Russian State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin on Wednesday called for the extradition of former Putin aide and veteran reformer Anatoly Chubais over corruption allegations. Chubais served as the Kremlin’s climate envoy before quitting his position and leaving Russia shortly after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022. President Vladimir Putin previously suggested Chubais fled the country…
Law enforcement authorities in southwestern Russia’s Kursk region searched the business of a regional lawmaker over reported defense failures that Ukrainian forces exploited during their cross-border incursion this summer. Ukrainian forces launched a surprise attack in the Kursk region on Aug. 6, breaching two lines of defensive fortifications that reportedly cost 15 billion rubles ($109…
North Korea sent an additional 1,500 troops to Russia, South Korea’s intelligence agency told lawmakers Wednesday, with around 10,000 soldiers total expected to be deployed by December. The latest deployment brings the number of North Korean troops in Russia to 3,000, lawmaker Park Sun-won said after the National Intelligence Service (NIS) gave a briefing. “An…
Belarus will hold its next presidential election on Jan. 26, the country’s Central Election Commission announced Wednesday. Belarus, a key ally of Russia, has been ruled since 1994 by President Alexander Lukashenko. Since coming to power, Lukashenko has eliminated all forms of opposition in the country. Election authorities said parliament had approved the date of…
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Russia on Wednesday to attend this week’s BRICS summit, his first visit to the country in more than two years. Russia is hosting the three-day summit in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan, where the speaker of the regional legislative assembly greeted Guterres after his plane landed at the city’s airport. Ukraine’s…
Russian officials, businesses and media have been reporting shortages of workers across different sectors of the economy for over a year. Now some are saying that the reality of labor deficit is a new reality that the country will have to live with in the coming years. “There will never be cheap labor in our…
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday hailed his country’s ties with Russia in a “chaotic” world as he met President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan. “The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is chaotic and intertwined,” Xi told Putin, praising the “profound friendship” between their…
Postwoman Tatyana Voronkova delivers mail, periodicals and groceries to residents of Kemtsy, a small village in the Tver region between Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Kemtsy, which lacks a train station and is an hour-and-a-half drive from the nearest large town, her work is a lifeline for many. The starting salary for a postal worker…
Russian forces have advanced over a key waterway in the eastern Ukrainian stronghold of Chasiv Yar, a Ukrainian military official said, marking a setback for Kyiv’s embattled forces. The town of Chasiv Yar, which had an estimated pre-war population of around 12,000 people, sits on a strategic hilltop and its capture would likely speed Russian…
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it summoned Germany’s ambassador to protest a new NATO naval command center along the Baltic Sea coast. On Monday, Germany inaugurated the center to boost defense readiness in the Baltic Sea region as Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine. Authorities in Moscow said they expressed a “decisive protest”…
Poland has ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the western city of Poznan over Moscow’s alleged “sabotage” attempts inside the country, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Tuesday. “I have information that Russia is behind sabotage attempts in Poland and allied countries. I have therefore decided to withdraw my permission for the Russian…
A Moscow court on Tuesday prohibited an elderly resident from keeping goats at his home in the Russian capital after receiving complaints about the animals wandering the streets and producing foul smells. Valery Anikeev, 77, has kept 16 goats at his home in southern Moscow’s Zyuzino district since at least the mid-1990s, state media reported.…
Authorities in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan have limited access to mobile internet services as part of enhanced security measures during this week’s BRICS summit in the city, local media reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous telecommunications source familiar with the matter. “Security measures have been tightened due to the BRICS summit in Kazan, with possible temporary…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted the war in Ukraine to be resolved peacefully and “quickly” as he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the annual BRICS summit on Tuesday. The three-day gathering, held in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan, is the biggest international event to take place in Russia since the…
Russia’s Defense Ministry discharged 85 Indian citizens who were misled into joining the army to fight in Ukraine, Indian authorities said Monday, as efforts continue to secure the release of some 20 others remaining in Russia. “Our understanding is that nearly 20 people still remain [enlisted in the Russian military] and we are pressing our…
