An officer in Belgium’s military intelligence service is reportedly under investigation for spying for Russia. The unnamed officer was accused of providing a Serbian national, who is suspected of being a Russian agent, access to classified information, Belgium’s De Morgen newspaper reported. Read More Two Estonians Convicted of Spying for Russia The case reportedly reflects internal…
A Russian Orthodox priest has been defrocked for his adult-themed sermons that shocked congregations, church authorities have said. The news comes a little over two months after another Russian priest was investigated for publicizing his love of luxury brands including Gucci on social media. Read More Russian Priest Investigated After Flaunting ‘Gucci’ Lifestyle on Instagram…
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Kyrgyz Republic Andrei Krutko and Deputy Director General for International Relations of ROSATOM Nikolai Spasskiy February 13, 2019 held negotiations with Minister of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic Nurbolot Mirzahmedov and met First Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Kubatbek Boronov. Director for…
Release February 15, 2019, 13:45 A Gazprom delegation headed by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee, paid a working visit to China today. As part of the visit, a meeting between Alexey Miller and Wang Yilin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CNPC, took place in Beijing. The parties reviewed a wide range of issues related to cooperation between the companies, focusing on the ongoing preparations for the…
Russia has detained the U.S. founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group in Moscow on suspicion of fraud, a spokeswoman for Moscow’s Basmanny court told Reuters on Friday. Yunona Tsaryova, the spokeswoman, said Michael Calvey was detained on Thursday. Read More U.S. Founder of Major Private Equity Group Detained in Russia on Embezzlement Charges, Explained…
Russia’s position on Venezuela is to prevent American-backed regime change, the country’s Foreign Ministry has announced, amid a jostle for power among rival political factions in the crisis-struck Latin American country. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused the United States of backing a coup in his country after Washington recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as…
Khalil Ashawi President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia, Turkey and Iran had agreed to take unspecified extra steps to clear Syria’s Idlib region of what he called “a hotbed of terrorists,” but the Kremlin said there would be no military operation there. Putin, one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s closest allies, was speaking after…
The biggest change in Russia these days? Cool provincial cities. Wikicommons If you need a break from Moscow, hop on a high-speed train and find yourself in the newly cool-ified provincial city of Tula in just two hours. Founded in late 14th century, Tula first belonged to the principality of Ryazan. But Tula’s famous kremlin…
Russia’s Defense Ministry has pledged to address the polar bear invasion that has struck panic in a remote Arctic settlement in recent weeks. Polar bears began to descend on Russia’s Novaya Zemlya archipelago, population 3,000, driven from their habitat by food scarcity fueled by climate change, according to WWF experts. The authorities in the Arkhangelsk…
An Indian national who heads a pharmaceutical company in Russia has been reportedly hospitalized after falling victim to an armed attack in Moscow. Four unknown assailants beat Jyoti Loomba and his driver with bats on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow Thursday evening, a police source told the RBC news website. They then shot Loomba several…
Andrei Lyubimov / Moskva News Agency The threat of new U.S. sanctions rocked Russian markets on Thursday, as investors were left wondering whether they had been getting too complacent about what had been a long-expected move. Russian stocks and government bonds fell and the country’s debt insurance costs rose alongside FX volatility gauges, after U.S.…
A gas explosion in a Russian apartment block has killed two people, authorities said Friday, two months after another blast killed dozens and exposed the dangers of gas-equipped households. More than 20 people were killed in 12 gas explosions throughout Russia in 2018, with another 39 killed in an explosion on Dec. 31, 2018 in…
A gas explosion in a Russian apartment block has killed two people, authorities said Friday, two months after another blast killed dozens and exposed the dangers of gas-equipped households. More than 20 people were killed in 12 gas explosions throughout Russia in 2018, with another 39 killed in an explosion on Dec. 31, 2018 in…
A third man suspected of involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in England last year is a high-ranking Russian military intelligence agent, the investigative website Bellingcat said on Thursday. “Bellingcat can now reveal the true identity and background of this GRU officer, who operated internationally under the cover persona…
This week on From Russia With News, investigative journalist and security services expert Andrei Soldatov tells us why Russia is moving closer to give the authorities the power to unplug the country’s internet network from the outside world. And Greenpeace Energy Head Vladimir Chuprov has the latest on the polar bear invasion in Russia’s Far…
