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A plane crash that killed all 50 people on board at Russia’s Kazan Airport in 2013 was the result of errors made by two pilots, including one who got his license using falsified documents, Russian investigators said on Thursday. The Boeing 737-500 aircraft was operated by the now-defunct Tatarstan Airlines, which later had its license…

MH17 Crash Probe Releases Intercepted Calls Between East Ukraine Rebels and Russian Officials

A team of international prosecutors has released a new batch of intercepted audio recordings of calls it says are between pro-Russian separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine and high-ranking Russian officials in the weeks leading up to the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine. The calls include conversations with separatist leaders including…

U.S. Shale to Overtake Russia’s Entire Oil and Gas Production

U.S. shale energy production is on course to overtake the output of Russia’s entire oil and gas sector by 2025, influential new forecasts have shown. In its flagship annual review of the global energy market, the International Energy Agency (IEA) was bullish on the prospects for the U.S. shale revolution, predicted falling dominance of Russia…

Top managers from Rosneft, BP and Equinor shared best practices in Carbon Management

Top managers from Russian and foreign energy industry majors unite to help build a better understanding of corporate carbon management systems at the Carbon Management workshop organized by Rosneft last week.

Senior Executives of Rosneft, BP, and Equinor Discuss Best Hydrocarbon Management Practices

Rosneft has held a seminar on “Corporate Concepts of Hydrocarbon Management”, which was attended by the Company’s senior executives and managing representatives of foreign energy majors, including BP Russia President David Campbell, Equinor Russia President Elisabeth Birkeland Kvalheim, and Vice Presidents of the relevant units of these companies.

170K in East Ukraine Get Russian Passports Under Putin’s Fast-Track Program

More than 170,000 residents of separatist-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine have become Russian citizens under President Vladimir Putin’s fast-track program since it launched six months ago, authorities said. Putin simplified the path to Russian citizenship for an estimated 3.7 million residents of the pro-Russian Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” in April, angering Ukraine and the…

Richard Branson Considering Pobeda Investment – Reports

British serial entrepreneur Richard Branson is considering buying a 25% stake in Russian low-cost airline Pobeda, according to Russian media reports. A source close to the billionaire, who owns the Virgin Group telecoms-to-travel conglomerate, told Russian news outlet Vesti the deal was being considered, but that it was too early to discuss specifics. Pobeda is…

Russia’s Deadly College Shooting: What We Know So Far

A student at a Russian vocational college allegedly opened fire on campus Thursday, killing a fellow student and returning police fire before fatally shooting himself, law enforcement authorities in Far East Russia said. Here’s what we know about the deadly shooting in the Amur region city of Blagoveshchensk so far: What happened? — An unnamed…

St. Petersburg Tackles a Homeless Problem Moscow Won’t Address

ST. PETERSBURG – Just under a year ago, Dima Knyazev was sleeping rough in the Russian capital Moscow, stealing clothes from big department stores and selling them on the street to fund a drug habit he had picked up while in prison. Today, thanks to a charity in the country’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg,…

Russia Launches New Air Base in Former U.S. Syria Stronghold

BusinessBy admin November 13, 2019 Leave a comment

The Russian military has announced a new combat helicopter and air defense base in a formerly U.S.-controlled northern Syrian stronghold, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. U.S. troops left the city of Qamishli, the administrative center of the self-proclaimed Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria, last month as Turkey launched an assault against Kurdish forces.…

ACRA assigned ROSATOM a credit rating AAA(RU) with “stable” outlook

On November 12, 2019 the Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA) assigned ROSATON a credit rating AAA (RU) with “Stable” outlook at the maximum possible sovereign level. This is the first rating got by ROSATOM directly. Before that, all ratings from international rating agencies of “Big Three” and JSC “Expert RA” were assigned and kept at…

From the Archive: The 1990s Moscow Metro, in Photos

MoscowBy admin November 13, 2019 Leave a comment

The 1990s were a time of huge change and upheaval for Russia — and especially for Moscow. What was life like for Muscovites that decade? What did people look like? How were they dressed? Were there long lines and dour faces? These photos of the iconic Moscow metro from The Moscow Times’ archive offer answers…

