Russia has granted citizenship to more than twice as many foreigners in early 2020 than it did in the same period last year as the country moves to ease citizenship laws and boost its flagging population numbers. Authorities issued 161,170 Russian passports to foreigners between January and March compared with 63,249 in January-March 2019, the…
The life of a St. Petersburg five star hotel, beloved to readers from a blog by the general manager and owner, is coming out online on Okko multimedia service on Tuesday. The series, titled “Diary of a Hotelier #Helvetia” is loosely based on Yunis Teimurhanly’s bestselling collection of short stories “Do Not Disturb. The Diary…
Hundreds of people have gathered to watch a live performance online on a Saturday night in Moscow. That’s become normal under the city’s strict coronavirus lockdown rules, but this is no Swan Lake. Four women have tied a man to a plastic-covered mattress in a sparsely decorated room. He wears nothing but a black face…
Russian Mixed Martial Arts fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov has appealed to residents of his native Dagestan to follow containment rules as his father was put on a ventilator after catching the novel coronavirus. The undefeated UFC lightweight champion took to Instagram late Monday to urge people in the southern Russian region to be “disciplined” and to…
Residents of central Moscow are more likely than other Muscovites to violate the city’s self-isolation orders, according to an analysis of population clusters inside apartment buildings cited by Interfax on Monday. Its authors attribute the violations to the residents’ relative affluence and their ability to go out of town or visit the many small squares…
Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin returned to his duties on Tuesday after recovering from the coronavirus, as total infections approached 300,000 and officials said new cases were dropping off. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree reinstating Mishustin as the head of government, nearly three weeks after the prime minister announced on television he had tested…
As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most-infected country. There have been 299,941 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,873 deaths. May 19: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 9,263 new coronavirus infections Tuesday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 299,941. Russia now has…
Russia began easing nation-wide lockdown restrictions last week and announced the national football league would restart in late June. Critics have cast doubt on Russia’s low official mortality rate, accusing authorities of under-reporting in order to play down the scale of the crisis. Russian health officials say one of the reasons the count is lower is…
Russia opposes investigations into the World Health Organization (WHO) and China in connection with their response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s senate speaker Valentina Matviyenko told Interfax on Monday. Her remarks come amid the United States’ increasingly bitter spat with China and accusations that the WHO failed to contain the outbreak that has infected…
Russia’s national coronavirus crisis center has stopped updating the latest Covid-19 death counts in at least two Siberian regions while the regions have published new numbers, the Tayga.info news website reported Monday. The disparity comes amid questions over Russia’s low coronavirus death toll compared to other countries with high Covid-19 case numbers. Russia only counts the…
President Vladimir Putin was forced to intervene personally on Monday in the epidemic sweeping Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan, as local officials described the coronavirus situation as a “catastrophe.” For several days now, there have rumours of mounting fatalities and overwhelmed hospitals in the mountainous majority-Muslim region and local medical staff have taken to social…
Russia’s blue chip companies have posted some of the bleakest financial results for years in the first few months of 2020, with analysts saying the hit to earnings will only grow sharper. Energy giants, banks and airlines all saw their earnings slump over the first three months of the year, and the damage could last…
The Russian Navy has ordered a batch of six cutting-edge warships for its Baltic Fleet, Navy commander-in-chief Nikolai Yevmenov said Monday. The move comes amid ongoing tensions between Russia and NATO member states in the Baltics. All six of the Karakurt-class corvettes from Project 22800 will be armed with Kalibr cruise missiles, Yevmenov said in…
If you are interested in Russian and Soviet history — or architecture, or culture — you will surely be very interested in this film. “I Am The Hall” tells the story of the Hall of Columns in the House of Unions, from its first life as a ball and meeting room for the Moscow Assembly…
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Monday that the growth in new coronavirus cases had been stopped in Russia, which has recorded the world’s largest number of infections after the United States. “The situation with the spread of the coronavirus infection remains difficult, but we can still acknowledge that we managed to put a stop to…
