President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that he has received his second Covid-19 vaccine shot with one of Russia’s domestically developed jabs and that he hoped Russians would follow his example. Putin, 68, received his first dose on March 23. “I want to inform you that right now, before entering this room, I also received the second…
U.S. President Joe Biden’s invitation to Vladimir Putin to hold a summit was being hailed in Moscow Wednesday as a sign that Washington had blinked first in the showdown with Russia over Ukraine. With indications that work was already underway for a potential meeting in Finland, Russian officials were crowing that Moscow was finally being…
New coronavirus cases in Russian-annexed Crimea have nearly doubled in recent days as the Black Sea peninsula anticipates a tourist influx caused by flight restrictions to Turkey, health authorities said Wednesday. Crimean tourism officials are bracing for the new arrivals after over 500,000 Russians were shut out of Turkey by Moscow’s flight reductions from April…
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has accused Alexei Navalny of “cheap” political pandering by demanding to read the Koran in prison and said the jailed Kremlin critic shouldn’t be allowed to touch it with his “dirty hands.” Navalny said Tuesday that he plans to sue prison officials for denying him access to the Muslim holy book. The opposition…
U.S. President Joe Biden told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to ease mounting tensions with neighboring Ukraine on Tuesday, joining a pushback against a buildup of troops along their border which has raised alarm among NATO allies. As a new report from American intelligence said Russia was not seeking direct conflict with the United States,…
Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill wore a mask during the first synod meeting of the year in Moscow’s Danilov Monastery on Tuesday, video posted on the Church’s YouTube channel showed. The Open Media news website reported that this is the first time the Patriarch has been spotted wearing a mask in public. At the start…
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s former spokesman-turned-critic who was reported missing in Russia has been detained alongside a veteran opposition leader on unspecified charges, state media said Tuesday. Political analyst Alexander Feduta, 56, served as Lukashenko’s first press secretary in 1994 before falling out with him the next year and defecting to the opposition. Amnesty International…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said on Tuesday she was increasingly concerned for her hunger-striking husband’s health after visiting him at his penal colony outside Moscow. Navalny, who is serving a two-and-a-half year sentence on old embezzlement charges, was jailed in February after returning to Russia from Germany where he was receiving…
Moscow has sent troops to its Western borders for “training exercises” in response to “threatening” NATO actions, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday. The statement comes as Kiev and its Western allies have accused Russia in recent weeks of massing tens of thousands of troops on its border with Ukraine, while NATO told Moscow to end…
Prominent Russian investigative journalist Roman Anin has told The Moscow Times he is worried about the future of independent media in the country after his latest questioning by the Investigative Committee on Monday. His lawyer and editorial team have linked Monday’s questioning — as well as a seven-hour raid on his home and questioning Friday…
A Russian academic who worked in aviation has been arrested for allegedly passing secrets to NATO, state media reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed source. A Moscow court placed Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) professor and Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) employee Valery Golubkin until June 12, according to Interfax. “This criminal case is not…
Russia on Tuesday detained two people after a huge fire gutted a historic factory in St. Petersburg, as firefighters continued putting out the blaze. On Monday, a fire broke out over several floors of the red-brick Nevskaya Manufaktura building in Russia’s second city. The inferno killed one firefighter and left two more hospitalized with serious…
Russia restricted travel to Turkey this week, leaving more than half a million Russians scrambling to reimburse tickets to the popular tourist destination and find alternative vacation spots. Flights to and from Turkey will be drastically reduced from April 15-June 1 due to rising coronavirus cases in Turkey, a senior Russian government official announced Monday.…
Russia sees the United States as its “adversary,” a top Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday amid heightened tensions with Washington over the eastern Ukraine conflict. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov’s words mark a departure from Russia’s usual description of the U.S. as a “partner.” They follow U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s warning that Moscow…
President Vladimir Putin called on Monday for Russia to remain a great power in space, as the country celebrated the 60th anniversary of the legendary flight that made Yuri Gagarin the first person in orbit. Russia’s space industry has struggled in recent years and been hit by a series of mishaps, but the sending of…