Kneeling Russian Pensioner Confronts Medvedev Over Hot Water Shutoff

A Russian pensioner has dropped to her knees in front of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in an encounter that drew comparisons to his iconic 2016 quote that turned into a meme. Cameras were rolling during Medvedev’s visit to a Siberian village with his entourage when the woman kneeled on the snowy ground in front of…

Russian Child Witnessing Father’s Violent Arrest Was Tortured, European Court Rules

Russian authorities subjected a child to torture by letting her witness her father’s violent arrest a decade ago, Europe’s human rights court said Tuesday in a ruling that advocates say sets a precedent across Europe. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Russia to pay the unnamed plaintiff 25,000 euros ($27,500) in damages in…

Russian Economic Growth Accelerates

BusinessBy admin November 13, 2019 Leave a comment

The Russian economy expanded at an annual rate of 1.7% in the third quarter of the year, official GDP statistics released Wednesday showed. The rate of growth was up from 0.9% recorded by the Russian state statistics agency Rosstat in the second quarter, and around what was expected by economists and analysts. Both the agricultural…

Members of the Public Council of ROSATOM and representatives of environmental organizations discussed ROSATOM’s program for DUHF safe management

On November 12, the ROSATOM’s Headquarters’ hosted an off-scheduled meeting of the Public Council of ROSATOM and all leading environmental organizations of Russia. Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev, first deputy directors general of ROSATOM Aleksandr Lokshin and Kirill Komarov also took part in the meeting of the Public Council. The meeting was initiated by…

Russians Break Shopping Records on Chinese Singles’ Day

Russian shoppers have embraced this year’s record-breaking Singles’ Day online sale — the biggest single shopping day of the year — as never before. In total, Russians spent 17.2 billion rubles ($267 million) on AliExpress, the Russian platform of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, over the 24 hour shopping bonanza — a record high, and the…

Russia’s Northern Fleet Bolsters Its Forces With Siberian Huskies

Russia’s Armed Forces will soon welcome some new recruits when the Northern Fleet’s Arctic brigade launches a new Siberian husky squad, Interfax reported. Dogs have been used by the Russian military since as early as 1840, when records showed Russian forces employing dogs during the Caucasian War. They have been a regular presence in Russia’s…

Sami Parliaments, EU Concerned by Russia Shutting Down Indigenous Rights Group

Moscow City Court ruled to dissolve the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North/Russian Indigenous Training Center (CSIPN/RITC), provoking protests from Brussels and the Nordic Sami Parliaments. Hindering contacts with intergovernmental organizations and forums is exactly why the Justice Ministry in Moscow took the case to court, says CSIPN/RITC director Rodion Sulyandziga, who represents indigenous…

Ukrainian Tycoon Kolomoisky’s Change of Heart Over Russia, in Quotes

Ukraine should give up on the West and go back into Russia’s fold, influential Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky said in an interview with The New York Times Wednesday. Kolomoisky’s business ties to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have been under heavy scrutiny since the start of the former comedian’s election campaign this year. Both men have…

RN-Uvatneftegaz Discovers New Oil Field Sosnovoye

RN-Uvatneftegaz, a subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, has discovered a new oil field, Sosnovoye, with total C1+C2 reserves of 4.2 million tonnes.

Moscow Accuses U.S. of Hunting Russians After Israel Extradites Suspected Hacker

Russia on Wednesday accused Washington of hunting its citizens across the world and said it had made a formal diplomatic protest after Israel extradited a Russian man to the United States where he faces a slew of serious cyber crime charges. The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement on Tuesday that Alexei Burkov,…

The Russian Stock Market is the Best Performer in the World in 2019

The Russian stock market has delivered the biggest returns to investors anywhere in the world in 2019. Since the start of the year, the MSCI Russia Index, a tracker which follows the 23 largest Russian publicly-listed companies has soared by 44%, Sberbank analyst Cole Akeson told Russian news site RBC. Over the same period, the…

Czech Humanitarian Group Declared ‘Undesirable’ in Russia

Russia’s Justice Ministry has declared a Czech humanitarian relief group “undesirable” three years after the group was kicked out of a pro-Russian self-proclaimed state in eastern Ukraine. The People in Need NGO, which helps people affected by wartime crises and natural disasters, ended its eastern Ukrainian operations in 2016 after separatists in the Donetsk People’s…

