The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization warned the U.S. Congress on Wednesday of the threat posed by “a more assertive Russia,” including a massive military buildup, threats to sovereign states, the use of nerve agents and cyberattacks. “We must overcome our differences now because we will need our alliance even more in the…
The Japanese government has voiced protest against planned Russian military shooting drills on a chain of disputed Pacific islands, its foreign ministry told Russian media Thursday. Both countries claim sovereignty over the island chain known in Russia as the Kuril Islands and in Japan as the Northern Territories, preventing the sides from signing a treaty…
Russian lawmakers have accused Ukraine of bringing 1.5 trillion rubles ($23 billion) in losses to the Crimean economy in the 23 years that the peninsula was part of independent Ukraine. The assessment comes from the State Duma’s newly established task force to measure damages under what it labels Ukraine’s “annexation” of Crimea between 1991 — the fall…
Message to the Media April 3, 2019, 19:30 A working meeting took place today between Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee. Alexey Miller briefed Dmitry Medvedev on the Company’s efforts in the field of import substitution and the implementation of digital technologies. Gazprom website Editorial Board Shorthand record Dmitry Medvedev: Mr. Miller,…
The Russian military tested the telepathic effects of parapsychology in its wars in Chechnya in the 1990s and the early 2000s, a news magazine run by the Defense Ministry has claimed. The techniques reportedly allowed soldiers to wiretap conversations, disrupt software, identify potential terrorists and read foreign-language documents locked in a safe — all using…
Britain said on Wednesday it had scrambled Typhoon jets to monitor two Russian “Blackjack” bombers which approached the United Kingdom’s airspace. The two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 long-range bombers flew in international airspace off Britain’s northeastern coast. “We can confirm that RAF quick reaction alert Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth scrambled to monitor two Blackjack bombers while they…
A mock gravestone for President Vladimir Putin appeared in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, in at least the third such display in the past two months. The headstone popped up near the iconic St. Isaac’s Cathedral shortly after an activist was sentenced to 15 days behind bars for placing a mock Putin tombstone in Kurgan region…
At least two suspected members of the banned Islamic State terrorist organization have been killed in a shootout with police in Russia’s North Caucasus that took place overnight Wednesday. The region, known for its instability, has seen frequent attacks on law enforcement officials, including in the republics of Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan. The suspects opened fire…
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Russian authorities believe Tuesday’s explosion that injured four people at a St. Petersburg military and space academy was a deliberate attack, the Kommersant business daily has reported. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal investigation into attempted murder after the blast at the Mozhaysky Military Space Academy injured four officers midday Tuesday. The bomb, which was…
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Kazakhstan’s new president has vowed to preserve a pro-Russian foreign policy as his arrival in Moscow signaled he does not plan to deviate from his predecessor’s course. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who arrived in Moscow for his first official visit on Wednesday, became the oil-rich country’s interim president after longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down two weeks…
Russia plans to open a treatment center to “rehabilitate” the adherents of a banned Islamic group in the annexed Crimean peninsula, a senior Russian lawmaker said Wednesday. Russian security agents detained dozens of people in Simferopol last week on suspicion of being members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a pan-Islamist group banned within Russia. Russia’s human rights…
Ukraine is in the middle of a presidential election campaign in which its larger neighbor plays an outsize role. The war with Russia-backed separatists, which has lasted five years and claimed 13,000 lives, weighs heavily on the race, as do fears of Moscow’s interference. Three months ago, Ukraine’s Central Electoral Commission shut down polls at…
NATO plans to expand its surveillance in the Black Sea to ensure that Ukrainian ships travel safely through an area effectively controlled by Russia, a top U.S. official in the Western military alliance said Tuesday. The Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, has become a flashpoint between Moscow and…
Colombia on Tuesday rejected a Russian warning against foreign military intervention in Venezuela and said it supported a peaceful transition to democracy in the neighboring South American country. “Colombia reiterates that the transition to democracy must be conducted by the Venezuelans themselves peacefully and within the framework of the Constitution and international law, supported by political…
News from projects and regions April 2, 2019, 20:00 The traditional handing over of the trophy cups won in ice yacht tournaments by the Gazprom Racing Team to Georgy Fokin, Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Saint Petersburg, took place at the company’s head office on April 1, 2019. The Gazprom Racing Team, a St. Petersburg-based ice yacht crew consisting of Oleg Vasiliev, Ruslan Rudenko,…
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Release April 2, 2019, 19:10 Photos Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of the Gazprom Board of Directors, held a meeting today at the premises of AVTOVAZ in Togliatti, Samara Region, on issues related to developing the domestic NGV market and stimulating supply and demand for natural gas-powered machinery. Taking part in the event were Anton Inyutsyn, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Alexander Morozov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade…
A handful of Russian news outlets have removed stories from their websites on graffiti calling President Vladimir Putin an anti-gay slur, in what one local publication called an act of censorship. Russian laws banning “blatant disrespect” toward the authorities online entered into force last Friday. Under the legislation, outlets have 24 hours to voluntarily delete…
Russia has opened a training center in Venezuela to help the country’s pilots fly Russian-made military helicopters, Russian state-owned industrial conglomerate Rostec said on Monday, Moscow’s latest gesture of support for President Nicolas Maduro. Rostec said the centre was inaugurated on Thursday last week, the same day as the White House warned Moscow and other countries backing Maduro…
