Donald Trump’s outgoing administration is planning to close the two remaining US consulates in Russia, the State Department confirmed Saturday, as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office amid high tensions with Moscow. The US will close its consulate in the far eastern city of Vladivostok and suspend operations at its post in Yekaterinburg, a department…
The aim was to transfer this information to Russian military intelligence, prosecutors said, adding that the diplomat also paid a Bulgarian official with access to classified information to provide him with the sensitive data. The spying row has soured relations between the two former allies, which have maintained their close cultural, historical and economic ties…
Maxim D. Shrayer was born in Moscow in the family of a writer and medical scientist, David Shrayer-Petrov, and a translator, Emilia Shrayer. His family applied to emigrate, and after more than eight years as refuseniks, they left for the U.S. in 1987 when Shrayer was 20 years old. In the U.S. Shrayer attended Brown…
Russia was “pretty clearly” behind a devastating cyberattack on several U.S. government agencies that also hit targets worldwide, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Microsoft said late Thursday that it had notified more than 40 customers hit by the malware, which security experts say could allow attackers unfettered network access to key government systems and electric…
HOLLYWOOD–Theaters in the U.S. are closed. Studios are on hiatus. The film industry is in freefall. But in Russia, movie fans will be the beneficiaries of Hollywood’s troubles. Theatrical blockbusters like the James Bond franchise, Disney-branded films and “Star Wars” remakes will skip the movie houses and will be available on streaming platforms in Russia…
Russia has confirmed 2,791,220 cases of coronavirus and 49,762 deaths. Dec. 19: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 28 209 new coronavirus cases and 585 deaths. The total number of infected people in Russia has reached 2 819 429. The conditional mortality increased to 1.79%, according to the data from the operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus.…
Moscow political operatives plan to engage apolitical youth in Russia’s 2021 legislative elections through TikTok, the Meduza news website reported Friday, citing unnamed sources close to the Kremlin. The popular short-form video app will presumably help Kremlin-backed candidates fend off challengers promoted by opposition figure Alexei Navalny. In the lead-up to next year’s vote, Navalny…
Moscow prosecutors have requested a three-year jail sentence for opposition municipal deputy Yulia Galyamina for multiple violations of Russian protest law, Galyamina said Friday. Galyamina was arrested alongside 140 others this summer for rallying against a package of constitutional amendments which among other changes pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to stay in power…
The Russian National Guard has signed a cooperation agreement with Belarus’ police force to combat “terrorism and extremism,” Interfax reported Friday. The agreement comes amid months of opposition protests in Belarus against the country’s disputed presidential election. Belarus’ Moscow-backed President Alexander Lukashenko has accused the opposition of being backed by the West and has jailed…
On December 16, the keel for the fifth (fourth serial) Project 22220 nuclear icebreaker Chukotka was laid at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg. Roman Kopin, the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM, Evgeny Elin, Vice Governor of St. Petersburg, Vyacheslav Ruksha, Deputy Director General and Director of the…
Leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny said German prosecutors interrogated him and his wife at Moscow’s request Thursday despite Russian authorities refusing to launch a criminal investigation into his poisoning. Navalny is undergoing rehabilitation in Berlin after recovering from what European scientists established was poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent in Siberia this summer. Russia…
A group of children that went missing in the caves near the Moscow region city of Domodedovo were found alive by rescuers late Thursday, Interfax reported. On Thursday morning a group of 10 people, eight of whom were children ages 9 to 12, entered the Syanovskiye cave system. They were supposed to return around 7:00…
Finland’s Nordea Bank plans to permanently cease its activities in Russia, the bank’s Russian branch announced Thursday. Nordea Bank “will concentrate its activities in the Scandinavian region, therefore it was decided to partially close the international network, including the Russian branch,” its statement said. In the third quarter of 2020 Nordea ranked 95th in the…
European officials have tipped off the United States that sanctioned Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska continued to pull the strings at companies he had divested from, Bloomberg said in a report that has since been denied by the firms. U.S. lawmakers raised concerns about Deripaska’s influence over aluminum giant Rusal and its parent company En+ early…
European home improvement stores continued to sell illegally logged wood from the Russian taiga after the alleged smuggler’s arrest back home, the British environmental nonprofit Earthsight said in a report Wednesday. More than 20 European companies were said to have bought 30 million euros ($36.7 million) worth of suspect wood from companies associated with timber…
A Moscow court fined Google on Thursday for not taking down online content banned by the Russian authorities, the latest in a series of escalating penalties against the U.S. tech giant. Google was found guilty of repeatedly failing to delete search results “containing information prohibited in Russia” and was fined 3 million rubles (around $41,000),…
Sport’s highest court on Thursday banned Russia from the international stage for two years including the rearranged Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Games but the halving of the initial punishment was described by a leading U.S. official as “a catastrophic blow to clean athletes and the integrity of sport.” The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s…
December 17, 2020, 20:00 The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the information about the progress of the Amur Gas Processing Plant (GPP) construction project. It was noted that the active phase of construction and installation operations is in full swing at the site of the future enterprise, with over 30,000 workers and engineers engaged in the operations. As of today, the project’s readiness is at 70.5 per cent. The recruitment process for…
Background Gazprom Armenia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom, supplies natural gas to Armenia’s domestic market. In addition, the company transports, stores, distributes and sells gas, as well as upgrades and expands the gas transmission system and underground gas storage facilities in the Republic of Armenia.
