Protesters in Belarus weathered icy conditions Sunday, hitting the streets to demand the resignation of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko who is facing down months of historic protests against his rule. The Viasna rights group said dozens of people were detained in Minsk as authorities deployed water cannon and large numbers of law enforcement blocked off areas of…
Russia has confirmed 2,653,928 cases of coronavirus and 46,453 deaths. Dec. 14: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 28,080 coronavirus cases and 488 deaths Sunday. Moscow municipal workers as well as residents working in the culture and service sectors will be able to receive Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine starting Monday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced. The new “risk groups”…
The Russian army on Saturday reported a violation of the ceasefire that ended the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in November in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. “One case of ceasefire violation was reported on 11 December in the Hadrut district,” said a statement from the Russian Defence Ministry, which has deployed peacekeepers to the…
A Kremlin-initiated investigation has found the individuals who ordered the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in 2015, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday during a meeting of the presidential human rights council. Nemtsov, one of Putin’s most vocal critics, was shot and killed on a bridge near the Kremlin walls in February 2015. A gunman and…
Construction work resumed Friday on the disputed Nord Stream 2 pipeline which is to bring Russian gas to Germany, the project’s managers said, despite protests from the United States. Work on the 10-billion-euro ($11 billion) pipeline had been suspended for nearly a year because of U.S. sanctions signed off by U.S. President Donald Trump in…
Representatives of Rosneft Oil Company have participated in 10th “Arctic: Today and the Future” International Forum held in St. Petersburg.
Russian authorities said Friday they were investigating the mysterious death of nearly 300 endangered seals that had been discovered washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Between Sunday and Thursday, 272 dead Caspian seals had been found at a number of locations in the southern region of Dagestan including its regional capital Makhachkala…
Russia plans to recruit prisoners sentenced to forced labor to clean up pollution in the Arctic, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday, citing Federal Prison Service (FSIN) official Elena Korobkova. The announcement follows a string of environmental incidents to hit the fast-warming region this year, most notably a massive fuel spill from a Norilsk…
An alleged suicide bomber has attacked a security service building in the southern Russian republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, injuring at least six, news outlets and authorities reported Friday. Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) said the unidentified bomber detonated himself while authorities attempted to detain him in the village of Uchkeken some 1,500 kilometers south of Moscow.…
The developer of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine will partner with AstraZeneca to test in a clinical trial whether combining their jabs would boost immunity to Covid-19, the British drugmaker announced Friday. Russia’s state-run Gamaleya research center two weeks ago suggested trying the combined regimen with AstraZeneca, saying on Twitter it “may prove important for…
Russia should form its own human rights court, President Vladimir Putin said when asked by a council member on Thursday. Analysts have said the formation of such a court is likely a response to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which has ordered Russia to pay out millions of euros to plaintiffs for human…
Russia reported a record 613 coronavirus deaths Friday as the country prepares to launch a mass vaccination drive by the end of the week. The previous one-day record stood at 589 fatalities on Dec. 2. The country’s total number of Covid-19 fatalities now stands at 45,893, according to the national pandemic response task force that…
Independent experts and journalists from Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland have formed a regional alliance to share information and publicize stories about environmental damage. The Barents Region Independent Environmental Society (BRIES), aims to create an international communications platform where specialists in the field of environmental protection can share their knowledge and up-to-date information with…
A foreign-funded campaign is being waged to discredit Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday as the country prepares a mass immunization drive. Spokesman Igor Konashenkov warned of “pseudo-analytical investigations” and “fake witness accounts” alleging the dangers of Sputnik V and mass refusals, including by Russian troops, to inoculate. “We know in…
