A Russian court on Friday fined a LGBT activist 75,000 rubles ($1,053) over “propaganda” drawings of gay families aimed at influencing minors. A magistrate’s court in the far eastern city of Komsomolsk-On-Amur fined activist and artist Yulia Tsvetkova over social media posts of drawings, she told AFP. One, called “A family is where love is,”…
A Moscow court on Friday ordered the governor of a Far Eastern region held for two months ahead of his trial on murder charges that sparked outrage from his party. The head of Khabarovsk, Sergei Furgal, 50, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of ordering the murder of several businessmen 15 years ago. A judge…
The Dutch government is taking Russia to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Analysts say countries very rarely bring lawsuits against other countries in the Strasbourg-based court, with only 24 so-called “inter-state applications” filed in its nearly 70-year history. “Achieving justice…
A Siberian health official has been fired after controversial photographs went viral showing alleged coronavirus victims in body bags, regional authorities said Thursday. A pro-Kremlin tabloid published photographs Monday showing a room full of black bags that it claimed proved a higher than reported Covid-19 death toll in the Tomsk region. The regional crisis center…
Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg saw a 10-year spike in deaths in June, official data said Thursday as questions persist over relatively low coronavirus deaths compared to other hard-hit countries. St. Petersburg, which began gradually lifting Covid-19 restrictions in early June, officially confirmed 987 deaths from coronavirus last month. A total of 7,106 people…
Kazakhstan on Friday denied a claim by China’s embassy that a pneumonia outbreak more deadly than the novel coronavirus is rampaging through the Central Asian country. In an alert for Chinese citizens posted on the embassy’s website Thursday, Beijing warned of a disease with “a mortality rate far higher than Covid-19.” The statement said the pneumonia…
Four Jehovah’s Witnesses have been detained on charges of extremism in southern Russia, investigators said Thursday amid an ongoing crackdown against the religious organization. The unnamed worshippers aged between 38 and 47 were alleged to be the “elders” of a group that has continued to meet in the southern city of Astrakhan since Russia banned…
Moscow lifted restrictions including compulsory travel passes on June 8, a move welcomed by residents who rushed out to enjoy the streets and parks. Many other regions lifted lockdown restrictions ahead of a July 1 national vote despite the pandemic. Critics have cast doubt on Russia’s low official mortality rate and accused authorities of under-reporting…
The week since Russia adopted constitutional changes has been marked by a series of high-profile arrests and sentences for activists, journalists and government officials. Here’s a look at some of the near-daily arrests, raids and other cases since the new Russian Constitution came into force following a week-long vote that ended on July 1. Broken…
July 10, 2020 PAO Severstal announces it has closed a deal to increase its shareholding in its joint venture with Germany’s Linde GmbH for the production of coil-wound heat exchangers (CWHE) for use in medium-scale and large-scale LNG plants. Following the completion of the transaction, Severstal will have a 50% stake in the joint venture.…
News from projects and regions July 9, 2020, 17:40 Over 1,400 employees of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Astrakhan and Gazprom Gazoraspredeleniye Astrakhan have undergone COVID-19 tests that make it possible to identify infected people at the early stage with no visible symptoms. Preventive testing of personnel forms part of the corporate comprehensive program against the spread of the infection. The goal of the program is to create barriers…
Russian health officials have recommended restarting international flights to 13 countries, including nine members of the European Union and China, the RBC news website reported Thursday. The list compiled by Russia’s consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor includes Britain and Germany and is apparently part of phase one of resuming flights during the coronavirus pandemic. The Netherlands,…
Rosneft has presented its Public Statement regarding human rights and the Declaration on Human Rights for interacting with suppliers of goods, works and services.
