Russian authorities have extinguished the remaining forest fires in Siberia that covered an area the size of Belgium and caused at least $100 million worth of damage at their peak. Huge swathes of Siberia and Russia’s Arctic have been engulfed in wildfires this summer, with smog reaching major cities in the area. Major social media…
A Russian court on Monday quashed the jail sentence of an aspiring actor whose conviction for injuring a police officer on the sidelines of an opposition protest triggered a public outcry over alleged police brutality and judicial injustice. Footage of Pavel Ustinov’s arrest on Aug. 3 showed four national guardsmen in riot gear suddenly grabbing him…
Soaring high above Moscow on the top of Europe’s tallest skyscraper OKO but grounded by its most ancient culinary roots is Ruski, the very successful joint venture of two Moscow restaurant giants, Chaikhonka and GINZA. On the tower’s 85th floor, Chef Alexander Volkov-Medvedev is reinventing Russia’s oldest methods and recipes with the help of the…
September 30, 2019 PAO Severstal has launched its own “Open Innovations” platform (//innovations.severstal.com/en), designed to complement the Company’s open innovations initiatives and tools. The site hosts Severstal’s initiatives for cooperating with startups, innovative teams and industry experts, as well as indicating priority areas for cooperation and specific tasks that need to be tackled today. The…
Thousands of Russians rallied in Moscow on Sunday to demand the release of protesters jailed in what Kremlin opponents say is a campaign to stifle dissent. The protesters were arrested during demonstrations that began in July against the exclusion of many opposition candidates from a local election, and allegations of police brutality and what many…
This summer, after a Russian biochemist announced plans to follow in the footsteps of a rogue Chinese researcher and produce genetically modified children, a 150-year-old academic journal that reflects the current scientific consensus called on the world to stop him. “Time is of the essence,” Nature said. The dangers of altering human DNA that will be…
Russia has delivered its second batch of weapons to the Central African Republic (CAR) in two years, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. Russia has stepped up its activities in Africa in recent years with military support, nuclear energy and other services in exchange for mining rights. Moscow donated hundreds of weapons and sent…
A paper trail linked to the suspect in the killing of a Georgian citizen in Berlin suggests Russia provided “active support” to the suspect, according to an international team of investigators. Germany last month arrested a man who goes by the name Vadim Sokolov on suspicion of killing Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, who fought alongside anti-Moscow separatists…
The Mother and Child (Mat i Ditya) group was founded in 2006 as one of the first private medical practices in Russia to provide exemplary, state-of-the-art services in gynecology, childbirth, neo-natal care and pediatrics. It was the “love child” of Dr. Mark Kurtser, a medical doctor and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and…
State Duma deputy and notorious anti-gay crusader Vitaly Milonov wants to ban gender-inclusive Barbie dolls from Russia, referring to them as “freak dolls.” Toy manufacturer Mattel unveiled a gender-inclusive line of its iconic Barbie dolls Wednesday, to allow children “to express themselves freely.” The dolls, which are designed without stereotypically male or female features, come…
At 15 years old, Margarita Naumenko is one of the youngest participants in Russia‘s Fridays for Future climate protest movement. Each week, she stands in downtown Moscow with other young activists chanting, brandishing posters and demanding the government take action on worsening climate change threats. Her parents support her decision to protest, Naumenko said, but they…
Former French President Jacques Chirac, who led France from 1995 to 2007, died Thursday at age 86. Chirac’s political career spanned decades and he had dealings with every Russian and Soviet leader since Brezhnev. In a message of condolence Thursday, President Vladimir Putin said that he admired Chirac’s “intellect and deep knowledge as well as…
People identified as Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have questioned an eco-activist in Russia’s Arctic city of Murmansk ahead of Friday’s authorized Climate Strike protest there, the activist has said. Russia was largely absent from the Global Climate Strike last week, where 4 million people in 200 countries took to the streets calling for global…
Russia‘s parliament will ask its Foreign Ministry to consider revoking broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s right to work in the country for allegedly breaking laws on political impartiality, a senior lawmaker said on Friday. Vasily Piskarev said a parliamentary investigation had found evidence that Germany’s publicly funded international broadcaster had urged Russians to attend an unauthorized protest this…
TVEL JSC and Kozloduy NPP (a part of national utility Bulgarian Energy Holding) organized International conference ‘Operation, Simulation and Experimental Support of VVER Fuel’ in Nesebar (Bulgaria). Around 120 experts from 11 countries, as well as representatives of the IAEA and European Commission, took part in the event. Participants of the conference discussed in detail…
