Author: admin
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Russian TV Reporters Attacked in Georgia Amid Heightened Tensions – Reports
The film crew of a Russian state-run television channel was attacked in Georgia’s capital on Saturday amid a flare-up in tensions between the two countries, Russian media have reported. Tensions between Russia and Georgia were ignited after a Russian lawmaker’s speech in the Georgian parliament set off mass protests in Tbilisi on Thursday. Demonstrators violently […]
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How Did the World Cup Change Russia, One Year On?
Moscow transformed itself to host hundreds of thousands of fans for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. One year after, what’s the legacy of the event in Russia… and how did Russia change? We headed to two popular places for fans, Nikolskaya Street and Luzhniki Stadium to ask Muscovites about their memories of the World Cup.
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Putin Suspends Passenger Flights From Russia to Georgia
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to suspend passenger flights carrying Russian citizens from Russia to Georgia. The move comes amid a brewing political crisis between the two countries after mass anti-Russian protests sparked by a Russian lawmaker’s visit rocked Georgia’s capital on Thursday. In a decree signed Friday, Putin also instructed the Russian […]
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Russia Will Help Iran With Oil If Payment Channel Not Launched, Official Says
Russia is ready to help Iran with oil exports and its banking sector if the Instex European payment system is not launched, Interfax cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday. The Instex mechanism was created by European countries in an attempt to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with six global […]
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Soviet Russia Seen Through an American Photographer’s Lens
Thomas Hammond, a professor at the University of Virginia and a specialist in Russian and Soviet history, made several trips to the Soviet Union before its collapse in 1991. During his travels, he visited many Soviet cities, taking more than 3,000 photos along the way. A newly presented series of his photographs taken from 1956 […]
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The Night of Ivan Kupala
The summer solstice is here! Get out your sleep masks and blackout curtains. In Moscow the sun rose on June 21 at 3:44 a.m. and will set at 9:18 p.m., giving the city 17 hours and 33 minutes of sunlight — a whopping 10 hours and 33 minutes longer than the amount of sunlight we […]
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Rosneft Takes Part in Rescue of the Polar Bear in Norilsk
A two-year female polar bear that came out to people in search of food was rescued in Norilsk with help of Rosneft Oil Company and the Wildlife Conservation and Research Society. Due to the severe physical exhaustion of the animal, the specialists had to perform an operation to save her as fast as possible. Under […]
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Rosneft Aero Wins Tender to Fuel Turkish Airlines Airplanes in Russian Airports
Rosneft Aero, the operator of the jet-fuelling business of Rosneft Oil Company, has been awarded a tender for fuelling the aircraft fleet of the largest Turkish air carrier Turkish Airlines in Russian airports until 2020.
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Russians Are Losing Interest in Foreign Policy, Poll Says
Less than half of Russians pay attention to foreign policy issues, according to a new poll by the state-run Foundation of Public Opinion (FOM) pollster. Polling in recent years has suggested Russians are becoming less focused on endeavors abroad as the economy stagnates and living standards fall. In the FOM poll published Friday, 49 percent […]
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Gazprom’s Financial and Economic Policy Press Conference held
Accreditation of journalists for the Press Conferences in the lead-up to the Shareholders Meeting Listen to audio For Gazprom’s Press Conferences audio broadcast please dial: +7 495 719-35-77 (Russian) +7 495 719-30-00 (English) June 21, 2019, 02:30 pm (Moscow time) [embedded content] Participants: Famil Sadygov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Elena Vasilieva, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Chief Accountant, Gazprom; Alexander Ivannikov, Head of Department, Gazprom; […]
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Russian Hermit Seeks Peace in Remote Siberia
Viktor, 62, turned his back on society 16 years ago and moved to the remote forest wilderness of Russian Siberia where he lives in seclusion in a wooden hut, studying the Bible and foraging for food. Gray-bearded, enigmatic and with a huge tattoo of Christ across his back, the former barge operator refuses to disclose […]
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Georgian Parliament Leader Resigns Over Mass Anti-Russian Protests
The head of Georgia’s parliament has resigned after mass anti-Russian protests rocked the capital this week. Thousands of protesters on Thursday tried to storm the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi after Russian lawmaker Sergei Gavrilov addressed an event for Orthodox Christian leaders in his native Russian from the parliamentary speaker’s seat. Demonstrators violently clashed with police, […]
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Russia Accuses U.S. of Pushing Iran Situation to Brink of War