On July 8, 2020 the Commission for Environment of the ROSATOM’s Public Council and Environmental and Legal Center Bellona presented on-line a joint report. The issues of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUH) management in Russia have been under focused attention of the public since November 2019. During several months, public environmental organizations, scientists and specialists carried…
Foreign intelligence agencies are behind the string of killings on European soil of Chechen nationals who criticized the Russian region’s ruling elite, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Thursday. Kadyrov put forward the theory after the body of his reported “personal foe” Mamikhan Umarov, 43, was found in the Austrian capital Vienna on Saturday. Two ethnic…
Russia has confirmed 707,301 cases of coronavirus and 10,843 deaths. July 8: 3 things you need to know today Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that wearing masks will no longer be required outdoors from July 13 as the number of new coronavirus cases has dwindled in the Russian capital in recent weeks. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, has…
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced Thursday that wearing masks will no longer be required outdoors from July 13 as the number of new coronavirus cases has dwindled in the Russian capital in recent weeks. “A mandatory mask regimen on the streets will be lifted,” Sobyanin said in his blog. Masks are still required in stores,…
Police in Moscow have raided the homes of several opposition activists and city council members planning protests against Russia’s newly adopted constitution, the opposition MBKh Media news website reported early Thursday. Authorities detained Andrei Pivovarov, a high-ranking member of exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia pro-democracy movement, Interfax reported later in the day. Pivovarov’s colleague…
A Russian bid to get the United Nations to reduce cross-border humanitarian aid to war-torn Syria was voted down by the Security Council Wednesday, an official said. Authorization for the aid, which comes through two crossing points on the Turkish border — at Bab al-Salam, which leads to the Aleppo region, and Bab al-Hawa, which…
Mining giant Nornickel on Wednesday said it was contesting a fine imposed by the Russian authorities over a massive oil spill in the Arctic that sparked a state of emergency. Nornickel “disputes the amount of environmental damage caused by the diesel leak” calculated by the Russian environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, the company said in a statement. …
Moscow lifted restrictions including compulsory travel passes on June 8, a move welcomed by residents who rushed out to enjoy the streets and parks. Many other regions lifted lockdown restrictions ahead of a July 1 national vote despite the pandemic. Critics have cast doubt on Russia’s low official mortality rate and accused authorities of under-reporting…
A sitting Russian governor has been detained on suspicion of organizing murders in the early 2000s, investigators said early Thursday. Sergei Furgal, 50, is a former timber and scrap metal metal merchant and member of the far-right Liberal Democratic Party, which has the third-most seats in the Russian parliament. Furgal handed a rare defeat to…
Lithuania’s media watchdog on Wednesday banned Russian broadcaster RT, echoing a move by neighbor Latvia, after it found a key figure at the station was on an EU sanctions list. Lithuania’s LRTK media regulator said the television station previously known as Russia Today was controlled by Dmitry Kiselyov. Regarded by critics as Russia’s chief spin…
Oksana and her two-year-old daughter Sophia sit in a small lounge in Vnukovo airport in Moscow. They are one of several families with young children waiting together. Sophia, like the other children there, has retinoblastoma, an aggressive and rare form of retinal cancer that can render a child blind and cause death within a matter…
On Tuesday, the day after journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva escaped prison time for writing a column, she spent the morning walking around her home city of Pskov in northwestern Russia, enjoying her newfound freedom. When she returned to her apartment in the early afternoon, the 40-year-old sat down to read and reply to the messages of…
Moscow has told the U.S. embassy to “mind your own business” after Washington’s diplomatic mission raised concern about curbs on media freedom in Russia. Rebecca Ross, the spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy, on Tuesday expressed concern about a clampdown on journalists in Russia. “Watching arrest after arrest of Russian journalists – it’s starting to look…
Russian health officials in Siberia have begun testing rodents for bubonic plague after several cases were registered in neighboring Mongolia and China. The consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said there’s no risk of plague outbreaks spreading to Russia because of border closures and travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO)…
Ukraine’s security service said it has detained an alleged Russian agent in Kiev suspected of overseeing separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. The SBU security service identified the suspect as Ukrainian citizen Andrei Nikolayevich, whose last name was only given as the initial K. He is alleged to be a “freelance representative” for the GRU Russian…
