Half a decade has passed since Vladimir Putin annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. For Russia, the costs continue to mount. The accession treaty signed to bring the Black Sea territory into Moscow’s fold is still unrecognized by most countries and the U.S. and European Union led a broad effort to punish Russia with sanctions. Undeterred, Russia…
Russia will respond to new European Union sanctions, its Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, without saying what action it would take. The EU on Friday added eight more Russians to its sanctions list over a stand-off between Russia and Ukraine in the Azov Sea, including senior security service officials and military commanders that the EU accuses of preventing Ukrainian…
Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska sued the United States on Friday, alleging that it had overstepped its legal bounds in imposing sanctions on him and made him the “latest victim” in the U.S. probe into Moscow’s alleged election interference. In what legal experts called a long shot attempt, Deripaska asked a federal court in Washington to…
Thousands of people marched in Crimea’s capital city of Simferopol on Friday in an event staged by Moscow-backed authorities to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine. While participants waved flags and sang songs of celebration, many of them told The Moscow Times that the dramatic increase in living standards…
Release March 15, 2019, 18:50 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Francois Fillon, French politician, took place today in St. Petersburg. The parties touched upon the current trends in the French and European gas markets, while also highlighting the successful operation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and the importance of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction for…
March 15, 2019, 18:45 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom, and Isabelle Kocher, CEO of ENGIE, took place in St. Petersburg today. Through their respective representants, Gazprom and ENGIE discussed current Russian gas supplies to France. By the end of 2018, Gazprom increased gas exports to the Republic on 5.4% compared with 2017 – to 12.9 billion cubic meters. At the beginning…
Russia’s national flag carrier Aeroflot will cancel its order of 20 Boeing 737 Max planes unless Boeing is able to guarantee the plane’s safety after Sunday’s deadly crash in Ethiopia by November, Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev said on Friday. Aeroflot has ordered 20 Boeing 737 Max planes for its low-cost subsidiary Pobeda and Boeing is…
The United States on Friday asked why Russia had not provided any evidence to back up its accusation that Paul Whelan, a detained former U.S. marine, was a spy, a day after Whelan alleged he was being mistreated by a “kangaroo court.” Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained in a Moscow hotel…
A Russian State Duma deputy from a small opposition party has been detained on suspicion of accepting 3.2 billion rubles ($49 million) in cooperation with a former governor. Vadim Belousov, 58, had been deprived of official immunity in December in connection with a bribery investigation into fugitive ex-Chelyabinsk region governor Mikhail Yurevich. His detention follows…
Russia wants dialogue between North Korea and the United States to continue, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying on Friday. North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hu said earlier on Friday that North Korea was considering suspending its talks with the United States, the state-run TASS news…
Russia could raise the legal drinking age to 21 from 18 and restrict alcohol sales in residential areas this year, according to the RBC news website. The change would be part of President Vladimir Putin’s ambitious plan to overhaul Russia’s economy by the end of his last term in office. The total spend will be…
Authorities in Siberia have suspended the construction of a controversial Chinese bottling plant in the world’s largest fresh water lake following public outcry and pressure from the Kremlin. Residents in Irkutsk region criticized the Chinese-founded AquaSib company’s plans to bottle 190 million liters of water per year from Lake Baikal starting in 2021, saying the…
The European Union sanctioned on Friday eight more Russians over a stand-off with Ukraine in the Azov Sea, including senior security service officials and military commanders that the bloc accuses of preventing Ukrainian ships from reaching port. Last November, the Russian navy captured 24 Ukrainian sailors and their vessels in the Kerch Strait, which links…
