Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny may have poisoned himself with Novichok, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told French President Emmanuel Macron in a recent phone call. Navalny, 44, who came out of a coma two weeks ago after falling violently ill on a flight in Siberia, mocked Putin’s reported claims as illogical. Germany says it has…
Russian authorities are considering chartering a plane from China to fly over parents who have been estranged from their babies born to surrogates in Russia due to coronavirus restrictions, they said Tuesday. With the practice banned in China, parents pay to have surrogate babies abroad, but the system has been tipped into chaos by the pandemic, which…
September 22, 2020, 19:55 The Board of Directors reviewed the issue of the improvement, jointly with Gazprom’s representatives, of the Standard for Procurement of Large-Diameter Pipes (LDPs) by Gazprom Group entities, which was previously developed by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. It was noted at the meeting that LDPs are among Gazprom’s essential material…
September 22, 2020, 19:50 The Gazprom Board of Directors reviewed the information on the creation of single operators of network facilities in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation that form part of the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD), with transfer of network assets onto their balance sheet. It was noted that Gazprom pays the utmost attention to the modernization of gas facilities in the NCFD. In 2018, in accordance with…
September 22, 2020, 19:45 The Gazprom Board of Directors reviewed the information on the measures undertaken to inventory ownerless gas facilities in Russian regions, as well as to optimize the procedure of their transfer to specialized organizations for further operation in line with the laws of the Russian Federation. It was noted that operation of ownerless gas distribution facilities (gas networks that have no lawful owners and are lacking proper technical…
September 22, 2020, 19:40 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information on the implementation of a socially-oriented and cost-effective system of gas infrastructure expansion and gas supplies to serve the needs of the population. The current procedure for cooperation within the framework of gas infrastructure expansion across Russian regions delineates responsibilities among participants as follows. The administrations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation prepare proposals…
September 21, 2020 – On September 21, 2020, ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev delivered a statement at the plenary session of the IAEA General Conference, which opened in Vienna (Austria). In his speech, he stressed that in the challenging times of the pandemic and the economic crisis it triggered, “nuclear power has yet again demonstrated…
22 September, 2020 – On September 22, Arktika, the lead universal nuclear-powered icebreaker, departed from the completion embankment of the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg towards the Murmansk sea port. The passage is planned to take about two weeks. During this time, the nuclear icebreaker will be tested in ice conditions. “Rosatomflot is expecting the…
ROSATOM and Syrian Atomic Energy Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the peaceful non-energy application of nuclear technologies. The document was signed in person in Vienna on September 21. The Memorandum was signed by ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev and Director General of Syrian Atomic Energy Commission Ibrahim Othman. The Memorandum addresses…
A week after Belarus’ contested presidential elections, senior police investigator Andrei Ostapovich decided he could no longer stay silent. He had already started to lose faith in President Alexander Lukashenko and even took part in one of the first post-election protest marches. The turning point came on his first weekend shift after the Aug. 9…
The Memorandum of Understanding between ROSATOM and the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE) on cooperation in the field of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes was signed in Pretoria and Moscow on the 22nd of September. The Memorandum was signed by Mr. Nikolay Spasskiy, the Deputy Director General of ROSATOM, and Mr.…
Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika, touted as the most powerful of its kind and a symbol of Moscow’s Arctic ambitions, set off on its maiden voyage on Tuesday. Designed to transport liquefied natural gas from the Arctic, the giant vessel is 173 meters (570 feet) long and 15 meters high. “The unique domestically-built vessel will for…
At least 10 members of Russia’s lower house of parliament are currently hospitalized with coronavirus and more than 50 have developed antibodies, its speaker said Tuesday. State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin admonished elderly deputies for attending in-person sessions after the legislative body came back from summer recess last week. “To date the number of those…
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich used offshore companies to secretly invest in football players who were rivals to his Chelsea football club, a BBC Panorama investigation published Monday said. The information was obtained during the FinCEN Files investigation, which is led by 108 media outlets worldwide and based on thousands of leaked suspicious activity reports (SARs)…