Russia accused the United States on Friday of deliberately stoking dangerous tensions around Iran and pushing the situation to the brink of war, the state-run RIA news agency reported. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called on Washington to weigh the possible consequences of conflict with Iran and said a report in the New York Times […]
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Chechen Human Rights Leader Titiyev Released From Prison, 18 Months After Arrest
Oyub Titiyev, a prominent human rights leader in Russia’s republic of Chechnya, was released from Russian prison on Friday morning, more than 18 months after first being detained on drug charges his supporters say were fabricated. Titiyev, who runs the office of the Memorial Human Rights Center in the southern Russian region, was detained in […]
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‘Russia Is Our Enemy’: The Reactions to Anti-Russian Protests in Georgia
Officials in Russia and Georgia have spoken out following Thursday night’s mass protest in Tbilisi which broke out over anti-Russian sentiment and led to dozens of injuries. Crowds angry over the visit of a Russian lawmaker tried to storm Georgia’s parliament building on Thursday evening, pushing against lines of riot police, throwing bottles and grabbing […]
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EU Extends Economic Sanctions on Russia Until 2020
European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to prolong until the end of January 2020 economic sanctions against Russia over the turmoil in Ukraine, a spokesman for the bloc said. The EU first slapped sanctions on Russia after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and supported rebels fighting Kiev troops in the east of […]
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Georgians Angry Over Russian Lawmaker’s Visit Try to Storm Parliament
Crowds angry over the visit of a Russian lawmaker tried to storm Georgia’s parliament building on Thursday evening, pushing against lines of riot police, throwing bottles and grabbing riot shields from some officers and tearing off their helmets. The scenes in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, flared up suddenly after public anger over the visit and speech […]
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‘Like Pre-Revolutionary Pogroms’: Ethnic Conflicts on the Rise in Russia
Dmitry, his wife, their five children and his elderly mother spent last weekend hiding in the woods just outside Penza, a city 650 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Whenever they needed food or water, Dmitry drove to the nearest store, bought rations and, after briefly charging his phone, hurried back to his family. “I didn’t sleep […]
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Georgians Protest Outside Parliament Over Russian Delegation’s Visit
Tens of thousands of Georgians gathered outside the parliament building in the capital Tbilisi on Thursday to protest against a speech made in the country’s parliament by a Russian lawmaker in his own language. Protesters chanted slogans against Russian President Vladimir Putin and dozens broke through police lines to try to storm the parliament building. Sergei Gavrilov […]
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The first construction and installation work launches at the construction base of the Paks-2 NPP (Hungary)
On June 20, a solemn ceremony was held at the construction base of hungarian Paks-2 NPP (General Contractor JSC ASE, Engineering division of ROSATOM) dedicated to the beginning of the erecting first buildings of the construction base. The ceremony was attended by the Minister without portfolio Responsible for the Planning, Construction and Commissioning of the […]
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Crowds of Protesters Set Up Camp Against Landfill in Russia’s North
Hundreds of protesters opposing a controversial landfill in Russia’s north have set up camp near its construction site in a rare tent-based demonstration for the country. Protests against the $162-million landfill in Shiyes, Arkhangelsk region, have become a symbol of Russia’s growing trend toward issues-based local activism. Almost a year of demonstrations in the abandoned […]
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Russia Starts Freeing Captive Belugas From ‘Whale Prison,’ Reports Say
Russia has started releasing a group of captive whales whose detention in Russia’s Far East has caused an international outcry, state media said on Thursday. Nearly 100 whales reportedly bound for export to China have been held for months in cramped pens near the Sea of Japan port of Nakhodka, triggering a wave of international […]
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The Key Quotes of Putin’s Annual Question and Answer Session
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s is holding his annual question and answer session broadcast live on Thursday on state television. The marathon Q&A session has become a yearly tradition during Putin’s nearly two decades in power, giving the Russian president a chance to shape narratives around pressing issues. Here are the highlights: On whether he has […]
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Protesters Support Teenage Sisters Charged With Murder for Killing Abusive Father
As many as 350 people gathered in central Moscow on Wednesday evening to protest murder charges brought last week against three teenage sisters who stabbed their father to death after he had abused them for years. Krestina, Angelina and Maria Khachaturyan had been under house arrest waiting to hear what the charges against them would […]
