A Swedish court on Monday convicted a Russian citizen of the attempted murder of a blogger from Chechnya critical of strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov, alleging high-level backing for the attack. The assault on Tumso Abdurakhmanov took place in his apartment in the Swedish city of Gavle in February 2020, when the accused struck him in…
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Monday he expected U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to extend a landmark arms agreement with Russia and urged the two sides deepen arms reductions. The New START Treaty is the Cold War rivals’ last remaining nuclear reduction pact and is set to expire Feb. 5. The fate of the…
Russia will trial a one-dose version of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, officials said on Monday, as they aim to provide a stopgap solution for badly hit countries. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which financed the development of the two-dose Sputnik V jab, said it was also financing clinical trials of “Sputnik Light,” a less…
Moscow plans to expand its residents’ digital profiles to include data on their incomes, school grades and pets, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday, citing public documents. Moscow City Hall currently collects the gender, age and income level of residents signed up to its mos.ru municipal services website and as part of its monitoring systems. In…
Man-made fires have burned down forests and killed endangered animals at a protected Russian nature park on the border with China and North Korea, Russian activists say. Animals including Far Eastern forest cats as well as several endangered species either burned alive or died by asphyxiation while endangered plants such as relict oaks burned to…
The billionaire leader of Georgia’s ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is widely seen as the Western-backed country’s most powerful man, announced Monday he was quitting politics. Ivanishvili made the announcement after his Georgian Dream party claimed a narrow victory in a tightly contested parliamentary election last year that sparked protests. “My mission has been accomplished,”…
Sardana Avksentiyeva, the popular independent mayor of one of the world’s coldest cities, has submitted her resignation nearly three years after defeating a Kremlin-backed incumbent for the role. Avksentyeva, 50, became the first woman mayor of the Siberian city of Yakutsk in September 2018 elections that drew international attention for being free and fair and…
Moscow on Sunday confirmed its first case of the new UK coronavirus strain, despite an earlier decision by officials to suspend flights from Britain to stop the mutation reaching Russia. One person returning to Russia from the UK was found to have been infected with the new strain, the head of Russia’s health regulator Rospotrebnadzor…
Populist Sadyr Japarov was on the path to an easy win Sunday in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election, the first vote following recent political upheaval in the Central Asian country. Results published by the ex-Soviet country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) showed Japarov with close to 80% of the vote after an automated count. A referendum held in…
Russia has confirmed 3,401,954 cases of coronavirus and 61,837 deaths. Jan. 10: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 22,851 new coronavirus cases and 456 deaths. Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed by phone the potential for joint production of a coronavirus vaccine, the Kremlin said. Hungary will not purchase the Sputnik V…
Three people were killed after an avalanche swept through a ski resort outside the Arctic city of Norilsk overnight, Russian investigators said Saturday. The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it was notified at 00:30 local time that an avalanche had buried four buildings under snow at the Otdelnaya Gora ski complex in the…
Three people have died in a mid-air collision between two light aircraft near St. Petersburg, Russian media reported Friday. One of the planes landed safely with its pilot unharmed. Interfax, citing Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry, said the crash occurred at an airfield that hosts regular competition aerobatics events next to the Leningrad region village of…
Russia has suspended its electronic visa system until further notice because of the coronavirus pandemic, tourism authorities have said. Citizens of 52 countries, including EU member states, China and India, were expected to be able take advantage of e-visas from Jan. 1, 2021. However, most foreigners are still unable to enter Russia after it banned…
Russia has confirmed 3,355,794 cases of coronavirus and 60,911 deaths. Jan. 8: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 23,652 new coronavirus cases and 454 deaths. Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed by phone the potential for joint production of a coronavirus vaccine, the Kremlin said. Hungary will not purchase the Sputnik V…
A Russian hacker was sentenced to 12 years in a U.S. prison Thursday for consumer data theft worth $19 million from 100 million customers of over a dozen financial service companies, the Justice Department said. Andrei Tyurin, 37, pleaded guilty in 2019 after his extradition from the country of Georgia the previous year, admitting to…
