U.S. forces intercepted an unidentified Russian major general in northern Syria during deconfliction operations, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy for Syrian engagement and the anti-Islamic State coalition said Thursday. James Jeffrey’s remarks follow news of U.S. troops “blocking” a Russian military patrol from accessing an oilfield in northeastern Syria’s province of Hasakah on Saturday.…
Russia said on Thursday it had missed a United Nations deadline to repatriate North Korean workers due to what it called objective difficulties, but said it was scrupulously complying with UN sanctions on Pyongyang. A 2017 UN Security Council resolution demanded that all countries send home all North Korean workers by Dec. 22 last year…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
Bulgarian prosecutors have charged three Russians with the attempted murder of three men whose poisoning is being investigated by Sofia for possible links with the 2018 nerve-agent attack on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal. The prosecutors did not name the three Russians, but said European arrest warrants had been issued and that they would seek their extradition to…
Israel and Russia have signed a new adoption agreement that will effectively block LGBT Israelis from adopting Russian children, Israel’s Channel 12 news outlet reported Wednesday. Russia banned adoption by LGBT couples and individuals from countries that allow gay marriage in 2013. Israel has been complying with this law through a de facto arrangement in the…
Syrian state media said militants launched a major attack on government forces in Idlib on Thursday that Russia‘s Defense Ministry said killed up to 40 Syrian soldiers, though the account was disputed by a rebel official and war monitor. Idlib is the last rebel-held swathe of territory in the country and hundreds of thousands of people…
Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a new monument in Jerusalem dedicated to the defenders and victims of the Siege of Leningrad on Thursday. More than 800,000 people died during the Nazi encirclement of Leningrad — now called St. Petersburg — from starvation, disease and bombardment, making it one of the most devastating episodes of World…
President Vladimir Putin has hinted that he could help reconstruct Russia’s version of the Great Wall of China during a stopover in the country’s central Lipetsk region, the Znak.com news website reported Wednesday. A local archeologist had urged Putin to spearhead reconstruction of the Belgorod fortified line, which was built in the 17th century to…
“The Poet and the Lady” is an exhibition devoted to the unlikely friendship between the Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky and American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The exhibition is at the Voznesensky Center, a relatively new addition to the Moscow museum scene, which has the mission of not just telling the story of Andrei Voznesensky, but…
The floating nuclear heat and power plant (FNHPP, a project by the Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company, a part of ROSATOM) has delivered its first 10 mln kWh of electric power into the isolated network of the Chauny-Bilibino hub (the Chukotka Autonomous Region) since its connection to the grid on December 19, 2019. As of now, the…
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s sister owns luxury real estate in and outside Moscow currently valued at 900 million rubles ($14.3 million), BBC Russia reported Thursday, citing a classified tax database. Mishustin and his family were thrust into the spotlight after the former tax chief’s surprise appointment as head of Russia’s government last week. Critics…
Russians believe that environmental pollution poses a greater threat to humanity than terrorism, according to the results of an independent Levada Center survey published Thursday. Russia’s government says that climate change is heating the country faster than the rest of the world, predicting epidemics, drought and mass hunger if it’s left unchecked. Levada conducted its…
Update: Dolgopolov has fled Russia pending further information about the police probe, human rights lawyer Leonid Solovyov told the MBKh news website Thursday. “We can’t say where he went yet,” Solovyov said, citing security reasons. Dolgopolov warned his Instagram followers that his late Wednesday performance in Moscow was canceled. Police near Moscow have put out a…
Russia’s new Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin was convicted for abuse of office as the head of a university a decade ago, according to past media reports that resurfaced following his appointment this week. Matytsin, 55, was one of several new faces named to Russia’s cabinet Tuesday following President Vladimir Putin’s shake-up of the political system…
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said on Wednesday it had provisionally suspended the status of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory that had allowed it to analyze athlete biological passports (ABP) as Russia’s doping scandal continues. The move comes little more than a month after WADA barred Russians from competing under their country’s flag at major international events…
Russia must remain a strong presidential republic, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday when asked about a possible transitional period once he steps down in 2024. Last week Putin, who under the constitution cannot run for another presidential term, proposed constitutional changes that would give him scope to extend his grip on power after leaving…
On Tuesday evening, Russia’s new Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced the members of his cabinet. Vladimir Medinsky, who served as the culture minister for the past eight years, was let go and Olga Lyubimova appointed in his place. She had served as deputy minister and was the head of the cinematography department. Today it was…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
A young woman from Russia’s conservative republic of Chechnya is seeking criminal charges against her parents, one of their acquaintances and a psychiatric clinic for allegedly torturing her based on her sexual orientation, a Russian LGBT support group said Tuesday. The latest incident comes after widespread reports of anti-gay abuse, including torture and killings, in the…
President Vladimir Putin confirmed a new government Tuesday following last week’s shake-up of the political system which led to Dmitry Medvedev’s resignation as prime minister. Despite Putin describing the new government as a break with the past, many senior ministers held on to their positions. Here’s a look at the main figures in Russia’s new…