A top-secret missile launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk region earlier this week was a weapon capable of destroying satellites in low orbit. Indications of a launch from Plesetsk came as NOTAM warnings were issued for three areas in the Russian Arctic in a straight line north from the cosmodrome. The areas were coincident…
President Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference on Thursday focused heavily on the coronavirus pandemic that has hit Russia hard. The event follows a tumultuous 12 months for the Kremlin that also included unrest across the post-Soviet world, ongoing protests in the Far East and the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Speaking to journalists via…
Russia’s domestic security agency tails Alexei Navalny because he is backed by U.S. intelligence, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday in his first public comments on a high-profile media investigation into the opposition figure’s poisoning. A media investigation claimed this week that Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical weapons experts had shadowed Navalny on more than 30…
Russia has carried out 10% fewer coronavirus tests so far in December than it had by the same time last month despite the country’s ongoing surge in new infections, Reuters reported Wednesday. Coronavirus tests fell by 825,000 (11%) in the first two weeks of December compared to the first two weeks of November, Reuters said,…
TENEX (an organization of ROSATOM) and ENUSA INDUSTRIAS AVANZADAS, S.A. S.M.E. (ENUSA) have extended the current contract for enriched uranium supply. TENEX has been providing ENUSA with enriched uranium product for nuclear fuel manufacture for Spanish nuclear power plants since 1975. The current long-term contact signed in 2002 is being successfully delivered and regularly renewed.…
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will receive the Russian-developed Sputnik V coronavirus jab once it is approved for people his age, praising the vaccine as safe and effective. The 68-year-old Russian president said at his annual end-of-year press conference that he had not been vaccinated yet, but “will definitely do so as soon as it becomes possible” according to expert…
Russian authorities are investigating the deaths of 14 coronavirus hospital patients after an oxygen equipment breakdown last month, authorities and state media said Wednesday. Some 40 intensive care patients were moved in early November from a maternity ward converted into a Covid-19 hospital in the city of Kursk south of Moscow after an oxygen supply malfunction…
As a teacher at a large school in Moscow’s southern suburbs, Nina Zhukova should have been one of the first to receive the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine being offered to priority workers across the Russian capital. Instead, having already contracted and recovered from the virus in the autumn, Zhukova is determined not to be vaccinated. …
A court in Siberia has sentenced an elderly Jehovah’s Witness leader to six years in prison for organizing an extremist group, authorities and the religious organization said Wednesday. The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia said Yury Savelyev, 66, has spent almost half his sentence in pre-trial detention and is expected to be released in 2023. Authorities…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov received a 300-year-old gilded icon from eastern Ukraine on his trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina, European media reported Wednesday. Bosnia’s Serb President Milorad Dodik gifted the Ukrainian Orthodox icon thought to be from the war-torn pro-Russian region of Luhansk, according to Ukraine’s Euromaidan Press news website. The Ukrainian Embassy in Sarajevo requested…
Facebook has exposed a curious battle for influence in Africa, with former colonial power France and former superpower Russia using fake accounts to engage, criticize and even befriend each other online. The U.S. tech firm said on Tuesday it had closed down two Russian-linked networks of accounts and a third with “links to individuals associated…
A Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship bound for Antarctica has been forced to turn back after sustaining damage, and will bypass Europe before undergoing repairs, state nuclear agency Rosatom said Wednesday. Green activists have expressed concern that the vessel will be sailing past several European countries on its way home during the winter storm season. The Sevmorput vessel…
Senior Russian diplomats and state television pundits have dismissed media investigations into leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s poisoning and accused their authors of illegal invasion of privacy. A joint investigation published by several media outlets this week claimed Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical weapons experts had tailed Navalny for years, including on the day he was…