As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most-infected country. There have been 290,678 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,722 deaths. May 18: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 8,926 new coronavirus infections Monday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 290,678, signaling a…
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered the firing of local medics who complained of personal protective equipment shortages and the death of at least one colleague, the regional Caucasus Knot news outlet reported Sunday. Staff at a hospital repurposed for coronavirus patients in the town of Gudermes staged protests last week claiming that many of…
Russia is a distinct civilization that must be protected through genetics and other advanced technologies, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that aired Sunday. Putin told state television that “it would be impossible to secure the future of our civilization” without artificial intelligence, genetics and unmanned vehicles, as well as hypersonic weapons. “Russia is…
A U.S. donation of coronavirus tests and ventilators is on its way to Russia, which ranks second in the world behind the United States for its number of infections, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump had offered to send “some testing equipment, as well as ventilators” in…
Sergei Gribalev’s rubber boots sank into the open field’s thick, foul-smelling mud. As he prepared to take water samples and examine a nearby stream, seagulls landed atop swimming pool-sized basins, filled with brown manure. “This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said, through a respirator mask that covered the lower half of his…
Russia confirmed 8,926 new coronavirus infections Monday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 290,678. It was the lowest number of new virus cases since May 1, when Russia announced 7,933 cases. On Sunday, the head of Russia’s public health watchdog, Anna Popova, said the growth of new coronavirus cases in Russia is stabilizing. Russia is…
As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most-infected country. There have been 281,752 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,631 deaths. May 17: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 9,709 new coronavirus infections Sunday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 281,752. Russia now has the…
Tucked away in a Moscow office block, the laboratory could pass unnoticed were it not for the line of people waiting, as Russia rolls out mass testing for coronavirus. While those in line are observing social distancing, they do not have symptoms of coronavirus. They have come to the laboratory, part of a commercial chain…
Russia says its high number of cases is due in part to a massive testing campaign that has seen more than 6 million tests carried out. Moscow accounts for roughly half of all infections and the city said it would be launching mass voluntary tests for antibodies from Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week…
Night in the (Online) Museum One of Moscow’s hands-down, favorite yearly events is Night in the Museum, when you get to experience the transgressive thrill of being in a place and time that is usually forbidden, or hearing talks, going on excursions, watching films and theatrical events, and taking master classes in the dark and…
If your household’s lockdown dynamics are anything like mine, eating habits have probably changed dramatically over the past seven weeks. An informal straw poll of my cyber chums from around the world suggests that almost everyone has abandoned conventional mealtimes or the traditional components of breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Snacking is on the rise, as…
Russia says its high number of cases is due in part to a massive testing campaign that has seen more than 6 million tests carried out. Moscow accounts for roughly half of all infections and the city said it would be launching mass voluntary tests for antibodies from Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week…
As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most-infected country. There have been 272,043 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,537 deaths. May 16: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 9,200 new coronavirus infections Saturday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 272,043 and signaling…
The legendary Bolshoi Theatre, whose dancers and singers are currently under virus lockdown, hopes to hold its first performances in September, the general director Vladimir Urin told AFP on Friday. Under his “optimistic scenario,” rehearsals will begin in late July, allowing performers enough time to limber up their skills, Urin said. “I very much hope…
Background Gazprom Dobycha Noyabrsk, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom, develops seven fields, including four gas fields, two gas and condensate fields, and one oil, gas and condensate field. The company’s facilities, among them three gas production sites and three gas production directorates, are located in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, Kamchatka, and Yakutia. Gazprom Dobycha Noyabrsk takes part in the state-run Eastern…
