Photographer Captures Everyday Russia

Dmitry Markov is a Russian photographer who has been capturing images of everyday life in his home country since 2005.  He has also worked as a volunteer in an orphanage and as an assistant tutor at a charitable organization that works with people with disabilities. Today, Markov is based in Pskov, a western Russian city…

Notice on holding the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of PJSC PhosAgro

PJSC PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR) (“PhosAgro”, the “Company”), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, hereby informs / notifies its shareholders that the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders is to be held on 24 June 2019, Form of the Extraordinary General Meeting: absentee voting. One can inform himself about the data…

Russia Launches Its Most Powerful Telecom Satellite

Russia has launched a powerful European-made communications satellite for the state energy giant Gazprom from Kazakhstan. Gazprom’s space subsidiary, Gazprom Space Systems, runs Yamal satellites to broadcast to customers in Russia, western and central Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. France’s Thales Alenia Space company manufactures the satellites for Gazprom. The Yamal-601 satellite launched…

IAEA Safety Mission Sees Strengthened Operational Safety at Russia’s Leningrad NPP, Encourages Continued Improvement

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts said the operator of Russia’s Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant has strengthened operational safety in response to the findings of an IAEA review in 2017. The team also encouraged the operator to pursue continuous improvement. The Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) concluded a five-day follow-up mission on…

IAEA Safety Mission Sees Strengthened Operational Safety at Russia’s Leningrad NPP, Encourages Continued Improvement

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts said the operator of Russia’s Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant has strengthened operational safety in response to the findings of an IAEA review in 2017. The team also encouraged the operator to pursue continuous improvement. The Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) concluded a five-day follow-up mission on…

PhosAgro Receives Shareholding Notices from Igor Antoshin and Vladimir Litvinenko

Moscow – PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, has been informed by its shareholders Igor Antoshin and Vladimir Litvinenko about a 1.64% change in their stakes in the Company’s authorised capital. According to the information provided by the shareholders the share ownership of Mr. Antoshin reduced to 4.51%,…

FSB Makes Arrests at Norwegian Border

Russian border guards have detained two individuals who allegedly tried to make it illegally across the border to Norway. The two people, both of them citizens of Iraq, were detained as they were making an attempt to cross into the neighboring country. Neither of the detainees had needed travel documents and both were caught in…

Rosneft Expands Production and Geography of Euro 6 Gasoline Sales in Central Federal District

Ryazan Oil Refining Company (a part of Rosneft Group) has started production of RON-95-K5 Euro 6 high-octane gasoline with improved environmental and performance characteristics. Sales of the improved-quality gasoline began at Rosneft fuel filling stations in the Ryazan region. In the nearest future, residents of the Tula and Kaluga regions will also be able to…

Russian Activists Fear Authorities Will Tear Down Their Camp As Landfill Clashes Reignite

Protesters rallying against plans to build a landfill in northern Russia for Moscow’s waste have said they expect the authorities to tear down their camp amid the latest escalations this week, Russian media reported. Residents of Arkhangelsk region have for months demonstrated against the controversial $162 million landfill designed to take in Moscow’s garbage. Moscow…

Drinking Up in Russia, Survey Says

More Russians drank alcohol so far this year than they did in 2018, a survey by the state-funded VTsIOM agency has said. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they had consumed alcohol between several times a week and less than once a month in 2019, the pollster said Thursday. Last year’s results said 57 percent of…

Russians Stand Side by Side at LGBT Festival

Last week, the annual Side by Side (Bok o Bok in Russian) LGBT International Film Festival was held in Moscow. Amid screenings of films, gatherings within the community and providing a safe space for the LGBT community, the presence of anti-LGBT protestors and bomb threats tainted an otherwise peaceful event in the capital. “The first festival…

Happy Birthday, St. Petersburg

Despite an unrelenting downpour and cool temperatures, St. Petersburg marked its 316th birthday last weekend with plenty of pomp and splendor, as befitting the Venice of the North. Celebrations kicked off on Saturday with an ice cream festival and retro transport parade consisting of more than 200 buses, trams and trucks from private collections, museums…

Moscow Blames EU and NATO for Latest Balkan Tensions

Rising tensions between the Balkan countries of Serbia and Kosovo are the result of the European Union and NATO “appeasing” Kosovo, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused Kosovo of provocation after its police detained more than two dozen people, including one Russian national, during an armed raid…

