Author: admin
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Khodorkovsky Group Condemns Repression in Russia in Open Letter, Gains Prominent Supporters
A working group set up by exiled Kremlin critic and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has written an open letter signed by 77 public figures condemning “the political repression and lawlessness taking place today in Russia.” Signatories include the creators of the hit television series “Game of Thrones” David Benioff and Dan Weiss, British actor…
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Russian Actors Launch Flashmob in Support of Colleague Jailed Over Moscow Protests
Russian film and theater actors have staged an in-person and online campaign in support of a fellow actor who was jailed for using violence against a policeman during one of this summer’s unauthorized election protests in Moscow. A court sentenced Pavel Ustinov to 3.5 years behind bars Monday for allegedly dislocating an officer’s shoulder while…
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Russia Seeks Answers After ‘Groundless’ FBI Hacking Report
Moscow wants the United States to explain a media report on alleged Russian spying that it says has endangered its diplomats, the Russian Embassy in Washington has said. Russian operatives allegedly decrypted secure FBI communications starting in 2010, forcing the U.S. agency to cut off contacts with some of its Russian informants, Yahoo News reported…
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Russian Football Stars Kokorin and Mamayev Released From Prison on Parole
Two Russian football stars have been released after serving six months in jail over their involvement in a pair of violent attacks that sparked public outcry last year. Alexander Kokorin and Pavel Mamayev, who both played in Russia’s top league and used to play for their country, apologized after being caught on surveillance last year…
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Russia Could Gain From Saudi Oil Attack – Analysts
Russia is set to be a major winner after an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities slashed production and ramped up tensions in the Middle East, analysts predict. In a frantic day for the world’s markets, oil prices climbed by almost 15% Monday following the drone attacks on Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery, which…
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Russia Fines U.S. Student With Drug Possession Over Medical Marijuana
Update: A court in St. Petersburg has fined Lorber 15,000 rubles ($230) after finding her guilty of illegal drug possession, the city court system’s press service wrote on its Telegram channel. A New York-based film student has been charged with drug possession in St. Petersburg for allegedly bringing medical marijuana into the country. Russia bans…
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Explosion Hits Russian Lab That Houses Smallpox, Ebola Viruses
An explosion has hit a disease research center in Siberia that houses strains of Ebola and smallpox, causing a fire and injuring one worker. The Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology announced Monday that a gas tank erupted during repairs in a sanitary inspection room at its lab in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region. One…
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Putin Proposes Russian Weapons for Saudi Arabia After Oil Industry Attacks
Russia is ready to help Saudi Arabia following attacks on the Saudi oil industry if needed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with leaders of Turkey and Iran in Ankara on Monday, and proposed Russian weapons for purchase. “We are ready to provide respective assistance to Saudi Arabia, and it would be enough for…
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Russia, Turkey, Iran Agree Steps to Ease Tensions in Syria’s Idlib Despite Lingering Differences
The leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran meeting in Ankara on Monday agreed to try to ease tensions in northwest Syria’s Idlib region, but disagreements between the countries appeared to linger, especially over the threat from Islamic State. The summit of the three countries — all of whom have allies fighting in Syria’s ruinous eight-year-old war —…
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Severstal ivests i iovative steel alloy producer Arcaum Alloys
September 17, 2019 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s largest vertically integrated steel and mining companies, announces that it has invested in Arcanum Alloys, Inc., a Michigan-headquartered company that develops innovative steel-based alloys. Severstal is the lead investor of the round, investing approximately six million dollars in this funding round. Among…
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Russian National Guardsman Asks Colleagues to Disobey ‘Criminal Orders’ to Detain Protesters
A member of Russia’s National Guard has urged colleagues to disobey orders to detain protesters rallying against the results of a local election in Far East Russia. Hundreds rallied in the center of the city of Ulan-Ude and several were detained after a pro-Kremlin candidate for mayor was declared the winner of the Sept. 8…
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Authorities Failed to Prevent Repeat of ‘Historic’ 2013 Floods in Far East Russia, Residents Say
Residents of three Far East Russian regions are accusing the authorities of failing to improve flood control systems in the six years since the area was hit with biggest floods in more than a century, the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper has reported. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated and more than 100,000 were affected…
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TENEX and ENEC continue collaboration in the field of nuclear fuel cycle