Russia’s state communications watchdog has demanded that Google block a Russian news website’s article on a Financial Times report about Russia’s possibly undercounted coronavirus deaths. Roskomnadzor, the watchdog, said Thursday it was probing reports by FT and The New York Times, which analyzed official mortality data to investigate whether Russia is undercounting its coronavirus deaths,…
The Russian Premier League will restart its season next month despite rising coronavirus infections, but behind closed doors, its governing body said Friday. The Russian football association said in a statement that matches, suspended since March 17 because of the outbreak, would resume from June 21. The Russian Premier League, the country’s top football division,…
Ambulance workers in western Siberia have threatened to go on hunger strike if they don’t receive President Vladimir Putin’s promised payouts for working with coronavirus patients. Thursday marked Putin’s deadline to hand out April bonuses of up to 80,000 rubles ($1,100) to all medics treating Covid-19 patients. Russia’s prime minister acknowledged this week that regional…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday rejected allegations by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Russian hackers had spied on her. “Five years have passed. Not a single concrete fact has been provided,” Lavrov said in a live interview with Russia’s RBC news website. Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Merkel voiced frustration that Russia was targeting…
Austrian princess Maria Galitzine, who spent her school years in Russia, has died of a sudden heart aneurysm in the United States at age 31, her family said in an obituary published Friday. Maria Singh, née Princess Maria Galitzine, was the great-granddaughter of the last emperor and empress of Austria and a descendant of the…
As the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, Russia has gradually become the world’s second most-infected country. There have been 262,843 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,418 deaths. May 15: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 10,598 new coronavirus infections Friday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 262,843. Russia now has…
Moscow residents were treated to a magnificent sunset after Thursday evening’s springtime rain that could still be enjoyed from one’s window. The golden-pink sky and rainbow brought a much-needed burst of color into our lives — no filter required. And while Muscovites are technically restricted from non-essential trips outside, some people just couldn’t resist the urge…
PJSC “ZiO-Podolsk” (owned by machine-building division of ROSATOM – JSC Atomenergomash) has manufactured and shipped the second lot of the equipment for Riverside Waste-to-Energy Plant in the UK. The delivery set includes one module of the third stage superheater and two modules of the fourth stage superheater. The total weight of equipment shipped is 100…
Russia says its high number of cases is due in part to a massive testing campaign that has seen more than 6 million tests carried out. Moscow accounts for roughly half of all infections and the city said it would be launching mass voluntary tests for antibodies from Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week…
The head of Russia’s state-run oil giant Rosneft on Thursday asked President Vladimir Putin for a tax exemption for investments into genetic technology. Rosneft has been tapped to work alongside the Russian government to pursue “accelerated development of Russian genetic technologies” through 2027. Putin, who has sought to transform Russia into a world leader in…
The decades following the collapse of the U.S.S.R. have been turbulent for Ukraine, as the nation struggles to forge an independent identity in a post-Soviet landscape. Ukraine’s growing desire to shed its legacy of communism intensified in the wake of the 2013 Euromaidan protests and the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and was solidified by the…
Russia’s ambitious plans to build 25 waste-burning power plants risk provoking social unrest over their environmental and financial costs, Greenpeace Russia warned Thursday. State industrial conglomerate Rostec, state nuclear agency Rosatom and the VEB state development corporation on Thursday announced a 600 billion ruble ($7.6 billion) project to build the 25 waste-to-energy plants in “Russia’s…
May 14, 2020, 17:45 Basic design solutions are agreed upon, and design documentation is being drawn up. Engineering surveys are completed at construction site; site clearing is in progress. Project financing is being arranged. The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the information about the status of the project for the creation of an integrated complex for natural gas processing and liquefaction in the Leningrad Region (the…
Rosneft and Yandex are launching a joint project for remote fuel payment through the Yandex.Fuel mobile service.