Russia has confirmed 700,792 cases of coronavirus and 10,667 deaths. July 8: 3 things you need to know today Federal transport authorities have found more than 500 violations of anti-coronavirus measures at Russian airports in June, the Kommersant business daily reported. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, has extended Russia’s ban on international flights until Aug. 1 due…
Moscow lifted restrictions including compulsory travel passes on June 8, a move welcomed by residents who rushed out to enjoy the streets and parks. Many other regions lifted lockdown restrictions ahead of a July 1 national vote despite the pandemic. Critics have cast doubt on Russia’s low official mortality rate and accused authorities of under-reporting…
Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended authorization for cross-border humanitarian aid in Syria for a year, though Moscow swiftly proposed a more limited extension. Germany and Belgium, two of the council’s non-permanent members, had drafted the resolution, which would have allowed aid to continue to pass through…
Russian prosecutors demanded Tuesday that a respected Gulag historian be sentenced to 15 years in prison over alleged sexual assault in a case his allies say has been trumped up to silence him. Yury Dmitriyev, 64, spent decades locating and exhuming mass graves of people killed under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s rule. Rights groups and…
Siberia’s unprecedented heat wave will continue through July, experts have warned, increasing the risk of forest fires and permafrost damage and highlighting the effects of climate change. Forecasts show that five Siberian regions, including one in the Arctic, will experience temperatures of 37 degrees Celsius in early July. This follows The Siberian town of Verkhoyansk…
A high-profile Russian journalist who became an adviser to the head of the space agency was detained Tuesday on charges of treason for allegedly divulging state military secrets, the country’s security service said. Ivan Safronov, 30, worked for business outlets Kommersant and Vedomosti and was one of Russia’s most high profile and respected journalists reporting…
News from projects and regions July 7, 2020, 17:30 Gas workers of the Tambov Region are implementing a set of measures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus infection. On July 1, 2020, Gazprom Gazoraspredeleniye Tambov started testing personnel for the virus and its antibodies. Among the first individuals to take the tests are the employees who are involved in continuous production…
The first metal to build the superpower nuclear icebreaker Lider (Project 10510) was cut on July 6 at the shipyard in Bolshoi Kamen, Maritime Territory. The governmental customer of the icebreaker of ROSATOM, the developer is FSUE Atomflot. SSK Zvezda is the sole contractor for this contract. As per the contract, the vessel is planned…
Moscow will apply counter-sanctions against Britain, the Kremlin said Tuesday, after London blacklisted Russian officials for their alleged involvement in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. “We can only regret such unfriendly measures,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Obviously the principle of reciprocity will be applied,” he added, without elaborating. The 25 Russians included…
Allegations that former journalist Ivan Safronov passed state secrets to foreign intelligence strain credulity, his colleagues told The Moscow Times after he was detained on suspicion of state treason. Special agents detained Safronov outside his apartment earlier Tuesday, only two months after he left his decade-long journalism career to become an adviser to Russia’s space…
A prominent Russian journalist and chief editor of the independent news magazine Holod Media has been detained after authorities searched her apartment in Moscow, human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said Tuesday. Earlier in the day, authorities in Moscow detained the adviser to Russia’s space chief and former Kommersant and Vedomosti journalist Ivan Safronov on suspicion…
Authorities in Moscow have detained the adviser to Russia’s space chief and former journalist Ivan Safronov on suspicion of state treason, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said Tuesday. Safronov’s detention comes two months after he became Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin’s adviser. Until May, Safronov had been writing for the independent Kommersant and Vedomosti business dailies for…
Anna, 33, calls herself “an extinct dinosaur in a modern society”. Indeed, it’s almost like she travelled here by time machine. Her job is a well-respected profession in 18th century: lacemaker. She lives with her husband in patriarchy, meaning that she obeys him all the time, thinks that her life mission is to be next…
Underground passengers engrossed in reading and chess players in a summer park, overcrowded beaches and demanding ballet rehearsals, a huge line to the Mausoleum and a divorcing couple in a court room, desperately trying to avoid each other’s eyes — these are just a few of the images in the new exhibition at the Manege…
Around half of Russia’s doctors believe that official statistics undercount the number of coronavirus cases in the country while one in 10 say the numbers are too high, the Vedomosti business newspaper reported Tuesday. The survey’s results follow questions over Russia’s relatively low Covid-19 death toll among the hardest-hit countries as authorities doubled fatalities for…
A Siberian village has surrounded itself with trenches to prevent the spread of the coronavirus after officials said an infected shaman caused an outbreak among the local population. The village of Shuluta in the republic of Buryatia had registered 37 cases of Covid-19 among its 390 residents as of Saturday, with a quarter of the…