Lee Jinju: Tilted Tilted is a rare exhibition of a South Korean artist in Moscow, all the more special because she made this series of works especially for the exhibition at the Triumph Gallery. Her works can be defined as subjective realism or psycholandscapes, they are like painted streams of consciousness. In her works Jinju employs…
The Kremlin has said it hopes that discussions between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will remain secret following the scandal that erupted over Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s leader. Transcripts from Trump and Putin’s face-to-face meetings have not been made public, with reports saying Trump has gone to “extraordinary lengths” to conceal…
A Russian gay couple whose adoption of two children sparked criminal proceedings against social services officials have requested asylum in the United States, the LGBT group Coming Out has said. Authorities opened a criminal negligence case against Moscow’s social welfare officials in July for allowing the couple to “form distorted ideas about family values in…
A theater in Russia’s fourth-largest city has been fined for its lack of provisions in case of nuclear war. The Cold War-era practice of training civilians on procedures to take in the event of a nuclear attack has grown more commonplace in recent years amid strained relations between Russia and the West. The Emergency Situations Ministry…
NATO has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calls to suspend deployment of missiles in Europe that were banned under a recently abandoned U.S.-Russian nuclear pact. The Kommersant business daily reported and the Kremlin confirmed Putin’s offer, which came amid concerns that Russia and the U.S. are headed toward an arms race after Washington exited the…
Russia detained three North Korean vessels and more than 200 crew on Friday in the second such incident in two weeks as part of a clampdown on poaching by the secretive nation’s fishermen. The detentions mark rare confrontation between North Korea and Russia, which sees itself as an important player in international talks on defusing nuclear tensions…
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a firm it said was participating in a scheme to avoid U.S. sanctions while helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria. The U.S. Treasury Department said the newly sanctioned firm, Maritime Assistance LLC, was operating as a front company for OJSC Sovfracht, a company the United…
Russia is expanding its Hmeimim airbase in Syria and rebuilding a second landing strip to allow the facility to serve more aircraft, Russian news agencies cited an unnamed Defense Ministry official as saying on Thursday. The ministry has also set up new buildings to house aircraft at the site that will defend against drone attacks, the official…
Specialists of RN-KrasnoyarskNIPIneft LLC (a subsidiary of Rosneft’s Corporate Research and Development Complex) have completed a pilot project to re-process and re-interpret 3D-seismic data acquired during the exploration of the Vankor field in 2003-2005.
A celebrated Russian priest who adopted 70 children has been arrested on suspicion of pedophilia. Father Nikolai Stremsky, said to be the patriarch of Russia’s largest family and a recipient of a prize established by the Red Cross and Russian government, was reportedly detained Tuesday. Local media reported that authorities first opened a criminal investigation…
A whistleblower report released by a congressional panel on Thursday said President Donald Trump used his office to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 election to advance his personal political interests, risking U.S. national security. The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee released a declassified version of the report made by the whistleblower, which…
Russia said on Thursday that Belarus’s refusal to host a military airbase backed by President Vladimir Putin had been an “unpleasant episode,” a rare public display of disagreement between the close allies. Russia and Belarus are members of a largely symbolic union state and are in talks to deepen their integration, but the airbase spat illustrates the…
St. Petersburg is kicking off the fall art and culture season with something for everyone, from Chinese lanterns to a retrospective of one of Russia’s greatest artists. Art Weekend: Oct. 5 and 6 Explore the best of St. Petersburg’s galleries and exhibitions in a weekend entirely devoted to contemporary art. Art Weekend will involve more…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Moscow wants to end the five-year war in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskiy has said. More than 13,000 people have been killed since the conflict between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government erupted in the region known as the Donbass in 2014. Sporadic fighting continues despite…
Today, tourists tend to choose to travel to Iceland or Norway to get a taste of the Arctic experience. The establishment of a new special customs zone in Russia has the possibility to change that, Alexander Kirilov, the director of the Russian Arctic National Park, said in a statement issued by the Natural Resources Ministry. …