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and TENEX, Joint-Stock Company have renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on exploring potential opportunities for collaboration in the field of nuclear fuel cycle management. The new MoU was signed on September 20, 2019, during the 24th World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi by Mohamed Al Hammadi, Chief Executive…
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Kremlin Warns Against ‘Hasty Conclusions’ Over Attacks in Saudi Arabia
Russia on Monday urged countries in the Middle East and outside the region not to draw “hasty conclusions” on who staged the attacks on Saudi oil facilities. A senior U.S. official said earlier that evidence from the attack, which hit the world’s biggest oil-processing facility, indicated Iran was behind it, instead of the Yemeni Houthi…
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ROSATOM took part in the 24th World Energy Congress
Abu Dhabi, September 12 – ROSATOM participated at the 24th World Energy Congress, which was held from September 9 to 12 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Under the theme “Energy for Prosperity”, the Congress this year became a global leadership forum that defined the strategy for a collaborative, sustainable and innovative energy future that enables societal,…
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Russia, Belarus to Form Economic ‘Confederacy’ by 2022 – Kommersant
Russia and its close ally Belarus plan to form an economic confederacy by 2022, according to an undisclosed plan of action for integration seen by the Kommersant business daily. Belarus’ integration with Russia became a widely discussed possibility as one of the ways in which President Vladimir Putin could sidestep constitutional term limits that bar…
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Take Me Out to the Ball Game … in Moscow
It’s a warm Moscow evening under the floodlights of a baseball stadium. The hitter sends the ball flying off the bat into a cloudless sky. A fielder 80 yards downfield sprints to get under it, glove raised. He’s made it in time, but can he take the catch? No! He fumbled. The hitter makes second…
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Edward Snowden, Currently in Russia, Says He’d ‘Love to Be Granted Asylum in France’
Former U.S spy agency contractor Edward Snowden said he would love French President Emmanuel Macron to grant him political asylum after one of Macron’s ministers said if it was up to her she would offer him asylum. French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said at the weekend she supported granting asylum to him, though she made…
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Actor Jailed for ‘Spraining’ Policeman’s Shoulder at Moscow Election Protests
A Moscow court has jailed an actor for 3.5 years Monday after finding him guilty of dislocating a riot police officer’s shoulder during anti-government protests last month, despite his claims that he was a bystander. Pavel Ustinov, detained Aug. 3, is among a dozen activists and passersby held on various charges relating to mass election…
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ROSATOM will take part in the Russian Energy Week 2019
On October 2-5 Central Exhibition Hall Manezh will host the International Forum “Russian Energy Week. Representatives of ROSATOM will take part in the plenary session where they discuss with international experts the role of nuclear technology in achieving sustainable development goals. On October 2 ROSATOM’s representatives will be speakers of the plenary session “Nuclear power…
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Russia Jails First FSB Officer on Torture Charges, Experts Say
A former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) official has been jailed for four years in what experts say is the country’s first conviction on torture charges against a security official. Recent polling has said that one in 10 Russians have been subjected to what they perceived to be torture by law enforcement officials. The United…
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Russia Says There’s Enough Oil in Global Stockpiles to Replace Lost Saudi Barrels
There is enough oil in global stockpiles to replace barrels Saudi Arabia has temporarily lost due to attacks on its oil facilities, Russia‘s Energy Minister Alexander Novak, an ally of Riyadh in a pact to curb supply, told reporters on Monday. Following the strike on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure, which shut about 5% of global supply,…
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Russia’s First Sea-Borne Nuclear Power Plant Arrives to Its Base
Russia‘s first floating nuclear power plant has arrived to its permanent base near an isolated Russian town across the Bering Strait from Alaska, Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom said on Saturday. Developed by Rosatom, the plant, known as “Akademik Lomonosov,” set off on a 5,000 kilometers journey on Aug. 23 through Arctic waters to reach the…
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Rosatom’s first of a kind floating power unit docks ahead of commission in Chukotka
September 14, 2019, Pevek, Russia – The floating power unit Akademik Lomonosov has arrived at the port of its permanent location in Pevek, Chukotka, in Russia’s Far East, where it is being docked to start operations by the end of this year. Once commissioned, it will become the world’s first operational nuclear power plant based…
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Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra Gives Its First Concert in Moscow
The Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra has had its first concert in Moscow within the tour through Russian and British cities.
