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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday allowed Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk to keep his job after the leak of an embarrassing audio recording prompted Honcharuk to submit his resignation. In a carefully choreographed video of the two men sitting at a desk that was released on Friday evening, in which Honcharuk was mostly silent, Zelenskiy…

Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport opened the first phase of its newest international terminal Friday.  Sheremetyevo is the eighth-busiest airport in Europe, with more than 49.9 million travelers using its terminals last year.  Terminal C, the airport’s fifth terminal, covers 127,000 square meters and has an annual capacity of 20 million passengers. With the opening of Terminal…

Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk submitted his resignation on Friday after an audio recording suggested he had criticized the president, but then appeared to suggest that he might stay in his job. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would consider the resignation letter later on Friday, the president’s office said. Speculation over Honcharuk’s position has grown this week…

Russia’s Northern Fleet is set to acquire new anti-submarine aircraft that will be modeled on a late-Soviet passenger plane. A modified version of the Tupolev-204/214 passenger plane will be the equivalent of U.S. built Boeing P-8 Poseidon that Norway, among other countries, will deploy for surveillance flights over the Barents and Norwegian Seas. The revamped…

One of Russia’s elite universities is considering banning its students and faculty from exercising political speech in the wake of high-profile scandals involving free speech last year, according to its newly proposed rules. Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE) became embroiled in several controversies in 2019, including the cancellation of its student talk show after…

The number of ships escorted by Russian icebreakers along the Northern Sea Route increased by 54% between 2018 and 2019. The increase in ship escorting is caused by an increase in LNG production on the Yamal Peninsula, Rosatomflot, the company managing Russia’s fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, said. The 510 vessels that were escorted through the…

Few people on the streets of Moscow on Thursday had heard of Mikhail Mishustin, the former Federal Tax Service chief plucked from relative obscurity by President Vladimir Putin this week to serve as new prime minister. But many welcomed the abrupt exit of his long-time predecessor and said sweeping changes at the top had been…

Around 350,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled a renewed Russian-backed offensive in the opposition-held Idlib province since early December, and have sought shelter in border areas near Turkey, the United Nations said on Thursday. Conditions for people were deteriorating because of the increased hostilities, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs…

The Russian capital experienced a total of eight hours of sunlight in December, the head of Russia’s meteorological center said Thursday. While less than 4% of the city’s possible sunlight hours without cloud coverage, the eight hours still surpassed the six minutes of clear skies that Moscow saw in December 2017.  “Muscovites saw only eight…

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new prime minister appears to own elite real estate in a prestigious suburb outside Moscow, the Proekt investigative news website reported Thursday. Russia’s parliament voted to approve Mikhail Mishustin, head of the country’s tax service, into office Thursday. Putin’s surprise choice is part of the president’s shake-up of the political system,…

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree appointing Mikhail Mishustin as prime minister, shortly after the former head of the tax service won the backing of parliament. Mishustin received 383 votes of 424 cast by Russia’s lower house of parliament, with no votes against and 41 abstentions — a victory that had been…

Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced his and his cabinet’s resignation on Wednesday just hours after President Vladimir Putin delivered his state of the nation speech. The resignation of longtime Putin ally Medvedev, 54, came as an unexpected move to many. It is widely seen as a move that will give Putin room to reshape…

Russia‘s top economic officials have canceled keynote speeches they were due to make at the country’s first economic forum of 2020, an updated schedule showed on Thursday, a day after the government quit amid plans for a constitutional shakeup. President Vladimir Putin proposed changes on Wednesday that would give him scope to extend his grip…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

An unnamed shooter has opened fire inside a courthouse in the Siberian mining city of Novokuznetsk, killing a bailiff and injuring a witness, authorities said Thursday. The 45-year-old shooter armed with a rifle critically wounded a 45-year-old bailiff and a 43-year-old female witness inside a Novokuznetsk magistrates’ court, regional investigators said in a statement. The…

Russia‘s ruling party on Thursday unanimously backed President Vladimir Putin’s surprise choice for prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, a man with almost no political profile. Mishustin’s elevation is part of a sweeping shake-up of the political system announced by Putin on Wednesday, which led to the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister along with his…