At the Rooppur NPP construction site in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (with the ROSATOM Engineering Division being the general designer and general contractor), the reactor assembly has been completed. The work was carried out by specialists from Atomstroyexport JSC, Atomtekhenergo JSC and Rosenergoatom Concern JSC. The reactor assembly process included installing of reactor internals,…
Police in the Moscow region arrested two men suspected of trying to assassinate a former Chechen and Ingush official who has ties to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s late father. Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said those arrested in the town of Odintsovo included an alleged hitman and the person who hired him. Volk shared a…
A Moscow court said Tuesday that French researcher Laurent Vinatier filed an appeal against the three-year prison sentence handed to him last week for breaking Russia’s “foreign agent” laws. Vinatier, a 48-year-old researcher working for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, was arrested in Moscow in June and charged with gathering information on Russia’s military without…
Russian overnight attacks left three people dead in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, where Moscow has stepped up its bombardments in recent months, local officials said Tuesday. Sumy lies across the border from the Kursk region in southwestern Russia, where Ukrainian troops launched a major offensive in August and have managed to hold a…
South African President Cyril Rampahosa arrived in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday to attend the annual BRICS summit as Moscow seeks to project the economic bloc as a geopolitical counterweight to the West. Russian media outlets shared videos of Ramaphosa being greeted by Rustam Minnikhanov, who heads the republic of Tatarstan where Kazan…
South Korea may soon deploy military intelligence personnel in Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops claimed to be fighting for Russia, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous government source. Seoul’s spy agency said Friday that Pyongyang sent a “large-scale” troop deployment to fight in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, claiming that 1,500 North…
A Moscow court sentenced Oscar-nominated film producer Alexander Rodnyansky to eight-and-a-half years jail in absentia on Monday for spreading “fake” information about the Russian army. Rodnyansky, 63, was born in Kyiv but spent most of his career in Russia, producing dozens of TV series and movies there including Oscar-nominated crime drama “Leviathan.” He left the…
A group of Ukraine war veterans joined protesters in Western Siberia’s Tyumen region over the weekend, accusing local officials of unlawfully seizing their homes amid a road construction dispute. Around 50 protesters, including five men dressed in military uniforms, gathered in the city of Tyumen on Saturday to protest what they claim to be a violation of…
CHISINAU, Moldova — Moldovans woke up to the news that the country’s referendum on joining the European Union was likely to pass by a razor-thin margin after a dramatic day of voting in Sunday’s presidential election that is set to determine whether the country pursues Western integration or pivots back toward Russia’s orbit. Pre-election polls…
A group of coal miners in Siberia’s Kemerovo region said Monday that they were launching a hunger strike after their employer failed to pay them millions of rubles in wages. At least 12 workers signed a petition announcing the hunger strike that is expected to last until they receive 46 million rubles ($478,000) in unpaid…
The imprisoned mother of a prominent critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been sent to the hospital to undergo medical treatment after her lawyer petitioned the authorities to allow her to receive care due to her declining health. Zarema Musaeva, the mother of activist Abubakar Yangulbaev and the wife of a retired federal judge,…
When the annual BRICS economic bloc summit opens Tuesday in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, Moscow will be pulling out all the stops to project the alliance as a rapidly expanding geopolitical counterweight to the West. President Vladimir Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov has already hailed the summit as “the largest foreign policy…
A non-profit organization providing mental health and legal support services to LGBTQ+ people in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg announced Monday that it would shut down after coming under “anti-queer pressure.” The organization, called Lupta, was created in April 2023 as a support center for people facing discrimination over their sexual identity after its predecessor, the…
Authorities in Moscow claimed Monday that the narrow margin in Moldova’s constitutional referendum on EU membership “raises questions,” while also rejecting Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s accusations of Russian interference in Sunday’s presidential election. After nearly 99% of the votes were counted in a referendum that asked Moldovans whether to insert a clause into the constitution…
Alexei Navalny’s widow said she plans to run for president of Russia after Vladimir Putin leaves office and free and fair elections in the country become possible. “My goal is to bring about change in the country. If I return to Russia, I will run for president,” Yulia Navalnya told the BBC in an interview…