Russia has claimed new slices of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean in two fresh submissions to the United Nations. According to its March 31 submissions, Russia is seeking to define the outer limits of its continental shelf to include the Gakkel Ridge, the Lomonosov Ridge and the Canadian Basin. The new claims overlap…
Ali Heydarov, a Russian “thief-in-law” known as Albert Ryzhiy, was shot dead in a northwest Moscow gym Monday afternoon, Interfax reported. “Thief-in-law” is a Russian term referring to powerful members of the criminal underworld. Security camera footage published by the 47news.ru news website shows Heydarov using an elliptical as an unknown man enters the gym,…
The diamond jubilee of Yuri Gagarin’s historic space flight was marked by celebratory events across Russia on Monday, the sheer spectacle of some nearly matching that of the landmark launch itself. On April 12, 1961, then 27-year-old Gagarin embarked on a 108-minute journey orbiting Earth, becoming the first man in space. Sixty years later, his…
Russian prison guards are threatening to force-feed jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny nearly two weeks into his hunger strike, his team said Monday via his official Twitter account. Navalny, 44, announced he was going on hunger strike on March 31 to demand proper medical treatment for severe back pain and leg numbness. The opposition figure’s…
Two Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in clashes with pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine’s war-torn east, its military said Monday, as Kiev again accused Moscow of massing tens of thousands of soldiers on its border. Clashes have regularly broken out in the east in recent weeks, undermining a ceasefire brokered last year that had raised hopes of…
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine frequently discussed the movements of the Buk missile system that investigators believe was used to down Flight MH17 in July 2014, the Dutch Nieuwsuur current affairs program reported Sunday, citing leaked recordings of their phone calls. Nieuwsuur obtained tapes of thousands of phone calls made by MH17 suspect Sergei Dubinsky…
A historic St. Petersburg factory building has caught fire and is on the brink of collapse, with at least one firefighter dead and two others gravely injured, state media reported Monday. The six-story Nevskaya Manufaktura building, located on the right bank of the Neva River in Russia’s second city, was engulfed in flames around 12:30…
A Russian feminist and LGBT activist accused of distributing pornography for posting what supporters call “body-positive” drawings on social media went on trial Monday. Yulia Tsvetkova, 27, faces up to six years behind bars in a case that has prompted nationwide pickets and online flashmobs in her support. The trial is taking place in the…
An associate of the late Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky was likely strangled to death at his London home three years ago, the BBC reported Saturday, citing a U.K. coroner ruling. Nikolai Glushkov, who was granted political asylum in Britain in 2010 after he was accused of defrauding Russia’s Aeroflot airline during his time as its…
The Kremlin on Sunday said it was not moving toward war with Ukraine as Russia increased its military presence on the border with Ukraine’s eastern breakaway territories. In recent weeks fighting has intensified between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russian separatists controlling two regions in the country’s east, raising concerns of major escalation in the long-running conflict. …
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Saturday for a peaceful resolution of Ukraine’s tensions with Russia based on respect of its territorial integrity. Flanked by his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul that Turkey aims “to ensure the Black Sea remains a sea of peace and cooperation” as U.S. warships were due to…
Russian security agents on Friday raided the home of the editor of an online investigative journal that recently published articles on the security services, his editorial team said. Operatives of the FSB security agency searched the apartment of Roman Anine, his Vajnye istorii investigative news website colleagues said. They cited his lawyer saying that Anine…
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to remove Vyacheslav Bitarov from his post as head of the republic of North Ossetia, replacing him with former Sevastopol governor Sergei Menyailo, the Kremlin said Friday. Bitarov becomes the latest regional head to lose his post this week, joining the republic of Tuva’s head Sholban Kara-ool and Ulyanovsk…
Ukraine said on Friday it would not launch an offensive against pro-Russia separatists controlling two regions in the east, as fears grow of a major escalation in a long-running conflict. The statement came after fighting between the Ukrainian army and separatists intensified in recent weeks and Russia massed troops on the border. “The liberation of the temporarily occupied…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed condolences to Queen Elizabeth II following the death of her husband, Prince Philip, the Kremlin said Friday. The Duke of Edinburgh, the longest serving royal consort in British history, died Friday at age 99. He was discharged from hospital in March a month after treatment for an infection and…