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Navalny Ally ‘Evacuates’ Electronics by Drone as Russian Police Stage Mass Raids
A supporter of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has filmed himself “evacuating” his hard drives on a drone as police closed in on his high-rise apartment building during nationwide mass raids. Navalny and his allies said police carried out more than 200 searches in 41 towns and cities, including Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk, as part…
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Yamal-Arctic 2019 Expedition Completes Polar Bear Survey
Supported by Rosneft Oil Company, the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Arctic Exploration Centre have conducted a scientific survey of polar bears on Bely Island and Vilkitsky Island, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.
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Rosatom, WorldSkills Russia and BCG report: Human-centric skills development can boost GDP growth by up to 2%
A report published by global management consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG), WorldSkills Russia and Rosatom has identified new ways for governments and employers to address the growing skills crisis and boost economies. The research, Mission Talent– Mass Uniqueness: A Global Challenge for One Billion Workers, has been presented at the WorldSkills Conference 2019 in…
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Russia Ready for Ukraine Peace Talks but Sets Preconditions
Russia is ready to take part in a four-way summit in Paris to try to breathe life into the stalled Ukrainian peace process but has strict preconditions for such a meeting, a senior Kremlin aide said on Friday. Kiev’s forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine since 2014 in a…
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Domestic Violence Affects 1 in 3 Russians, Poll Says
Nearly one-third of Russia’s population has come face-to-face with domestic violence in their own families or among acquaintances, according to an independent survey published Friday. Russia decriminalized certain forms of domestic violence in 2017, a decision that top lawmakers have said was a mistake two years later. Activists say the absence of a domestic violence…
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Ella Pamfilova, Villain of the Moscow Vote Protest Movement, Belongs to a Dying Breed
It was one of the defining moments of the summer: the budding leader of Moscow’s protest movement for fair elections and the official responsible for protecting Russians’ voting rights coming to verbal blows at a public hearing. “You are the talking head of the presidential administration. Shame on you,” Lyubov Sobol lobbed at Ella Pamfilova,…
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Russian Priests Hit the Streets in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg’s main thoroughfares were shut down Thursday for a grand Russian Orthodox procession. The occasion: celebrating the day in 1724 when Peter the Great transferred St. Alexander Nevsky’s saintly relics to St. Petersburg. Priests donned their finest golden robes for their walk down Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s main boulevard, and were reportedly joined by…
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Russian Military Plants Flag at Northernmost Point of Eurasia
Russia has planted its flag on the northernmost tip of Eurasia to symbolize Russia’s desire to peacefully explore and develop the Arctic, the Northern Fleet said. The steel construction was erected on Cape Fligely, located at 81.5 degrees north on Rudolf Island in the remote archipelago of Franz Josef Land. Nothing but desolate Arctic waters lies to…
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St. Petersburg Police Filmed Dragging Local Election Monitor as Critics Decry ‘Dirty’ Vote
Police in St. Petersburg have been filmed dragging a local election monitor out of a building as observers accuse officials in Russia’s second-largest city of staging the “dirtiest” campaign in the country. No official results have been declared in the five days since St. Petersburg held the municipal vote, leading some election commission members to…
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Newfound Comet Likely an ‘Interstellar Visitor,’ Russian Scientists Say
A newly discovered comet hurtling toward the orbit of Mars has scientists scurrying to confirm whether it came from outside the solar system, a likely prospect that would make it the second such interstellar object observed in our planetary neighborhood. The trajectory of the comet, first detected by Crimean astronomer Gennady Borisov, follows a highly…
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On This Day Alexander Rosenbaum Was Born
Alexander Rosenbaum was born into a medical family in Leningrad on Sept. 13, 1951. He qualified as a doctor, but became one of Russia’s most famous bards, or singing poets, best known for his so-called blatnaya pesnya songs about criminal subculture. His most popular songs are “Gop-Stop,” about two gangsters executing an unfaithful lover, and…
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Russia Plans Excise Taxes on E-Cigarettes
Russia’s Healthcare Ministry has drafted a bill to introduce excise taxes on electronic cigarettes, Russian news agencies reported on Friday, citing minister Veronika Skvortsova. Russia has in the past decade tightened tobacco sales regulations as part of a wider campaign to reduce smoking. “The manufacturers of these products are actually pulling (people) into a new…