Despite still approving of their country’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, fewer Russians view it as beneficial on the fifth anniversary of the annexation, a state-run survey has found. Independent polls have shown a yearly uptick in the percentage of Russians who believe that their country benefited from “the return of Crimea” despite economic…
European Union lawmakers have called on member states to adopt an EU law which would punish state and non-state actors for human rights violations using the name of Sergei Magnitsky, mirroring similar legislation in the United States. The U.S. passed the Magnitsky Act in 2012 to sanction Russian officials linked to the 2009 death of…
An old tram depot in the center of Moscow has become the city’s latest foodie haven. Depo Food Mall, which opened last month near Belorussky Station, houses more than 200 stalls, shops and restaurants serving food from all over the world. It continues Moscow’s food revolution that started when the Soviet-era Daniilovsky Market got a…
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft has arrived at the International Space Station after a successful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Aboard the spacecraft were NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Hammock Koch and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Hague and Ovchinin were originally meant to launch to the ISS in October, but…
This week on From Russia With News, we discuss the five-year anniversary of the hugely controversial referendum in Crimea with the deputy foreign editor at the Kommersant newspaper Elena Chernenko. We’ll also talk to Moscow Times correspondent Evan Gershkovich about his investigation that revealed how rich Russians dodge taxes and move court cases to a…
This week on From Russia With News, we discuss the five-year anniversary of the hugely controversial referendum in Crimea with the deputy foreign editor at the Kommersant newspaper Elena Chernenko. We’ll also talk to Moscow Times correspondent Evan Gershkovich about his investigation that revealed how rich Russians dodge taxes and move court cases to a…
Release March 14, 2019, 19:15 Photos An exhibition entitled “Treasures from the Palace Museum: The Flourishing of China in the 18th Century” opened today at the Moscow Kremlin Museums. The exhibition was organized with the support of Gazprom. The opening ceremony was attended by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Olga Golodets, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Shvydkoy,…
On 20 March 2019, PhosAgro will publish its audited consolidated IFRS financial statements for twelve months ended 31 December 2018. The Company will hold a conference call and webcast the same day at 13:30 London time (16:30 Moscow; 09:30 New York). The call will be held in English, with simultaneous translation into Russian on a…
At the end of 2015, managers at Rosneft, the Russian state-controlled oil firm, sounded the alarm to their bosses about the company’s investments in Venezuela. Rosneft’s local partner, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, owed it hundreds of millions of dollars, according to internal documents, and there seemed no prospect things would get better. “It will be…
Leading Russian banks are working on plans to help each other retain at least short-term access to the global financial system in the event that they are hit by fresh U.S. sanctions, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank and others are examining how they can provide each other with access to U.S.…
The Kremlin plans to attract up to 10 million Russian-speaking migrants in the next six years to reverse the country’s population decline, the business daily Kommersant reported on Thursday. Russia’s population declined to 146.8 million in 2018, official data released on Thursday estimates, its first decrease in 10 years. Migration has been unable to offset…
As U.S. investor Michael Calvey ended his first month in detention on Thursday prominent Russian businessmen told President Vladimir Putin they are concerned the case will put pressure on business. Russian state prosecutors have charged Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group, with fraud along with three other executives from his fund.…
Russia’s intelligence service has refused to declassify the names of members of Stalin’s notorious three-judge panels that issued death sentences without trials, Russian media reported this week. As many as 700,000 people were executed in Stalin’s “Great Terror” of 1937-38, according to conservative estimates. The Memorial human rights NGO keeps a database of some 3…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is holding talks with Venezuela’s foreign minister in Vienna, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday. Venezuela, a close ally of Moscow, is in political turmoil, with the United States and many other Western countries backing opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.
