Freedom House has named Russia among a string of “heavyweight” countries that undermine democratic norms abroad, contributing to a 13th consecutive “decline in global freedom.” Russia has featured regularly in the U.S.-funded monitoring group’s annual “Freedom in the World” report documenting attacks on civil and democratic freedoms around the world. Read More How Russia’s Place…
Release February 6, 2019, 09:30 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about the ongoing implementation of advanced digital technologies within the Gazprom Group. It was highlighted that Gazprom considered digital technologies to be one of key aspects of further improving the Company’s corporate governance and strengthening its market positions, as well as a vital tool for achieving its strategic goals. Systematic work in this area…
Internet freedom continued to decline over the past year in Russia, with bans and limits on information skyrocketing, according to a new report released by the Agora human rights group. More than 115,500 cases of censorship were recorded in 2017, Agora, which tracks internet and media freedom in Russia, said last year. Since then, Russia enacted…
Moscow’s ex-mayor has revealed his administration’s contacts with current U.S. President Donald Trump over a sprawling underground mall near the State Duma in the late 1990s. A U.S. special counsel is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Both Trump and Moscow deny any…
The natural movement of the magnetic North Pole has accelerated in recent years toward Siberia, threatening to throw the world’s smartphones and Global Positioning System (GPS) off-kilter. The magnetic North Pole’s unprecedented movement began in the mid-1990s and it is now headed from the Canadian Arctic toward Siberia at roughly 55 kilometers per year, the…
syria.mil.ru The last contact Grigoriy Gancherov and his wife had with their son, a Russian private military contractor fighting in Syria, was on Feb. 4 last year. The father subsequently learned from a friend and fellow fighter of Sergei’s that the 25-year-old had died several days later in a major battle against U.S.-led forces in…
Average monthly salaries in Russia’s capital jumped by 11.7 percent to nearly 81,000 rubles ($1,234) last year, according to official figures from the federal statistics service. Early last month, Russia’s chief auditor Alexei Kudrin said that citizens’ real incomes virtually saw no change in 2018 as prices outpaced growth estimates. Meanwhile, inflation is expected to grow…
One in four Russian schoolchildren are victims of bullying, according to a new report by Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE). School bullying has come under the spotlight after a wave of armed attacks rocked Russia over the past year, while an online game was blamed for more than 130 teen suicides in 2016. Read…
Russia must develop a new land-based cruise missile and a new land-based hypersonic missile before 2021 to respond to Washington’s planned exit from a nuclear arms control pact, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited the defense minister as saying on Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Russia had suspended the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the crisis in Venezuela could only be solved by getting the authorities and the opposition to talk to each other, the RIA news agency reported. Major European nations on Monday joined the United States in recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president of Moscow ally…
As freezing weather enveloped parts of the nation, one Russian fitness blogger took matters into his own hands and turned the winter into his friend. The blogger, Yegor Lesnoy, channeled his inner Iceman as he filmed himself diving under the frozen ice of Lake Baikal in Siberia, where temperatures dipped to minus 30 degrees Celsius.…
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 supplies unique components including methane, ethane, propane, butanes, helium, mercaptans, etc. This is why the Orenburg Gas Processing and Helium Plants…
News from projects and regions February 5, 2019, 10:20 On February 3, the Molodost sports center in Nadym hosted the opening ceremony of the 2019–2020 season of Gazprom Dobycha Nadym’s Spartakiada Games: the 19th Employees’ Spartakiada Games, the 8th Children’s Spartakiada Games, and the 6th Executives’ Spartakiada Games. Sergey Menshikov, Director General of Gazprom Dobycha Nadym, stressed the positive effect…
Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho took a nasty tumble at an ice hockey game outside Moscow on Monday, drawing gasps and laughs after performing a ceremonial puck drop. Mourinho, who was sacked by United in December, made the first puck drop of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) game between Avangard Omsk and SKA Petersburg,…
Apple Inc. detailed the user data it’s storing in Russia to comply with a local law that took effect in 2015, according to a recent filing with the Russian government. Apple users in the region have data including their name, delivery address, email address and phone number stored on servers in Russia. The company said…