December 16, 2020, 16:30 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 St. Petersburg. The parties discussed the conditions of Russian gas supplies to and gas transportation across Belarus starting from January…
Thailand has restored visa-free access to Russian tourists months after it first imposed coronavirus border restrictions, Interfax cited the royal kingdom’s tourism ministry as saying Wednesday. Thailand, a popular tourist destination that has escaped relatively unscathed from the Covid-19 pandemic, began reopening its borders in October to kick-start its battered tourism industry. All new arrivals…
Russia has confirmed 2,734,454 cases of coronavirus and 48,564 deaths. Dec. 17: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 26,509 coronavirus cases and 596 deaths Wednesday. Aeroflot will allocate special seating for passengers who refuse to wear face masks on flights, a spokeswoman for Russia’s flagship carrier said Tuesday. Moscow-based foreign nationals including doctors and educators with valid passports, certificates of…
United States investigators probed Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr.’s suspected poisonings as “intentional” acts, the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty news outlet reported Tuesday, citing newly obtained records. Kara-Murza, 39, says he was deliberately poisoned in Moscow in 2015 and 2017 as retaliation for his lobbying efforts to impose U.S. and EU sanctions against…
Almost half of all migrants living in Russia before the coronavirus pandemic have likely left the country this year, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. In a statement cited by the RBC news website, authorities said there are currently 6.3 million foreign citizens in Russia. That number has been steadily declining since the start of the…
President Vladimir Putin’s cousin has formed a new political party called “Russia Without Corruption,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. Roman Putin is an entrepreneur, politician, former FSB officer and Putin’s first cousin, once removed. He previously headed the “People Against Corruption” party, which was dissolved last month by the Russian Supreme Court for…
American action star and Russian citizen Steven Seagal’s Russian bank account has been blocked by the country’s Federal Tax Service, the Moskva news agency reported Wednesday. The Sberbank account was blocked in order to ensure the collection of a tax, penalty or fine, Moskva cited documents in the Bankinform database as saying. A spokesperson for…
Aeroflot will allocate special seating for passengers who refuse to wear face masks on flights, a spokeswoman for Russia’s flagship carrier said Tuesday. The changes came after the airline warned that it would deny boarding to maskless passengers as part of its tighter coronavirus control measures. “Dedicated seats are provided for passengers who refuse to…
Russian activist Konstantin Kotov was released from prison Wednesday after serving 18 months for “multiple breaches” of Russia’s protest law. Kotov, who was arrested during the summer 2019 Moscow election protests, was the second person ever to be prosecuted under the controversial law criminalizing “repeated” participation in unauthorized rallies. A Moscow court cut the 35-year-old…
Residents of Russia’s heavily polluted industrial city of Chelyabinsk are calling on U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to help them avoid “ecological genocide.” In a video appeal, residents said Russian authorities routinely ignore their complaints that industrial emissions are getting worse every year, causing rising cases of cancer and suffocating the city in smoke. “They’re taking…
America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused Russia of continuing to “threaten Mediterranean stability” and sowing “chaos, conflict and division” in countries around the region. In a statement on “Russian Influence in the Mediterranean,” the outgoing Secretary of State responded to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who he said “accused the United States of…
Eligible Moscow-based foreigners can get vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as part of the mass rollout currently underway, a representative from the Moscow Health Department told The Moscow Times. Russia kicked off its nationwide vaccination campaign among medics, teachers and other high-risk workers in recent days. Foreign nationals including doctors and educators with…
Russia’s MC-21 medium-range passenger aircraft has made its first flight with a domestically made engine, state industrial conglomerate Rostec announced Tuesday. “Through the efforts of scientists, designers, engineers and workers, a next-generation airliner is being created that returns our country to the top league of world aviation,” Rostec head Sergei Chemezov said in a statement.…
“Two times a month, Tuesday is my favorite day of the week, because when I come home from school, the newspaper Zolotoi Klyuchik (Golden Key) is waiting for me in the mailbox. The sound the paper makes and the way it feels, the smell… Nothing can replace print newspapers and magazines!” That’s the opinion of…