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Officials ‘Punished’ for Letting Alleged CIA Spy Flee Russia – Interfax
Russian officials who had allowed a rumored CIA informant to violate a travel ban and subsequently flee to the United States have been “punished,” Interfax reported, citing an unnamed official familiar with the situation. U.S. media reports said a CIA informant in the Russian government had been extracted and brought to the U.S. in 2017.…
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One of Russia’s Richest Men Has Become a Trip-Hop Music Artist
Igor Rybakov co-founded a roofing-supply company in Russia in the 1990s, becoming one of the country’s youngest billionaires. He stepped back four years ago to focus on managing his fortune and philanthropy. His latest endeavor is music. Rybakov, 47, released his debut album this month devoted to his wife Ekaterina. The five-track work mixes elements of trip-hop and pop,…
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Putin Drinks Vodka to Russian Soldiers in North Caucasus
Russian President Vladimir Putin raised a shot of vodka to Russian soldiers on Thursday, while visiting the town of Botlikh in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan. Putin promised to visit Dagestan in June during annual phone-in conference. Botlikh resident said that Putin, then-Prime Minister visited the region during the days of armed conflict in…
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Israel Must Be Allowed to Act Against Iran, Netanyahu Says in Russia
Israel must be allowed to act freely against Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday during a visit to Sochi, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss security coordination in Syria. The two leaders have met more than a dozen times in recent years and the countries’ militaries have been working…
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Russian Military Discovers New Island in Remote Arctic Archipelago
The Russian military said it has discovered a new island in the Arctic where maps had previously shown a peninsula as climate change accelerates the disappearance of sea ice. The Defense Ministry last month confirmed the discovery of five new Arctic islands off the coast of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Russia has been increasing its…
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Prague Will Remove Statue of Soviet Marshal Who Led Red Army Forces
A district assembly in Prague voted on Thursday to remove a statue of a Soviet World War Two marshal and replace it with a more general memorial following a row that has drawn in the Czech president and Russian authorities. The statue of Marshal Ivan Konev, who led the Red Army forces that liberated most…
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Pelevin’s New Novel Plays With U.S.-Russian Culture Wars
Every fall, Russia’s reading public is offered a new dose of esoteric musings and funny word play from the novelist Viktor Pelevin. While it may be a nuisance for those who have never been hooked on his work, it is now a notable annual literary event for those expecting his latest release. This year’s work…
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Moscow Student Protester Declared ‘Extremist’ Ahead of Verdict
Russia’s state finance watchdog has placed a popular YouTube blogger accused of “mass unrest” during Moscow’s recent election protests on its list of extremists ahead of his trial. Yegor Zhukov, 21, was detained last month on charges of “organizing mass unrest,” a crime punishable by up to eight years in prison. A court ordered Zhukov’s…
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Moscow Asks U.S. to Confirm Location of Ex-Official Named as Possible Spy
Russia has asked the United States via Interpol to confirm the whereabouts of a former Kremlin official who Russian media have said may have been a U.S. spy exfiltrated in 2017, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. Zakharova made the comment after U.S. media reports, confirmed to Reuters by two sources, said a…
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Russia’s Largest Social Network Starts Dating App to Rival Tinder
VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network run by Mail.ru Group Ltd, is starting its own dating app Lovina centered around quick-fire videochats. The Lovina app offers a videochat to users who liked each others’ profiles, or sets a “carousel” of limited-time videochats for random users, in a model similar to speed dating when men and women…
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Russian School Threatens to Expel Boy for Copying Football Hero’s Man Bun
School administrators in Siberia have threatened to expel a 4th-grade student for wearing a man bun styled after his hero, the Swedish football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in an incident that has sparked an outcry across Russia. The hair-raising controversy gained nationwide attention this week after the 10-year-old aspiring football player was reprimanded for coming to…
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Russian Prosecutors Find Insufficient Anti-Terrorist Protection at Murmansk Nuclear Waste Sites
An inspection made by the Murmansk prosecutor’s office revealed poor anti-terrorist measures at Saida, Andreeva and Gremikha bays, the Kommersant business daily has reported. The law enforcement officials brought the violations to court, asking to oblige the defendant to install extra physical barriers of protection and other means to enhance security. All three sites are operated by…
