The European Commissioner for Climate Action Frans Timmermans will not travel to Moscow to discuss climate action ahead of the crucial COP summit in Glasgow next month, an EU Commission spokesperson told The Moscow Times. The visit was supposed to take place on Oct. 25 but was cancelled after it “became impossible to schedule the…
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a tirade against Western values in his speech at the annual Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi late into Thursday evening. Putin outlined his view of Russia’s ideology as a counterbalance to what he derided as cancel culture, reverse racism and the “monstrous” forcing of transgenderism onto children. Here are some…
Russia registered its highest number of daily coronavirus deaths and new cases since the start of the pandemic Friday as authorities across the country scramble to impose partial lockdowns and other restrictions to thwart the spread of the virus in the coming weeks. The government’s coronavirus information center reported a double record of 1,064 new…
Golos, an independent vote-monitoring movement, was named a “foreign agent” by Russia’s Justice Ministry in August after receiving a $3 contribution from an Armenian citizen, the movement’s co-chairman Grigory Melkonyants said on Facebook. A Russian court denied Golos’ challenge against being designated a “foreign agent,” explaining that the grounds for the vote-monitoring organization being added…
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett arrived in Russia on Friday to meet with President Vladimir Putin for the first time for talks expected to focus on Iran. Russian state television showed images of Bennett’s plane landing in the Black Sea resort town Sochi, where the pair will meet. Naftali took office in June, taking…
Fifteen people died and one person was missing after a fire broke out at a Russian explosives factory southeast of Moscow on Friday, authorities said. The government of the Ryazan region, where the factory is based, said they had died in the factory blaze in the village of Lesnoye, 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the…
Russia plans to lobby for sanctions relief on state-run energy giants that invest in green projects at next month’s landmark UN climate summit, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Ruslan Edelgeriyev, President Vladimir Putin’s climate envoy, accused Western states of double standards for urging Russia “to reduce methane leakages and yet we have Gazprom under sanctions” for the…
Jailed Kremlin critic and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny said Thursday that his Sakharov prize — the EU’s top human rights award — is an “honor.” “This is not only an honor, but also a great responsibility,” Navalny, whose social media accounts are run by his team, said on Twitter. news Navalny Wins EU’s Sakharov Human…
A Russian comedic actress has been jailed in the Far East after appearing in a video where she satirized the country’s Interior Ministry spokeswoman, local media reported Thursday. Larisa Krivonosova was fined and jailed for 10 days in September for illegally wearing an official uniform after she portrayed Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk on a…
For three weeks now, Russia has been setting records for daily deaths from the coronavirus. But even with more than 1,000 Russians dying daily and the Moscow mayor announcing a week-long lockdown in the city, on the capital’s streets panic is hard to detect. “I just got the vaccination, but if it wasn’t for my…
The Kremlin said Thursday it had no respect for a European Parliament decision to give the EU’s top human rights award to jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. “We respect this body, but no one can make us respect such decisions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, referring to the European Parliament. On Wednesday, the…
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has announced a non-working week from Oct. 28 until Nov. 7 to “break the maximum number of disease transmission chains in a short time,” according to the decree published Thursday. Russia registered its highest number of one-day coronavirus deaths and infections since the start of the pandemic Thursday as scientists warn…
For nearly 20 straight months, Yevgeny Ryabov has watched coronavirus patients come through the doors of his hospital in central Moscow. Lately, most are unvaccinated. The Covid-ward coordinator observes how the virus ravages their bodies and, time after time, he hears the dying say they regret not getting the jab. “They usually give some excuse — that…
Russia registered its highest number of one-day coronavirus deaths and infections since the start of the pandemic Thursday as scientists warn of a potentially more infectious variant of the deadly Delta strain further overwhelming hospitals. The government’s coronavirus information center reported 1,036 fatalities and 36,339 cases over the past 24 hours. Russia has repeatedly broken…
Lyubov Sobol, a key aide to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, has been placed on a wanted list in Russia, as authorities press ahead with a crackdown on dissent. Sobol, a 34-year-old lawyer, appeared on a list of wanted persons on the website of Russia’s interior ministry on Wednesday night. She is believed to have…