A record number of vessels have in 2020 sailed through Russia’s shipping lane in the rapidly melting Arctic known as the Northern Sea Route, Reuters has reported. The news agency said Norway’s Center for High North Logistics (CHNL) logistics foundation has recorded 62 full transit voyages through the Northern Sea Route as of Wednesday. Ships…
European Union leaders Thursday extended punishing economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine for another six months, an EU spokesman said. The sanctions, which target whole sectors of the Russian economy including its valuable oil businesses, were extended to mid-2021. The measures over Russia’s role in the conflict were first imposed after Malaysian…
Azerbaijan held a massive victory parade in Baku on Thursday in honor of its victory over Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The conflict, which lasted for 44 days and left 5,000 dead, ended in a Moscow-brokered peace deal in which Azerbaijan made heavy territorial gains. Over 3,000 military servicemen took part in the parade, whose…
Russia recorded more than 47,000 excess deaths in October — the sharpest monthly rise in fatalities since the start of the coronavirus pandemic — according to official statistics published Thursday. Russia’s state statistics agency (Rosstat) said Russia recorded more than 205,000 total fatalities in October — 30% more than during the same month last year.…
The United States slapped sanctions on a handful of companies and individuals connected to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Thursday, accusing them of “gross human rights violations” including “torture, extrajudicial executions and illegal abductions.” The network was implicated in the 2015 assassination of leading Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov and the torture and murder of…
The Netherlands is expelling two alleged Russian spies working as diplomats after “rolling up” a spy network that targeted hi-tech industries, Dutch security officials said on Thursday. The Russian officers from the civilian SVR intelligence service built up a “substantial” network of sources that could have damaged Dutch national interests, the Dutch General Intelligence and…
Ukraine has entered into talks with Russia and Kremlin-backed separatists over a new troop withdrawal and prisoner swap in Ukraine’s war-torn east, Kiev said Thursday. The announcement came a year after Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a series of measures to relaunch a stalled peace process during talks in Paris brokered…
Russia has confirmed 2,569,126 cases of coronavirus and 45,280 deaths. Dec. 11: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 27,927 coronavirus cases and 562 deaths Thursday. All of Russia’s regions will start mass vaccination against the coronavirus by the end of this week, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova confirmed Thursday. Russia recorded more deaths in October than in…
President Vladimir Putin misspoke Thursday by asserting that treason charges against former journalist Ivan Safronov relate to his short-lived career at Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos this year. Putin, speaking to the presidential human rights council, claimed that Safronov is being prosecuted for passing secrets to the European special services while at Roscosmos and not…
Russian lawmakers have approved new restrictions on protests, prompting criticism from the opposition that they violate Russians’ constitutional rights. Deputies in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, approved a pair of bills Wednesday that ban foreign funding for protest organizers as well as rallies outside law enforcement and security buildings. If they come…
A group of scientists from leading Russian universities has blasted the development process of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as “completely unacceptable” and “ridiculous” in an open letter raising new concerns over a lack of sufficient data on its safety and effectiveness. The experts said Russia’s state-run Gamaleya Research Institute, which is developing the jab,…
President Vladimir Putin’s support among young voters has roughly halved in the past year, according to independent survey results released Thursday. If 36% of voters aged 18-24 said they would cast their ballots for Putin in 2019, only 20% expressed the same intention in November 2020, the Levada Center polling agency said. While sociologists have…
A steady stream of videos depicting shocking atrocities by Azerbaijani soldiers against Armenian civilians and prisoners of war has emerged on social media. The videos, shot by soldiers and distributed on various Telegram news channels, depict a wide variety of torture, humiliations and mutilations of corpses. There have been several executions of captives shown, and…
The Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex and the Research Fleet Department of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have signed a contract on construction of two cross-functional research vessels with limitless navigation.