Russia on Thursday pointed to the storming of the U.S. Capitol building as evidence of America’s decline, with officials saying its out-of-date electoral system and deep divisions had left its democracy “limping on both feet”. Under banners reading “Storm of the Capitol” and “Chaos in Washington”, Russian state television showed rolling images of mobs of…
President Vladimir Putin made no statement on the unprecedented chaos in the United States when he spoke briefly with journalists after attending an Orthodox Christmas service, while Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S electoral process is archaic and prone to violations. A rampaging mob of Trump supporters on Wednesday stormed a session of Congress being held…
Russia surpassed 60,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths Thursday, according to daily official figures. National task force figures showed 506 new deaths and 23,541 infections detected in the past 24 hours. Autopsy-based statistics suggest the official death toll is a fraction of the true number. A total of 3,332,142 cases and 60,457 fatalities have been registered in…
President Vladimir Putin made no statement on the unprecedented chaos in the United States when he spoke briefly with journalists after attending an Orthodox Christmas service in a remote medieval church late Wednesday. A rampaging mob of Trump supporters stormed a session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s election win, triggering violence and accusations the…
At least two miners died after a rockfall at a Trans-Siberian Gold company-owned mine on Russia’s Pacific coast, emergency officials said Wednesday. Three of the five engineers who were installing ventilation systems at the Asacha deposit in the Kamchatka region climbed out on their own, the Emergency Situations Ministry’s regional branch said in a statement.…
Russians’ economic optimism for 2021 has fallen to a two-decade low, according to a Gallup International poll cited by the RBC news website Wednesday. The survey results come after a year when Russians’ incomes fell and the double blow of the coronavirus pandemic and declining global oil demand battered the national economy. The poll said…
Russia has confirmed 3,308,601 cases of coronavirus and 59,951 deaths. Jan. 6: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 24,217 new coronavirus cases and 445 deaths. Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed by phone the potential for joint production of a coronavirus vaccine, the Kremlin said. Hungary will not purchase the Sputnik V…
U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies said Tuesday that Russia was probably behind the massive SolarWinds hack that has shaken government and corporate security, contradicting President Donald Trump, who had suggested China could be to blame. A joint statement by the FBI, Directorate of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed by phone the potential for joint production of a coronavirus vaccine, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Putin and Merkel discussed cooperation in the fight against Covid-19 “with an emphasis on potential prospects for the joint production of vaccines,” according to a statement on the Kremlin’s website.…
In Russia’s staid parliament, the dying days of 2020 were marked by unusually frenzied lawmaking activity, most of it centering on civil rights. Over the course of a few days in late December, the State Duma passed a flurry of bills introducing sweeping new restrictions on political protests, legalizing censorship of social media and cementing…
Elections to the State Duma look set to be the focus of Russian domestic affairs this year after a turbulent 12 months dominated by succession, constitution and opposition. Even before the coronavirus upended the world, 2020 had been an extraordinary year for Russia’s usually staid politics. In January, ex-president Dmitry Medvedev abruptly resigned as prime…
Police in Ukraine have received new evidence that may help identify those who ordered the murder of award-winning investigative journalist Pavel Sheremet in 2016. “The documents and audio recordings, the last of which are dated by 2012, are already at the disposal of the investigation,” the police said in a statement. Fragments of these recordings published…
Fugitive U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden said Monday he hoped the British refusal to extradite Julian Assange would mark “the end” of attempts to see the WikiLeaks founder face espionage charges in the United States. A British court on Monday ruled citing health concerns that Assange should not be extradited to the United States where he…
Russia has confirmed 3,260,138 cases of coronavirus and 58,988 deaths. Jan. 4: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 23,351 new coronavirus cases and 482 deaths. Hungary will not purchase the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for large-scale inoculation due to Russia’s lack of production capacity, Reuters quoted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff as saying. Moscow…