In 2018, Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha increased its oil production to 2.9 million tonnes, which is more than two times higher than in the previous year. The significant increase in oil production was achieved due to the completion of construction and commissioning of the main oil production, preparation and transportation facilities as part of the second stage…
Russia‘s aviation authority on Thursday suspended flights by Boeing 737 MAX planes in the country’s airspace following Sunday’s deadly plane crash in Ethiopia, the Interfax news agency cited the authority’s head as saying. Russia‘s S7 Airlines said earlier this week it would ground its Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes starting from Wednesday. It said its…
Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Ministry estimates that the combined cost of the country’s oil, gas and other resources amounts to 60 percent of its gross domestic product, the RBC news website reported on Thursday. As one of the world’s top producers of natural gas and oil, Russia’s economy is heavily reliant on exports of…
he concrete pouring of the foundation slab of Unit 1 of Akkuyu NPP, first Turkish nuclear power plant completed on March 08, 2019. More than 17,000 cubic meters of the self-compacting concrete have been casted for the foundation slab. Self-compacting concrete is a non-segregating concrete that is placed by means of its own weight while…
Moscow and St. Petersburg have ranked in the bottom 50 of the world’s most livable cities and have been named the two most dangerous cities in Europe, according to rankings from a global consulting firm. Moscow placed 167th and St. Petersburg 174th out of 231 cities worldwide in Mercer’s 2019 Quality of Living Ranking published…
Two astronauts who survived a dramatic launch mishap in October said on Wednesday they were confident this time about reaching the International Space Station, though they said a small fault had been discovered on their rocket during final checks. Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and U.S. astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch are due to blast…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has filed a defamation lawsuit demanding that the investigative Novaya Gazeta newspaper remove reports that accused the agency of torture, the paper has said. Novaya Gazeta has been the target of several libel lawsuits, the most recent of which came from the former head of the state-run Russian Railways, who…
Russian lawmakers passed a controversial set of bills that would make it a crime to “disrespect” the state and spread “fake news” on Wednesday, setting the legislation up for President Vladimir Putin’s signature. The bills amending existing information laws overwhelmingly passed both chambers of Russian parliament in less than two months. Observers and some lawmakers…
Artisans are crafting a new icon of “The Savior Not Made by Hands” for a Russian Orthodox cathedral built in honor of the country’s Armed Forces. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that President Vladimir Putin has made a personal donation toward the icon’s production, the RBC news outlet reported on Tuesday, though he declined to…
Background Uniper SE is an energy company focused on natural gas, power generation, and global energy trading. Gazprom and Uniper cooperate in gas supplies and transportation abroad and implement joint scientific & technical and social & cultural programs. Nord Stream 2 is the construction project for a gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters from Russia to Germany across the Baltic…
Russia plans to start operating two new power stations in Crimea at full capacity on March 18, five sources familiar with the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. The power stations were at the center of an international scandal after German engineering company Siemens said its power turbines had been installed at them without its knowledge and…
The World Anti-Doping Agency has been vindicated over its decision to readmit Russia’s anti-doping agency six months ago, its president Craig Reedie said on Wednesday. In particular, Reedie said that Russia’s decision to allow access to its Moscow laboratory following readmission of RUSADA was a “game changer.” RUSADA was suspended in 2015 after a WADA-commissioned…
Rosneft retail network is first in Russia to launch a service of fuel payments via a mobile app for corporate customers. The RN-Card app is available for smartphones running iOS and Android. Until now, the fuel-filling payment service was piloted in Moscow, Moscow Region and Smolensk. Today, the feature can be used in every region…
Some $750 billion has been moved from Russia in the last quarter-century, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Russia’s net capital outflow, typically used as a measure of economic or political stability, has increased in the past two years, reaching $67.5 billion in 2018. Some economists forecast the trend will slow down to $30 billion in 2019.…
The Russian military plans to bolster its positions in the Arctic with additional air defense systems as it flexes its muscle in the hydrocarbon-rich region, a top naval commander has said. The Defense Ministry has worked at breakneck pace to reassert its presence in the region by reopening old defense installations and deploying new weaponry.…
Russia plans to send delinquent youngsters to military-patriotic re-education camps and to install special software blocking banned websites in schools, the head of Russia’s Security Council has said. President Vladimir Putin created a patriotic directorate inside the Russian army last summer, evoking memories of a Soviet practice that once taught soldiers the tenets of Marxism.…
Release March 12, 2019, 19:00 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 main accomplishments in 2018 and its plans for 2019, paying particular attention to the Program for gas infrastructure expansion in Russian regions. Gazprom website Editorial Board Shorthand record…