Sochi, Russia, February 14, 2019 – On the sidelines of the Russian Investment Forum ROSATOM’s company – JSC Rusatom Healthcare (an integrator in the field of radiation technologies in medicine and industry) – and GE Healthcare signed a roadmap to create local productions of high-technology medical equipment to cater growing need of residents of Russia’s…
Today, at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi, the Ministry for Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, NovaWind JSC (the ROSATOM division responsible for renewable energy industry projects) and Red Wind B.V., a Russian-Dutch joint venture, have signed a Special Investment Contract (the SPIC) to implement the investment pro-ject for creating a manufacturing facility…
Young Russians are increasingly turning to the American writer in their search for a political alternative. Ayn Rand was born in St. Petersburg on Feb 2, 1905 and received her education in the city. Pixabay / Wikicommons / MT In a glitzy hotel lobby in central St. Petersburg on Saturday, a band of young anarchists…
Release February 14, 2019, 17:35 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Yan Novikov, Chairman of the Management Board, Director General of the Almaz-Antey Corporation, today at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi signed a long-term contract for the supply of import-substituting products in the amount equal to guaranteed future purchases. According to the document, the Corporation will set up the batch manufacturing and…
Communist lawmakers in Russia have submitted a bill that would introduce fines for officials who disrespect their voters, Interfax reported on Thursday. Public officials across Russia have increasingly made national headlines for being caught on record insulting regular citizens. The mayor of a smog-hit mining town landed in hot water on Wednesday for calling his…
Russia told Turkey on Thursday it had no right to create a “safe zone” inside Syria unless it sought and received the consent of President Bashar Assad, signaling tensions as a three-way summit on the Syrian conflict began. President Vladimir Putin, one of Assad’s closest allies, was hosting the summit in the Black Sea resort…
In southern Russia’s resort city of Sochi, President Vladimir Putin shows once again that he’s always ready to demonstrate his physical fitness as he hits the slopes with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. Their ski date comes a day after Lukashenko promised that despite strained ties between the two neighbors Belarus would “never deliver bad vodka or bad…
A majority of Russians have admitted that they are currently in love, according to a state-funded poll released on Valentine’s Day, with many more men saying that they are currently in love than women. In total, 59 percent of Russian respondents told the state-funded VTsIOM pollster that they have been struck by Cupid’s arrow, the…
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia’s economy could cope with any new U.S. sanctions, adding that it had demonstrated macroeconomic stability and even achieved growth while facing punitive measures from the West. Read More ‘Insane, Ridiculous’: Russian Lawmakers React to New U.S. Sanctions Bill The Kremlin comments came a day after U.S. senators introduced a…
Every spring Russia celebrates the best of theater with a three-month festival called the Golden Mask. This year theater-lovers are looking forward to a particularly vibrant festival, since it is celebrating its 25th year while the country celebrates its Year of Theater. The best productions of drama and comedy, opera, ballet, contemporary dance, operetta and…
Russia’s health and consumer rights watchdog is considering drawing on Japan’s experience in tackling obesity, including fining citizens for large waistlines. Japan made it illegal in 2008 for citizens between 40 and 74 years old to exceed the state-prescribed limit of 85 centimeters for male waistlines and 90 centimeters for female waistlines. Russia is on…
Sixty years after a group of hikers mysteriously died in the Ural Mountains, police are breathing new life into the notorious cold case. The group’s tent was found abandoned in the snow; cut open from the inside. Public Domain Britain has Jack the Ripper, the United States has the Zodiac Killer and Russia has the…
Boris Eifman Ballet Theatre has presented the play “Anna Karenina” to the music of Tchaikovsky at the Qatar Foundation in Doha. Rosneft Oil Company provided for the event as its main sponsor. The performance was hosted on February 12 and 13 at QNCC Al Mayassa Theatre, following on a range of projects implemented as part…
A prominent Russian civil rights group has been blacklisted as a “foreign agent” months after its leader spent time behind bars over a protest, the Justice Ministry has said. Russia’s Justice Ministry initiated an inspection of Lev Ponomaryov’s “For Human Rights” group for engaging in suspected political activity while receiving money from abroad in December.…
Russia is moving to ban its soldiers from sharing information on the internet, a step that follows the use of social media posts by investigative journalists to shine a light on Moscow’s clandestine role in foreign conflicts. Draft legislation proposes banning servicemen and reserve troops from posting anything online that would allow outsiders to glean…
