It’s “pathetic” for adults to read comic books, Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky has said, sparking backlash among the country’s comic book fans. Mainstream comic book culture began to catch on in Russia earlier this decade after years of lingering Soviet-era stigma that placed “serious literature” on a pedestal at the expense of disdained mass…
Russia’s Defense Ministry has declassified a trove of documents relating to a Soviet-Nazi nonaggression pact signed 80 years ago which historians say paved the way for the start of World War II. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact pact on Aug. 23, 1939. A secret protocol that accompanied the non-aggression treaty divided…
Russia and Ukraine on Saturday exchanged 35 prisoners each in a carefully negotiated swap that could signal a thaw in relations. The swap — which included high-profile figures like filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and potential MH17 witness Vladimir Tsemakh — was seen as a key step toward resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more…
Lev Tolstoy was born into a family of Russian nobility in Tula in 1828. The fourth of five children, Tolstoy’s mother died when he was two and his father when he was nine. He and his siblings were then raised by relatives. At 16, he enrolled in Kazan University and began studying law and languages.…
France’s foreign minister said on Monday Europe and Russia should try to overcome their mutual distrust and work towards improving relations but that it was still too early to lift EU sanctions against Moscow. The European Union imposed the sanctions over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian armed…
Each year, Muscovites celebrate the founding of Moscow in 1147 with a huge citywide bash during the first weekend of September. From free entry to museums to special performances and parades through the city center, there was no shortage of ways to wish the Russian capital a happy birthday. Here are a few of our…
Message to the Media September 9, 2019, 15:45 A working meeting took place today between Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee. Alexey Miller briefed Vladimir Putin on the Company’s preparations for the upcoming autumn/winter period. Particular attention was paid to the issues of gas supplies to foreign markets. Gazprom website Editorial Board Shorthand record…
Incumbent governors backed by President Vladimir Putin avoided runoff elections in 16 Russian regions Sunday, one year after Putin replaced at least 15 governors as a result of 2018 election setbacks. The governors’ races lacked the high stakes of Moscow’s legislative elections, where pro-Putin candidates lost one-third of the seats following a summer of the…
News from projects and regions September 9, 2019, 15:00 Photos On September 4–7, Gazprom Transgaz Ukhta hosted the final round of its Summer Spartakiada Games. During three competition days, teams of employees representing 23 branches from the Komi Republic and the Arkhangelsk, Vologda and Yaroslavl Regions vied for the main prizes. The finalists competed in six disciplines – football, volleyball, swimming,…
The Akademik Lomonosov power barge on Sept. 6 passed the Sannikov Strait south of the New Siberian Islands and made it into the East Siberian Sea. The floating installation now has only about three days left of its extensive voyage across the Northern Sea Route. According to the Northern Sea Route administration, the installation and its…
Russia’s long-running bet on gold is looking better every month. The country quadrupled gold reserves in the past decade as it diversified away from U.S. assets, a move that has paid off recently as haven demand sent prices to a six-year high. In the past year, the value of the nation’s gold jumped 42% to…
Moscow – PhosAgro (MOEX/LSE ticker: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, announces the opening of registration for the Company’s Capital Markets Day, which will be held in London on 25 September 2019. At the event, the Company’s Board of Directors and executive management team will present the Company’s new strategy…
Google said on Monday that it supported responsible political advertising that complies with local legislation, after Russia accused it of circulating such advertising during local elections at the weekend. The tech giant neither affirmed nor denied in a statement that it had disseminated any such advertising. The state communications watchdog said Google and Facebook had…
Daniil Medvedev once reveled in his role as the villain of Flushing Meadows but on Sunday the Russian completed his transformation to unlikely hero after taking Rafael Nadal the distance in a pulsating U.S. Open final. Despite losing to the Spaniard in a five-set thriller, Medvedev’s performance suggests more Grand Slam finals are in his…
Russia‘s ruling United Russia party, which backs President Vladimir Putin, has lost one-third of its seats in the Moscow parliament, near-complete data cited by Russian news agencies showed on Monday, in an awkward setback for the Kremlin. However, the party still retained its majority in the Moscow assembly following Sunday’s nationwide local elections, and its candidates for regional…