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Russia Raps Netanyahu’s Jordan Valley Plan Before Putin Meeting
Russia condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley ahead of a meeting between the Israeli leader and President Vladimir Putin later on Thursday, warning it could sharply increase regional tensions. Netanyahu, who is campaigning for re-election on Sept. 17, announced on Tuesday he intended to “apply Israeli sovereignty” to the…
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Inmates Discovered in Long-Abandoned Moscow Prison Tower – Watchdog
At least two inmates have been housed in a tower long thought to be abandoned at the infamous Butyrka prison in central Moscow, the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) prison watchdog has said. The 19th-century Butyrka prison has held notable figures behind its bars, from persecuted Soviet-era writers Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Isaac Babel to Adolf Hitler’s…
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UN Investigators Link U.S., Syrian and Russian Forces to War Crimes
Airstrikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in Syria have killed or wounded many civilians, indicating that required precautions were ignored and war crimes may have been committed, United Nations investigators said on Wednesday. Syrian government and allied Russian warplanes are also conducting a deadly campaign that appears to target medical facilities, schools, markets and farmland and…
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Russian Police Throw Smoke Bomb, Detain Protesters After Local Election in Far East
At least 17 protesters rallying against the results of a local election in Far East Russia have been detained Tuesday night after security officials threw a smoke grenade into the bus they were in. Hundreds of protesters have demanded a re-do of Sunday’s vote in the republic of Buryatia’s administrative center of Ulan-Ude, where a…
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Mass Nationwide Raids Target Russian Opposition Leader Navalny’s Allies
Russian authorities have swept through at least 150 homes and offices of opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s allies across the country early Thursday as part of what his allies say is a politically motivated investigation. This is at least the third wave of raids linked to Navalny in the past week. The first two were reportedly part…
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U.S. Blacklists 2 Russians for ‘Torturing’ Jehovah’s Witnesses
The United States has imposed travel restrictions on two Siberian investigators over the alleged torture of detained Jehovah’s Witnesses this year. Investigators in the city of Surgut were alleged to have stripped, suffocated, doused with water and applied stun guns on at least seven Jehovah’s Witnesses who were detained on extremism charges in February. Russia…
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Russian Theater Director Serebrennikov Goes Free After Court Returns Case
A Moscow court has returned theater director Kirill Serebrennikov’s criminal fraud case to prosecutors two years after his high-profile arrest, a move that observers say is a key step toward his case being thrown out. Serebrennikov was detained in August 2017 on charges of embezzling 68 million rubles ($1 million) in government funds as part…
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“Children in the Arts: Painting, Graphics, and Porcelain in the 19th and 20th Centuries” exhibition opens in Magistralny
Background Gazprom Dobycha Irkutsk, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom, operates gas and gas condensate production and treatment facilities and acts as an engineering and construction customer for the pre-development of gas and condensate fields in the Irkutsk Region, with Gazprom acting as the license holder. The Kovyktinskoye gas and condensate field, with Gazprom Dobycha Irkutsk acting as its development operator since 2011, serves as a resource base…
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Wildfires Fully Extinguished in Siberia’s Irkutsk Region, Authorities Say
Wildfires that burned across swathes of Siberia this summer have been fully extinguished in the Irkutsk region, Interfax cited regional authorities as saying Wednesday. Irkutsk is one of several regions that have been affected by the “unprecedented” wildfires throughout Siberia since June. The wildfires exceeded 3 million hectares, an area the size of Belgium, at…
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Alexey Miller and Serbian Ambassador Slavenko Terzic discuss continuing expansion of Serbia’s gas transmission infrastructure
Release September 11, 2019, 16:20 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Slavenko Terzic, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia to the Russian Federation, took place in Moscow today. The meeting participants expressed appreciation for their cooperation in the energy sector. The parties paid particular attention to the continuing expansion of gas transmission infrastructure in Serbia, highlighting…
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Russian Soldier Stationed in Armenia Found Dead, Media Reports
A Russian soldier has been found dead in an Armenian city where Russia has a military base, Armenian investigators told the state-run TASS news agency Wednesday. The 23-year-old serviceman’s body was found with signs of violent death, TASS quoted Armenian investigators as saying. The unnamed soldier had been stationed at the Gyumri military base in…