Author: admin
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Russia to Ease Tourist Visa Requirements for ‘Friendly States’
Russia is planning to introduce visa-free travel for citizens of up to 11 states as well as ease entry requirements for citizens of some six others, including India and Indonesia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Wednesday. Lavrov also announced Russia would be restarting its e-visa program, which was introduced in 2020 but then almost immediately…
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ROSATOM shipped the first lot of equipment for the ITER project in 2023 to France
Iquipment for the power supply systems of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) was shipped from the site of NIIEFA JSC (included into Rosatom) on February, 13-14. Three trailers with the total cargo weight of 33.4 tons set off to the reactor construction site in France. The scope of supply included the final lot of…
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Ministry Says Seizing Russian Assets ‘Not Permissible Under Swiss Law’
Switzerland’s government announced Wednesday that confiscating private Russian assets in the country to help rebuild Ukraine would be contrary to Swiss law. Traditionally neutral Switzerland decided four days after Russia invaded a year ago to align itself with European Union sanctions against Moscow, since when it has frozen billions in Russian assets. Faced with international…
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Viagra Maker Halts Russia Deliveries
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
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Viagra Maker Halts Russia Deliveries
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
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Viagra Maker Halts Russia Deliveries
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
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Russian Publishers to ‘Retell’ Western Bestsellers After Losing Licensing
Russian publishers plan to “retell” foreign bestsellers that will not hit bookstores due to Western companies halting work with their Russian counterparts over the war in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday. Russia’s largest publisher, Eksmo-AST, will release 3,000 copies of Prince Harry’s memoir “Spare” on Thursday as a “summary, which involves the retelling of…
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Russia Bans American Animal Rights Activist Who Walked Cow on Red Square
A Russian court has imposed a 40-year entry ban on a Chinese-American animal rights activist after she was jailed while walking a young cow near the Kremlin, the woman said Tuesday. Alisa Day, 34, was sentenced to 13 days of arrest earlier this month on charges of disobeying police orders after being detained with the calf…
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Possible War Crime as Russia Holds Thousands of Children – U.S. Report
Russia has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine in camps aimed at re-education in what could constitute a war crime, a U.S. study said Tuesday. Since the start of the war nearly a year ago, children as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, including in Moscow-annexed Crimea and Siberia, for…
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Russia Jails Anti-War Journalist 6 Years for ‘Fake News’
A Russian court has sentenced a Siberian journalist and activist to six years in prison for spreading so-called “fake news” about the war in Ukraine. Maria Ponomarenko, a journalist for the RusNews outlet, was arrested in April for publishing information about the Russian bombing of a theater in southern Ukraine’s Mariupol. The Kremlin denies responsibility for…
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Wagner Founder Prigozhin Admits He Was Behind Russia’s Infamous Troll Farms
The once publicity-averse founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has for the first time confirmed the widespread belief that he also founded the Internet Research Agency, better known as the network of troll farms used to push Kremlin propaganda narratives around the globe over the past decade. “I was never just a financier…
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Battles in Vuhledar, Bakhmut Signal Imminent Russian Offensive, Analysts Say
Dozens of damaged military vehicles with Russian markings could be seen scattered chaotically across a snow-covered field in footage released last week of a battlefield near the eastern Ukrainian mining town of Vuhledar, southwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk. The hulls of some of the armored vehicles were covered in black soot from what…
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Write Letters to Soldiers Not Valentine’s Cards, Russian Politician Urges
The Russian governor of the city of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea has called on Russians not to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the grounds that the holiday is alien to the country’s traditions and was “imposed by the Western entertainment and consumption industry.” Instead, Mikhail Razvozzhayev suggested in a telegram post on Tuesday that people write…
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Pussy Riot Pulls Out of German Festival Over Pro-Putin Singer’s Appearance
Russian anti-Kremlin activist group Pussy Riot has canceled its upcoming performance at a music festival in Germany due to the inclusion of a pro-Putin singer in the festival lineup. Pussy Riot had been scheduled to perform at the International May Festival in Wiesbaden, one of Germany’s oldest cultural festivals, but the group pulled out after…
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Sanctioned Russian Buys Into Kazakh Airport in Border Region