A group of Russian warships arrived in Myanmar to join maritime exercises with the military junta’s navy, state media in the Southeast Asia country reported Monday. The Global New Light of Myanmar said four corvettes and a logistics vessel from Russia’s Pacific Fleet arrived at Thilawa port in Yangon on Sunday “to join the second…
South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul on Monday in protest over claims that Pyongyang sent thousands of soldiers to fight in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said, calling for the immediate withdrawal of the troop deployments. Around 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers have been stationed in Russia, according…
Ukraine said on Sunday it had targeted a crucial Russian explosives factory, located about 750 kilometers (470 miles) from the border, in an overnight drone attack. Kyiv has repeatedly launched drone attacks deep into Russian territory, seeking to hit energy and military sites that it says are key to supplying Moscow’s invading army. A source…
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in two and a half years on Sunday as a decision was expected regarding Vucic’s participation in the BRICS summit this week. Serbia, a European Union candidate, has refused to impose sanctions on Russia, maintaining close and friendly relations. However,…
Censorship of literature is not new in Russia. In 2010 the Russian parliament passed a law requiring age-appropriate labels on books, esssentially requiring authors to avoid controversial themes such as drugs, sex, and profanity to retain a broader readership. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in March 2022 the government published amendments to the Criminal Code,…
The U.S. State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to any foreign person or entity engaging in election interference, it said just weeks before Americans select their next president. An announcement from the department’s Rewards for Justice program specifically singled out Russian media organization Rybar LLC, which it…
North Korea’s decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to Ukraine’s front lines cements Pyongyang’s contentious military alliance with Moscow, experts told AFP, and pulls Russia deeper into Korean peninsula security. About 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are already in Russia acclimatizing, likely to head to the front lines soon, Seoul’s spy agency said Friday, with…
Russia said Friday that it had swapped 95 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian troops in an exchange deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates. “As a result of the negotiation process, 95 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said. “In return, 95…
What condiment can you put on sausages, jellied meat, pelmeni and even add to summer soup? Horseradish, of course. It is one of the main seasonings used in Russian cuisine. We don’t know when it first appeared in everyday life since it was already mentioned in our most ancient books about cooking and horticulture. It’s…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s suggestion that Kyiv would seek nuclear weapons if it could not join NATO was a “dangerous provocation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. The Ukrainian leader made the comments at an EU summit on Thursday, in which he said “either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which will protect us, or we…
Russia and Ukraine said Friday they exchanged the bodies of 590 fallen soldiers in the latest publicly known swap between the two warring countries. Moscow received the remains of 89 soldiers, the RBC news website reported, citing Russian lawmaker Shamsayil Saraliyev, who is a member of a parliamentary group dedicated to Russia’s so-called “special military…
The BRICS group of countries is driving global economic growth faster than advanced Western economies, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the group’s business forum on Friday. The five original members of BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — together with its four newcomers accounted for 37.4% of global GDP compared to 29.3% for…
As Moldova gears up for its presidential election and EU referendum this Sunday, President Maia Sandu is banking on both her victory and a successful EU referendum, which would mark a decisive moment in her efforts to bring Moldova into the European Union. In total, 11 candidates are vying for the presidency in the Oct.…
Latvia imposed an indefinite entry ban for pro-Kremlin designer Artemiy Lebedev and comedian Valery Ponomarenko, a month before he was due to perform in the country, Latvia’s Foreign Ministry announced Friday. Latvian authorities did not cite the specific reasons for blacklisting Lebedev and Ponomarenko, noting only that the former is “known in certain circles” and…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend this month’s BRICS summit in Russia, India’s Foreign Ministry said Friday, months after the Indian leader met with President Vladimir Putin in a meeting that drew condemnation from Ukraine. Modi’s government has longstanding ties with Moscow that have persisted despite India’s attempts to forge closer security partnerships with…
North Korea is sending “large-scale” troop deployments to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine, with 1,500 special forces already stationed in Russia’s Far East where they are undergoing training, Seoul’s intelligence agency said Friday. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) released detailed satellite images of what it said was Pyongyang’s first deployment to Russia. South Korean President Yoon Suk…