Russian tourists appear to be undeterred by a new flu-like coronavirus in China, Russian travel agencies told the state-run TASS news agency as the country’s Health Ministry called it a “biological threat.” The virus has killed nine people and infected more than 400 in an outbreak originating from the central city of Wuhan, spreading fear…
President Vladimir Putin proposed to make several amendments to the Russian Constitution last week in what has been seen by many observers as an move to secure his executive power beyond 2024. The proposals, made during his annual state of the nation address, set off a chain of events including the prime minister’s resignation, a…
Three days after being announced as Russia’s new prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin has granted Gazprom Oil the development rights to the Khambateyskoye gas and oil field on the Yamal Peninsula. According to the federal government, the oil company will pay about 2 billion rubles ($32 million) for the production licenses. The field is located both…
Police near Moscow have put out a request for information about a popular comic’s stand-up performance from a year ago, the comic said Tuesday, prompting speculation that he could be targeted for jokes he made about religion and the authorities. It was not immediately clear what prompted the Orekhovo-Zuevo police department to send the request…
Russia and Syria have conducted joint exercises aimed at protecting economic interests in Moscow’s key naval foothold in the Mediterranean, the Defense Ministry’s Zvezda news channel reported. These are at least the second joint Russian-Syrian naval drills to take place in the port of Tartus in a month. Russia seeks to invest $500 million in…
The Trump administration is planning to add seven countries — Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania — to its controversial travel ban list, according to media reports on Tuesday. Some countries will face bans only on some visa categories, the Wall Street Journal reported. The list of countries was not final and could yet…
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new government on Tuesday which he described as a break with the past, bringing in some fresh faces but retaining many senior ministers. The new government included a new economy minister and a new first deputy prime minister, but the finance, foreign, defense, energy and agriculture ministers all kept…
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday approved a new Russian government that kept many veteran and senior ministers in place, but brought in a new economy minister and a new first deputy prime minister. The new government was formed less than a week after Putin unveiled a sweeping shake-up of the political system, which led to the…
Rosneft is implementing an artificial intelligence (AI) system on its drilling rigs operating on the fields in Orenburg Region.
U.S. troops have “blocked” Russian soldiers from accessing an oilfield in northeast Syria, Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News outlet has reported, citing the state news agency Anadolu. News of the standoff appeared two years after an incident in which anywhere from five to 200 Russian mercenaries were killed by U.S. airstrikes while attempting to take over…
Two Russians who identified themselves as plumbers despite carrying diplomatic passports were checked in Switzerland on suspicion of espionage ahead of this week’s World Economic Forum (WEF), the Tagez Anzeiger newspaper reported Monday. Held annually in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the WEF gathers world leaders such as U.S. President Donald Trump and German…
Russian airports have stepped up screening of travelers arriving from China to try to identify people infected with the new coronavirus, airport officials said Tuesday. The World Health Organization has said that the coronavirus outbreak, which the mayor of the Chinese city of Wuhan says has killed six people, was likely to spread. The virus…
Russian airports have stepped up screening of travelers arriving from China to try to identify people infected with the new coronavirus, airport officials said Tuesday. The World Health Organization has said that the coronavirus outbreak, which the mayor of the Chinese city of Wuhan says has killed six people, was likely to spread. The virus…
Just before the New Year’s holidays Russian filmmakers released their best bets for vacation blockbusters. One of the most promising films was “The Union of Salvation,” a lush, cast-of-thousands, historical saga that tells the story of the Decembrists, young Russian noblemen who organized a revolt against the monarchy in December 1825. Directed by Andrei Kravchuk…
Iran has confirmed that it used two Russian-made missiles in the downing of a Ukrainian airliner earlier this month, according to the country’s latest investigation report cited by Bloomberg. All 176 people died onboard the Kiev-bound Ukrainian International Airlines flight when it crashed six minutes after taking off from Tehran on Jan. 8. Iran has…
A swimming pool in southern Russia has banned women without explanation, according to its announcement published by the popular listings magazine Afisha on Monday. The Anzhi Arena spa in Russia’s republic of Dagestan did not say what prompted the abrupt rule change. Afisha reported that a different public pool in the Dagestani city of Makhachkala…
A fire killed 11 people, most of them laborers from Uzbekistan, in a wooden building in Siberia early on Tuesday, according to emergency services and Russian news agencies. Officials say that two people managed to escape the flames that destroyed the single-story building in a village in the region of Tomsk. Many of the dead…
A court in the Russian Far East on Tuesday handed a six-year suspended jail sentence to a Jehovah’s Witness, Grigoriy Bubnov, after finding him guilty of extremist activity, a spokesman for the religious group said. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been under pressure for years in Russia, where the dominant Orthodox Church is championed by President Vladimir…
An influential spiritual leader plans to build the world’s largest Orthodox Christian Church in central Russia, the Znak.com news website reported Monday. Once completed, the 25-story structure on the site of a women’s monastery in the Sverdlovsk region will reportedly hold up to 37,000 worshippers. “The Saint Sophia Church will become an outpost and the…
President Vladimir Putin proposed giving broad new authority to set the direction of foreign, domestic and economic policy to the State Council as part of the constitutional overhaul he announced last week. Putin laid out the details of the plan — widely seen as the Kremlin’s effort to lay the groundwork for Putin extending his…