A key suspect in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was detained on unrelated charges in eastern Ukraine around the time the murder trial against the MH17 suspects started in the Netherlands this spring, BBC Russia reported Thursday. Former field commander Leonid Kharchenko, 47, is the only Ukrainian passport-holder among four suspects named by…
Russia is no longer a tea country, according to industry experts who say coffee drinking overtook tea for the first time last year. Russians consumed 40,000 more metric tons of coffee than tea in 2019, according to data from the RusTeaCoffee association cited by the RBC news website Thursday. They drank 180,000 tons of whole…
As the new coronavirus that has killed more than 298,000 people worldwide continues to spread, Russia has stepped up its measures to slow the pandemic’s spread within its borders. There have been 252,245 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 2,305 deaths. May 14: 3 things you need to know today 1. Russia confirmed 9,974 new coronavirus infections…
Russia has rapidly become one of the epicenters of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, reporting the world’s fastest growth in infections with more than 10,000 new daily cases from May 2-13. This week, Russia surpassed Britain, Italy and Spain to become the second most-infected country with 252,245 confirmed cases, behind the United States. Officials attribute the…
The New York Times stands by its reporting on Russia’s low coronavirus death figures and will not issue a retraction, the paper’s vice president for communications Danielle Rhoades Ha told Russian state media Wednesday. Russia’s Foreign Ministry had demanded that NYT and the Financial Times retract reports, based on Moscow’s own official mortality data showing…
If you were taking your cues from Russia’s longtime leader Vladimir Putin this week, you would have been left thinking that the country’s worst struggles with the coronavirus pandemic were over. “Starting tomorrow, May 12, the national non-working period will end for the entire country and for all sectors of the economy,” the Russian president…
Are you are still puzzled by the continuing war of words about the novel “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes” by Guzel Yakhina (translated into English as “Zuleikha” by Lisa C.Hayden) and the series based on the novel that aired a few weeks ago? Here is someone to help you understand both the historical facts and the…
The Kremlin this week eased a national lockdown to slow the spread of the virus, despite a steady rise in numbers that has brought Russia to second place in a global tally of infections, behind the United States. A majority of Russia’s new cases were registered in the capital, a government virus tally said, where…
Maria, a 24-year-old doctor working outside Moscow, expected to be paid extra if one of her patients tested positive for the coronavirus. Instead, her salary shrank. In a small town 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the capital, she visits patients at home and normally has around three calls a day. But that number surged to…
Early clinical trials of an antiviral drug in Russia have given “promising” results in treating the new coronavirus, a joint venture announced Wednesday as Russia faced mounting Covid-19 cases. Of 40 coronavirus patients who took a favipiravir pill, 60% tested negative for Covid-19 within five days compared to 30% in the control group, according to…
More than 60% of deaths among Moscow’s coronavirus patients are not being included toward the city’s official virus death toll, city health officials said Wednesday. Moscow, the epicenter of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak, has seen a low mortality rate compared to other major world capitals, with just 1,232 deaths out of 126,004 infections as of Wednesday.…
Russian lawmakers have passed a bill to allow Russians to vote by mail or online for President Vladimir Putin’s constitutional amendments that would allow him to stay in power through 2036. The coronavirus epidemic forced the president to indefinitely postpone the public vote, originally scheduled for April 22. The proposed changes to Russia’s Constitution would…
The architecture historian Airat Bagautdinov, one of the founders of the fascinating project Moscow From the Eyes of an Engineer, has joined forces with Moskino to produce a seeries of online lectures about architecture in film — specifically, what role architecture has playing in Western and Russian/Soviet films from the very begining to this day. …
Russia’s health minister on Wednesday said it was necessary to raise the legal age to buy alcohol to 21 after an increase in drink-related deaths during the coronavirus epidemic. “Unfortunately, the role of alcohol has begun to rise in the death count during this period,” Mikhail Murashko told parliament. Lawmakers should pass legislation that would…
Russia’s oldest coronavirus patient, 100-year-old Pelageya Poyarkova, has fully recovered from the illness, the Federal Biomedical Agency (FMBA) said Wednesday. Poyarkova had been hospitalized for a routine procedure when the other patient in her room tested positive for coronavirus. She was transferred to the FMBA’s Center for Brain and Neurotechnology, a facility repurposed for coronavirus…
Two Russian regions will merge into a single federal subject, the first such move in more than a decade, the state-run TASS news agency reported after their governors signed a memorandum of intent Wednesday. The Arkhangelsk region and the Nenets autonomous district in northwestern Russia near the Arctic could send a petition to President Vladimir Putin…