Three U.S. House of Representatives committees asked the White House and State Department on Monday for details on President Donald Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to interview translators and other staff involved in their conversations. The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Government Oversight committees said in a statement they wrote to acting…
Around 30 percent of the Russian population will practice Islam within the next 15 years, Russia’s grand mufti has predicted, citing demographic trends. Russia’s Muslim-majority regions, including republics in the North Caucasus and the republic of Tatarstan, are known to have the highest birth rates in the country, reflecting similar trends worldwide. Various estimates place…
When anti-government protests erupted on Russia’s side of the Caucasus Mountains in October, authorities did something they’d never done before: cut mobile internet service to an entire geographical area. For almost two weeks, tens of thousands of mainly Muslim Russians were prevented from accessing social media sites and sharing videos through their smartphones. Unlike China,…
The head of a research unit at Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, Stanislav Zharkov, has been fired after comparing the residents of lower-income housing to “livestock” on Facebook. “What category of Khrushevka [Soviet-era buildings] livestock do you belong to: Do you drink, take drugs, throw trash in the courtyard, yell at night – or all of…
Russia’s believers reflect while its vegetarians rejoice as we get ready for special Lenten menus in meat-loving Moscow in the six weeks of Lent that precede Orthodox Easter. The week that announces the transition to Lent is Maslenitsa — seven days full of pancake (or in Russian, blini) eating and merriment. Running from March 4…
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia‘s participation in the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the United States, the Kremlin said on Monday. Russia announced last month it was suspending the treaty after the United States said it would withdraw because of violations by Moscow. Russia denies flouting the accord and has accused Washington of…
On March 4, 2018, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a park bench in southern England. After an investigation, British authorities said the two had been exposed to a military-grade nerve agent in an attempted murder carried out by agents of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency — a…
Russia’s top telecom operators are selling the location data of their clients for millions of dollars to Moscow’s City Hall, the Vedomosti business daily has reported. The Russian capital already fields one of the world’s largest facial-recognition systems, with 174,000 surveillance cameras expected to enter into operation this year. Meanwhile, new anti-terror legislation that entered…
Russia will do all possible to prevent a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, the state-run TASS news agency quoted the speaker of Russia‘s upper house of parliament as saying on Sunday. “We are very much concerned that the U.S. could carry out any provocations to shed blood, to find a cause and reasons for an intervention in…
Zhores Alferov, the 2000 Nobel Prize winner in physics and a member of Russia‘s parliament, has died aged 88 in St. Petersburg, the Russian Communist party said on Saturday. Alferov shared the nearly $1 million award, which recognized his research work in the 1970s in information technology which paved the way for computers, CD players and mobile…
There is no need for an excuse to listen to chamber music, but with spring still around the corner, March can call for a cozy indoor evening to lift your mood. And by now you might be ready for a change from the mulled wine and electric radiator that kept you going for the past…
A Russian court has sentenced five alleged Islamic State members this week over a plot to attack the French Embassy in Moscow, state media have reported. The fighters were detained in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia two years ago on suspicion of plotting a New Year’s Day attack on the embassy in 2017. A…
Moscow is gearing up to celebrate Maslenitsa — the week before Lent begins — in grand style with food, concerts and burning effigies. In recent years, Russia’s Mardi Gras or “pancake week” has seen a glamorous and all-frills revival in the large cities as municipal and regional administrations organize a week of public celebration. From…
Russia has lost an estimated 50 billion rubles ($760 million) in potential gun and ammo sales since international sanctions sealed off the U.S. market in 2014, the state-owned Rostec corporation has said. Russia’s estimated 4.5 million gun owners with 7.3 million registered small arms pale in comparison with the nearly 400 million civilian-owned firearms in…
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered state oil company PDVSA’s office in Lisbon to be relocated to Moscow, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Friday, a move she said was designed to help safeguard her country’s assets. Moscow has backed Maduro in the face of a political challenge from opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared…