September 18, 2020 – The webinar ‘Technology readiness and safety of small modular reactors’ hosted by National Nuclear Energy Agency of Indonesia (BATAN), brought together world’s nuclear power industry major players, including ROSATOM. The webinar, moderated by BATAN Expert M.Sc.E Johanna Maria Christina Johari, was aimed to bring the audience the understanding of nuclear energy…
President Vladimir Putin has created a new post in Russia’s National Guard to ensure ideological education and political unity amid questions over the country’s return to once-abolished Soviet practices. The Russian military has gained political influence in both domestic and foreign policy since the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and renewed geopolitical tensions with…
A Siberian messianic cult leader and his deputies have been detained at one of their communes on accusations of using followers’ money and psychological violence to inflict harm, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Tuesday. Armed agents were filmed storming the Church of the Last Testament’s compound in a southern district of the Krasnoyarsk region. The agents can…
Whether you prefer running the trails or surfing the waves, this past weekend had plenty of outdoor activities for Muscovites looking to enjoy the last of the late summer weather. Around 25,000 runners participated in the eighth annual Moscow Marathon on Sunday. The 2014 Toulouse Marathon winner Sardana Trofimova beat her own previous Moscow marathon…
Belarus’ opposition is not anti-Russian despite its objections to recent Russian-Belarusian deals made amid mass post-election protests, exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said in an interview published Sunday. Tikhanovskaya had on the eve of last week’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko vowed to “reconsider” any newly reached agreements if she…
The first thing we see is a portrait of Stalin, a huge stack of freshly printed newspapers and a bunch of flags, rolled up and put in the corner. The man at the reception desk asks us what we want. We ask for a brochure, but he instead he suggests to talk to Ivan, who…
Recruits in Moscow have reported no side effects after taking China’s candidate coronavirus vaccine as part of large-scale clinical trials, the Russian pharmaceutical company working with the vaccine’s Chinese developers announced Monday. Russia approved Phase 3 trials of the Chinese vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics and the Chinese military’s research arm last month. Russia’s Petrovax pharmaceutical…
Russia has resumed flights to neighboring Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and will resume flights to South Korea from Sept. 27, a government decree said Saturday. Citizens and permanent residents of these countries will be permitted to enter Russia through air checkpoints, and Russians will be able to enter these countries without restrictions as well. The…
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that Western laboratories had found traces of a Novichok nerve agent in and on his body and demanded that Moscow return his clothes. Navalny, who is recovering in Berlin’s Charite clinic, fell violently ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow on Aug. 20. He spent two days…
Russian lawmakers may have been the ultimate recipients of some of the nearly 400 kilograms of cocaine that were seized from the Russian Embassy in Argentina in 2018, an investigative report said Sunday. Four suspects are facing a closed trial in Russia after a yearlong investigation into the discovery of 350 kilograms of cocaine worth…
Russia has confirmed 1,109,595 cases of coronavirus and 19,489 deaths. Sept 21: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 6,196 new Covid-19 cases Monday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 1,109,595 as the number of new infections across the country continues to rise. Authorities in China’s eastern Jilin province have discovered traces of coronavirus on packages of frozen…
Authorities in China’s eastern Jilin province have discovered traces of coronavirus on packages of frozen squid imported from Russia, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported Sunday. The regional capital Changchun’s Covid-19 prevention office detected the virus particles during a routine screening, Xinhua reported. All individuals who came into contact with the packages in Changchun were…
Russian tycoons close to President Vladimir Putin have used some of the world’s largest banks to move massive sums of allegedly dirty money, according to an international journalism investigation published Sunday. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and BuzzFeed News said that big banks flagged $2 trillion worth of suspicious transactions between 1999-2017. The…
Tens of thousands of opposition supporters marched in the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Sunday despite authorities deploying a heavy police presence. The protest came a day after officers detained hundreds of demonstrators at a women’s march in the capital. The opposition movement has kept up a wave of large-scale demonstrations every Sunday since President…
A scientist involved in the secret Soviet program to create the Novichok nerve agent has apologized to the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who is recovering from poisoning in Berlin. Vil Mirzayanov, a chemist who was the first to reveal Novichok’s development, in an interview with Russia’s TV Rain on Saturday evening said he wanted…