February 5, 2019 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, has published its Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2018 on the Company’s corporate website. The full report is available at: https://www.severstal.com/files/23787/Annual_report_2018.pdf
February 5, 2019 Tenaris S.A. (NYSE, Buenos Aires and Mexico: TS and MTA Italy: TEN) announced today that it will form a joint venture with PAO Severstal to build a welded pipe plant to produce OCTG products in the Surgut area, West Siberia, Russian Federation. Tenaris will have a 49% interest in the joint venture…
February 5, 2019 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, today announces its Q4 & FY2018 financial results for the period ended 31 December 2018. CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2018 $ million, unless otherwise stated Q4 2018 Q3 2018 Change, %…
Russia’s economy grew at the fastest pace in six years in 2018, outstripping economist estimates, as construction got a boost from the World Cup and the start of natural gas project in Siberia. Growth accelerated to 2.3 percent, the most since 2012, after construction surged, the Federal Statistics Service reported in its first estimate Monday.…
The Russian government on Monday approved an additional $4.7 billion in investments on infrastructure and tourism in the annexed Crimean peninsula over the next three years. Crimea has received large cash injections from Moscow since 2014, when Russia annexed the Black Sea region from Ukraine. In total, an estimated 878 billion rubles ($13.3 billion) is expected…
Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters Senior Afghan officials warned on Monday that talks this week between Taliban militants and opposition politicians, including former President Hamid Karzai, betrayed the principles of democracy and Afghanistan’s best interests. The talks, starting on Tuesday in Moscow, come 10 days after peace negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in…
Ten places to immerse yourself in Chinese culture The Perlov Tea House / Moskva News Agency February 5 marks the beginning of the Year of the Pig – the last Zodiac sign in the Chinese lunar calendar’s twelve-year cycle. China may be more than five thousand kilometers away from Russia’s capital, but you can still…
If you braved the cold to browse Moscow’s Christmas markets, chances are that aside from the requisite matryoshkas and Grandfather Frosts adorning almost every stall, you noticed the presence of one particular animal: the pig. Pigs, you probably thought, are not particularly Christmasy. So why were they so prominent? Simple: 2019 is the Chinese Year…
Russia has the second-lowest gasoline price in Europe, according to a study published by state media on Monday. Last year, Russian gas prices were the world’s 10th cheapest at an average 43.44 rubles per liter ($0.70), Bloomberg said in a ranking of 60 countries. Anger over rising prices forced the government to intervene to slow…
“DAU” / Kinopoisk.ru At the end of January, parts of what is surely Russia’s most spectacular film project premiered in Paris. The project — something between a film series and an extended social and psychological experiment — is called “DAU” and directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky, a filmmaker with only one major work before this project. …
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly sent Russian President Vladimir Putin a telegram congratulating him with the Lunar New Year. The North Korean New Year falls on Tuesday, Feb. 5 in 2019 and will be marked as “Juche 108,” celebrating the founding of the country’s isolationist state ideology in 1912. Read More On…
The Kremlin is still capable of delivering positive changes despite a struggling economy. Torzhok / Flickr (CC BY 2.0) On a Sunday morning in December, the future arrived in Torzhok, a sleepy town about 155 miles (250 kilometers) northwest of Moscow. It came in the form of an electric locomotive resembling a bright red caterpillar, chugging…
Update: Two more bodies were found in the building since the fire was put out, raising the death toll to eight people, including two children, an Investigative Committee spokesperson was cited as saying by Interfax. Eight people have died in an apartment fire on Nikitsky Bulvar in central Moscow, authorities said on Monday. Videos published online…
The percentage of Russians who say they are not willing to leave the country on a permanent basis has hit a 7-year record, according to a new survey published by the independent Levada Center. According to official data, 377,000 Russians left the country in 2017, the latest period for which figures are available and a…
The United States’ full withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty would not herald the start of a new Cold War, the RIA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Monday. “I don’t think we’re talking about the development of a Cold War,” Lavrov said. “A new era has begun.”…