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia was helping Venezuela with supplies of wheat, but did not elaborate. He made the comment at a joint news conference with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who was visiting Moscow. Russia has supplied 64,100 tons of wheat to Venezuela so far in the 2018/19 marketing…
Pakistan’s foreign minister has said his country is willing to accept Russia’s offer to mediate between Pakistan and India, days after a military conflict erupted between the South Asian nuclear powers. India and Pakistan shot down each other’s fighter jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since…
A one-time Russian opposition activist has taken a job at the Kremlin-run RT television channel, stirring heated debate among former colleagues and observers. Once described as the face of Russia’s opposition, Maria Baronova had recently headed the Moscow branch of the Open Russia pro-democracy movement. In 2012, she was detained and charged over her role…
On 28 February 2019, in Kigali, Rwanda, The State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom and the Ministry of Infrastructure of the Republic of Rwanda signed two memoranda of cooperation; on education and personnel training in the field of nuclear energy in Rwanda and on the formation of the positive public opinion on nuclear energy in the…
Russian authorities have ordered the release of nearly 100 whales held captive in cages in Russia’s Far East in a case that has drawn the ire of President Vladimir Putin, the public and international film stars, TASS news agency said on Thursday. Images of the whales, kept in cramped enclosures in a bay near the Sea of Japan…
Russia failed on Thursday in a bid for the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that expressed support for a political solution in Venezuela and backed the Maduro government as the primary coordinator of international help. The Russian text only received four votes in favor. Four countries abstained and the rest of the 15-member council…
This week on From Russia With News, we speak with New York Times journalist Andrew Kramer about the sentencing of two Russian cyber-security experts this week, handed decades behind bars for treason. We’ll also talk to veteran journalist Artemy Troitsky about the life and legacy of Igor Malashenko, the media executive and political consultant found…
Russia’s population has suffered more from abortion than it did from its losses during World War II, a Russian Orthodox official in charge of family affairs has said. Russia legalized abortion in 1955 and has the second-highest abortion rate in the world after China. While Russia’s anti-abortion movement has largely failed to change the law,…
A Russian court on Thursday ruled that prominent U.S. investor Michael Calvey should remain in custody pending trial, rejecting his appeal to be released on bail or moved to house arrest. Calvey, a founder of Baring Vostok Capital Partners, was detained earlier this month along with three other executives from his private equity group after…
The nephew of top Kremlin propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov was sentenced by a German court for planning to take part in military activities in eastern Ukraine, Russian media reported Thursday. The charges against German citizen Sergei Kiselyov, 48, were reportedly based on an interview that his pundit uncle gave in 2016, in which he said that…
Russia is ready to mediate between India and Pakistan to try to calm tensions between the two nuclear powers, Russian government officials said on Thursday, warning of the risk of further clashes between the two countries. Moscow made the offer after Pakistan said it was considering returning a captured Indian pilot and as U.S. President…
Police in Moscow raided the office of the Open Russia political movement and detained one person late on Wednesday after the organization aired a live feed with founder and exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Russia blacklisted the pro-democracy NGO in 2017 as an “undesirable organization,” a label that banned its activities and places its employees at…
The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed talk of potential U.S. sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin’s wealth and called draft sanctions legislation an example of anti-Russian sentiment that should not be taken seriously. A group of U.S. lawmakers have proposed sanctions legislation targeting Russia that, among other things, would require the director of U.S. National Intelligence to…
Americans’ negative views of Russia have reached levels not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union, according to a new survey released by the Gallup pollster Wednesday. Relations between the two countries have plummeted to Cold War-era levels after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and was accused of interfering in…
Two U.S. congresswomen have introduced legislation seeking to instruct the American intelligence community to disclose Russian President Vladimir Putin’s finances and report on Kremlin-linked corruption. Critics have accused the Russian leader of amassing a fortune during his 18 years in power as either president or prime minister. Official figures say Putin’s income between 2011 and 2016…
Release February 28, 2019, 10:40 Photos Gazprom held its 14th annual Investor Day in Hong Kong (February 26) and Singapore (February 28). Taking part in the events were Andrey Kruglov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Oleg Aksyutin, Member of the Management Committee and Head of Department at Gazprom, Elena Burmistrova, Director General of Gazprom Export, and representatives of the Company’s relevant subdivisions and…