Four Russians, one Ukrainian and one Uzbek citizen were detained in Turkey on suspicion of preparing armed attacks against Chechen dissidents, Reuters reported, citing Turkish broadcaster TRT Haber on Thursday. The Istanbul Prosecutor General’s Office detained six suspects on Oct. 8 while they were allegedly preparing a joint operation against Chechen dissidents in Turkey. They had…
The European Union’s drug regulator will not approve Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine until at least the first months of 2022, Reuters reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. Russia has been eager for international authorization of Sputnik V, which Moscow touts as the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine. EU and World Health Organization (WHO) approval of Sputnik…
Russia has detected a new sub-variant of the Delta strain of the coronavirus, which risks compounding the country’s spiraling infections and deaths, a senior Russian government scientist warned Thursday. The AY.4.2 sub-variant is more contagious than its predecessor, according to Kamil Khafizov, who heads the state consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor’s scientific group for new methods…
Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin took part in an online meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the heads of world oil and gas companies
The European Parliament on Wednesday awarded jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The award, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, recognizes individuals who have made an “outstanding contribution to protecting freedom of thought,” and is “the highest tribute paid by the EU to human rights work.” Navalny is currently…
Moscow will go into a strict lockdown if coronavirus infections continue to rise, according to a Moscow government order that was sent to businesses in the city Wednesday. The order, seen by The Moscow Times, would close all non-essential stores, including restaurants, stores, museums and parks as well as suspend planned medical procedures from Oct.…
Russia on Wednesday recognized Taliban efforts to try and stabilize the situation in Afghanistan but expressed concern that “terrorist” groups threatened the stability of the entire region. Russia is hosting the Taliban for talks as the Kremlin seeks to assert its influence on Central Asia and push for action against Islamic State fighters which it…
Almost six in 10 Russians say they do not feel protected by the law, a new survey published Wednesday by the independent Levada Center has shown. Some 58% of Russians said they do not feel the law protects them — up from 54% who said the same in 2018. Just 36% said they felt the…
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend next month’s landmark UN climate summit, the Kremlin said on Wednesday but stressed that addressing climate change was one of Russia’s top policy priorities. “Unfortunately, Putin will not fly to Glasgow,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding however that climate change was “one of our foreign policy’s most…
Russia set a new record number of daily coronavirus fatalities Wednesday as federal authorities contemplate a nationwide non-working week to fight surging hospitalizations and deaths during an unrelenting fourth wave of the pandemic. The government’s coronavirus task force reported an all-time high of 1,028 Covid-19 deaths over the last 24 hours. Russia has repeatedly broken…
Russia hosts the Taliban for talks in Moscow on Wednesday, seeking to assert its influence on Central Asia and push for action against Islamic State fighters which it says have massed in perennially volatile Afghanistan. The talks, which draw officials from 10 countries including China and Pakistan, are one of the Taliban’s most significant international…
Russia on Tuesday demanded Ukraine grant access to a Russian citizen who was captured last week on the front line of the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Moscow separatists. Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of detaining ceasefire observer Andrei Kosyak last Wednesday and failing to inform Moscow via diplomatic channels within an allotted three-day period. …
Their movie props floated around and they used Velcro to keep objects in place but Russia’s first film crew in space said they were delighted with the result and had “shot everything we planned.” Yulia Peresild, one of Russia’s most glamorous actresses, and film director Klim Shipenko returned to Earth on Sunday after spending 12…
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents conducted raids on Tuesday at luxury properties in Washington and New York linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. An FBI spokesman said agents had carried out “court-authorized law enforcement activity” at a home connected to Deripaska in an upscale neighborhood of…
Moscow’s mayor announced Tuesday plans to reintroduce remote work, mandatory vaccinations for service workers and other measures to slow the surging fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic starting next week. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin ordered employers to send at least 30% of their staff to work from home for the next four months between Oct. 25…