Riot police on Saturday detained hundreds of women, dragging many into vans, as opposition protesters marched through the Belarusian capital Minsk demanding an end to President Alexander Lukashenko’s rule. The women were seized by riot police in black uniforms and balaclavas as well as officers in unmarked khaki uniforms and plain-clothed officers in face masks.…
Trucks piled high with cabbages backing up to supermarkets and markets and the gaping holes on the salt shelves announce autumn in Russia as much as do the muted yellow beauty of the damp leaves and the wispy fog on the river before the morning sun burns it off. Russians roll up their sleeves and…
Alexei Navalny has said he has difficulty performing everyday functions and that he faces a “long road” of recovery after his Novichok poisoning which left him in a coma. The opposition leader posted an update to his Instagram page Saturday from the Charite clinic in Berlin where he is being treated, outlining more details about…
Russia has confirmed 1,097,251 cases of coronavirus and 19,339 deaths. Sept 19: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 6,065 new Covid-19 cases Saturday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 1,097,251. It is another daily increase in cases and the first time Russia has reported more than 6,000 new infections since July 19. Russia said it…
A vehicle driven by a Russian national crashed through the perimeter of Spaso House, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia’s central Moscow residence, the U.S. Embassy’s spokeswoman said Friday. The unnamed Russian driving the vehicle was intercepted by Embassy staff and handed over to local authorities, spokeswoman Rebecca Ross said on Twitter. Ambassador John Sullivan was…
September 18, 2020, 17:50 RusGazAlyans (a joint venture of Gazprom and RusGazDobycha) completed the construction of the first production well at the Semakovskoye gas field. Commercial gas inflow was obtained. The well is 2,637 meters long. A program of gas dynamic studies will be performed in the well in order to determine the actual reservoir properties and confirm the flow rates indicated in the production forecast. Two…
Andrei Kureichik, a celebrated Belarusian playwright and a member of the Coordination Council of Belarus, has written a play about the month of protests and events in Belarus since the contested presidential election on August 9. The play, “Insulted. Belarus,” was written during and right after the events and translated into English by prominent translator…
A court in Far East Russia has jailed a second North Korean poacher for attacking Russian border guards at sea last year, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty news outlet reported Friday. The court in the city of Nakhodka 6,500 kilometers east of Moscow found the North Korean citizen guilty and sentenced him to seven years…
The Kremlin on Friday said Russia’s ability to probe opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s suspected poisoning was “limited” and accused his aides of taking potential evidence out of the country. Members of Navalny’s team said Thursday that German experts found Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent, on a water bottle taken from the Siberian hotel room where…
The Moscow Metro is expected to roll out what City Hall says will be the world’s first fare payment system based on facial recognition starting next spring. Moscow’s Deputy Mayor in charge of transportation Maxim Liksutov said in a weekly column Friday that Muscovites are “no longer impressed” by the ever-expanding contactless options for paying…
Russian pop stars have teamed up with their fellow artists from Belarus to record a patriotic music video in support of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has faced unprecedented protests since his disputed re-election last month. The music video, titled “Artists for Peace – Don’t Give Away Your Loved One,” was uploaded to Belarusian singer…
Two Russian-made coronavirus treatment drugs have been cleared for pharmacy sale, allowing for widespread at-home treatment of the infection, the Health Ministry announced in a statement to the state-run RIA-Novosti news agency Thursday. Both drugs are Russia-manufactured variants of favipiravir, the generic version of an anti-flu medication developed by Japan’s Fujifilm. Clinical trials of the…
A pair of Russian soldiers have been detained on charges of offending religious believers after they washed their shoes in holy water, Interfax reported Thursday. In a video that went viral this weekend, two young men can be seen laughing as they wash their shoes at a chapel next to the Cathedral of Christ the…
News from projects and regions September 18, 2020, 10:30 The Korsakov Central District Hospital has received new equipment from Sakhalin Energy. The funds for purchasing the required medical devices and consumables were provided within the Prevention and Treatment project, the company’s initiative aimed at supporting the healthcare institutions of the Sakhalin Region. The project is designed to provide the…
Tenex-Japan Co., a subsidiary of TENEX (an organization of ROSATOM), entered into a direct contract with TEPCO Holdings Inc. to carry out a conceptual study in the field of handling radioactive zeolites. As part of the elimination of the consequences of Fukushima-Daiichi NPP accident, bags with zeolites were placed in the basements of the radwaste…
Update: Belarus’ borders remained open Friday after President Alexander Lukashenko announced they would be closed. The country’s border guard service said on its Telegram channel that “checks have been stepped up” and “tactical reinforcements have been deployed,” but that “checkpoints are permitting people to enter and leave.” Belarus will close its borders with Poland and Lithuania…