The story of 30-year-old Fatima Musabayeva, a Kazakh survivor of modern-day slavery, appears to have a happy ending. Of sorts. Eight years after escaping years of exploitation, Fatima lives in her own freshly remodelled apartment, raises a son and runs a small business. She went a long way to get where she is now. In…
RN-Vankor LLC, a subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, has produced the 10-millionth tonne of oil on the Suzunskoe oil and gas field since 2016. Suzunskoe field is located on the territory of Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets municipal district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and is part of Vankor cluster. In 2013, Rosneft launched implementation of three business projects…
Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex launched metal cutting for the third Aframax tanker with deadweight of 114,000 tonnes. The construction was started on the state-of-the-art flame unit in the hull production facility. The metal-cutting ceremony was attended by representatives of the customers, Rosnefteflot and State Transport Leasing Company, as well as Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, and…
Release February 27, 2019, 19:30 The opening ceremony of the Gazprom Winter Spartakiada Games took place today at the Uralochka competitive sports center in Yekaterinburg. The gala event was attended by Vladimir Markov, Member of the Management Committee and Head of Department at Gazprom, Alexey Kryukov, Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Yekaterinburg, Leonid Rapoport, Minister for Culture and Sports of the Sverdlovsk Region, and…
Moscow’s facial-recognition surveillance cameras are now being deployed by collectors to track down debtors, the city’s chief bailiff told state media on Wednesday. The Russian capital claims one of the world’s largest facial-recognition systems, with 174,000 closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras expected to be in operation this year. In 2018, personal loans in Russia grew by…
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Friday, the state-run RIA news agency reported, the latest in a flurry of visits by Venezuelan politicians to staunch ally Russia. Moscow has backed socialist President Nicolas Maduro in the face of a challenge from opposition leader Juan Guaido who…
Release February 27, 2019, 17:10 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of State Space Corporation Roscosmos, held today in Moscow a joint meeting on the prospects for further cooperation. The event was attended by heads of relevant subdivisions and subsidiaries of the Company and the state corporation. The cooperation between Gazprom and Roscosmos is strategic in nature. Specifically,…
On a cold but sunny afternoon rare for Moscow in mid-winter, a dozen activists stand shivering but resolute on Ulitsa Bolshaya Nikitskaya. They hold up large banners: “Stop tearing down our city!” and “Vandals are at work here!” prepared by the volunteer architecture preservation group Arkhnadzor. Passersby continually stop to read the banners and ask…
Russia’s aviation authority has told airlines to avoid flying over India and Pakistan after at least two military planes were shot down in the area, Russian media have reported. India and Pakistan shot down each other’s fighter jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a war…
Special Counsel Robert Mueller and other U.S. prosecutors have been investigating whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russia. Trump and Moscow have denied any collusion. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Russia interfered in the presidential election with a campaign of hacking and propaganda to sow discord in the United States and damage the…
Russia will reinforce its western, eastern and southern flanks this year in response to increased Western military exercises near its border, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Wednesday. Moscow has bolstered its military capabilities since its relations with the United States and the NATO military alliance deteriorated over Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Speaking at…
A business class jet cascaded off a runway at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday. Surveillance footage posted online shows the plane skidding off the runway’s asphalt and onto the surrounding airfield after landing. The three passengers and three members of crew on board the flight traveling from Baku were…
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that an email it had received from an adviser to then U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in January 2016 about a Moscow real estate project had made no mention of Trump’s personal interest in the project. The Kremlin was speaking before Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, testifies before a House…
The Kremlin on Wednesday said that U.S. territory was constantly being used to launch cyber attacks against Russia, but said it was unable to confirm a U.S. media report that the U.S. military had disrupted the internet access of a Russian troll farm. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the U.S. military had disrupted the internet…