The son of a Russian oligarch lost $50 million in day trading while studying at university in the U.K., it emerged this week. Temur Akhmedov said the staggering losses were bankrolled by his father, Russian-Azeri billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov. After some initial success trading on the stock market, Temur hit a losing streak and started pouring…
The Russian Navy will participate in joint exercises alongside NATO members for the first time in 10 years, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the Black Sea Fleet. The Aman-2021 multinational exercises will take place in February off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan. In addition to Russia, the exercises will also feature ships…
In one of the most famous tales from St. Petersburg — Nikolai Gogol’s “The Nose” — Major Kovalyov wakes up one day to find his nose has disappeared from his face. He learns that the anthropomorphic nose has developed a life of its own, eventually even surpassing him in rank. Now, another St. Petersburg man…
Authorities in southern Russia say they will deploy uniformed Cossacks alongside police officers on New Year’s Eve to enforce a ban on mass celebrations due to the coronavirus pandemic. Krasnodar region Governor Venyamin Kondratyev called off Christmas and New Year celebrations to slow the spread of Covid-19 as the popular domestic tourism destination saw record-breaking…
Belarus will suspend departures from its ground borders due to the coronavirus situation, a government decree published Thursday says. Starting Dec. 20, Belarus will prohibit its citizens as well as foreigners with permanent or temporary residency to cross the border via automobile checkpoints, simplified checkpoints, checkpoints at railway stations or in river ports. Departures may…
Russian Communist Party members distributed anti-vaccination leaflets in Moscow falsely claiming there is no coronavirus pandemic, the Podyom Telegram news channel reported Wednesday. The leaflets, reportedly handed out to protesters outside the Moscow Mayor’s Office, called Covid-19 vaccination the “rebirth of fascism” and equated the jab to weapons of mass destruction. According to Podyom, they…
The trial of two Russian men, accused of launching a savage attack on an English football supporter during Euro 2016 that left him in a wheelchair, continued Wednesday with the defense presenting video evidence. Pavel Kossov and Mikhail Ivkine, both 34, are accused of beating 55-year-old Andrew Bache, who suffered brain injuries in the violence…
The Kremlin on Wednesday sounded the alarm over the theft of sensitive equipment from a secretive “doomsday plane” designed for the country’s top command in event of a nuclear attack. The Interior Ministry said police in the southern city of Taganrog had been alerted that 1 million rubles ($13,600) worth of equipment was stolen from an…
Russia has denied a Turkish newspaper report that Turkey won’t purchase Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Russia’s state-run TASS news agency on Wednesday cited Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca telling the Habertürk newspaper that the vaccine had failed to obtain a license in Turkey. TASS later quoted a source in the Russian Direct Investment Fund as…
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on Iran to show “maximum responsibility” in preserving a 2015 major nuclear deal with global powers. Earlier this week Iran announced that it intends to install advanced centrifuges in its main nuclear enrichment plant in Natanz, raising concerns from the governments of France, Germany and the UK. The European…
The Russian space agency said on Wednesday it planned to offer the Sputnik coronavirus vaccine to cosmonauts but insisted that the vaccination would be done on a voluntary basis. Last week Russia launched its mass vaccination program using Sputnik V, which has been named after a Soviet-era satellite. Developers say it is 95 percent effective based on…
The Russian-language version of Google posted its end-of-year video summarizing its top searches and main events in 2020. Spoiler alert: it’s as depressing as you think. The search engine’s annual tradition took a dark turn this year with the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Arctic fuel spill in Norilsk, mass death of sea…
Russia has signed an agreement with Sudan to build a naval base on the country’s Red Sea coast, in Moscow’s latest push into Africa as it seeks to renew its geopolitical clout. The deal, published on the Russian government’s website Tuesday, will see Moscow establish a “logistical support center” in Port Sudan where “repairs and resupply…
Police in France have taken into custody five Chechens suspected of having been in contact with the Chechen refugee who beheaded a history teacher this fall, the French press reported Tuesday. At least 14 people are being prosecuted in connection with Samuel Paty’s killing, with five of them indicted for pointing out him out to 18-year-old…
Lawmakers in Russia’s lower house of parliament have voted to approve legislation that would give former presidents lifetime immunity from prosecution. The proposal is a part of a larger set of constitutional reforms announced by President Vladimir Putin which Russians approved in a nationwide vote this summer. Those reforms also include a provision that would…
Russia has announced a ban on imports of tomatoes from Azerbaijan beginning Thursday, in a damaging move for a key export that analysts tied to fallout from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor on Tuesday announced the embargo beginning December 10 to protect against harmful substances detected in several recent shipments. It said the ban…
A Russian national’s arrest on suspicion of espionage in Denmark is a mistake, Russia’s Embassy in Copenhagen told Interfax on Wednesday. The unnamed Russian citizen is suspected of providing information about Danish energy technology to Russia’s intelligence service, Reuters quoted Danish public prosecutors earlier in the day. “The Russian Embassy in Denmark considers the arrest…
Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the last Defense Minister of the Soviet Union and a Marshal of Aviation, has died at age 78, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday. The state-run TASS news agency reported, citing unnamed medical sources, that Shaposhnikov had died as a result of Covid-19. According to the Mash Telegram channel, Shaposhnikov was…
A dozen dead endangered seals have been found washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea in southern Russia. Footage shared from the republic of Dagestan last week showed Caspian seal carcasses lying motionless on the beach. Rescuer Ziyavdin Nikamogamedov said he had encountered at least 17 dead mammals in the dirty waters following…
Russia’s Yandex has started using its self-driving robot to deliver fast food orders, the company announced Wednesday. The small six-wheeled autonomous robot — dubbed Yandex Rover — has started delivering orders from Yandex’s food delivery service, Yandex Eats, to customers in one of Moscow’s central business districts. Just like a human courier, after an order…
The State Reserves Commission has acknowledged Rosneft Oil Company’s discovery of an Arctic gas field in the Kara Sea and has recommended the Russian Federal Geological Foundation (RosGeolFond) to put the field on the state register as per Rosneft’s estimates of 800 billion cubic metres of gas deposits.
Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine only requires patients to avoid drinking alcohol for six days, not 42 as previously recommended, its developer said Wednesday. Health officials overseeing Russia’s Covid-19 response urged Sputnik V recipients earlier to abstain from alcohol for nearly two months while taking the two-shot vaccine. Alexander Gintsburg, who heads the state-run Gamaleya…
The Kremlin has spoken out against attempts to justify the beheading of a French teacher by a Chechen refugee following a Chechen state television segment that cast the killer in a sympathetic light. Abdulakh Anzorov, 18, was shot dead by French police on Oct. 16 after decapitating history teacher Samuel Paty, who had displayed Prophet…
Record-setting wildfires in far northeastern Russia in 2020 are linked to extreme weather changes in the warming Arctic, a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Tuesday. Uncontrolled forest fires within the Arctic Circle have set records this year for both their cumulative number and the amount of CO2 emissions. The extent of…
Russian lawmakers on Tuesday passed in its first reading controversial draft legislation including an expansion of who can be labeled a “foreign agent” amid an unrelenting clampdown on dissent. Lawmakers in Russia’s lower-house State Duma last month tabled legislation that would give authorities sweeping powers to designate individuals as foreign agents and further limit public gatherings…
Russia’s second city St. Petersburg registered a record number of virus deaths on Tuesday as authorities warned of an imminent lockdown and shuttered restaurants for the New Year’s holidays. St. Petersburg — one of Russia’s most popular tourist destinations — is struggling with a major health crisis, with hospitals overwhelmed with coronavirus patients but residents flouting…
Recipients of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine should abstain from alcohol for nearly two months before and after immunization, the head of Russia’s consumer safety watchdog said Tuesday. Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova’s instructions follow Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova’s recommendations to avoid alcohol and immunosuppressants for 42 days because the two-shot vaccine is administered with…
Russia has confirmed 2,515,009 cases of coronavirus and 44,159 deaths. Dec. 9: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 26,097 coronavirus cases and 562 deaths Tuesday. More than 50% of Russia’s medics have no plans to vaccinate against the coronavirus, according to the result of the Russian Federation Medics Network poll published by VTimes Monday. Over 21% percent…
Russia has launched a mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus with its own vaccine, putting doctors, social workers and teachers in the top priority group. The Sputnik V vaccine’s developers have said the jab is 95% effective based on interim data from its Phase 3 clinical trials, which are still underway as the large-scale vaccination…
President Vladimir Putin has signed bills into law elevating a low-profile advisory body known as the State Council, criminalizing secession and prioritizing the Russian Constitution over international law. Putin approved the set of laws on Tuesday, 160 days after Russian voters overwhelmingly approved constitutional reforms that pave the way for him to extend his 20-year…
As climate experts sound the alarm over record temperatures in Russia’s Arctic, the Christmas season is unlikely to be much different than the preceding months. According to Russian meteorological service Roshydromet, the extraordinary Arctic heat of November was followed by temperature records in a number of places across the Russian north on the first day of…
The United States has added Russia to its special watchlist of countries that have engaged in or tolerated “severe violations” of religious freedom, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Monday. Russia appears on the U.S. watchlist alongside Comoros, Cuba and Nicaragua. It’s not the first time the U.S. has raised concerns over…