A Russian airports operator has bought a stake in running an airport in northwestern Kazakhstan close to the Russo-Kazakh border. With its first foreign acquisition, Russia’s Airports of Regions company is hoping to develop the Oral airport as a regional hub, most likely to serve travelers affected by the shortage of flights out of Russia…
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EU Adds Russia to Its Tax Haven Blacklist
The European Union added Russia to its tax haven blacklist on Tuesday, the latest in a series of economic and diplomatic measures taken against Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine. In a statement, the bloc said Russia’s 2022 tax legislation had failed to allay concerns over its opaque treatment of the tax affairs of international holding companies. “In…
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Elite Russian Marine Unit ‘Nearly Destroyed’ Near Ukraine’s Vuhledar
An elite Russian naval infantry unit made up of mostly mobilized troops has lost nearly all its troops in fighting near the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, Russian media reported Monday, citing one of the survivors. The 5,000-strong 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade has been “nearly destroyed” after up to 300 marines per day were killed…
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Russia Denies Plotting Coup in Moldova
Russia on Tuesday slapped down as “completely unfounded” accusations from Moldova that Moscow was plotting to violently overthrow the country’s pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs. “Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Moldova’s President Maia Sandu on Monday accused Russia of plotting her government’s overthrow. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr…
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Putin Uses Armored Train, Private Stations for Personal Trips – Reports
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
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Putin Uses Armored Train, Private Stations for Personal Trips – Reports
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
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Putin Uses Armored Train, Private Stations for Personal Trips – Reports
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
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Sacked Russian Police General Found Dead in Apparent Suicide
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
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Sacked Russian Police General Found Dead in Apparent Suicide
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
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Sacked Russian Police General Found Dead in Apparent Suicide
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
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2 Russians Win Right to Apply for Refugee Status in S. Korea
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
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2 Russians Win Right to Apply for Refugee Status in S. Korea
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
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2 Russians Win Right to Apply for Refugee Status in S. Korea
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
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In Photos: Daily Life for Medical Volunteers in Ukraine
Hospitallers is one of the main organizations training and deploying volunteers to work as medics near the frontlines in Ukraine. Those who apply range from people with no medical experience who are given courses in basic first aid to fully qualified doctors. The organization has now trained over 800 volunteers from all over the world,…
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In Photos: Daily Life for Medical Volunteers in Ukraine
Hospitallers is one of the main organizations training and deploying volunteers to work as medics near the frontlines in Ukraine. Those who apply range from people with no medical experience who are given courses in basic first aid to fully qualified doctors. The organization has now trained over 800 volunteers from all over the world,…
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Russian Gas Exports Sink by 25% Despite Rise in Oil Sales
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
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Russian Gas Exports Sink by 25% Despite Rise in Oil Sales
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
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Russian Gas Exports Sink by 25% Despite Rise in Oil Sales
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
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Russia Places Moldovan TikToker On Wanted List
The Russian authorities have placed popular blogger Nikolai Lebedev, who is more widely known by his TikTok handle Nekoglai, on its wanted person list. Though Russia’s Interior Ministry didn’t specify the criminal offense Lebedev is suspected of, his appearance on the list comes just days after the authorities opened a criminal libel case against him. Lebedev,…
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Russia Places Moldovan TikToker On Wanted List
The Russian authorities have placed popular blogger Nikolai Lebedev, who is more widely known by his TikTok handle Nekoglai, on its wanted person list. Though Russia’s Interior Ministry didn’t specify the criminal offense Lebedev is suspected of, his appearance on the list comes just days after the authorities opened a criminal libel case against him. Lebedev,…
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Moldovan President Accuses Russia of Plotting Her Overthrow
Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Monday accused Russia of plotting to violently overthrow the country’s pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs disguised as anti-government protesters. Moscow’s alleged plan would involve “saboteurs with military background, camouflaged in civilian clothes, to undertake violent actions, attacks on state institutions and taking hostages,” Sandu told journalists. Under the…
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Russia Launches Web Crawler for Anti-Putin Memes, Banned Content
Russia’s state media watchdog has launched a tool to scrape the internet for banned content, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday as the country presses onward with its wartime censorship efforts. The web crawler, dubbed Oculus, can detect videos and images of protesters, “positive depictions” of LGBTQ+ culture and memes criticizing President Vladimir Putin, according to…
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Wagner Shows Prison Recruit Alive Following Alleged Sledgehammer Killing Video
A Wagner Group fighter who deserted in Ukraine was kidnapped and executed by fellow fighters, a Telegram channel with links to the Russian mercenary outfit claimed Monday, sharing video of the alleged killing. This is the second publicly shared video of a Wagner recruit’s apparent death by sledgehammer in recent months after its leader threatened extrajudicial…
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U.S. Warns Citizens to Leave Russia, Citing Draft, Security Risks
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has urged its citizens to leave Russia “immediately” due to a slew of security risks that include possible forced enlistment into the Russian army. “U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately,” the embassy said in a travel advisory Sunday. It pointed to the “unpredictable consequences” of Russia’s…
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Wagner Boss Claims Advance on Bakhmut Continues as Village Captured
The leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner claimed on Sunday that forces under his control had taken a village a few kilometers from the key city of Bakhmut, which Moscow has been trying to capture for months. “Today, Wagner’s assault units took the town of Krasna Hora,” Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement…
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Russia’s Religious Leaders Who Criticized the Ukraine War
Orthodox priest Maxim Nagibin has been an outcast in his village in southern Russia since the sermon he gave at his local church, St. Michael the Archangel, during the Easter service where he condemned the Ukraine war as a “crime.” “I wanted to express my point of view for people to hear me, wanted to…
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When Rabbits Were Golden
“The rabbit is Stalin’s bull.” This ridiculous slogan of the early 1930s is almost forgotten today. But at the time it was emblazoned on the front pages of newspapers, on posters and enormous street banners. Like the poems of Vladimir Mayakovsky and “Red Square” by Kazimir Malevich, this slogan encapsulated the mood and ideology of…
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Travels, Trips and Tours
Путёвка: trip voucher, package tour, trip sheet, good start I have been traveling a lot in the last six months — more than in the last five (if not 10) years combined — which means that I have been talking a lot about travel in Russian and, as is my wont, thinking about how the…
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Moscow Theater Cancels Plays With Kremlin Critic Liya Akhedzhakova
On Wednesday Moscow’s Sovremenik Theater announced that “The Gin Game,” which starred award-winning actress Liya Akhedzhakova, would not be performed. This effectively ended the actress’s career at the theater, which she joined in 1977. Akhedzhakova is a celebrated Soviet and Russian actress of film and stage, who has performed in more than 50 films, including…
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Consultations held between the Russian delegation and the IAEA delegation
On February 9 this year, Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev had a regular meeting with Director General of IAEA Rafael Grossi in Moscow. From the Russian side, the meeting was also attended by Alexander Trembitsky, Head of Rostekhnadzor (Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia), Igor Kirillov, Chief of Radiation, Chemical, and…
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Head of Russia’s Tretyakov Gallery Replaced After Culture Ministry Standoff
A new director has been appointed to the State Tretyakov Gallery, one of Russia’s most renowned fine arts museums, following a reported clash with the Culture Ministry over its exhibitions’ alignment with state values. Zelfira Tregulova, who has served as the Tretyakov Gallery’s general director since 2015, will step down from her role, the Culture…
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Akkuyu NPP project employees collect help for earthquake victims
February 7, 2022, Büyükeceli, Mersin Province, Türkiye. – Companies involved in Akkuyu NPP construction collected warm clothes and primary commodities for those hurt or displaced by the earthquake. Collection points are located in Silifke, Kum Mahallesi and Taşucu, where most of the Akkuyu NPP site employees live. Project personnel and residents of the region bring…
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Russia and Myanmar sign Intergovernmental Agreement on nuclear energy cooperation
On February 6, in Yangon (Republic of the Union of Myanmar), ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev and the Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Myo Thein Kyaw signed the Intergovernmental Agreement on cooperation in the field of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of…
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How Ukrainian Borshch Conquered the Baltic Fleet