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has ceded power as head of the southern Russian region due to a “temporary disability,” according to a decree on the regional government’s website dated Monday. Kadyrov, 43, announced a similar brief transfer of power in February 2019, later explaining that he was recovering from a common cold.  “I entrust the…

For over an hour, President Vladimir Putin’s annual state-of-the-nation speech on Wednesday sounded just like those that had come before it.  As in previous years, Putin proposed measures for encouraging Russians to have more children, tackling poverty levels and stimulating economic growth.  And, not for the first time, Prime Minister Dmitry Medevev had trouble staying…

Mikhail Mishustin, President Vladimir Putin’s surprise choice to become Russia‘s prime minister, is a tax chief with almost no political profile who analysts say could be a “technocratic placeholder.” The Kremlin-dominated lower house of parliament, which rarely opposes Putin on important issues, is due to decide whether to approve Mishustin on Thursday. Mishustin, 53, has been…

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday formally put forward Mikhail Mishustin, the little-known head of Russia‘s Federal Tax Service, to be Russia‘s new prime minister, the Kremlin said. Putin submitted his candidacy to the Russian parliament for approval after Mishustin agreed to be put forward for the role, the Kremlin said. Russia‘s government resigned unexpectedly earlier on Wednesday…

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed constitutional changes on Wednesday that would give him scope to extend his grip on power after leaving the presidency, and picked a new prime minister after Dmitry Medvedev and his cabinet stepped down. Most importantly, Putin suggested diminishing the powers of the presidency and beefing up those of the prime…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

President Vladimir Putin turned an eye toward Russia’s domestic affairs in his annual state-of-the-nation speech Wednesday, outlining proposals for fixing the country’s political, economic and social problems. Addressing both houses of parliament, the Federal Assembly, at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, Putin discussed Russia’s demographic crisis, the poverty level and Russia’s defense. In addition to…

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday proposed a nationwide vote on sweeping constitutional changes that would shift power from the presidency to parliament and the prime minister, a move that could allow him to extend his rule after leaving the Kremlin. In power as either president or prime minister since 1999, Putin, 67, is due to…

The United States may be using a “climate weapon” to cause an unseasonably warm winter in Russia, a lawmaker has claimed in an interview with the Govorit Moskva radio station Tuesday. Weather experts say the anomaly in Moscow and parts of Russia this winter was caused by an atmospheric front from the Atlantic Ocean. “I’m…

The Russian car market is braced for a turbulent year ahead, as a leading business association warns sales are likely to drop and more manufacturers could give up on Russia altogether. Sales of new cars dropped by 2.3% in 2019 to around 1.76 million units, and will fall by a further 2.1% in 2020, the…

Russia does not plan to exchange a U.S.-Israeli backpacker jailed on drug charges ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Israel this month, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. Naama Issachar, 27, was sentenced to seven and a half years for drug smuggling after airport authorities found less than 10 grams of hashish in her…

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday Moscow has been urging Gulf countries to consider a common security mechanism for the region and it was time the world got rid of unilateral measures such as sanctions. “We have been suggesting to the Gulf countries to think about collective security mechanisms … starting with confidence-building…

Khalifa Haftar was expecting the Kremlin red carpet. Instead he was cooped up in a Russian Foreign Ministry reception building hoping for an audience with Vladimir Putin. In the end, the Libyan military commander lost patience and stormed out. Hours later, he left Moscow in his Dassault Falcon corporate jet bound for the Jordanian capital, Amman. When the…

Russia will not set uniform size and weight rules for flying pets after an overweight cat snuck into a plane’s cabin captured the nation’s heart, the Transportation Ministry has said in a letter cited by the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper Tuesday. Russia’s union of passengers asked the ministry to set the rules after national flag carrier…

Russia’s lower house of parliament has prepared a wide-reaching amnesty bill intended to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. The end of the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is known in Russia, is still celebrated as the country’s most important public holiday every May…

When Alexei Voronenkov’s 70-year-old mother passed away, he paid to have her brain frozen and stored in the hope breakthroughs in science will one day be able to bring her back to life. It is one of 71 brains and human cadavers — which Russian company KrioRus calls its “patients” — floating in liquid nitrogen…