Russians voted on Sunday in some of the most closely observed regional elections in years, after the exclusion of many opposition candidates triggered huge protests in the capital. The protests began in mid-July after the Central Election Commission refused to register large numbers of candidates, saying they had failed to collect enough signatures from genuine…
Award-winning journalist Sam Sokol is the author of “Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews,” a book covering the tragic fate of the Jewish communities in Ukraine since the 2013 Euromaidan revolution, the annexation of Crimea and war in the Donbass. As a reporter for the Jerusalem Post covering European diasporas, Sokol was ideally placed to…
Russia and Ukraine on Saturday swapped 35 prisoners each, including filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, 24 Ukrainian sailors and potential MH17 witness Vladimir Tsemakh, in a key step toward bringing an end to the war in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2014. Laden with wide-ranging implications, the move underlines new Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s…
Background The key areas of activity of Gazprom Dobycha Orenburg are production, treatment, and transportation of hydrocarbons and a number of commercial products of partner companies. The main source of raw materials for the company is the Orenburgskoye oil, gas and condensate field that contains unique components including methane, ethane, propane, butanes, helium, mercaptans, etc. This is why the Orenburg Gas Processing and Helium Plants…
Oleg Navalny, the brother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is now exhibiting the tattoo sketches that he made while serving a 3.5-year sentence in prison. His exhibition comes on the back of months of anti-government protests in Moscow and the arrests of activists that face up to 3 years in prison.
Russian state watchdog Roskomnadzor said on Friday it asked Facebook and Google to ban the publication of political advertising during elections on Sunday and on the preceding day, in line with Russian law. Russia will hold several regional elections on Sunday, including in Moscow. Non-compliance would be viewed as meddling in Russia’s sovereign affairs, the…
Russia’s National Guard has taken over teaching duties at a fifth-grade class in the Siberian city of Irkutsk this week. Officer Alexei Volk, wearing a military uniform, assumed homeroom teaching duties over the class of 12 girls and 20 boys on the first day of school. “Primarily, we will instill patriotic upbringing and a positive…
The city of Novosibirsk in Siberia has unveiled a memorial plaque Friday honoring Kim Jong Il, the father and predecessor of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim, who led the secretive state until his death in 2011, visited the Russian city on Aug. 11, 2001, after talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. A…
Potentially dangerous objects have been found in an area of northern Russia where an accident that released radiation occurred last month, Interfax news agency reported on Friday, citing regional authorities. A test at a military site on Aug. 8 caused a brief rise in radiation levels in the nearby city of Severodvinsk. Russia’s state weather…
Founder of the Rolf car dealership and former Russian lawmaker Sergei Petrov is confident he won’t be extradited from Austria, despite an international warrant for his arrest issued by Russia on Friday. Russia’s Investigative Committee accuses Petrov and managers of his company of smuggling 4 billion rubles ($60.5 million) out of the country to a…
Russian natural gas company Novatek and maritime shipping company Sovcomflot have signed a deal that formally establishes a new joint venture during this week’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. The vessels will conform to Arc7 ice standards and will be built at the new Zvezda shipyard. They are to be delivered in the period 2023-2026. Sovcomflot said it…
Two whale pens along Russia’s Barents Sea coast have been securely tied up months after a runaway beluga whale nicknamed ‘Whaledimir’ was first spotted by local fishermen in Norway, satellite imagery shows. In May, a series of Google Earth satellite images showed two locations on the Kola Peninsula within closed Russian naval territories where beluga whales…
Russia’s Knyaz Vladimir (K-549) submarine is expected to be delivered to the Northern Fleet this year, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper has reported, citing sources close to the Navy’s commander-in-chief. Knyaz Vladimir is the first of a series of upgraded submarines as part of the Navy’s Project 955A and will be based in the town of Gadzhiyevo on the Kola Peninsula. Originally, it was…
Authorities in Moscow have ordered 260 million rubles ($4 million) of facial-recognition technology for surveillance cameras to monitor protests and other mass gatherings, the Vedomosti business daily reported Friday. Moscow claims one of the world’s largest network of 160,000 surveillance cameras, some equipped with facial-recognition technology, with plans to boost the number to 200,000 this…
A masked robber has allegedly tried to tase the head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, during a burglary, police said Friday. The attack came two days before Russians vote in regional elections, including in Moscow. The vote in the Russian capital has triggered weeks of protests after Pamfilova and her colleagues refused to register a…