News from projects and regions January 21, 2020, 09:30 On January 11–18, Ufa hosted the All-Russian Tennis Tournament held with support from Gazprom Transgaz Ufa. The tournament brought together over 60 participants up to 15 years old from across the Republic of Bashkortostan, as well as from Moscow, Sochi, Izhevsk, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, and Samara. The children competed on one of the best tennis courts in Ufa,…
January 21, 2020 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s largest vertically integrated steel and mining companies, announces that it has invested in Dutch company Airborne, a global leader in developing digital automation platforms for the production of composite parts, and products with integrated composites. Severstal joins other investors in this investment…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted a draft bill on sweeping constitutional amendments to Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, on Monday, less than a week after first proposing the changes. Among the nearly dozen changes he pledged during last Wednesday’s state of the nation speech, Putin vowed to limit the presidency to…
More than half of Russians believe that their country imprisons people for political reasons, an all-time high since the independent Levada Center polling agency first conducted the survey in 2004. Last summer saw the brief arrest of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov on falsified charges, a move that his supporters said was punishment for his work.…
A Russian official has apologized Monday for remarks suggesting that journalists should be “wiped out” for criticizing the authorities. Mikhail Ignatyev, who heads Russia’s republic of Chuvashia 680 kilometers east of Moscow, made the controversial remarks Saturday at an event commemorating the local press. “They need to be wiped out, as the people say,” Ignatyev…
There was deathly silence from Russia’s most prominent opposition politician for days after President Vladimir Putin sent shockwaves through the establishment last Wednesday by proposing a clutch of constitutional amendments that could allow him to stay in power beyond the end of his term in 2024. Just hours later the silence became even more deafening…
Record high temperatures in northern Russia this winter have prevented sea ice from forming, threatening the birth of baby seals as the pupping period approaches, a local NGO has warned. Thousands of ringed and grey seals live in the waters of the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga near the city of St. Petersburg, which…
Russia’s new Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin transferred his wealth to his wife before returning to public office from the private sector a decade ago, the Kommersant business daily reported Sunday following questions about the origins of her declared income. Amid President Vladimir Putin’s power shake-up last week that saw Mishustin’s surprise appointment, critics questioned how…
On January 20, Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev paid a working visit to the operating Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant (Jiangsu Province, China). Tianwan NPP is a result of Russia China joint efforts. Today, all four power units with Russian-designed VVER-1000 operate efficiently at the station. Alexey Likhachev met with the head of the Atomic…
Russia‘s Prosecutor General Yury Chaika is leaving his post, Interfax reported Monday, citing the Kremlin. President Vladimir Putin proposed that the Federation Council appoint Igor Krasnov, deputy head of the Investigative Committee, as the new prosecutor general, the Vedomosti business daily reported. According to officials, Chaika, 68, will leave the post he has occupied since 2006…
Every year on Jan. 19, Russians across the country briefly submerge themselves in ice-cold lakes and rivers to celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, or the feast of the Epiphany. The Orthodox Christian tradition has become popular among non-believers too, as it’s commonly believed that a quick ice bath can be good…
Two little-known Russian companies that signed oil and gas deals with Syria last year have links to a secretive businessman believed to be running a private military contractor, the investigative Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported Sunday. Syria’s parliament in December approved contracts for oil exploration with two Russian companies, Mercury and Velada. Syria’s oil minister had…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
Finland has expressed interest in a new high-speed train that would connect its capital Helsinki to Moscow in just six hours and boost tourist traffic between the cities, the RBC news website reported Monday. The project would be an extension to a new high-speed railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg that is expected to be…
Five people, including one child, were killed in the Russian city of Perm on Monday when a hot water pipe exploded in the night and flooded a basement hotel room with boiling water. At least three other people were taken to hospital with burns after the incident in the Mini Hotel Caramel, which is located in…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday he did not want Russia to return to the late Soviet-era practice of having lifelong rulers who died in office without a proper succession strategy. His comments, made to World War Two veterans in St. Petersburg, came days after he unveiled a sweeping shake-up of the political system which…
“Do you want to go to Russia?” When Robert Stephenson, a senior civil servant in the U.K. was asked this question in February 1992, he had no idea how it would change his life. But he immediately said, “Yes” and only after a moment asked the more important question: “Why?” The “why” turned out to…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday allowed Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk to keep his job after the leak of an embarrassing audio recording prompted Honcharuk to submit his resignation. In a carefully choreographed video of the two men sitting at a desk that was released on Friday evening, in which Honcharuk was mostly silent, Zelenskiy…
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport opened the first phase of its newest international terminal Friday. Sheremetyevo is the eighth-busiest airport in Europe, with more than 49.9 million travelers using its terminals last year. Terminal C, the airport’s fifth terminal, covers 127,000 square meters and has an annual capacity of 20 million passengers. With the opening of Terminal…