More Russians say they don’t hold democratic values than those that do, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center polling agency published Tuesday. The results follow last month’s elections to Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, which saw the ruling, pro-Kremlin United Russia party maintain its supermajority amid widespread reports of…
Russia set another new record for daily coronavirus fatalities Tuesday, as regions across the country continue to roll out new measures to boost low vaccination rates. The government’s coronavirus task force reported an all-time high of 1,015 Covid-19 fatalities over the last 24 hours — up from the previous record of 1,002 set over the…
Russian police detained and returned two women Monday who attempted to flee their families in Dagestan, a women’s rights activist told The Moscow Times. Authorities in the central city of Kazan detained two 20-year-old women from a women’s shelter in the city without explanation, the shelter’s program manager Alsu Krivel told The Moscow Times. The…
Europe’s main security monitoring mission in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine said Tuesday it has resumed operations after protesters blocked entrance to their hotel. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) said Sunday that groups of armed men prevented members of its mission from exiting the hotel in the separatist-controlled city of Horlivka. They reportedly demanded…
The former inmate behind a video leak showing alleged rape and torture inside a Russian prison said he could no longer keep the explosive revelations to himself, speaking to AFP from France where he is now seeking asylum. Belarus-born whistleblower Sergei Savelyev “was authorised to enter French territory to file his asylum application within eight…
Russia’s second city, St. Petersburg, announced Monday it would tighten restrictions to battle a surge in Covid-19 cases, introducing a health pass to regulate access to crowd events. From Nov. 1, people will need to present a QR barcode to get into sports and cultural events where more than 40 people are gathering, the city’s…
South Africa’s health products regulator on Monday said it would not approve Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine due to concerns it could increase the risk of HIV infection among men. The decision was based on earlier studies testing the safety of a modified form of adenovirus — a type of virus that causes respiratory infections…
Russia has banned the “Male State,” an ultra-nationalist hate group that has carried out abuse campaigns against women and minorities, as “extremist,” the Mediazona news website reported Monday. The Nizhny Novgorod regional court ruled that founder Vladislav Pozdnyakov’s “Male State” is an extremist group, upholding a Prosecutor’s Office request, according to Mediazona’s live blog from the court.…
Russia will suspend its mission to NATO in retaliation to the alliance’s expulsion of its delegation members, Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov said Monday. NATO this month stripped eight Russian mission members of their accreditations, accusing them of secretly working as intelligence officers. “We are suspending the work of our official mission to NATO, including the…
Russian liberal party Yabloko announced Monday it will cut ties with members who had backed jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s anti-Kremlin voting initiative, a move that underlines bitter divisions in the country’s fragmented opposition. Yabloko, which has not been represented in Russia’s parliament for the past two decades, accused Navalny of playing into the Kremlin’s…
Russia “assured” Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Moscow that the country is currently not considering recognizing the Taliban regime, he told The Moscow Times as the Kremlin prepares to host talks on the country this week. “The Russian Foreign Ministry has assured us that recognition of the Taliban regime is not even on the table, and until…
Police detained a 12-year-old Russian boy Monday after he brought his father’s hunting rifle to school and fired two shots, causing no serious injuries. The incident took place Monday morning at a middle school in the village of Sars, near the Urals city of Perm, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement. “On the morning…
A former inmate who leaked videos depicting alleged torture inside Russian prisons is seeking asylum in France, a prominent NGO that tracks abuses in Russia’s prison system said over the weekend. The Gulagu.net rights group said its source behind the leak of more than 100 gigabytes of files documenting widespread torture and rape of inmates by…
France’s ambassador to Belarus has left the country after the authorities in Minsk demanded he leave by Monday, the embassy said. The spokeswoman who made the announcement did not say why the Belarusian authorities demanded he leave the country. But according to reports in the Belarusian media, ambassador Nicolas de Lacoste never met President Alexander…
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin headed to the Black Sea region Sunday aiming to shore up alliances with countries pressured by Russia and show gratitude for their contributions to the two-decade war in Afghanistan. Austin will visit Georgia, Romania and Ukraine before taking part in the in-person defense ministers summit at NATO in Brussels on…