Moscow Has Second Worst Road Rage in World

Moscow drivers have the second-highest level of road rage in the world, a new survey has found. Only Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar scored higher for road rage on the Mister Auto index, which measures the best and worst places in the world to drive. The survey ranked 100 international cities using 15 criteria covering infrastructure, safety…

Russia Says Businesswoman Sentenced in Kuwait Is ‘Safe’ After Embezzlement Verdict

A Russian businesswoman appears to be safe after Kuwait handed her a long jail term for embezzlement, the Kommersant business daily has reported. Reports said Monday that a Kuwaiti court had sentenced investment executive Marsha Lazareva to 15 years in prison for money laundering. A U.S. law firm leading the international effort to secure Lazareva’s…

Russia Jails 6 Crimean Tatar Activists for Terrorism, Sparking Condemnation

A Russian court has jailed six Crimean Tatar activists to jail terms between seven and 19 years on charges of terrorism Tuesday, a move that has sparked condemnation from abroad. Some Crimean Tatars have accused Russia of locking up its ideological opponents as religious extremists in the wake of the 2014 annexation of Crimea from…

Russian Authorities Can Seize Assets of Criminals’ Acquaintances, Court Rules

Russia has ruled that authorities can seize suspicious assets owned by relatives and acquaintances of criminals convicted of corruption unless they can prove they were lawfully obtained, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday. The ruling came in response to an appeal by a convicted police anti-corruption official’s family, who argued that the authorities had illegally…

Murder on the Moika: Brutal Killing Sparks Public Outcry in Russia

ST. PETERSBURG – For years Oleg Sokolov was a well-known eccentric among the academic elite of Russia’s cultural capital St. Petersburg. As one of the founders of the city’s historical reenactment society, at weekends he liked to dress up as Napoleon Bonaparte, ride a white stallion and bark orders at pretend soldiers. His obsession with…

The Aftermath of Journalist Ivan Golunov’s Case, Explained

Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was arrested in June on fabricated drug charges and released days later following an unprecedented public outcry. The court dropped all charges against him. Five months after he was released, the criminal case into drug trafficking is still ongoing. Authorities have said they would investigate those who fabricated the charges…

Russia Is Building One of the World’s Largest Facial Recognition Networks

One evening in August 2018, 21-year-old Mikhail Aksel stepped into the imposing marble of Moscow Metro’s Sportivnaya station. Aksel, a senior activist in The Other Russia, a small but flamboyant opposition party associated with the former punk and far-right nationalist writer Eduard Limonov, was no stranger to run-ins with the police. Even so, Aksel was surprised…

Israel Extradites Suspected Russian Hacker to U.S. in Snub to Moscow

Israel has extradited suspected Russian hacker Alexei Burkov to the United States despite Moscow’s proposal to swap him for an Israeli woman jailed in Russia over marijuana possession, The Times of Israel reported Monday. Burkov, who was detained during a visit to Israel in 2015, is wanted in the U.S. on charges of credit card…

Putin’s Chef Prigozhin Splits His Business Empire – Reports

Kremlin-linked business owner Yevgeny Prigozhin — dubbed “Putin’s Chef” — has carved up his catering company, handing half to a 27-year-old lawyer who previously founded a dog shelter in Siberia, the Current Time news site reported. The Concord Food Plant, Prigozhin’s main business asset, was divided on October 30, according to data from the Contour Focus…

Putin Hangs Netanyahu Out to Dry Over Hashish Jailing

Vladimir Putin never misses a chance to pounce on perceived geopolitical weakness, even when doing so might contribute to the downfall — and potential incarceration — of an old acquaintance like Benjamin Netanyahu. The Russian leader has snubbed repeated requests from his embattled Israeli counterpart to free Naama Issachar, a 26-year-old army veteran sentenced to 7…

Chechnya Outperforms Kremlin’s KPIs Nationwide – Reports

Russia’s republic of Chechnya has the highest trust ratings toward its leaders and President Vladimir Putin among all regions, Russian media reported Monday. The Kremlin closely monitors Putin’s trust ratings, which dipped to historic lows then quickly bounced back after the Kremlin challenged state pollsters’ methodologies. Its domestic policy curator Sergei Kiriyenko earlier this year…