Kremlin.ru The planned U.S. withdrawal from Syria is fueling tensions between Russia and Turkey over control of a key region of the Middle Eastern country once American forces have left. Russia is pressuring Turkey to agree to an offensive on Idlib, seized by militants linked to al-Qaeda last month, a senior Turkish official said, speaking…
U.S. senators introduced a bill on Wednesday that would impose stiff new sanctions on Russia over suspected meddling in U.S. elections and aggression against Ukraine. Targets of the sanctions would include: Russian banks that support efforts to interfere in foreign elections; the country’s cyber sector; new sovereign debt; and individuals deemed to “facilitate illicit and…
Release February 13, 2019, 19:25 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Bernhard Reutersberg, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Uniper, took place in Moscow today. The parties discussed ongoing and future cooperation, including Russian gas supplies to Germany. It was noted that the amount of gas exports to the country was maintained at the level of the previous year due…
Belarus will only supply good vodka and snacks to Russia regardless of strains on bilateral ties, the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko promised at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. Lukashenko arrived in southern Russia’s resort city of Sochi for talks that could last for up to three days, the Kremlin said earlier…
When the Siberian winter bites and the mighty Lena River freezes, workers at the Yakutsk shipyard brace for a backbreaking but vital task — vymorozka. As Siberia’s summer is so short, freighters must be kept moving while the river, whose 4,400 kilometers carry the region’s economic lifeblood, is navigable. Repairs must be done in winter, when…
A volunteer with opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s campaign has become the first person to be prosecuted under a new law that bans encouraging young Russians to attend unsanctioned protests. Adults face 15 days of jail and fines under the new law that President Vladimir Putin signed in late December. The law was introduced after Navalny…
Early risers in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district were treated to an enchanting illusion of three glowing suns on Wednesday morning. The phenomenon is caused by tiny ice crystals refracting the light into the sky. Local residents captured the optical illusion — also known as sundog and parhelion — and shared it on Instagram. But while social…
Moscow has been named as the world capital of traffic jams in 2018 in an annual report released by the INRIX automotive analytics company. In the rating, Moscow edged out other global cities renowned for traffic congestion including Istanbul, Bogota, Mexico City and Sao Paulo. Other Russian cities in the ranking of 220 included St.…
Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot has drawn the ire of law enforcement for announcing the cancellation or delay of over 100 flights on Wednesday at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport due to heavy snow. The Moscow Meteorological Office said Tuesday night’s snowfall set a 23-year precipitation record with nearly one-third of the monthly norm, the state-run RIA Novosti…
From baby chimps and hippos to anti-aircraft guns during World War II, the Moscow zoo has had a rich history since it was founded on Feb. 13, 1864. Celebrating its birthday on Wednesday, we look back at archival photographs of how the grounds and residents of the zoo have changed throughout the years. Having started off…
The regional head of a Russian anti-corruption group was been beaten to death outside Moscow, the man’s colleague told local media. Civil activists, politicians and journalists have been threatened or attacked at an increasing rate in recent years in Russia, a report on political violence said last fall. Read More Attacks on Russian Activists and…
Russia said on Tuesday it was ready to facilitate the start of dialogue between Venezuela’s government and opposition but warned the United States against intervening in Caracas’ internal affairs. Russia has sided with President Nicolas Maduro in his stand-off with opposition leader Juan Guaido. Maduro retains control of state institutions including the military, but most Western countries,…
February 13, 2019 PAO Severstal (“Severstal”; “the Company”), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, announces that Moody’s has upgraded its rating on Severstal to Baa2 from Baa3 and changed its outlook from positive to stable. Moody’s also raised Russia’s country ceilings for foreign currency debt to Baa2/P-2 from Baa3/P-3…
Russian lawmakers advanced a contentious draft bill on Tuesday that seeks to give the authorities the power to unplug the national internet network from the outside world. Deputies submitted the measures to tighten state control over the internet in December, citing the need to respond to an “aggressive” U.S. national cybersecurity strategy. Although Russia’s state…
Aspire Zone sports complex in Doha hosted an exhibition performance of Russian sambo athletes during the celebration of National Sports Day in Qatar. Rosneft Oil Company provided for the event as its main sponsor. The exhibition show, as well as a series of workshops by the seven best Russian sambo athletes, introduced the locals to…