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Fate of Captured Ukrainian Sailors Must be Tied to Jailed Russians, Putin Says
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the fate of 24 Ukrainian sailors held in Russia since last year must be linked to the release of Russian citizens held in Ukraine whom Moscow wants to see freed. Putin’s comments marked a departure from the Kremlin’s insistence that the sailors must be put on trial and […]
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EU Lost 5 Times More From Sanctions Than Russia, Putin Says
Russia has lost $50 billion due to Western sanctions in the past five years, compared to $240 billion that the European Union has lost from Russian sanctions, President Vladimir Putin has claimed. Russia has been hit with several rounds of Western sanctions since 2014 after its annexation of Crimea and aggression in Ukraine, as well […]
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New Oil Contamination Found in Druzhba Pipeline, Russia’s Transneft Says
Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft said on Thursday that more contaminated oil had been found at a section of the Druzhba pipeline from Belarus to Poland, the RBC media portal said. Pumping was suspended on Wednesday evening but resumed on Thursday, the report cited Transneft as saying. Russia suspended west-bound flows through the pipeline in April […]
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Putin, Hit by Ratings Drop, Tells Russians a Better Life Awaits
President Vladimir Putin told Russians on Thursday there were signs that years of falling real wages, which have dented his popularity, were drawing to an end and that a government programme would deliver higher living standards. Putin, 66, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, was re-elected by a landslide last year but […]
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Putin Tells Russians: Increase Productivity to Raise Standard of Living
Russians will see a boost in their living standards if they raise their labor productivity, President Vladimir Putin has said during his annual phone-in with the public. The productivity of the Russian workforce is among the lowest of the world’s major economies, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Living standards have declined as […]
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Ex-U.S. Marine Held by Russia in Spy Case Urges Trump to Help Him
A former U.S. Marine held in Russia on suspicion of spying called on U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of Britain, Canada and Ireland to help him as he appeared in court at an appeal hearing on Thursday. Paul Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained in a Moscow hotel […]
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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Says Russia Being Made a Scapegoat for Downing of MH17
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday that Russia is being made a scapegoat for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and questioned the objectivity of the investigations into the 2014 disaster. The international investigative team set up to probe the crash said on Wednesday three Russians and one Ukrainian will face murder […]
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Putin Kicks Off Annual Phone-In As Domestic, Foreign Issues Swirl
President Vladimir Putin began his televised phone-in session with the Russian public on Thursday at noon Moscow time amid a backdrop of growing dissatisfaction at home and stormy relations abroad. The marathon Q&A session has become a yearly tradition during Putin’s nearly two decades in power, giving the Russian president a chance to shape narratives […]
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Trump Says He Will Meet Putin at G20 Summit Next Week
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at next week’s G20 summit in Japan. In an interview on Fox News, Trump said he would hold meetings with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump confirmed earlier this week he would be meeting with Xi. “I want to get along […]
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Russian Experts Help Vietnam Preserve Corpse of Ho Chi Minh
Vietnam has formed a special team of experts, including four Russian scientists, to help preserve the embalmed body of the Communist-ruled state’s founding leader, Ho Chi Minh, according to a written copy of the official decision seen by Reuters. The special council has been created to assess the condition of Ho’s aging corpse — first embalmed […]
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Russia Says MH17 Investigation’s Findings Are Groundless
Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it regretted the findings of the international investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17and called murder charges against Russian suspects groundless. Three Russians and a Ukrainian will face murder charges for the 2014 downing of the MH17 jet over eastern Ukraine that killed 298 people, in […]
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U.S. Targets Russian Firm for Allegedly Helping North Korea Evade Sanctions
The United States has sanctioned a Russian financial institution for allegedly helping North Korea evade financial sanctions by assisting a company linked to Pyongyang’s primary foreign exchange bank, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday. U.S. officials targeted Russian Financial Society and accused it of opening multiple bank accounts for Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade […]
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Activists Condemn Arrest of Journalist in Russia’s Dagestan Amid Torture Claims