Former Kazakh President Wants to Arrange Putin-Zelenskiy Summit

Kazakhstan’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev is trying to arrange a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose countries are at odds over the war between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. “Zelenskiy has already agreed to a tete-a-tete, and (I have) informed the president of Russia about that. We shall see now (if…

Secret U.K. Report Names Conservatives’ Russian Oligarch Donors – Sunday Times

Nine Russian businesspeople have donated to Britain’s Conservative Party, according to a secret parliamentary report on Russian interference in British elections, The Sunday Times newspaper reported Sunday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s opponents accuse him of blocking the report ahead of the Dec. 12 parliamentary election, an assertion that his Conservative-led government dismissed. Johnson’s office has…

Russian Veterans Join Anglican Church Remembrance Day Service

On November 10, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church held a service commemorating the end of WWI and in remembrance of those who died in wars. Ambassadors and military representatives of countries that fought in the war placed flowers on the altar, starting with the ambassadors of the United Kingdom and Germany. Russian veterans also attended the…

Kremlin Eyes Four-Way Ukraine Summit This Year

An international summit on solving the Ukrainian crisis is likely to take place this year, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow on Monday. A breakthrough at talks between Moscow and Kiev on Oct. 1 appeared to open the way for the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France to hold the first four-way…

Russian Government to Underspend by One Trillion Rubles in 2019

The Russian government could undershoot its annual spending plans by more than one trillion rubles ($15.6 billion), a state watchdog warned Monday. In the first 10 months of 2019, government departments and agencies have spent less than two-thirds of the year’s planned expenditure, and will struggle to make-up the difference before the end of the…

Libya Slams Russian Intervention: ‘Wherever Wagner Goes Destruction Happens’

MoscowBy admin November 11, 2019 Leave a comment

Russia is using private military contractors to escalate the conflict in Libya and boost its influence there, the security chief of Libya’s UN-backed government has said. Libyan interior minister Fathi Bashagha’s accusations follow reports of at least two deployments of Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenaries in recent months as forces based in eastern Libya attempt to take…

Polenov Retrospective Opens at the Tretyakov Gallery

The largest retrospective works by Vasily Polenov, a prominent Russian painter of the second half of the 19th – early 20th century, opened at the New Tretyakov Gallery. The retrospective is dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the painter’s birth. Polenov, a member of the “Wanderers” (Peredvizhniki) group of realist painters, is primarily known for…

Syrian Leader’s Family Owns $40M in Moscow Luxury Apartments – Watchdog

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s extended family and associates own $40 million worth of luxury apartments in Moscow’s skyscraper district, according to the anti-corruption campaign group Global Witness. Russia has been a staunch ally of the Assad family over its nearly 50-year rule. The Kremlin threw its military support behind Assad in 2015, helping Damascus retake…

Russia Accuses Bolivian Opposition of Unleashing Wave of Violence as Morales Resigns

Russia on Monday accused Bolivia’s opposition of unleashing a wave of violence in the South American nation and said it looked like a government push for dialogue had been swept aside by an orchestrated coup. Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Sunday he was resigning to ease violence that has gripped Bolivia since a disputed…

Russia Could Trigger World War III, U.K. Defense Chief Says

anotherBy admin November 10, 2019 Leave a comment

Threats from Russia are escalating, the U.K.’s Chief of the Defense Staff Nick Carter said, as new tools and weapons including disinformation and mercenaries could lead to miscalculations or even war. Techniques including “disinformation, subversion, manipulation, assassinations and of course the use of mercenaries, which are very easily undeclared and non-attributable,” mean that “you can…

Russian Professor Admits Murder After Woman’s Severed Arms Found in Bag

A prominent Russian historian has confessed to murdering one of his former students after he was discovered in a St. Petersburg river with a backpack containing the woman’s arms. Police in St. Petersburg on Saturday detained Professor Oleg Sokolov, 63, on suspicion of murdering a former student after he was pulled out of the city’s…

Russia Releases Last of Captured Whales Into the Wild

anotherBy admin November 10, 2019 Leave a comment

Russian authorities said on Sunday they had completed the release of dozens of captured beluga whales whose plight sparked an appeal by Hollywood celebrities and the intervention of President Vladimir Putin. The mammals, caught last year to be sold to marine parks or aquariums in China, were being kept in cramped conditions in a bay…