Russia had to tread a fine foreign policy line in 2020. The country’s near abroad was rocked by unprecedented unrest as uprisings in Kremlin-friendly Kyrgyzstan and Belarus and war in the Caucasus challenged its influence in the region. In the U.S., the election of Joe Biden is set to fundamentally change the course of American…
The Moscow metro said Sunday it had hired female drivers for the first time in its recent history, following recent changes in controversial Russian legislation prohibiting women from many professions. The Russian capital’s transport system, which oversees the sprawling metro system, said in a statement that “the first female electric train drivers in modern history…
Hungary is unlikely to use Russia’s coronavirus vaccine due to its limited production capacity, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Sunday while criticising the EU’s vaccine acquisition approach. Often at loggerheads with Brussels over democratic standards, Orban has sent experts to monitor vaccine development in Russia and China, and received samples of Moscow’s controversial Sputnik V…
The Moscow Times has compiled a list of the most impressive Russian women in 2020. It includes movers and shakers across different parts of Russia, generations, and occupations. However, all of these women have one thing in common — they were able to use their platforms to tackle the new and old challenges of 2020 and…
Russia has confirmed 3,236,787 cases of coronavirus and 58,506 deaths. Jan. 3: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 24,150 new coronavirus cases and 504 deaths. Hungary will not purchase the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for large-scale inoculation due to Russia’s lack of production capacity, Reuters quoted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff as saying.…
A car bomb detonated near a Russian military base in northeastern Syria Friday in the first such jihadist attack in the area against the ally of Damascus, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported several wounded in the attack after midnight in the Tal Saman area in Raqa province,…
Russia came under siege from climate change in 2020, and experts warn that Arctic heatwaves, fires and melting permafrost could be worse this year. The year began with the warmest winter in 140 years of recorded meteorological data, leaving Moscow — a city usually covered in snow for four months of the year — entirely…
President Vladimir Putin in his New Year’s speech on Thursday urged Russians to unite in the face of the country’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic. Appearing in front of the Kremlin for an address to be broadcast just before midnight in each of Russia’s 11 time zones, Putin acknowledged that a second wave of infections…
Russia has confirmed 3,159,297 cases of coronavirus and 57,019 deaths. Dec. 31: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 27,747 new coronavirus cases and 593 deaths. Hungary will not purchase the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for large-scale inoculation due to Russia’s lack of production capacity, Reuters quoted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff as saying.…
In 2020 the number of deaths in Russia of prominent and beloved public figures was devastatingly high, many from the coronavirus, but some from other causes as well. The performing arts were particularly hard hit by Covid-19, since by the nature of the professions, people at work cannot be masked or socially distant. We honor…
Russia has confirmed 3,131,550 cases of coronavirus and 56,426 deaths. Dec. 31: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 26,513 new coronavirus cases and 599 deaths. Algeria will begin rolling out the contentious Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine developed by Russia in January, the government said late Wednesday. Authorities will receive an initial shipment of 500,000 doses. Russians who…
A company run by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, purportedly close to President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday said he was pursuing a libel settlement against opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Prigozhin’s Concord catering company said in a statement it was seeking 840,000 euros ($900,000) in damages as it looks to “defend its honor, dignity and commercial reputation.…
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday has signed a number of bills into law ahead of the New Year holiday, ranging from new restrictions on protests and online information to the return of Soviet-era “sobering-up stations.” Here’s an overview of all the latest legislation: Restrictions on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook Russia’s federal media watchdog now has the…
Nizhnevartovsk has opened a modern school for 1,725 pupils built as part of the National Education Project with the support of Rosneft Oil Company.
Up to 750,000 cubic metres of associated petroleum gas per year will be brought into the production cycle from the Metelinskoye oil field in Duvansky District of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Saratov Refinery, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s refining complex, started producing Euro-5 diesel with the new additive manufactured in Russia.