A former Russian military officer has been sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges of participating in the banned Islamic State terrorist organization, the state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday. Denis Khisamov was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Krasnodar and was sentenced by a district military court in Rostov-on-Don for participating…
Up to four cadets have been injured in an explosion at a St. Petersburg military and space academy, Russian media outlets reported on Tuesday. The explosion at the Mozhaysky Military Space Academy occurred during an attempt to move an undetonated shell, an unnamed source in the emergency services told the St. Petersburg-based 78.ru news channel.…
Almost half of Russians oppose uniting with neighboring Belarus into a single country, according to a state-funded survey published on the 20th anniversary of the countries’ integration project. The potential merger between Minsk and Moscow became a widely discussed possibility in 2019 as a potential loophole for Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay in power…
By the time Los Angeles-based celebrity meditation guru Mahan Kirn had taken the stage and folded her legs into lotus position in Moscow’s Prana Yoga Center on Saturday the enormous main studio was bunged to capacity, with each yoga mat bunched up against the next. Wearing the white head covering and modest clothing that is…
More than one-fifth of Russian households do not have access to indoor plumbing, according to official statistics obtained by the RBC news website on Tuesday. Russia leads the developed world with the worst sanitation record, according to the London-based WaterAid NGO. A 2012 estimate citing official data placed the number of Russians whose households are…
Russia’s 23 richest billionaires grew richer by more than $20 billion in the first three months of 2019, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The number of billionaires in Russia has shrunk from 101 in 2018 to 98 this year, with Forbes estimating their combined wealth growing from $409.3 billion to $421 billion. An estimated…
A Russian internet entrepreneur has been sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of state treason in the interests of the United States. Georgy Fomchenkov’s verdict comes a month after cybersecurity expert Ruslan Stoyanov and ex-FSB security officer Sergei Mikhailov were sentenced to 14 and 22 years in prison on the…
Two months ago, Russia’s statistics agency put a dent in its own credibility, publishing a growth estimate for 2018 that far exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts. On Monday it had a chance to explain itself. The statistics agency confirmed the full-year result of 2.3 percent, the highest since 2012. It revised upward the figures…
The United States has halted delivery of equipment related to the stealthy F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey, marking the first concrete U.S. step to block delivery of the jet to the NATO ally in light of Ankara’s planned purchase of a Russian missile defense system. U.S. officials told their Turkish counterparts they will not receive further…
Moscow – PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, has concluded its reorganisation of JSC Apatit (Cherepovets) by incorporating JSC Metachem (Volkhov) and JSC PhosAgro-TRANS (in Cherepovets). PhosAgro CEO Andrei Guryev said: “PhosAgro’s merger of production and logistics assets into one legal entity has now been concluded.…
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An indigenous population of Russia’s Far North has appealed to the United Nations with claims that Russian authorities violated their rights by giving their historic land to a hunting club. An estimated 80,000 Sami live in the northern lands of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia’s Murmansk region, where reindeer herding has been the cornerstone of…
A dead Russian woman’s relatives and former colleagues brought her body to a local administrative building to protest officials who they claim were responsible for her death, the state-run RIA Novosti news site reported. Irina Fokina, who died March 28 at age 51, had been accused of conducting business illegally with her transportation company in the…
More than 15,000 metric tons of toxic waste have flown into Russia’s Lake Baikal from its largest tributary in the last decade, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. Environmentalists have acknowledged pollution at Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest and oldest freshwater lake, since at least 1998. Scientists warned last week that proposals by the…
Russian state-controlled miner Alrosa, the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds in carat terms, raised $11.8 million in its first New York diamond auction of the year, as it seeks to increase its activity in the United States. Rebecca Foerster, president of Alrosa, North America, said sanctions against some Russian companies did not diminish the…
A regional outpost of Russia’s Kommersant business newspaper received a written death threat in an attack on its Yekaterinburg office over the weekend, police said. The motive behind the break-in was not immediately clear, Sergei Plakhotin, general director of the Kommersant-Ural publishing house, told the local e1.ru news website. The outlet speculated that the attack…
A comedian’s double-digit lead over Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election signals that the incumbent’s politics have failed, Russian lawmakers have said. Russia has paid close attention to the vote in Ukraine, a country on the front line of the West’s standoff with Russia after the 2014 Maidan street…
Rosneft Oil Company has participated in the international environmental campaign called ‘Earth Hour’. The campaign has been held since 2007 with support by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Its goal is to draw public attention to environmental and resource-saving issues. Participants of the Earth Hour simultaneously switch off their lights and facade lighting…
The number of Russians forecasting improved relations between their country and the West has reached a five-year high, the independent Levada Center pollster said Monday. Public support for Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine has remained in the high 80s in the Levada poll since 2014, despite it leading to economic sanctions and strained Russia-West relations.…
Natalia Fileva, chairwoman and co-owner of Russia‘s second largest airline S7, died when a private jet she was in crashed near Frankfurt on Sunday, the company said. Fileva, 55, was the major shareholder in S7, a member of global Oneworld airlines alliance, and one of the richest women in Russia, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes at…