A Russian court on Friday ordered the release on parole of two famous Russian football players jailed for their involvement in a pair of violent attacks last year, Russian news agencies reported on Friday. Alexander Kokorin and Pavel Mamayev, who both played in Russia’s top league and used to play for their country, apologized after…
Russia’s military is incorporating mercenaries hired by a wealthy ally of President Vladimir Putin into its planned offensive to help Syria’s army retake the last major stronghold held by jihadist rebels, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Hundreds of freelance fighters who answer to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman known as “Putin’s chef”…
Authorities have raided three of opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s offices in Moscow on the eve of a local election where he is advocating voters to unseat Kremlin-backed candidates. The raids took place ahead of the Sept. 8 city legislature vote that galvanized this summer’s mass protests in Moscow when election officials disqualified opposition candidates, including…
On September 5, at the Eastern Economic Forum 2019, the State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom”, PJSC Sberbank of Russia and Federal Medical and Biological Agency “FMBA of Russia” concluded a memorandum on cooperation aimed at creating best world practices in high quality, accessible and convenient services in the field of health services. The document was…
Russian activist Konstantin Kotov has been sentenced to 4 years after a court convicted him of “multiple breaches” of Russian protest law, making him the second person ever to be prosecuted under the controversial legislation. The clause in the Russian Criminal Code punishing repeat violations of public demonstration rules became known as Ildar “Dadin’s article”…
At least three Russian soldiers have been killed in a firefight in Syria’s de-escalation zone this week, the Vedomosti business daily has reported Thursday, citing an unnamed military source. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, backed by Russian airpower, have been waging an offensive in the Idlib region, the last remaining rebel-held territory in Syria. Much…
An executive with Russia’s state engine maker has been arrested in Italy at the request of the U.S., which suspects him of economic espionage, the Fontanka.ru news website reported Thursday. Alexander Korshunov, 57, the head of business development at the state conglomerate Rostec’s subsidiary United Engine Corporation, was reportedly detained Tuesday as he arrived in…
The Kremlin has agreed to probe a senior member of Moscow’s city legislature over two investigations into his dealings by opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption team, the Vedomosti business daily reported. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has claimed that municipal lawmaker Andrei Metelsky’s family owns a motorcycle dealership in Moscow and a hotel franchise in Austria…
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would produce missiles that were banned under a landmark Cold-War era nuclear pact that ended last month, but that Moscow would not deploy them unless the United States did so first. Speaking at an economic forum in Russia’s Far East, Putin said Moscow had urged the United…
“India is tuned toward interaction with Russia in the Arctic,” says a joint declaration signed this week by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Russia-India Summit in Vladivostok. “India is following the development of the Arctic region and is ready to play an important role in the Arctic Council,” the declaration…
TVEL JSC and Centre for Energy Research of Hungarian Academy of Sciences have signed contract for supply of Russian nuclear fuel for Budapest research reactor (BRR). The long-term contract embraces fuel supplies starting from 2019. Budapest research reactor is utilized for scientific and applied research in nuclear physics and material studies, in particular, for the…
A court in Kiev has ruled Thursday to release a potential key witness in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as Ukraine and Russia gear up for a highly anticipated prisoner exchange. Volodymyr Tsemakh had faced prison time for fighting on the side of pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, leading observers to speculate that…
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that a major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine was close, after a court in Kiev freed on bail a man suspected of involvement in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine is hoping to secure the release of dozens of prisoners, including 24 sailors…
Authorities have launched an inspection after an unnamed woman brought a grenade to the Federal Security Service (FSB) building in central Moscow, the Moskva news agency reported Thursday. The explosive device was reportedly seized from the 34-year-old Moscow region resident at the FSB’s reception hall late on Wednesday. “The woman explained that it was a…
Most Russians believe that wildfires have swept across Siberia this summer because of illegal logging and the authorities’ negligence, according to a new poll published by the independent Levada Center pollster. Activists and environmentalists have decried the authorities’ slow response to the fires, which at their peak covered an area the size of Belgium and…