Today if you want to really outrage the Russian Foreign Ministry, just tell them that borshch is Ukrainian. Even soccer fans’ notorious and obscene chant about Putin is less painful to Russia’s professional patriots than having to admit that there is Kievan, Poltavan, and Chernigov borshch. When someone says the word “borshch,” we all imagine…
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Main Coolant Pipeline Welding Completed at Rooppur NPP Unit 2
At the Rooppur NPP construction site in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (the general designer and general contractor being the Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division), welding of the main coolant pipeline (MCP) has been completed successfully in the reactor building of Unit 2. Junction, welding-up and heat treatment of the pearlitic part of 28 weld…
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Starting Anew or Again or Freshly Baked
Новый: new (more or less) И снова я… (It’s me again), still thinking in February about новый год (new year) — and of course старый новый год (old new year, i.e., by the old Julian calendar) — and how things новый that happen снова are often not new at all. In fact, снова (literally “anew”)…
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A residential campus will be built for Akkuyu NPP employees
February 4, 2023, Silifke, Türkiye – AKKUYU NUCLEAR, which is building the first nuclear power plant in Türkiye, has signed a contract with the Turkish construction company Özaltın İnşaat for the construction of a residential campus for Akkuyu NPP operating personnel. The residential campus will be formed of single-section blocks with comfortable flats of different…
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‘Harry Potter’ Films Removed From Russian Streaming Services
The “Harry Potter” movies will disappear from Russian streaming services from Wednesday as Russians continue to face dwindling access to Western-made films and television following the invasion of Ukraine. Kinopoisk and Amediateka, two of Russia’s largest movie platforms, announced last week that Tuesday is the last day when the wizard franchise based on the widely…
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Documentary on Jailed Kremlin Critic Alexei Navalny Nominated for Oscar
The U.S.-produced fly-on-the-wall documentary “Navalny,” which followed the now-jailed Russian anti-corruption campaigner and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny during the aftermath of a poisoning attempt in 2020, was nominated for an Academy Award on Tuesday. The film, directed by Daniel Roher, shows Navalny during his recuperation in Berlin from poisoning with nerve agent Novichok and as…
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Pumpkin Surprise for a Bride, Groom or Guest
Pumpkin is a special case in Russian cuisine. On the one hand, it is not very common. On the other hand, Russian cuisine seems incomplete without it. Of course, it can be chopped into pieces and stewed or roasted. But sooner or later every hostess has the idea of stuffing it with a delicious filling…
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Russians Brave the Cold for Frozen Epiphany Swim
Each year on Jan. 19, Russians celebrate the holiday of the Epiphany, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, by dipping into frigid rivers, ponds and lakes across the country. According to tradition, one must dip below the water’s surface three times to symbolize the Holy Trinity. The Kremlin said Thursday that…
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Russians Brave the Cold for Frozen Epiphany Swim
Each year on Jan. 19, Russians celebrate the holiday of the Epiphany, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, by dipping into frigid rivers, ponds and lakes across the country. According to tradition, one must dip below the water’s surface three times to symbolize the Holy Trinity. The Kremlin said Thursday that…
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Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery Marks a Century Since the U.S.S.R. Was Founded
A new exhibition entitled “U.S.S.R. 100” at Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union, albeit at a fairly awkward time given Russia’s ongoing invasion of another former Soviet republic and Russian society’s deep polarization on the subject of its Soviet legacy. The exhibition contains some 400 paintings,…
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Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery Marks a Century Since the U.S.S.R. Was Founded
A new exhibition entitled “U.S.S.R. 100” at Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union, albeit at a fairly awkward time given Russia’s ongoing invasion of another former Soviet republic and Russian society’s deep polarization on the subject of its Soviet legacy. The exhibition contains some 400 paintings,…
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Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery Marks a Century Since the U.S.S.R. Was Founded
A new exhibition entitled “U.S.S.R. 100” at Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union, albeit at a fairly awkward time given Russia’s ongoing invasion of another former Soviet republic and Russian society’s deep polarization on the subject of its Soviet legacy. The exhibition contains some 400 paintings,…
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Actor, Singer and Politician Vakhtang Kikabidze Dead at 84
The Georgian actor, singer and political figure Vakhtang Kikabidze died in a Tbilisi hospital on Sunday. The cause of death was not released, but his producer Rati Abzianidze said that Kikabidze had been in poor health for many years. Kikabidze was one of the Soviet Union’s most popular singers and actors. He had the distinction…