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This story was updated on Sept. 26 at 11:42 a.m. A Russian trawler that caught fire in the northern Norwegian port of Tromsø capsized and sank Thursday morning after burning for nearly 24 hours, the Defense Ministry’s Zvezda television channel has reported. Negligence during welding work is suspected to have caused the fire, Russia’s consul…
Russia can overcome its gender-related issues by legalizing polygamy, the leader of Moscow’s Muslims has said. Polygamy, the practice of taking more than one spouse, is frowned upon by an overwhelming majority of Russians. While polygamy is not permitted under Russian law, it remains commonplace in the country’s predominantly Muslim republics of the North Caucasus.…
For U.S. President Donald Trump, White House publication on Wednesday of a memo summarizing his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy fuelled a domestic political crisis. For Zelenskiy, it was a far-reaching diplomatic disaster. Zelenskiy’s comments to the Republican Trump, disclosed in the summary, will likely irk U.S. Democrats, risking the bipartisan U.S. support Kiev…
President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine’s leader to investigate Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden, in coordination with the U.S. attorney general and Trump’s personal lawyer, according to a summary of a telephone call released by the Trump administration on Wednesday. The official account of the half-hour July call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy laid bare an astonishing…
Release September 25, 2019, 19:50 Photos Infographics A working visit by Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of the Gazprom Board of Directors, took place in Nizhny Novgorod today. Viktor Zubkov held a meeting on the prospects of the Russian NGV market. Taking part in the event were Igor Komarov, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal District; Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee; Vladimir Markov and Vyacheslav Mikhalenko, Members of the Gazprom Management…
Russia, the United States and 17 other members of the United Nations have banded together to try to purge abortion- and reproductive health-related language from the international body’s terminology. The UN adopted a universal health care declaration Monday which included “the need to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services and reproductive…
A man who stole a Russian masterpiece worth about $1 million from a Moscow art gallery in broad daylight in January was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday. Police arrested Denis Chuprikov after he was caught on camera taking the 1908 landscape painting “Ai Petri. Crimea” by artist Arkhip Kuindzhi off the wall…
U.S. President Donald Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July telephone call to investigate whether former Vice President Joe Biden shut down an investigation into a company that employed his son, a summary of the call released by the Trump administration on Wednesday showed. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced…
Top members of the ruling United Russia party in St. Petersburg meddled in the city’s municipal elections earlier this month, Central Election Commission Head Ella Pamfilova said Wednesday. Observers noted widespread violations during the Sept. 8 elections, including lengthy delays in the official count, intimidation and recounts. According to official results confirmed Tuesday, deputies from…
Russian Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that it will be difficult to boost much-needed investment activity without first improving trust in the courts and Russia’s law enforcement agencies. Speaking at a meeting of Putin and other officials that was broadcast on state television, Oreshkin said it was “very important” to…
Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that Russia must restore trust in its courts and law enforcement agencies if the government is to have a chance of fulfilling the Kremlin’s ambitious economic plans. The unusually direct comments to Putin were broadcast on state television and come as the government is searching for ways…
This week in 1968, “Those Were the Days” by folk singer Mary Hopkin started its six-week run at the top of the British charts. The song was originally a Russian song called “Dorogoi Dlinnoyu,” meaning “By the Long Road,” written in 1925 by Konstantin Podrevsky and Boris Fomin. Western pop songs influenced the musical tastes…
A Russian Soyuz spaceship blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome towards the International Space Station on Wednesday carrying a crew of three, including the first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates, NASA television reported. Emirati astronaut Hazzaa AlMansoori, Russian commander Oleg Skripochka, and flight engineer Jessica Meir of NASA were expected to dock with the space station about six…
An agreement between IAEA and Rosatom Technical Academy (Rosatom Tech), officially designating Rosatom Tech as a Collaborating Center in the field of knowledge management and Human Resource Development for Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Security was signed during the 63rd Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference, which was held in Vienna (Austria) from September…
