ways to share some love — while enjoying great food, music and ambiance. Heritage Restaurant Brunch…
Russia recorded more than 55,000 excess deaths in January, data from the country’s official statistics agency (Rosstat) published Friday showed. Since the start of the pandemic until the end of January — the latest such data is available — Russia has now recorded 394,000 more deaths than in the previous period. That represents a 24%…
RENERA LLC, ROSATOM’s integrator company for the energy storage business (subsidiary of TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom) has finalized the deal to acquire 49% share of Enertech International Inc, a South Korean manufacturer of electrodes, lithium-ion storage cells and energy storage systems. The signed agreement also includes building a facility for manufacturing of lithium-ion cells…
Four Russians and one Ukrainian photographer have been shortlisted for this year’s prestigious Sony World Photography Awards. Works by Sasha Bauer, Fyodor Savintsev, Alexey Pavlov and Igor Kryukov of Russia, as well as Maryna Masel of Ukraine, were selected from a record-breaking number of over 300,000 entries from 220 countries. Another notable entry, a portrayal…
March 5, 2021, 17:40 A working meeting of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, with Vladimir Semashko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation, and Viktor Karankevich, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus, took place today in Moscow. Particular attention at the meeting was paid to the ongoing heating season. It was noted that Gazprom is reliably providing Belarus…
Ukraine said Friday that renewed fighting with Russian-backed separatists was undermining a fragile ceasefire in the east of the country, and urged Western backers to intervene. The halt to fighting agreed last July raised hopes for a resolution to the bitter trench war that was sparked in 2014 by the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea and…
Russia’s top cellphone carrier MTS said Friday it has launched the country’s first pilot 5G network in Moscow. MTS said it opened 14 hotspots across the city’s main tourist attractions, including Lubyanka Square near Red Square, the Moscow City financial district and the VDNKh exhibition center. Participants of MTS’ pilot project with eligible smartphones will…
At the end of the 19th century, the director of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, had an idea for a ballet based on a tale by Charles Perrault called “La Belle au bois dormant.” Vsevolozhsky wrote the scenario and sketched the costumes for the ballet, which would be called “Sleeping Beauty,” and…
Germany has convicted two of its citizens on charges of violating the European Union’s arms embargo with Russia, the DPA news agency reported Friday. German investigators said the two defendants sold equipment for missile production to a Russian entrepreneur seven times between 2016-2018, bypassing export checks by using fictitious recipients, Deutsche Welle reported. The Russian…
Dozens of Russian non-profits have pleaded for President Vladimir Putin to strike down upcoming requirements to disclose their donors’ foreign funding, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. The dormant rules set to reactivate this spring will leave the homeless, elderly, orphans and seriously ill without support due to fewer donations, said a group representing 57…
Belarus said on Friday it had requested the extradition of exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was forced from the country during a crackdown on critics of leader Alexander Lukashenko. Tikhanovskaya, who challenged Lukashenko in last year’s presidential vote that the opposition said was rigged, sought refuge in EU member Lithuania as the crackdown intensified on…
Russia’s ruling party is looking to ban the propaganda of polyamory and bisexuality as it weighs options to reverse its population decline and defend what it calls traditional values, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. The ban was among a number of proposals floated at Thursday’s United Russia party conference on supporting families. The conference…
The Russian ruble and government bonds sank Friday morning on reports that the U.S. and U.K. are considering a second round of tough sanctions against Russia over the poisoning and jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Washington and London could be prepared to slap asset freezes and travel bans on Russian oligarchs deemed supporters of the…
For activists preparing to mark International Women’s Day in Kyrgyzstan, recalling the ambush that broke up last year’s march is still traumatic. That day, a group of masked men charged the marchers, hitting them with sticks and trampling banners dedicated to equality. What followed shocked the activists even more. As the men strolled away, police…
ROSATOM has completed the scheduled milestone in development of Russian accident tolerant fuel. The Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (NIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region, has completed the second cycle of irradiation of the experimental fuel assemblies with VVER and PWR fuel rods in the MIR research reactor. Each fuel assembly contains 24 fuel…
The new U.S. envoy to the United Nations on Thursday accused Russia of seeking to stymie efforts to hold the government of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad accountable for its use of chemical weapons during its long civil war. “We all know the Assad regime has repeatedly used chemical weapons. So why hasn’t the Syrian government…
Russia on Thursday demanded an explanation from Facebook after the social media giant said it had derailed a campaign to mislead Russians protesting the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The U.S.-based social network said its automated systems detected and disabled 530 Instagram accounts being used in the campaign against protesters who took to the…
A Moscow court has overturned the guilty verdict against Yelena Misyurina, the doctor whose conviction in a high-profile medical negligence case sparked national controversy. Misyurina, 46, was sentenced to two years in prison in January 2018 over a botched bone marrow biopsy in July 2013 that damaged a patient’s blood vessels, leading to his death.…
All but nine Russian regions have begun administering coronavirus vaccines nearly two months into the country’s nationwide vaccination campaign, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Russia, the world’s fourth-most affected country by Covid-19, launched the campaign in mid-January with senior officials forecasting 60% herd immunity as early as August. “Some Russian regions, I think it’s nine,…
The Russian military will receive a pilot batch of the hyped Armata T-14 tanks next year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday. The Armata T-14, which is undergoing state tests amid multiple delivery delays since its first public display in 2015, will be Russia’s first main battle tank to be deployed in 40 years. “It’s…
A Russian court has sentenced a pro-Ukrainian activist from annexed Crimea to five years in a maximum-security penal colony and one year in prison on terrorism charges, Interfax reported. Oleg Prikhodko, 62, openly opposed Russia’s annexation of Crimea, hung the Ukrainian flag from his house and refused to switch his license plates to Russian ones,…
Russia is revoking residence permits and deporting, often informally and without written notice, foreign nationals for participating in recent political protests, the Meduza news website reported Thursday. The outlet said it spoke with four citizens of post-Soviet republics who faced deportation orders after attending demonstrations in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and the opposition…
Rosneft Oil Company has commenced vaccination of its employees to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 infection.
The EU has begun analyzing clinical trial data for Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine — the first step in a process which could lead to the vaccine’s approval for use across the 27-member bloc. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Thursday it had begun a so-called “rolling review” of Sputnik V, in which it will analyze…
Air fares have more than doubled for flights from Russia to some of the few countries around the world that remain open for tourism, price data from travel agents has shown. The average price paid for a return flight from Moscow to all destinations was 15,700 rubles ($212), at the beginning of March, the Kommersant…
Slovakia has found itself in a diplomatic row after its prime minister made an offhand joke about paying for Russian coronavirus vaccine shipments with Ukrainian territory. Kiev demanded an apology after Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič said in a radio interview Wednesday that he promised Russia southwestern Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region in exchange for Sputnik V…
A Russian fighter jet on Wednesday was scrambled to escort nuclear-capable, long-range U.S. bombers flying over the Baltics, the Russian military said. The U.S. Air Force said earlier that one bomber had flown over the capitals of NATO members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in a show of solidarity with allies. Russia’s National Defense Management Center…
Facebook on Wednesday said it derailed a deceptive campaign to use hundreds of bogus Instagram accounts to mislead people in Russia protesting the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The network of Instagram accounts used hashtag and location “poisoning” typically associated with spam or financial scams to drown out posts by protesters, according to Facebook…
Austria’s former foreign minister who danced with President Vladimir Putin at her wedding has been nominated for a seat on oil giant Rosneft’s board of directors, a government decree said Wednesday. In 2018, Karin Kneissl, then Austria’s foreign minister, made headlines when she invited Putin to her wedding and danced with him. The 56-year-old left…