Washington unveiled new sanctions Thursday targeting China-based companies linked to the production of drones that Russia has deployed in its war against Ukraine. It marks the first time the U.S. sanctioned Chinese companies “directly developing and producing complete weapons systems in partnership with Russian firms,” the U.S. Treasury Department said. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said…
Russia’s agricultural safety watchdog banned the import of tomatoes, melons, wheat and other food products from neighboring Kazakhstan amid ongoing trade disputes between the two countries. “The decision was made because Kazakhstan’s competent authorities failed to take measures to ensure the phytosanitary safety of [products sent to] Russian territory,” Rosselkhoznadzor said Thursday. The watchdog said…
Authorities in southwestern Russia’s Belgorod region on Friday denied reports of Ukrainian troops launching an incursion into a village on the border with Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. Open-source intelligence bloggers speculated earlier this week that Ukraine may have opened a “new axis” in the Belgorod region village of Zhuravlevka to cut off one of the Russian…
A cargo ship capsized off the coast of Far East Russia’s Sakhalin island, killing at least two crewmen, the state-run Interfax news agency reported Friday, citing emergency services. Earlier, Sakhalin region Governor Valery Limarenko said the Grigory Lotsov, which was loaded with crushed stone and sand, sank off the coast of Sakhalin’s Korsakovsky District. Limarenko…
Top executives of the largest nuclear companies and organizations from BRICS+ member states, including Russia, China, South Africa, Brazil, Iran, Ethiopia, and Bolivia, held the first meeting within the framework of the Nuclear Energy Platform being created. During the meeting, which took place at the Moscow Atom Museum, the participants discussed the initiative and outlined…
Russia is preparing to deploy 10,000 North Korean soldiers in the fight against Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, citing intelligence information. Zelensky has previously accused North Korea of sending troops to Russia’s army but this was the first time he gave an exact figure. An unspecified number of North Korean soldiers were already…
Russian law enforcement authorities placed the wife of opposition figure Leonid Gozman under house arrest on allegations of trafficking cultural goods from Russia to Italy, media reported Thursday. The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, citing a court indictment, reported that the “cultural goods” listed by authorities include “kitchen and household utensils” inherited by the Gozman family…
When Ukrainian soldier Ihor Shyshko described his two years of detention in Russia alongside 72-year-old U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, three words came to mind: torture, humiliation and hunger. After being held incommunicado for two and a half years, Hubbard suddenly appeared in a Moscow court last month where he was sentenced in a closed trial…
October 17, 2024, 17:20 The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the information about the ongoing work on implementing the projects for the production and supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG). It was noted that the Company consistently reinforces its positions in this business segment in order to further increase the flexibility and reliability of consumer gas supplies. The large-scale plant within the Sakhalin II project is successfully…
October 17, 2024, 17:15 The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the information about the ongoing efforts for ensuring the technological independence of the processing complex of Gazprom. It was noted that it is an activity of strategic importance for Gazprom to develop the processing of gas and other hydrocarbons in Russia. The Company is carrying out this work with the active use of the Russian scientific and industrial potential. The newly…
Russia’s Orthodox Church plans to give pregnant women in the northwestern Tver region letters urging them to give birth instead of having an abortion. The Tver diocese announced earlier this week that a letter penned by Metropolitan Ambrose of Tver and Kashinsk will be sent out to regional prenatal centers at a time when women…
October 17, 2024, 17:05 The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the information about the operational readiness of the Gazprom Group’s facilities for peak loads expected in late 2024 – early 2025, as well as about the measures necessary to ensure uninterrupted gas supplies to consumers in the winter period. It was noted that, in 2024, the usual diagnostic and repair works at the facilities, as well as the filling of underground…
Three workers were killed after part of a gold mine collapsed in Far East Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula, the head of the regional Emergency Situations Ministry said Thursday. The men were working at the Kumroch mine, located in Kamchatka’s Ust-Kamchatsky District, when one of the shafts collapsed. The site is operated by the Bystrinskaya Mining Company and…
Britain on Thursday announced its largest sanctions to date against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers used to sidestep a Western embargo on oil exports after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The government’s latest crackdown bars 18 ships from U.K. ports and British maritime services, bringing the total number of sanctioned vessels to 43. Experts say…