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Thursday that Tokyo’s military ties with the United States and many other issues made it hard for Japan and Russia to sign a World War Two peace treaty. Putin made the comment at an economic forum in Russia’s Far East after Abe called on…
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The Kremlin is in talks to set up a system to monitor what Russian internet users watch online, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, citing unnamed government sources. Russia has in recent years attempted to curb internet freedoms by blocking access to certain websites and messaging services such as Telegram. The country has required search…
The lights go off, and a soft gasp washes over the crowd of about 250 people standing in a theater as we’re plunged into pitch-black darkness. A voice over the loudspeaker issues instructions, and so I put my left hand on the left shoulder of the girl in front of me, and she puts hers…
Background KOGAS (Republic of Korea) is focused on the construction and operation of LNG receiving terminals and gas distribution networks, the implementation of international gas projects, and research and development in the gas industry. In 2005, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (in which Gazprom owns 50 per cent plus one share) and KOGAS signed the contract for the supply of 1.5 million tons of LNG per…
Background Japan’s Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is focused on the development, purchase and sale, distribution and processing of all types of energy products in Japan and overseas, as well as on financial activities. Gazprom and Mitsui are partners in the Sakhalin II project, which includes Russia’s first LNG plant. The Sakhalin II operator is Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. In December 2016, Gazprom and Mitsui signed the Agreement…
Release September 5, 2019, 10:25 Oleg Melekhin, Director General of Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo, Alexey Medvedev, Acting Director General of Gazpromneft Marine Bunker, and Alexey Rakhmanov, President of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), today signed at the 5th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok a Memorandum of Cooperation and Strategic Partnership. The document was signed in the presence of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and…
Ahead of Sunday’s nationwide regional elections, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, is urging voters dissatisfied with the status quo to ignore their ideological beliefs and focus solely on casting the ruling United Russia party out of power. But in the Russian capital, voters heading to the polls to select deputies for the Moscow…
Release September 5, 2019, 10:20 An agreement of intent was concluded today at the 5th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok to implement projects in the field of advanced information technologies at Far Eastern Federal University. The document was signed by Alexander Kozlov, Russian Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, Konstantin Noskov, Russian Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, Alexey Miller,…
As part of the 5th Eastern Economic Forum, Rosneft has held a round table with leading representatives of the energy industry of Japan and heads of major Japanese corporations.
Release September 5, 2019, 10:00 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Dmitry Konov, Chairman of the Management Board of SIBUR Holding (on behalf of the Amur Gas Chemical Complex), today signed at the 5th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok a preliminary contract. The document outlines the basic terms of long-term supplies of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) and additional volumes of ethane fraction from…
India has ordered a “breakthrough” $14.5 billion of Russian-made weapons since last year despite sanctions pressure from the United States, Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) has said. India is the largest buyer of Russian military hardware, having signed a $5 billion deal for Russian S-400 surface to air missile systems last…
Russian media have dubbed Tuesday “Judgment Day” for the number of court decisions related to this summer’s wave of Moscow anti-government protests that took place. A blogger was sentenced to five years behind bars over a tweet that seemingly threatened the families of security officers accused of violently detaining protesters. The court’s seemingly contradictory move…
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday referred to relations between Russia and Mongolia as “brotherly” during his visit to Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. And just as brothers do, Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga welcomed his Russian counterpart with an elaborate ceremony before negotiations began. The country’s State Honor Guard and an orchestra lined up to welcome Putin at…
The 250-meter long Korolev Prospect tanker set out from Murmansk fully loaded with oil on August 28. Seven days into its eastbound course, it reached Cape Dezhnev in the Bering Strait. The tanker is expected to arrive in a Chinese port by Sept. 14. It is the first time that an LNG-powered tanker will transit across…