Renowned Russian media executive and political consultant Igor Malashenko is believed to have committed suicide in Spain, Russian state media cited a Spanish court as saying. Malashenko’s former colleagues and family said he had taken his own life at age 64 on Monday, but no official sources have yet confirmed the reports. “Everything shows” that…
Leonardo DiCaprio has joined Pamela Anderson this week in calling on Russia to release dozens of orcas and belugas held in a so-called “whale jail” in the country’s Far East. Novaya Gazeta reported in late 2018 that about 100 Orcas and Belugas are being held in small temporary enclosures in a bay near the city of…
A suspected Russian spy has been arrested in Stockholm, the Swedish Security Police said on Wednesday. The suspect, who was arrested late Tuesday, is believed to have been engaged in criminal activity since at least 2017, the Security Police said. They declined to provide either a name or a gender for the suspect. “It is a…
Russia and Syria issued a joint statement on Wednesday calling on U.S. forces to leave Syria and to allow people inside a refugee camp in the southeast of the country to be evacuated by Russian and Syrian forces. The statement, released by Russia’s Defense Ministry, said Russian and Syrian forces had prepared buses to relocate…
Russia saw a 10 percent surge in international tourist arrivals last year, dominated by visitors from China, Germany and South Korea, state media cited the authorities as saying. Russia has introduced visa-free travel for Chinese tour groups and hired Chinese-speaking staff at airports and train stations to accommodate growing tourist numbers from the country of…
At least eight people, including three children, have been killed in a house fire in the Siberian region of Kemerovo, one year after a deadly fire there claimed scores of lives and sparked mass safety inspections. Sixty people, many of them children, died in the Siberian city of Kemerovo in March 2018 after the Winter…
On February 27th International Polar Bear Day is celebrated. The aim of the event is to draw extra attention to conservation of the largest predator in the planet. Rosneft considers the preservation and protection of polar bears as one of its priorities in activity in the field of ecology and environmental protection. Since 2014 Arctic…
The U.S. military disrupted the internet access of a Russian troll farm accused of trying to influence American voters on Nov. 6, 2018, the day of the congressional elections, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The U.S. Cyber Command strike targeted the Internet Research Agency in the Russian port city of St. Petersburg, the Post…
The U.S. Army estimates the Russian army’s military capabilities will peak in 2028, closely followed by the Chinese around 2030, giving the United States almost a decade to prepare for those threats, a senior Pentagon official said in an interview on Monday. The top civilian at the U.S. Army, Secretary Mark Esper, said the Army…
Release February 27, 2019, 09:45 The Gazprom Board of Directors expressed approval of the Company’s ongoing occupational, industrial and fire safety efforts and environmental protection measures. It was noted that the Company traditionally places great emphasis on these areas of work. Gazprom has an Occupational, Industrial and Fire Safety Policy. The Policy is based on the vertically-organized Integrated System of Industrial Safety Management, which applies to Gazprom and its 112 subsidiaries.…
A federal judge on Tuesday agreed to delay the sentencing of Maria Butina, who has admitted to working as a Russian agent to infiltrate a gun rights group and make inroads with U.S. conservative activists and Republicans, at the request of a prosecutor who cited her ongoing cooperation. Butina, 30, has been in custody since…
Release February 27, 2019, 09:40 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information on the Company’s procurement policies with regard to working with domestic producers to meet Gazprom’s strategic goals for 2019. It was stressed that Gazprom’s procurement policies are in full accord with the current Russian legislation and internal regulatory documents. All things being equal, Gazprom prioritizes goods and services of Russian…
Release February 27, 2019, 09:35 The Gazprom Board of Directors reviewed and took note of the information on the Company’s efforts to expand gas infrastructure in rural areas. It was highlighted that gas infrastructure expansion in Russian regions is a priority for Gazprom. This ambitious and socially significant project aims to improve the quality of life in Russian regions and make them more attractive to investors. Gazprom’s activities in this regard are focused…
February 27, 2019 Sustainalytics, a leading independent global provider of ESG and corporate governance research and ratings to investors, has increased Severstal’s rating from 54 to 70 points (out of a possible 100) in 2018, placing the Company in 8th position out of 42 metallurgical companies from around the world. Sustainalytics also placed “Severstal” in…
The head of a Russian vodka manufacturer has told The Moscow Times he was shocked to hear Dutch customs had intercepted a shipment of his goods on suspicion of it being bound for North Korea’s top brass. Early on Tuesday, the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (AD) reported that customs officials in the Dutch port city…