February 4, 2019 The Board of Directors of Severstal (“Severstal”, “the Company”) (LSE: SVST; MICEX-RTS: CHMF), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, is recommending a dividend of 32.08 roubles per share for the three months ended 31 December 2018. Approval of the dividend is expected at the Company’s AGM…
February 4, 2019 PAO Severstal (“Severstal”; “the Company”), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, today announces its capital investment programme for 2019. In like with previous announcements, Severstal plans to invest approximately 95.7 billion rubles in 2019, focusing on the key areas of the Company’s updated strategy disclosed during…
Thousands of people across Russia on Sunday took to the streets to call for trash reform, in what has become a political flashpoint for the country. Organizers said some 26 regions took part in a nationwide demonstration titled “Russia is not a dump,” in protest of Moscow’s plan to solve a trash crisis by sending…
Russia has suspended the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty after a similar move by the United States, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday. “The American partners have declared that they suspend their participation in the deal, we suspend it as well,” Putin said during a televised meeting with foreign and defense ministers. The United…
Russian officials have pledged to revive missile production and said Moscow was ready to “respond militarily” to the United States suspending its compliance with the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday that Washington was suspending its compliance with the INF Treaty on Saturday and will withdraw from the…
In a YouTube video, opposition politician Alexei Navalny claims state workers’ salaries have remained stagnant despite assurances by the Kremlin. Alexei Navalny / Youtube Alexei Navalny’s last stint in prison gave him plenty of time to think. After serving a 30-day sentence in September for organizing protests, the opposition leader was immediately tossed behind bars…
The Soviet dream has finally died, at least for one Siberian retiree who swapped her red ID from the communist era for a maroon Russian passport. The unnamed Omsk woman lived with outdated documents for 28 years since the Soviet collapse, the regional Interior Ministry branch spokesman told state media on Friday. The 63-year-old was…
In 2018, RN-Bunker, a subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, increased its bunker oil sales by 10% year-on-year to 3.2 million tonnes. The increase in the bunker oil sales volumes was due to the Company’s efficient operations, customer service expansion and cooperation development with major foreign and Russian consumers, including those in the Far East ports.…
The United States said it will suspend compliance with the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia on Saturday and formally withdraw in six months if Moscow does not end its alleged violation of the pact, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday. The United States would reconsider its withdrawal if Russia, which denies violating the arms…
Life in Russian prison can bring out the artist within you. So says the prison service in Smolensk region 400 kilometers west of Moscow, which announced the results of a snow figure competition Thursday. The winning prize went to a sculpture inspired by the “The Motherland Calls” statue in Volgograd and was commended for its…
Andres Martinez Casares / Reuters The sighting of two Russian planes in Venezuela this week sparked rumors that Moscow was helping the Nicolas Maduro government ship gold reserves out of the country in an attempt to quickly raise cash. Other commentators speculated – without solid evidence –that the planes may have brought Russian mercenaries to…
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday Moscow had not yet received a message from Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who said he had sent a communication to Russia. “We have not received any messages yet. If or when we receive it, we will review it,” Peskov told reporters. He said Russia did not recognize Guaido as Venezuelan…
As the weather in European Russia fluctuates around the zero mark, snow accumulated over the past few weeks has melted (before freezing again), lining city roofs with menacing icicles. Since Wednesday, at least three people, including a 9-year-old boy, were hospitalized with injuries from falling icicles in the city of St. Petersburg alone, local media…
The Tretyakov Gallery describes work to repair the damaged painting “Ivan the Terrible and His Son, November 16, 1581” by Ilya Repin Tretyakov Gallery In May 2018, disaster struck in the Tretyakov Gallery. On a Friday evening just before closing time, a man ran into the almost empty hall of works by Ilya Repin, picked…
The share of Russians who think their country is going in the wrong direction has grown to a high of 45 percent of the population, according to a new poll published by the independent Levada Center pollster. Recent polls suggest that Putin’s approval rating has dropped to five-year lows, while a majority of Russians have…