The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom group has called for the immediate release of a journalist detained in the Russian republic of Dagestan late last week, saying that the evidence against him was improperly obtained. Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, the religious affairs editor for the independent Chernovik news weekly, was arrested on June 14 on charges […]
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Gazprom Management Committee reviews progress of Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream projects
Release June 19, 2019, 17:10 The Gazprom Management Committee reviewed the progress of the construction projects for the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream export gas pipelines. It was noted that both projects are going according to schedule. To date, about 1,450 kilometers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, i.e. over 59 per cent of its total length, have been laid in the Baltic Sea. Pipelaying is currently underway in Finnish […]
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Athletics Culture at Odds With Reinstatement Push, Russian Anti-Doping Chief Says
Russian anti-doping chief Yuri Ganus said on Wednesday that the country’s suspended athletics federation was not doing enough to stamp out doping culture and was falling short in its bid to be reinstated by global athletics governing body IAAF. Russia’s athletics federation has been suspended since a 2015 report commissioned by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) […]
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Stripping Down in the Sun, Moscow-Style
To keep our newsroom in Moscow running, we need your support. With your help, we can continue with our mission to keep you informed with breaking news, business analysis, thought-provoking opinions, the best of culture and insights into everyday life.
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Top Russian Official Predicts Protest ‘Explosion’ if Economy Doesn’t Improve
Russia is at risk of nationwide social upheaval if the country’s economy does not improve, the head of Russia’s auditing agency has said. During a Monday interview on state-run television, Audit Chamber head Alexei Kudrin described an upcoming “explosion” of protests caused by falling living standards and widespread poverty. The only way to prevent this […]
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Russia Says Situation in Korean Peninsula Could Escalate in 2020
The situation in the Korean Peninsula could escalate next year if the United States fails to convince Pyongyang it is serious about improving ties, a senior member of Russia’s Security Council said on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump said last week he was “in no rush” to make a deal with North Korea to get […]
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Putin’s Annual Marathon Phone-In Will Focus His Attention Homeward
Civil unrest and falling living standards are likely to dominate Vladimir Putin’s annual televised national phone-in on Thursday, depriving the Russian president of the opportunity to concentrate on foreign policy and forcing him to confront domestic problems. In the past few months, Russia has seen mass protests over the framing of an investigative reporter, the […]
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Investigators Name 4 Top Suspects Behind MH17 Crash
A team of international prosecutors has launched the first criminal proceedings against four suspects in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near the Russia-Ukraine border nearly five years ago. MH17 was shot down in July 2014 over territory held by pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people onboard. Investigators have […]
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Moscow to Have Citywide Recycling Program By 2020 – Mayor’s Office
Moscow will transition to citywide recycling collection by the end of the year, its city government has announced. Waste reform has been a major issue facing Russia as the country grapples with a trash crisis. Residents of several Russian regions have held mass protests starting last year against a plan to ship Moscow’s trash to […]
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Gazprom and Uniper review current issues of cooperation
Background Uniper SE is an energy company focused on natural gas, power generation, and global energy trading. Gazprom and Uniper cooperate in gas supplies and transportation and implement joint scientific & technical and social & cultural programs. Nord Stream 2 is the construction project for a gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea. […]
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Get Your Anna Karenina Fix at Yasnaya Polyana
A new, expanded Tolstoy Theater Festival will take place in Yasnaya Polyana July 4-7. Yasnaya Polyana is the ancestral estate of Leo Tolstoy, which is now a museum that has kept everything exactly as it was in 1910, the year of the writer’s death. Tolstoy’s house, in a beautiful setting not far from Tula, is […]
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‘They Didn’t Find Anything,’ Navalny Says of Israeli Dirt-Gathering Operation
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has reacted to media reports that a private Israeli intelligence firm had attempted to gather incriminating information against him by saying there’s nothing to uncover. The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that Black Cube, often called “the private Mossad,” had tried to dig up dirt on Navalny, an outspoken […]