A Russian actress and a film director returned to Earth Sunday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit. Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan’s steppe at 0436 GMT, according to footage broadcast live by the Russian space agency. They were…
Russian authorities said on Saturday they had arrested two people as part of an investigation into the death of 18 people in the Urals who drank bootleg alcohol, in the second such incident in recent weeks. Investigators said “several individuals sold people an alcohol liquid that was dangerous for their health” over the past two weeks…
Russian investigators on Saturday launched a probe over a riot at a prison involving at least 200 inmates, which a rights monitor said was sparked by abuse. The incident comes after Russia’s prison service earlier this month sacked several officers after harrowing videos emerged of alleged rape and torture at a jail hospital in the…
Russia on Saturday topped 1,000 deaths over 24 hours for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with the country’s jab drive at a standstill and few restrictions in place. An official government tally showed 1,002 deaths and 33,208 new infections, setting a high for both fatalities and cases for the third…
Russia’s government on Friday declared two more popular media outlets “foreign agents,” pressing ahead with a crackdown on dissent and freedom of expression. The justice ministry added Rosbalt and Republic to its list of “foreign agents.” Rosbalt.ru is a popular news portal with offices in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, while Republic is a subscription-based website…
Moscow said Friday that one of its warships chased away a U.S. Navy destroyer after it attempted to violate Russia’s territorial waters in the Sea of Japan, but Washington denied this. The incident took place as Russia and China were conducting naval exercises in the area. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said hundreds of fighters loyal to the Islamic State militant group were massing in northern Afghanistan, as Moscow prepares to host international talks on the country next week. The United States, China and Pakistan will join talks on the Taliban takeover on Tuesday, the Kremlin’s envoy to Afghanistan said. …
The International Space Station was briefly destabilized Friday during tests of a Russian-made Soyuz rocket, but the crew and the orbital station were not in danger, Moscow said. Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said the incident happened during tests of the engines of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft set to return a Russian actress and filmmaker aboard…
More Russians oppose same-sex relationships than they did nearly a decade ago, according to a new survey released Friday. Russia’s independent Levada Center pollster said 69% of respondents disagreed with the statement that “adults have the right to enter into same-sex relationships by mutual consent.” That share has grown from 60% in 2013, when Russia…
Russia on Friday launched a population census delayed several times by the coronavirus pandemic that has exacerbated the country’s worsening demographic crisis. Russia’s population has been in near-constant decline since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, due to a low birth rate, an under-resourced healthcare system, and emigration. The coronavirus pandemic, which has…
Russia reported a new record number of both daily coronavirus deaths and infections Friday, as health officials warned the country faces a “near-critical” situation and pleaded with Russians to get vaccinated against the virus. The government’s coronavirus information center reported 999 fatalities over the past 24 hours, up from Thursday’s record of 985 deaths. Russia…
The Moscow Metro on Friday rolled out what authorities have touted as the world’s first fare payment system based on facial recognition technology. The cashless, cardless and phone-less system, called “Face Pay,” has been fitted at special turnstiles across the Russian capital’s more than 240 metro stations. “To enter the metro, passengers won’t need a…
A group of masked men stormed the offices of a renowned human rights organization in Moscow on Thursday evening to disrupt the screening of a film about the Holodomor — a brutal famine, widely recognized as man-made, which killed millions of peasants in Soviet Ukraine during the 1930s. Witnesses filmed around 30 unknown individuals barging…
Russia’s state-controlled oil giant Rosneft has sold a 5% stake in an ambitious Arctic oil project to two commodity trading houses based in Switzerland and Singapore. Rosneft’s mega Vostok Oil project will tap into Russia’s vast hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic north and is set to pump more than 700 million barrels of oil a…
Love is… marrying the one who nearly kills you with an axe. That appeared to be the guiding principle for the victim of one such attack when he proposed to his assailant during her trial in Siberia. “During the trial, the man proposed to the defendant and they got married,” the Tomsk region’s prosecutor general’s…