Murtaja Lateef / EPA / TASS Zalina Gabibulayeva has had five children, four husbands and two jail sentences. All her spouses were Islamist militants who are either dead or in prison, the last two in Syria, where she was among hundreds of women stranded by the war before officials brought her back to Russia. “I…
February 1, 2019 PAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and mining companies, announces that its venture capital division, Severstal Ventures, has been awarded Entrant of the Year at the Global Corporate Venturing Awards. The awards ceremony was held on January 30, 2019 at the Glibak Corporate Venturing and Innovation Summit in…
On the 18th of July 2016 Deputy Director General of ROSATOM Nikolai Spasskiy had a meeting with Deputy Director General for Nuclear Safety and Security of the IAEA Juan Carlos Lentijo. The meeting was also attended by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov and Deputy Chairman of…
The Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostechnadzor) has granted a license to Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company (a part of the Electric Power Division of the ROSATOM) to operate the 1st power block of the Bilibino NPP, which has now been stopped for decommissioning, in a no-generation mode. The license is valid for…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the government in Kiev of flagrantly meddling in the life of Orthodoxy in Ukraine where a new national church has broken away from Moscow’s orbit. Speaking at a Russian Orthodox Church event attended by Patriarch Kirill in Moscow, Putin said that Russia reserved the right to defend people’s rights to…
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday that Russia must compensate Georgian nationals who were rounded up and deported more than a decade ago. Russia ordered the expulsion of 4,634 Georgians between September 2006 and January 2007. Georgia said the expulsions were a deliberate policy to exact revenge for the arrests of four…
Rich Russians no longer welcome in London flock back to Moscow. vespermoscow.com Moscow real estate executives Boris Azarenko and Denis Kitaev should write the U.K. Home Office a thank-you note. Their company, luxury apartment developer Vesper, is seeing a pickup in demand from wealthy Russians, as Britain’s anti-money laundering measures block many from London, once…
The infamous troll farm at the center of a major U.S. election interference scandal has been reportedly evicted from its St. Petersburg headquarters after other tenants complained about repeated bomb threats to the building. The so-called Internet Research Agency was charged in February with running a propaganda campaign to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election.…
Russia will host the Taliban and Afghan politicians opposed to President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday, Russian and Taliban sources said, promoting its role of power broker in what a U.S. official called an attempt to “muddle” the U.S.-backed peace process. Moscow snubbed the Afghan government, sources said, to ensure the participation of the Taliban who…
The daughter of the first activist prosecuted under Russia’s law against “undesirable organizations” has reportedly died in intensive care. Anastasia Shevchenko, a coordinator for the Open Russia pro-democracy NGO, was placed under house arrest last week over violations of the 2015 law against “undesirable organizations.” Human Rights Watch called Shevchenko the first activist to be…
Russia’s state communications regulator said on Thursday that the BBC World News channel had committed “certain violations” while operating in Russia, Russian news agencies reported. Russia said last month it was launching an investigation into the BBC in response to pressure it said London was applying on a Kremlin-funded broadcaster’s operations in Britain. The regulator,…
In 2018, FSUE Atomflot’s nuclear icebreakers steered 331 ships of a total gross capacity 12.7 mln tons. As compared to 2017, the capacity of steered ships increased by 5 mln tons. With that, the number of steering operations decreased (last year it was 493 ships) due to completion of the active phase of construction in…
In 2018, FSUE Atomflot’s nuclear icebreakers steered 331 ships of a total gross capacity 12.7 mln tons. As compared to 2017, the capacity of steered ships increased by 5 mln tons. With that, the number of steering operations decreased (last year it was 493 ships) due to completion of the active phase of construction in…
Rauf Arashukov (Andrei Nikerichev / Moskva News Agency) The dramatic detention of Russian senator Rauf Arashukov, 32, on murder charges Wednesday has sent shockwaves throughout the country. The senator, who is the son of a high-ranking gas official, was detained by security forces during a live parliamentary session and has been charged with several crimes,…
January 30, 2019 saw the completion of concrete works for the Unit No. 1 of Rooppur NPP (Bangladesh) turbine hall foundation slab. The slab structure received 3813 tonnes of rebars and 24,285 cubic meters of concrete. This will be followed by wall erection works for the Unit No. 1 reactor building and auxiliary reactor compartment.…