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Russia to Offer Electronic Visas by 2021, Putin Says
Russia will offer electronic visas to foreign visitors starting in 2021, President Vladimir Putin has ordered in a decree. Tourists around the world have frequently cited difficulties with obtaining visas as a barrier to visiting Russia. In 2018, Russia offered visa-free entry for foreign fans with Fan ID’s visiting Russia for the 2018 FIFA World […]
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UN Chief Urges Russia and Turkey to Stabilize Syria’s Idlib ‘Without Delay’
UN chief Antonio Guterres appealed to Russia and Turkey on Tuesday to stabilize northwest Syria as the UN aid chief said that some hospitals were not sharing their locations with the warring parties because that “paints a target on their back.” Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country’s civil war, and Turkey, […]
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Gazprom and OMV enhancing sci-tech cooperation
Release June 19, 2019, 10:00 The Joint Coordinating Committee for scientific & technical cooperation and partnership between Gazprom and OMV held a meeting in Vienna, Austria. The meeting was run by Oleg Aksyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Head of Department at Gazprom, and Johann Pleininger, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of OMV. The meeting participants reviewed issues related to the integrity […]
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78-Year-Old Jehovah’s Witness Prosecuted in Russia Over ‘Extremism’
Authorities in northern Russia have opened a criminal case against a 78-year-old woman for being a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the religious organization has said. Russia labeled the Jehovah’s Witnesses an “extremist” group in 2017, exposing Russia’s estimated 175,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses to mass raids and forcing at least 5,000 to flee the country. The […]
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Russian Authorities Cannot Prohibit Rallies Over Security, Top Court Rules
Russia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the authorities cannot refuse authorization for rallies over their inability to provide security, the state-run TASS news agency has reported. Authorities in the Siberian city of Irkutsk rejected activist Valery Teterin’s request to hold a rally last fall, citing Teterin’s inability to define how organizers would ensure public order […]
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On This Day: Ivan Goncharov
On June 18, 1812 Russian writer Ivan Goncharov was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk). Born into a wealthy merchant family, Goncharov went to boarding school and university in Moscow before relocating to St. Petersburg where he worked as a government translator and private tutor. He served for nearly 30 years as an official: first in […]
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Russia’s Security Service Searches Magnate’s Art Gallery – TASS
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) searched a Moscow art gallery owned by prominent businessman David Yakobashvili on Tuesday as part of a criminal investigation, the state-run TASS news agency cited an unnamed security source as saying. Yakobashvili is a former juice magnate who has oil trade and real estate holdings. The search was carried out […]
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‘Real Men’ Must Serve in the Army, Majority of Russians Say
The share of Russians who believe that real men must serve in the military has reached a 22-year high, according to a recent survey published by the independent Levada Center pollster. Russia’s military and intelligence services are among the country’s most-trusted institutions, despite recent polls saying Russians have grown weary with their country’s military campaigns […]
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Gazprom saves RUB 12 billion on fuel and energy resources in 2018
Release June 18, 2019, 16:00 Gazprom’s Coordinating Committee for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency held a meeting today. The meeting was moderated by Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Head of the Coordinating Committee. Taking part in the meeting were Gennady Sukhov, Member of the Company’s Management Committee, Head of Department, and heads of the structural units and subsidiaries of Gazprom. The meeting participants reviewed the […]
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Russian Official Attempts Suicide During Corruption Hearing
A Moscow region official facing corruption charges has attempted suicide during a court hearing for a case he claims is politically motivated. Alexander Shestun, the former head of the Serpukhov district, was arrested last summer on abuse-of-office charges. According to investigators, in 2008-2014 Shestun illegally transferred four plots of public land to a private company, […]
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Western Sanctions Will Remain Until Ukraine’s Sovereignty Restored – Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that Western sanctions against Russia would not be lifted unless Ukraine’s sovereignty was restored. Merkel said she and visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had discussed the Minsk peace agreement, adding: “As long as there is no progress on this front, the sanctions cannot be lifted and the sanctions […]
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Gas Export and Enhancing Reliability of Gas Supply to Europe Press Conference held
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