Russian luxury car manufacturer Aurus introduced its vehicles to the world at the Geneva International Motor Show in Switzerland last Thursday, March 7. Visitors to the show, which showcases the latest in automobile design and concepts, got a glimpse of a high-end armored Aurus Senat limousine, as used by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Here are…
Russian bank VTB has begun a procedure to hand over to the Russian state property agency its stake in Evrofinance Mosnarbank, a bank hit with U.S. sanctions this week over its dealings with Venezuela, two sources familiar with the deal told Reuters. Agreement has been reached for the transfer of VTB’s 25 percent stake in…
Doctors at a hospital in southern Russia have conducted what they say is Europe’s first surgery with the help of exoskeletons, the state-run lender Sberbank announced on Monday. ExoChair, developed with help from Sberbank’s robotics division, is designed to support the lower limbs and pelvic region to help reduce fatigue and improve efficiency among workers…
Each year, Moscow plays host to numerous film festivals showcasing some of the best cinema from around the world. And with St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner (March 17), there’s no better way to celebrate Irish culture than by checking out Moscow’s own Irish Film Festival. The festival will showcase a selection of the…
The Kremlin has reversed course in its negotiations to cede control of the disputed Kuril Islands to Japan, the RBC news website reported, citing unnamed sources. The row over the islands, which Soviet troops seized at the end of World War II, has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from formally signing a peace treaty to the…
The Kremlin on Tuesday shrugged off talk of a possible boycott by U.S. companies of Russia‘s showcase International Economic Forum over the arrest of prominent U.S. investor Michael Calvey, saying such boycotts had come to nothing in the past. Calvey’s detention last month on embezzlement charges, which he denies, has rattled some foreign investors in Russia who are…
Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft said on Tuesday that U.S. statements that it had violated U.S. sanctions in its Venezuela activities were “groundless accusations.” Pompeo said this week Rosneft was defying U.S. sanctions by buying oil from Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA. Rosneft said it was not involved in politics and was conducting “purely commercial…
Move over, Leonard Blavatnik: There’s a new leader in town. A Russian oligarch has for the first time topped the list of richest Londoners, according to Forbes Russia. Mikhail Fridman’s net worth of $15 billion knocked billionaire investor Len Blavatnik from the top of the list, Forbes reported Tuesday. Fridman is one of 55 billionaire…
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday blamed Russia and Cuba for causing Venezuela’s political crisis by supporting President Nicolas Maduro. His comments came after the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Russian bank Evrofinance Mosnarbank for helping Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA evade U.S. financial restrictions. “This story is not complete without acknowledging…
Latvia has completed construction of a 93-kilometer barbed wire fence on the border with Russia to combat illegal migration, media outlets reported, citing the Latvian border service. The 2.7-meter-tall fence, announced in 2015, alternates between sensor-based systems and surveillance camera zones. It is part of a 21 million euro ($23.8 million) project to modernize 283…
Prosecutors in Russia’s Irkutsk region want to stop a Chinese company from building a water-bottling factory that residents say will drain and pollute the deepest lake and largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth. The AquaSib company began construction of the 1.5 billion-ruble ($22.7 million) factory in January, with plans to bottle 190 million liters…
Release March 11, 2019, 18:05 Vyacheslav Tyurin has been appointed Director General of Gazprom Invest. Vyacheslav Tyurin was born in 1960 in Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk Region. He graduated from Kirov Ural Polytechnic Institute. In 1991–1999, he held managerial positions at commercial entities based in Nizhnevartovsk and Moscow. In 1999–2002, he served as Director General of SG-Trans at the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. He has been part of Gazprom’s team for…
Two new videos showing guards abusing inmates have brought national attention back to a notorious prison near Moscow that rocked Russia’s penitentiary system last year with reports of systemic torture. Bodycam footage released last summer by the investigative Novaya Gazeta newspaper showed guards violently beating prisoners in the Yaroslavl region. The videos’ publication touched off…
The Russian military has significantly expanded and upgraded its weapons systems in the past six years, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told lawmakers on Monday. The country’s military achievements between 2012 and 2018 have turned Russia’s military into a mobile force capable of projecting influence abroad, The Associated Press quoted the minister as saying at a…
On March 7, in Beijing, ASE (ROSATOM Engineering Division) and CNNC enterprises signed a General contract for units 7 and 8 of Tianwan NPP, as well as a contract for a technical project for units 3 and 4 of Xudabao NPP. The preparation of these documents was carried out in accordance with the strategic package…
One in 10 foreigners who visited Russia visa-free for the FIFA World Cup last summer took advantage of a visa waiver to return to the country by the end of 2018, Russia’s top lender Sberbank has said. Security services estimate that more than 633,000 Fan ID holders visited Russia during the 2018 World Cup, according…