Russian opera star Anna Netrebko said on Thursday she had contracted coronavirus and was in hospital with pneumonia after performing at the Bolshoi Theater’s post-lockdown opening show. The singer’s illness comes as two top Russian theatres have suffered outbreaks of the virus shortly after reopening, raising fears over the safety of performers. The 48-year-old soprano…
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has transferred his youngest son to an elite boarding school in Moscow amid ongoing protests against his disputed re-election, Russian tabloids reported Thursday. Nikolai “Kolya” Lukashenko, 16, has become a social media sensation as he has grown from a pudgy kid to an apparent “successor” to the presidency who is frequently…
News from projects and regions September 17, 2020, 15:00 Gazprom Export LLC continues to develop its Electronic Sales Platform (ESP). From September 7, 2020, new types of trade instruments are available here. In addition to existing products, the ESP now offers new instruments with geographical and volume flexibility: the former allows several delivery points to choose from, while the latter…
On September 17, after completion of the second stage of sea trials, the lead universal nuclear icebreaker “Arktika” (‘Arctic’) of the project 22220 returned to St. Petersburg. From June 23 to September 16 an inspection of mechanisms and equipment of the nuclear-powered vessel was carried out in the Gulf of Finland and Baltic Sea. Experts…
An American performance artist has announced his intent to buy Vladimir Lenin’s embalmed corpse from Russia and move it to the United States. Georgian-born David Datuna shocked the art world after he ate Maruizio Cattelan’s $120,000 work titled “Comedian” — which consisted of a banana taped to a wall — at Art Basel in Miami…
Belarus’s opposition leader on Thursday said she was putting together a list of law enforcement personnel responsible for beatings and arbitrary arrests for possible future prosecution. “I urge the security forces to stop the violence and join the Belarusian people. If you do not, you will not escape a fair trial and punishment,” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya…
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was likely poisoned before he headed to an airport in Siberia and fell violently ill on a flight last month, not at the airport itself, independent news outlets and his team reported Thursday. Germany, where the Russian opposition leader is now being treated, said it has solid evidence that Navalny, 44,…
The global chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Thursday that it had sent experts to Germany to collect samples from Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and that results of tests for Novichok poisoning were “forthcoming.” Berlin had formally requested its “technical assistance” over Navalny’s alleged poisoning, the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said.…
Russia has confirmed 1,085,281 cases of coronavirus and 19,061 deaths. Sept 17: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 5,762 new coronavirus infections Thursday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 1,085,281. Russian health officials have proposed depriving medics of promised coronavirus payouts if they refuse to vaccinate against the infection, the Medvestnik medical news website has reported. …
Poland has taken the first steps to arrest three Russian air traffic controllers whom it accuses of provoking a fatal plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski in 2010, Polish media reported late Wednesday. Polish prosecutors in 2017 accused the air traffic controllers of “deliberately provoking” the crash where 96 Polish officials including Kaczynski…
Berlin’s Charité hospital has returned a 1 million ruble ($13,300) donation for the treatment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to Kremlin-linked catering magnate Yevgeny Prigozhin, his Concord company said in a statement Wednesday. Navalny was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on a flight in Siberia due to what the German government…
Russia’s foreign intelligence chief on Wednesday accused the United States of protecting Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and allocating $20 million to promote anti-government protests that erupted after disputed presidential elections. Sergei Naryshkin, who heads the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said Washington had taken the former presidential candidate Tikhanovskaya and other activists “firmly under…
Can a prodigal son be trusted? What lies behind the remorse? And what really made this tormented soul return? These are the questions raised by a multimedia installation created by award-winning filmmaker Alexander Sokurov and inspired by Rembrandt’s painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” which is held in the collection of the Hermitage. The…
Relatives of Russian citizens will now be able to obtain simplified Russian visas valid for up to 12 months, the Russian government announced Wednesday. Currently, the spouses and children of Russian citizens can obtain visas that are valid for up to three months. The newly announced rules will allow the relatives to stay in Russia…
A convicted Russian neo-Nazi has been found dead in what appears to be a suicide inside his jail cell in the Urals region of western Siberia, prison authorities confirmed Wednesday. Maxim Martsinkevich, who went by the nickname Tesak (Russian for machete), was serving a 10-year sentence for a violent attack on synthetic cannabinoids dealers. Martsinkevich,…