The demise of the only U.S.-Russia arms control pact limiting deployed nuclear weapons would make it harder for each to gauge the other’s intentions, giving both incentives to expand their arsenals, according to a study to be released on Monday. The expiration of the New START accord also may undermine faith in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,…
A comedian with a popular anti-corruption message but no political experience took the lead in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election on Sunday, early exit polls showed. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV show, has consistently led opinion polls in a three-horse race against incumbent Petro Poroshenko and…
Nikolai Gogol was born in the Ukrainian town of Sorochintsy in 1809. His father, Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky, was himself a poet and a playwright, writing in both Ukrainian and Russian. Both languages were spoken in their home, and this would go on to have a significant influence on Gogol’s writing. In 1828 Gogol moved to St.…
Russia has clearly stated the purpose of the “specialists” it has sent to Venezuela under a military cooperation deal,Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday, dismissing U.S. concerns about their presence. “The Russian side clearly stated the purpose of the arrival of its specialists to Caracas. This is not about any ‘military contingents’,” Zakharova said…
The White House on Friday warned Russia and other countries backing President Nicolas Maduro against sending troops and military equipment to Venezuela, saying the United States would view such actions as a “direct threat” to the region’s security. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been given a list of options to respond to Russia‘s growing presence in…
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he will probably talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping about the crisis in Venezuela. “We will probably be talking at some point,” Trump told reporters after the White House warned Russia and other countries backing President Nicolas Maduro against sending troops and military equipment to Venezuela.…
Release March 29, 2019, 19:00 Today, Gazprom and RusGazDobycha made a decision on the final configuration of the project for a large-scale complex that will process ethane-containing gas and produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) near the settlement of Ust-Luga, Leningrad Region. The parties have thus moved to the implementation stage in the project. The project envisages the construction of capacities for the processing of 45 billion cubic…
The terminal stands dusted in snow in this photo from 1959. Because ships could depart for the White, Baltic, Black and Caspian seas, and the Sea of Azov, from here, the terminal is sometimes referred to as the Five Seas’ port. S.Preobrazhensky / mos.ru
More than a dozen patrol officers have been fired in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia for failing to disperse protesters rallying against a controversial land swap deal. The Ingush population took to the streets this week to demand their governor’s resignation and a public vote on the border agreement signed last fall with the…
How do you save a church? Call in a heavenly choir. That’s what St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Moscow decided to do. To raise funds for desperately needed repairs to their historic 135-year-old church, the church invited the Stas Namin Theater to perform their production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” on April 2. And Stas Namin…
A Russian airline passenger risked burning down the plane he was on after inadvertently setting his own seat on fire this week. The Red Wings airline passenger learned his seat was on fire after complaining to flight attendants about a burning smell shortly after takeoff, the RBC news website reported. “The seat smoldered because the…
Russian authorities have detained at least 23 Crimean Tatars on suspicion of being members of a banned Islamic group this week. The Federal Security Service (FSB) raided the homes of 25 Crimean Tatars in Simferopol, detaining 20 on Wednesday and three more the next day. The predominantly Muslim ethnic minority has largely opposed Russia’s 2014…
A chocolate baron, a comedian who plays a president on television and a former prime minister hoping third time’s the charm. These are the leading candidates for the Ukrainian presidency as voters head to the polls on Sunday for the second time since the 2014 Maidan Revolution and Russia’s annexation of Crimea the same year.…
Russian security forces have raided the offices of the Church of Scientology in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Thursday in connection with an investigation into defrauded homebuyers. Investigators believe the church may have transferred around 3 billion rubles to its U.S. headquarters in recent years, according to the state-run TASS news agency. The funds were…
Two Russian naval vessels are closely escorting NATO warships in the Black Sea that are headed toward Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday. The commander of a NATO maritime group said Dutch, Spanish, Canadian, Turkish, Romanian and Bulgarian frigates entered the Black Sea on Thursday. The warships are part of the alliance’s defense cooperation…
A firm hired by the U.S.Treasury Department is auditing Russian aluminum giant Rusal to check whether it is complying with the terms of a deal under which Washington agreed to lift sanctions on the company, Rusal said. The audit is the first glimpse of how Treasury is policing whether Rusal and its parent company En+…
An ice hockey stadium built in Siberia by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for an estimated $150 million will now be demolished over safety concerns, 12 years after it was first opened to the public. First inaugurated in 2007 in the Siberian city of Omsk, the arena was donated by Abramovich to the local Avangard Hockey…
Russia’s communications watchdog threatened on Thursday to block access to popular VPN services which allow users to gain access to websites which have been outlawed by Moscow. Russia has introduced tougher internet laws, requiring search engines to delete some results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store users’…
This week on From Russia With News, we discuss the dramatic arrest of former Russian minister Mikhail Abyzov who is suspected of embezzling 4 billion rubles ($62 million). We’ll speak with Nikolai Petrov, a political science professor at the Higher School of Economics about the broader implications of the arrest. Voters across Ukraine will go…