Authorities in Russia are investigating a Nigerian criminal network that allegedly forced women into prostitution after they arrived visa-free during Russia’s football World Cup in 2018, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. Two Nigerians were arrested in October 2018 and charged with human trafficking after selling one victim to a police officer posing as…

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian businessman who spent nearly a decade in prison in Russia on what he said were politically motivated charges by the Kremlin, won a second victory at Europe’s top human rights court. The Russian trial judge’s refusal to “allow the defense to examine prosecution and defense witnesses and to submit important expert…

A Siberian shaman has called on supporters from around the world to join his third attempt to cast President Vladimir Putin out of power this spring. Alexander Gabyshev was detained twice last year while hiking toward Moscow to expel Putin from the Kremlin. Activists say authorities suspect Gabyshev of inciting extremism, a criminal charge that…

More than 50,000 Muscovites have been evacuated in 2020 so far in the latest wave of bomb threats after more than 1 million evacuations last year, Interfax reported Tuesday. The New Year’s holidays provided a brief respite from the bomb hoaxes which have intermittently plagued Russia since late 2017. A record 1.1 million have been…

Russian military hackers tried to steal emails from the Ukrainian energy firm where Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic U.S. presidential contender Joe Biden, had a seat on the board, an American cybersecurity firm said on Monday. Energy company Burisma Holdings was at the center of attempts by President Donald Trump last July to pressure…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

Libya’s warring leaders made some progress at indirect peace talks in Moscow on Monday but failed to agree on an unconditional and open-ended ceasefire. In talks that lasted about eight hours, mediators Russia and Turkey urged the rivals to sign a binding truce to end a nine-month-old war and pave the way for a settlement that would…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

Three Russian journalists investigating a secretive Kremlin-linked military group in the Central African Republic (CAR) were killed in a robbery attempt, a senior Russian investigator said in an interview with the Kommersant business daily Monday. Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzhemal were shot and killed on July 30, 2018, while investigating the activities of…

Boris Rotenberg, a Russian businessman under U.S. sanctions over the Ukraine conflict due to his close ties with President Vladimir Putin, on Monday lost a discrimination lawsuit he filed in a Finnish court against four Nordic banks. “Helsinki District Court has rejected Boris Rotenberg’s complaint over the right to banking services and damages for discrimination,” the…

An opposition activist in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan has been placed under arrest for a YouTube video showing a mock trial and “execution” of senior Russian figures, the Mediazona news website reported. Karim Yamadayev’s controversial video depicts him playing a judge and sentencing two stand-ins, who wear signs reading the names of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

The leader of Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia has resigned following days of protests contesting his victory in an election held last fall. After protesters stormed the government headquarters Thursday, Abkhazia’s lawmakers voted for President Raul Khadzhimba’s ouster and its supreme court reversed its earlier decision that upheld his re-election in September. Khadzhimba had led…

Moscow State University is in discussions with Syria to open a branch in Damascus, the state-run TASS news agency reported Sunday, citing the university’s rector. Viktor Sadovnichy’s remarks confirm reports last week that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has allocated land in the Syrian capital to build a Russian university. As Syrian government forces reclaimed the…

Russia and its allies halted air strikes in Syria’s Idlib region on Sunday as a ceasefire agreed with Turkey came into force, residents, rebels and respondents said, although few were optimistic the truce would hold. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Idlib province in recent weeks as Russian jets and Syrian artillery pounded towns and villages…

As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…

The Supreme Court of breakaway Georgian region Abkhazia on Friday overturned a presidential election that had returned the incumbent but triggered rowdy protests. The isolated region, which broke away from Georgia after the Soviet Union collapsed, saw protesters on Thursday break into government headquarters to demand the exit of local president Raul Khajimba, who was…

Iran said on Saturday its military had shot down a Ukrainian plane killing all 176 aboard in a “disastrous mistake”, saying air defenses were fired in error while on alert after Iranian missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq. Iran had denied for days after Wednesday’s crash that it had brought down the airliner, although…