The United States plans to send two warships to the Black Sea in a show of its support for Ukraine amid Russian militarization along its border, Turkey’s foreign ministry was reported as saying Friday. Turkey’s statement confirms reporting that the U.S. Navy was considering Black Sea deployments to send a message to Moscow. The White…
Rosneft Oil Company continues to strengthen its position in leading international ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) ratings
By the end of 2020, the volume of hydrogen production at Rosneft’s facilities, including foreign assets, was about 400,000 tonnes
Employees of the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Arctic Research Centre of Rosneft have commenced a study of the polar bear population on Alexandra Land in the Franz Josef Land archipelago within the territory of the Russian Arctic National Park
Russia’s Constitutional Court on Friday ordered stronger laws to punish repeat domestic violence offenders, saying both the penalties as well as protection for victims were insufficient. Activists have been lobbying for stricter legislation and measures to prevent domestic violence, which has been rampant in Russia for years. The ruling follows an appeal filed by a…
British defense analysts said Thursday they have identified Russian ballistic missile systems deployed alongside over a dozen tank and rocket launcher units on the Ukrainian border amid concerns of renewed hostilities. Military monitors and the White House say Russia has amassed the largest concentration of forces near eastern Ukraine since the conflict between Ukrainian forces…
A three-man crew docked at the international Space Station Friday after a flight honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space. A Soyuz capsule carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei docked at 11:05 GMT, footage broadcasted by NASA TV showed. …
The U.S. Defense Department will not confirm reported plans to send warships to the Black Sea in support of Ukraine amid Russia’s militarization along its border, Russian state media reported Friday. CNN reported Thursday that the U.S. Navy was considering Black Sea deployments in the next few weeks to “send a specific message to Moscow…
The developer of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine has confirmed the jab is less effective against the South African variant of the virus, but claimed that the Russian-made vaccine still offers better protection against virus mutations than its rivals. In an interview with state-run news agency Interfax, Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya Institute which…
A pair of notorious Russian pranksters who regularly target Kremlin opponents and world leaders with prank calls have failed in their latest trick, a senior aide to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Thursday. Vovan and Lexus, the moniker used by bloggers Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, have made international headlines for duping figures…
Sputnik V’s official Twitter account on Thursday accused the Slovak Drug agency SUKL of a “disinformation campaign” against the Russian vaccine after the watchdog said the batch of 200,000 vaccines the country received differed from those reviewed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the medical journal The Lancet. On Wednesday, media reported that SUKL…
The outbreak of major hostilities in eastern Ukraine would mark “the beginning of the end” for Kiev, a top Kremlin official warned Thursday as alarm continues to grow over troop buildup in the region. “I support the assessments that also exist inside Ukraine that the beginning of hostilities is the beginning of the end of…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to the country’s eastern frontline on Thursday, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Vladimir Putin to reduce Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine. Zelenskiy’s frontline visit came as fighting between the Ukrainian army and separatists has intensified in recent weeks and Russia has built up troops along the border, raising fears…
Russia’s acute migrant shortage linked to the coronavirus exodus is keeping the country from achieving its “ambitious” goals, the Kremlin said Thursday. “We’re very, very short of these migrants to implement our ambitious plans,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We have to build more than we’re building now, but we need working hands to…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel “expressed concern” over a spike in tensions in east Ukraine and discussed jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny in a phone call on Thursday, the Kremlin said. The call came as clashes between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces have increased in recent weeks and a Russian military…
A Russian court has handed week-long sentences to several supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after they traveled to his penal colony to demand he receives proper medical treatment. Police on Tuesday detained nine Navalny supporters outside his prison in the town of Pokrov around 100 kilometers east of Moscow for violating public order. …