Russia has submitted “Dylda” (“Beanpole”), a film directed by 27-year-old Kantemir Balagov, for consideration in this year’s Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards. The film, Balagov’s second, is based on an interview from Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich’s book “The Unwomanly Face of War.” The book was one of the first to expose…
September 25, 2019, Tokyo – Rusatom Overseas and Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry signed an agreement to join efforts in conducting a feasibility study in 2020-2021 to export hydrogen from Russia to Japan. On the Russian side, the agreement was signed by Anton Moskvin, Vice…
A Russian trawler has caught on fire in the northern Norwegian port of Tromsø, local police said Wednesday. Twelve out of 29 crew members have been sent to the hospital for smoke inhalation, Norway’s NRK broadcaster reported. The Maritime Bulletin news outlet, which identified the trawler a the Bukhta Nayezdnik, said 27 people have been…
Russian composer and pianist Dmitry Shostakovich was born on Sept. 25, 1906 in St. Petersburg as the second of three children from a Polish Roman Catholic family with roots in Siberia. He would become known as one of Russia’s greatest 20th-century composers and a tenaciously resilient figure amid the Soviet Union’s crackdown on artists. Shostakovich’s…
Helicopters, excavators and people wearing hazmat suits have been filmed near the site of a mysterious nuclear explosion at a Russian military site that has raised international concerns and safety fears. A liquid propulsion system blast on Aug. 8 at a naval missile test facility in Nyonoksa has killed seven people and led to a…
A group of Russian military specialists has arrived in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Russia’s Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying on Wednesday. The report did not say how many specialists had been sent, but it cited another unnamed source saying they had been dispatched in order to service and carry out…
Key Highlights of PhosAgro’s strategy to 2020 adopted in 2013: Production of fertilizers increased more than 50% from 5.9 million tonnes in 2013 to 9.0 million tonnes at the end of 2018, with expected production of 9.4–9.5 million tonnes in 2019; Fertilizer sales volumes in the Company’s priority domestic market nearly doubled to…
Russian President Vladimir Putin backed negotiations between Venezuela’s government and opposition groups that have been rejected by the leader of the main opposition to President Nicolas Maduro. Last week, a group of Venezuelan opposition parties agreed to enter a dialogue with Maduro’s government. But larger groups, led by opposition leader Juan Guaido, rejected the move.…
A private army linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun fighting on the front lines of the Libyan war, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest projection of Russian power following a decisive military intervention in Syria. More than 100 mercenaries from the Wagner group headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as…
A famous elderly model from Russia has been featured in an ad campaign for the French cosmetic giant L’Oreal. Valentina Yasen, the 64-year-old winner of Russia’s 2018 Glamour Model of the Year award, has donned magazine covers and graced catwalks as part of Oldushka, the Russian over-45 modeling agency. The retired theater actress explained that…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged NATO to suspend the deployment of missiles in Europe that were banned under a recently abandoned U.S.-Russian nuclear pact, the Kommersant business daily has reported. There are increasing concerns that Russia and the U.S. are headed toward an arms race after Washington formally pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear…
St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena will host the final of the 2021 UEFA Champions League, the European football governing body’s executive committee announced Tuesday evening. It will be Russia’s second time hosting a Champions League final. In 2008, Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium saw Manchester United beat Chelsea in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. The competition’s final is one of the…
Release September 24, 2019, 20:05 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about the engagement of Russian industrial and machine-building enterprises in the implementation of the Company’s strategic goals. It was highlighted that Gazprom is focused on further improving its operational efficiency and maintaining technological leadership among energy companies. These efforts are being carried out in a systematic manner within the Company’s Innovative Development…
Russia’s Transportation Ministry expects to build a toll road linking Moscow with the city of Kazan by 2027, three years after its original planned completion date, the Vedomosti business daily has reported. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov last week authorized the Transportation Ministry to start building two sections of the Moscow-Kazan highway. The toll road is…
London – The Board of Directors of PhosAgro has approved a new dividend policy, under which future dividend payments will be based on the Company’s free cash flow instead of net profit, with the amount varying depending on the Company’s debt levels. The new policy will allow the Company to direct more than 75% of…