U.S. Believes Russia Is Conducting Low-Level Nuclear Tests, Official Says

The United States believes Russia may be conducting low-level nuclear testing in violation of a moratorium on such tests, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency said on Wednesday. “The United States believes that Russia probably is not adhering to its nuclear testing moratorium in a manner consistent with the ‘zero-yield’ standard,” Lieutenant General Robert P. Ashley said at…

Former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova Elected Chair of PhosAgro’s Sustainable Development Committee

Moscow – The Board of Directors of PhosAgro PJSC (“the Company”; Moscow Exchange, LSE ticker: PHOR) approved the leadership and composition of its committees at a meeting held on 24 May.  The Strategy Committee and Risk Management Committee will be chaired by Independent Director Sven Ombudstvedt. Independent Director Marcus Rhodes was once again elected Chairman…

Global Automakers Accuse Russian Courts of Graft

Major automakers are accusing courts in southern Russia of using consumer protection claims to scam them out of 200 million rubles ($3 million) in 2016-2018, the RBC news website reported Tuesday. Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover filed a complaint with Russian authorities alleging that Krasnodar judges abuse the consumer protection system to seek…

Severstal uveils ew cliet-cetric corporate structure

May 29, 2019 PAO Severstal announces that the Company’s organizational structure has been reconfigured to support its updated strategy and ensure it consistently delivers an excellent customer experience. Based on agile business principles, all of the Company’s production and “selling” divisions now fall under two streams – upstream and downstream, for which common business goals…

Gazprom in Eastern Russia, Entry into Asia-Pacific Markets Press Conference held

Listen to audio For Gazprom’s Press Conferences audio broadcast please dial: +7 495 719-35-77 (Russian) +7 495 719-30-00 (English) Materials May 28, 2019, 02:30 pm (Moscow time) [embedded content] Participants: Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Elena Burmistrova, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Director General, Gazprom Export; Sergey Menshikov, Member of the Management Committee, Head of Department, Gazprom; Vyacheslav Mikhalenko, Member…

BDSM-Style Graduation Video Divides Russians

A controversial high school celebration in which students dressed in revealing outfits has divided Russian society over questions of morality and freedom of expression. Police issued fines and a headmistress submitted her resignation in the Far East city of Vladivostok after video of the would-be graduates celebrating the last days of school in leather shorts,…

Chinese Officials Are Searching Russian Travelers’ Phones at Border, Consulate Warns

Russia has requested an official explanation from China over a reported new policy in which Russian citizens’ phones are randomly seized and searched by Chinese border guards. The Russian Consulate General in Guangzhou issued an advisory last week, warning that border guards at China’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport had begun to randomly select Russian travellers to…

Kokoshnik: Not Just For Fairy Tales

Pick up a book of Russian fairy tales, and you’ll notice something very distinctive in the costume of the female characters.  Spend Christmas in Russia, and you’ll see the same distinctive circlet on the head of every incarnation of Snegurochka – the Snow Maiden. We refer, of course, to that most iconic Russian headdress: the…

Sibneftegaz Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Sibneftegaz JSC celebrates the 25th anniversary of its operation. This is one of the key gas-producing subsidiaries of Rosneft Oil Company with the accumulated output exceeding 118 billion cubic metres. At the moment, the entity produces approximately 12 bcm annually. In order to expand its production, Sibneftegaz carries out the construction of major production facilities:…

Deputy Director General of ROSATOM Nikolai Spasskiy held a meeting with Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan Ramin Guluzade

On the 23rd of May 2019 in Moscow Deputy Director General for International Relations of ROSATOM Nikolai Spasskiy held a meeting with Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ramin Guluzade. President of Rusatom – International Network A.A. Merten, President of JSC Rusatom Overseas E.M. Pakermanov and Chairman of CJSC…

Russia Demands Kosovo Release Detained Russian UN Worker

Russia‘s embassy in Serbia on Tuesday demanded that Kosovo immediately release a detained Russian national working at a United Nations mission in Kosovo, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. The Russian national was detained in a Serb-populated municipality in Kosovo’s north during a police operation there, RIA said. “We demand the immediate release of the Russian and…