Russia’s Economic Development Ministry has projected significantly slower GDP growth over the next year, describing growth at 2018 levels as “unsustainable.” The Rosstat federal statistics agency sparked skepticism last week for releasing figures that suggested that Russia’s economy had grown 2.3 percent in 2018 — its fastest rate since 2012 and up from 1.6 percent…
ROSATOM has launched the sector-wide Advance Training Program for managers of nuclear facility construction projects in the Russian Federation and abroad. It will allow building up new competences, implement best world practices of construction project management on sites and train necessary candidates pool for implementation of the world’s largest portfolio of NPP construction projects. The…
Russian scientists have again delayed the launch of a research spacecraft to the sun over technical issues, researchers say. Russia had been scheduled to send the spacecraft as part of the “Interheliozond” project sometime after 2015, though this was later postponed to 2022 and then again to a final date of 2026. Read More Russia…
A group of passengers plummeted from a plane ladder when it collapsed as they boarded a flight from Siberia to Moscow, officials said on Tuesday. Black-and-white footage of the incident showed passengers boarding a Ural Airlines flight when the ladder’s platform suddenly buckled, dropping the passengers to the ground. At least five passengers were injured…
A court in Estonia has convicted a former military member and his father of espionage for Russia. Ex-defense force member Deniss Metsavas, 38, and his father Pyotr Volin, 65, were suspected of treason and placed in custody by a court in Tallinn in September. Metsavas was suspected of passing state secrets and classified information to…
News from projects and regions February 11, 2019, 18:00 On February 10, Novy Urengoy’s Gazodobytchik Culture and Sports Center hosted the 20th annual open dancesport competition Urengoy Waltz. The tournament combined an open competition for the Gazprom Dobycha Urengoy Cup with the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area dancesport contest and championship. This festival of dance has for many years been…
A group of Buddhists held a ceremony in honor of the new lunar year at a temple in northeastern Moscow on Sunday, Feb. 10. They celebrated the beginning of the Year of the Earth Pig at the Drepung Gomang Buddhist monastery, lighting fire offerings in a traditional ceremony. Here’s a look at the ritual.
A unique for the industry multilateral well with eight branch holes by the fishbone* technology was built at East-Messoyakha field. The length of the productive hole is 5.1 km, the total drilling rate is 9.1 km. The oil-saturated layer in the drilling area did not exceed 12 m. Fishbones are the trademark of Messoyakhaneftegaz. The…
A Federal Security Service (FSB) officer on duty was reportedly assaulted in central Moscow over the weekend after an attack on his service vehicle. FSB lieutenant general Oleg Budagotsky was inside his squad car on Sunday when unknown assailants threw a bottle at the window, the RBC news website reported Monday. Budagotsky was then beaten…
Russia will spend 25.7 trillion rubles ($391 billion) on carrying out President Vladimir Putin’s expansive promises to overhaul Russia’s economy by the end of his last term in office, according to a new government estimate. After his inauguration last May, Putin outlined plans to spend at least 8 trillion rubles on infrastructure and social issues…
Ex-Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho will return to the Kremlin-run RT news network to cover the UEFA Champions League, the network has said. The Portuguese manager was reportedly paid at least 1 million British pounds ($1.3 million) for five days’ work during the 2018 FIFA World Cup that Russia hosted in the summer. RT has…
A conversation with Vladimir Urin, general director of the Bolshoi Theater. Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theater In Russia, the Bolshoi Theater is “the theater” — the most prestigious venue for opera and ballet in the country. The Moscow Times talked to Vladimir Urin, the Bolshoi’s general director, about the theater’s plans for 2019. Which blockbuster…
A farmer in central Russia has reportedly been eaten alive by her pigs after suffering a seizure earlier this month. The 56-year-old lost consciousness inside the pig pen where she met a tragic end on Feb. 1, local media cited investigators in Russia’s republic of Udmurtia as saying last week. “The hungry animals chewed through…
Authorities in Russia’s remote Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zemlya have taken measures to chase away a band of polar bears that had established a reign of terror over locals in recent days. Photos and videos on social media showed polar bears entering apartment blocks and other living quarters and rummaging through garbage in the settlement of 3,000.…
A majority of Russians say that top officials are lying to them about the true state of affairs in the country, according to a new survey released by the independent pollster Levada Center. Russians’ trust in institutions including the presidency, the government, the State Duma and political parties has reached record lows since the government passed…