The Russian Orthodox Church has defrocked one of the country’s most prominent priests after he was found to have slandered a fellow priest who died from Covid-19. Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, a well-known radio and television personality whose views on homosexuality, blasphemy and Russia’s Orthodox hierarchy have made him one of the country’s best-known priests, had…
The Russian Orthodox Church has defrocked one of the country’s most prominent theologians after he was found to have slandered a fellow priest who died from Covid-19. Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, a well-known radio and television personality whose views on homosexuality, blasphemy and Russia’s Orthodox hierarchy have made him one of the country’s best-known religious figures,…
Moscow on Wednesday expanded a list of UK officials banned from entering Russia in a tit-for-tat response to British sanctions imposed over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that in response to “unconstructive and unfriendly” UK penalties it had “decided to expand the number of British citizens who…
President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill allowing any politically active, foreign-funded individual or organization to be labeled a “foreign agent.” The new law significantly widens the scope of who can be recognized as a foreign agent in Russia and has been criticized as an effort to stamp out critical voices. The foreign…
Russian investigators Tuesday opened a criminal probe into Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, alleging he used more than 356 million rubles ($4.8 million) of donations to his organizations for personal purposes including holidays abroad. The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement that the money was part of more than 588 million rubles…
Argentina on Tuesday launched a Covid-19 vaccination campaign with the controversial Sputnik V shots developed by Russia, the government said. It is the first country in the Americas to use this vaccine against the pandemic. The vaccination drive began simultaneously around the country with frontline healthcare workers given priority, Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia said.…
Russia has labeled prominent women’s rights organization Nasiliyu.net (“No to Violence”) as a “foreign agent,” the Justice Ministry announced Tuesday. The Justice Ministry’s addition of the NGO, which provides legal and psychological help to domestic violence victims, to the “foreign agent” registry comes amid fears of a renewed crackdown on critical voices ahead of Russia’s 2021…
Moscow on Tuesday expanded a list of German officials who are banned from entering Russia in response to EU sanctions that the bloc imposed over Russian cyber attacks on the German parliament. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that in response to “destructive” EU sanctions in October, “Moscow made a decision to expand the reciprocal list of German…
Russia and the United States have cut off an international cocaine smuggling chain and seized over 330 kilograms of the drug, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Tuesday, marking a rare joint law enforcement effort between the two countries. A multi-stage investigation by the FSB and the U.S. Justice Department disrupted “a transnational criminal community…
A Russian court on Tuesday handed a 15-year prison sentence to a former manager of an energy company for spying for Moldova, the latest in a string of high-profile espionage trials. Karina Tsurkan, a former board member of the Inter RAO energy group, was detained in 2018 on suspicion of handing classified information to Moldovan…
Russia experienced a multitude of environmental disasters in 2020 — both sudden, manmade catastrophes as well as those stemming from the mounting long-term effects of climate change. From forest fires larger than some European countries to historic oil spills, these disasters have brought renewed attention and concern toward the ecosystems of the world’s largest country. …
A medical clinic in Moscow plans to be the first to bring two leading western-developed coronavirus vaccines to Russia, the clinic’s head told Forbes Russia on Tuesday. The Hadassah Clinic is working to bring the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to Russia as soon as it becomes possible, its head Evgeny Tugolukov said. The clinic belongs…
Belarus on Tuesday began a vaccination drive against coronavirus using the Sputnik V jab, becoming the first country outside Russia to use the vaccine developed by Moscow. Belarus, with a population of around 9.5 million people, has registered more than 188,000 cases of coronavirus infections and nearly 1,400 deaths. “Today the first vaccine shipment has arrived in…
Russian law enforcement officers have detained an excommunicated priest at the women’s monastery he seized near the city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of encouraging minors to “die for Russia,” the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday. Father Sergei Romanov has been charged with persuading minors to commit suicide, criminal charges that carry a maximum prison sentence…
Hungary said it received 6,000 doses of Russia’s controversial coronavirus vaccine on Monday, in a new display of Budapest’s maverick vaccine policy. “6,000 doses of Russian vaccine crossed Hungary’s border with Slovakia,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a Facebook video message. The consignment was taken to Budapest for a decision by Hungarian experts on…