‘Seasoned Socialism: Gender & Food in Late Soviet Everyday Life’

MoscowBy admin November 9, 2019 Leave a comment

No issue is as constant in Russian history as food. For the vast majority of the population, food —or its lack— has been a primary driver for many of the historical movements and milestones in Russia’s long history. This is particularly prevalent in the Soviet era. Despite the introduction of technological innovations such as preservation…

Luxurious 19th-Century Apartments Go Up for Sale in St.Petersburg After Restoration

MoscowBy admin November 9, 2019 Leave a comment

In the 1880s the mansion was purchased by Prince Mikhail Volkonsky, son of the Decemberist Sergei Volkonsky. Then from 1892 right up to 1917 it was owned by a merchant of the 1st Guild, Alexander Yeliseyev of the famous emporium family. Alexander Yeliseyev partially reconstructed the building and lived with his family in a 23-room…

UNESCO Awards Grants for Research in the Field of Green Chemistry to top Young Scientists From Around the World in Conjunction with PhosAgro and IUPAC

BusinessBy admin November 8, 2019 Leave a comment

Paris – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has awarded grants for research in the field of green chemistry to leading young scientists from around the world in conjunction with PhosAgro Group and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). The ceremony was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris and…

30,000 Russians Charged Under Protest Law in 15 Years – Monitor

BusinessBy admin November 8, 2019 Leave a comment

More than 30,000 people have been found guilty of violating Russian protest law over the past 15 years, according to a study by the independent OVD-Info police-monitoring group. The study looked at cases involving Article 20.2 of Russia’s Administrative Code, known as the “protest article.” Since 2004, the text of Article 20.2 has grown fourfold,…

Alexander Gilgenberg Appointed General Director of Apatit

Cherepovets (Vologda region) – Alexander Gilgenberg has been appointed as General Director of Apatit. Alexander has worked at PhosAgro enterprises since 1999. Prior to today’s appointment, he held the position of First Deputy General Director of Apatit. Vladimir Davydenko, who previously headed Apatit, will now oversee the technical development of PhosAgro enterprises. PhosAgro CEO Andrey…

Russia Seeks Extradition of Journalist From Latvia

Russia plans to ask Latvia to extradite Russian journalist Alexander Shvarev to face charges of slandering oligarch Alisher Usmanov, Interfax reported Friday. Authorities in April raided the Moscow offices of Russia’s Rosbalt news outlet, where Shvarev works, in connection with a defamation lawsuit brought by Usmanov. Shvarev is undergoing medical treatment in Riga, according to…

Russian Football Fans Brawl in Street Battles at Away Game in Hungary

Fans of CSKA Moscow clashed with fans of Hungary’s Ferencváros TC ahead of the two teams’ UEFA Europa League match in Budapest, as seen in videos posted on social media. The first clash happened in the Budapest metro Thursday, when CSKA fans packed metro cars, then broke glass bottles and doused the police with water. Стачки…

1 in 4 Young Russians Haven’t Heard of the Fall of the Berlin Wall – Poll

More than a quarter of young Russians have never heard of the fall of the Berlin Wall three decades ago, the independent Levada Center pollster said ahead of its 30th anniversary. The Berlin Wall divided the German city’s Soviet-occupied eastern sector from American, British and French-occupied West Berlin when it was built in 1961. Communist…

11,000 Scientists Warn of ‘Untold Suffering’ From Climate Change. Only 4 of Them Are Russian.

Professor Alexei Kotov greets his colleagues as he navigates the poorly-lit corridors of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution in the south of Moscow, where he has been a leading researcher and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences since Soviet times. “This whole street was built during the Stalinist period, and I don’t think…

56M Russians Breathe Polluted Air – Weather Service

Around 56 million Russians across 143 cities are breathing bad air, the Russian state weather and environment service said in its annual atmospheric pollution report. Roshydromet assessed the concentration of pollutants across a total of 246 Russian cities and towns in 2018. It noted that 89% of all monitored cities exceeded pollution norms that year. …

Russian Banks More Stable and Transparent Than Ever, Central Bank Chief Says