At least five members of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, have been infected with coronavirus twice, its speaker said Tuesday. Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said 11 lawmakers have tested positive for coronavirus over the past week, bringing the total number of infections in the 450-member chamber to 157. “What’s more concerning is that five…
Russians have some of the world’s most conservative attitudes toward gender roles, according to a multinational survey spanning 10 countries. The GlobalNR research network and its Russian partner ROMIR found that 82% of Chinese respondents, 71% of Russians and 69% of Indians agreed with the statement that traditional gender roles are best suited for society.…
Just two weeks have passed since the official start of the winter season, but most areas of Russia are already covered in snow. In the northern republic of Sakha, temperatures went below minus 50 degrees Celsius last weekend. Living in a country where winters can last for up to seven months, those who live in…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory telegram to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden after the Electoral College confirmed his win, the Kremlin announced Tuesday. Putin is one of the last world leaders to congratulate the president-elect, with his message coming six weeks after the Nov. 3 vote in which Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump.…
Fire erupted in a retirement home in central Russia overnight, killing 11 people who were trapped as the blaze swept through the small wooden building, investigators said Tuesday. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it had opened a criminal investigation into possible negligence over the blaze at the home in the Bashkortostan region. …
U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone said he has received Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus despite the country’s mass rollout not covering his age group. Russia launched nationwide Covid-19 vaccine distribution late last week among high-risk health, education and other workers aged 18 to 60. Experts have warned it could be harmful for patients aged…
December 15, 2020 Izhora Pipe Mill (ITZ, part of Severstal’s Russian Steel division) has again successfully passed an audit by the API (American Petroleum Institute) certification body. In a first for both parties, the 2020 audit was performed online. The API audit is extremely thorough, and the Company spends over a year preparing for it…
The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Turkey’s military procurement agency after the NATO ally defiantly bought Russia’s S-400 air defense system. “Today’s action sends a clear signal that the United States will fully implement (U.S. law) and will not tolerate significant transactions with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo…
14 December 2020, Büyükeceli, Mersin Province, Turkey – Installation of the core catcher vessel into design position has been completed in the Reactor Building of Power Unit 2 of the Akkuyu NPP. The height of the core catcher shell is 5.8 metres, diameter – 6.1 metres, weight – 169 tonnes. The vessel being the main…
Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is 91.4% effective, its developers announced Monday, citing a new analysis of data from its Phase 3 clinical trials. The state-run Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow that developed Sputnik V said the data was obtained 21 days after volunteers received the first dose of the two-shot…
An ally of President Vladimir Putin has shelled out nearly $500,000 to two Russian political operatives recently freed by Libya after 18 months in captivity, his company said Monday. Russian media last week reported that Maxim Shugaley and his interpreter Samir Seifan, who were arrested in Libya in May 2019 on charges of vote meddling,…
Two Russian men were on Monday sentenced to jail terms of three years and 10 years for a savage attack on an English football supporter at the 2016 European championships. Mikhail Ivkin received a three-year term and Pavel Kossov the longer sentence for their role in the beating that left Briton Andrew Bache with a…
Restaurants and bars in Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg are at odds with authorities over New Year’s restrictions aimed at combating one of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, saying the measures threaten their survival. Dozens of establishments have said they intend to remain open for Russia’s most festive holiday, while city authorities have clamped…
An elite Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical weapons unit shadowed opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s movements for the past three years up until his near-fatal poisoning, a joint media investigation said Monday. Navalny is recovering in Berlin after being poisoned with what Western governments say was the deadly Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in August. The European…