Russia has confirmed 694,230 cases of coronavirus and 10,494 deaths. July 7: 3 things you need to know today Federal transport authorities have found more than 500 violations of anti-coronavirus measures at Russian airports in June, the Kommersant business daily reported. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, has extended Russia’s ban on international flights until Aug. 1 due to…
Moscow lifted restrictions including compulsory travel passes on June 8, a move welcomed by residents who rushed out to enjoy the streets and parks. Many other regions lifted lockdown restrictions ahead of a July 1 national vote despite the pandemic. Critics have cast doubt on Russia’s low official mortality rate and accused authorities of under-reporting…
Russian health officials have stepped up border controls and are warning residents in Western Siberia not to hunt and eat marmots after neighboring Mongolia and China reported three cases of bubonic plague, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. Mongolia last week quarantined its western region of Khovd near the border with Russia after identifying…
July 7, 2020 Karelsky Okatysh, a division of PAO Severstal and Russia’s leading iron ore mining and processing plant, has delivered iron ore pellets to Brazil for the first time in its history. The shipment of more than 100,000 tons is for Brazil’s largest fully integrated steel producer – Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). Maxim Vorobyov,…
News from projects and regions July 6, 2020, 20:00 Today, Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Tver opened a new customer reception area, which was set up with due account of the coronavirus prevention measures. The new subdivision (located at 7 Dvor Proletarki St., Office 106) complies with social distancing requirements in its operations. Operators and customers communicate at a safe distance across wide tables; the gas company’s specialists…
Russian authorities have demanded mining giant Nornickel make a “voluntary” $2 billion contribution to cover the environmental damage caused by the Arctic’s biggest ever oil spill. In a statement issued Monday, Russia’s environmental agency Rosprirodnadzor assessed the cost of the spillage of 21,000 tons of diesel at 148 billion rubles ($2.1 billion). The agency added…
Background Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom. It operates in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area. The company is focused on gas and gas condensate production Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg holds licenses for the development and production of hydrocarbons from the Yamburgskoye and Zapolyarnoye fields and is preparing for commercial production the Severo-Kamennomyssky, Kamennomysskoye-Sea, Obsky, Chugoryakhinsky, Tazovsko-Zapolyarny and Yuzhno-Parusovy subsurface areas, and, as part of joint ventures, the Parusovy, Severo-Parusovy…
It is unclear when EU countries will reopen their borders to Russian tourists, President Vladimir Putin said Monday during a meeting with the head of Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot. “It is not clear what our partners will do in many countries of the world, including in Europe, they cannot understand each other yet. And it…
Britain on Monday identified 49 individuals and organizations to be sanctioned under a new regime targeting people who violate human rights, 25 of them Russian and 20 Saudis. The Russians are targeted for involvement in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and the Saudis for the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Foreign Office…
The Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex has launched the construction of the flagship nuclear icebreaker of the Leader project.
Local residents of Nenoksa village on the coast of the White Sea in Russia’s Far North will be given the opportunity to evacuate their homes on Tuesday ahead of planned work at the military missile site where a deadly nuclear accident occured last summer. On Sunday, a message appeared on the local administration’s website posted…
Gazprom’s controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline overcame another major obstacle to completion Monday, as Denmark granted permission for the pipeline to continue being laid with the use of less technologically advanced ships, potentially negating the impact of U.S. sanctions against the project. The decision could allow Russia to complete the final 120 kilometer stretch of…
The laying of an Aframax tanker has taken place at the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex.
A Russian journalist avoided a prison sentence on Monday but was given a $7,000 fine for “justifying terrorism” in a controversial case that sparked an outcry at home and abroad. Svetlana Prokopyeva, who is based in the northwestern city of Pskov, was charged with publicly justifying terrorism over a column she wrote about a bombing…
Russia broke all recorded heat records in the first six months of the year, and the head of the country’s weather service has warned of “dangerous weather events” to come in July. “The first six months of 2020 were the warmest in the history of instrumental weather observations in Russia,” the RBC news website quoted…
The leader of Russia’s Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill said on Monday he was “deeply concerned” by calls in Turkey to alter the status of the Hagia Sophia, the historic former cathedral in Istanbul. Turkey’s top court is debating whether one of the architectural wonders of the world can be redesignated as a mosque, a move…