Wednesday marked one week since Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny declared a hunger strike in prison to demand medical treatment for severe back pain and numbness in his legs. Since then, the Kremlin critic’s lawyers say his health has deteriorated even further, prompting Western leaders to urge Russia to take action. Navalny was jailed in January…
Ultranationalist supporters of separatists in eastern Ukraine disrupted a movie screening at the Artdocfest film festival in Moscow on Wednesday night, the organizers said on Instagram. This was the second major attack this year on Artdocfest, a popular Russian documentary film festival which has been the target of conservative and nationalist-oriented groups in recent years.…
Germany said Thursday it would talk to Russia about purchasing doses of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine pending approval from European regulators, without waiting for coordinated EU action. Amid divisions in the bloc over Sputnik, Health Minister Jens Spahn said Germany was prepared to go it alone without the other 26 members if it meant…
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has recalled the “strong impression” that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stance on the Syrian civil war at the G8 summits left on him in a new interview. Russia was one of the G8 group of leading economic powers until 2014, when its membership was suspended indefinitely over its annexation of Crimea…
Zoom will sell directly to Russian government agencies, the Kommersant business daily quoted the company as saying after controversy over reports that the video-conferencing platform had restricted premium access to state-affiliated entities. The Kremlin urged Russian companies Wednesday to switch to alternative virtual meeting platforms after Kommersant reported that Zoom had banned its distributors from…
The health of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is deteriorating as he keeps up his hunger strike in prison, his lawyers said Wednesday, with U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration saying it is “disturbed” by the reports. Last Wednesday President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, who is serving two and a half years on embezzlement charges, launched…
Russia’s media watchdog on Wednesday warned U.S.-funded Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe it had 60 days to pay more than $70,000 in fines over non-compliance with its “foreign agent” law. The statement came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday expressed support for Radio Liberty /Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) and other U.S. international media.…
Updated at 6:44 p.m. on April 7 to add statement from Sputnik V’s official Twitter account. The European Union’s medicines regulator will investigate whether the developers of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine went against global ethical and scientific standards in clinical trials, the Financial Times reported Wednesday. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) last month launched…
Germany’s Bavaria region has signed a provisional agreement to buy doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine once it is approved by European regulators, state premier Markus Soeder said Wednesday. The southern state has “signed a memorandum of understanding today […] for the supply of Sputnik,” Soeder told reporters in Munich. If the Sputnik vaccine is…
A Russian warplane has intercepted a Norwegian electronic warfare aircraft over the Barents Sea near the Arctic, state media cited the military as saying Wednesday. Citing Russia’s National Defense Management Center, Interfax said the Russian military detected an “air target” approaching the Russian border from Norway. “The [Russian Navy’s] Northern Fleet air defense forces’ MiG-31…
Slovakia’s State Institute for Drug Control has told the country’s Health Ministry it has been unable to evaluate the risks and benefits of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine due to a lack of data and inconsistencies in dosages, the watchdog’s spokeswoman Magdaléna Jurkemíková told The Moscow Times on Wednesday. Slovakia, one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries by…
Russia will not invite foreign dignitaries to its annual World War II victory parade on Red Square next month, the Kremlin announced Wednesday. “This year is not a [major] anniversary year, so we don’t intend to invite foreign participants,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “The rest will probably involve the usual invitations,…
Russia’s Central Bank chief has urged the government to “abandon” price caps on food products “as quickly as possible,” arguing the restrictions could do long-term damage to the Russian economy. Speaking at a Moscow Exchange forum on Tuesday, Elvira Nabiullina doubled down on her calls for the government to ditch its attempts to control surging…
In early March, with Russia’s domestic Covid-19 vaccination campaign stalling, prominent tech and publishing entrepreneur Ilya Krasilschik took to social media to urge his followers to get their coronavirus jabs. “We are living through a national catastrophe,” wrote Krasilschik in a widely publicized Facebook post. “Go and get vaccinated.” Krasilschik is one of few Russian…