A top-secret missile launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk region earlier this week was a weapon capable of destroying satellites in low orbit. Indications of a launch from Plesetsk came as NOTAM warnings were issued for three areas in the Russian Arctic in a straight line north from the cosmodrome. The areas were coincident…
President Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference on Thursday focused heavily on the coronavirus pandemic that has hit Russia hard. The event follows a tumultuous 12 months for the Kremlin that also included unrest across the post-Soviet world, ongoing protests in the Far East and the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Speaking to journalists via…
Russia’s domestic security agency tails Alexei Navalny because he is backed by U.S. intelligence, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday in his first public comments on a high-profile media investigation into the opposition figure’s poisoning. A media investigation claimed this week that Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical weapons experts had shadowed Navalny on more than 30…
Russia has carried out 10% fewer coronavirus tests so far in December than it had by the same time last month despite the country’s ongoing surge in new infections, Reuters reported Wednesday. Coronavirus tests fell by 825,000 (11%) in the first two weeks of December compared to the first two weeks of November, Reuters said,…
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will receive the Russian-developed Sputnik V coronavirus jab once it is approved for people his age, praising the vaccine as safe and effective. The 68-year-old Russian president said at his annual end-of-year press conference that he had not been vaccinated yet, but “will definitely do so as soon as it becomes possible” according to expert…
Russian authorities are investigating the deaths of 14 coronavirus hospital patients after an oxygen equipment breakdown last month, authorities and state media said Wednesday. Some 40 intensive care patients were moved in early November from a maternity ward converted into a Covid-19 hospital in the city of Kursk south of Moscow after an oxygen supply malfunction…
As a teacher at a large school in Moscow’s southern suburbs, Nina Zhukova should have been one of the first to receive the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine being offered to priority workers across the Russian capital. Instead, having already contracted and recovered from the virus in the autumn, Zhukova is determined not to be vaccinated. …
A court in Siberia has sentenced an elderly Jehovah’s Witness leader to six years in prison for organizing an extremist group, authorities and the religious organization said Wednesday. The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia said Yury Savelyev, 66, has spent almost half his sentence in pre-trial detention and is expected to be released in 2023. Authorities…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov received a 300-year-old gilded icon from eastern Ukraine on his trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina, European media reported Wednesday. Bosnia’s Serb President Milorad Dodik gifted the Ukrainian Orthodox icon thought to be from the war-torn pro-Russian region of Luhansk, according to Ukraine’s Euromaidan Press news website. The Ukrainian Embassy in Sarajevo requested…
Facebook has exposed a curious battle for influence in Africa, with former colonial power France and former superpower Russia using fake accounts to engage, criticize and even befriend each other online. The U.S. tech firm said on Tuesday it had closed down two Russian-linked networks of accounts and a third with “links to individuals associated…
A Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship bound for Antarctica has been forced to turn back after sustaining damage, and will bypass Europe before undergoing repairs, state nuclear agency Rosatom said Wednesday. Green activists have expressed concern that the vessel will be sailing past several European countries on its way home during the winter storm season. The Sevmorput vessel…
Senior Russian diplomats and state television pundits have dismissed media investigations into leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s poisoning and accused their authors of illegal invasion of privacy. A joint investigation published by several media outlets this week claimed Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical weapons experts had tailed Navalny for years, including on the day he was…
Thailand has restored visa-free access to Russian tourists months after it first imposed coronavirus border restrictions, Interfax cited the royal kingdom’s tourism ministry as saying Wednesday. Thailand, a popular tourist destination that has escaped relatively unscathed from the Covid-19 pandemic, began reopening its borders in October to kick-start its battered tourism industry. All new arrivals…
Russia has confirmed 2,734,454 cases of coronavirus and 48,564 deaths. Dec. 17: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 26,509 coronavirus cases and 596 deaths Wednesday. Aeroflot will allocate special seating for passengers who refuse to wear face masks on flights, a spokeswoman for Russia’s flagship carrier said Tuesday. Moscow-based foreign nationals including doctors and educators with valid passports, certificates of…
United States investigators probed Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr.’s suspected poisonings as “intentional” acts, the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty news outlet reported Tuesday, citing newly obtained records. Kara-Murza, 39, says he was deliberately poisoned in Moscow in 2015 and 2017 as retaliation for his lobbying efforts to impose U.S. and EU sanctions against…
Almost half of all migrants living in Russia before the coronavirus pandemic have likely left the country this year, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. In a statement cited by the RBC news website, authorities said there are currently 6.3 million foreign citizens in Russia. That number has been steadily declining since the start of the…
President Vladimir Putin’s cousin has formed a new political party called “Russia Without Corruption,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. Roman Putin is an entrepreneur, politician, former FSB officer and Putin’s first cousin, once removed. He previously headed the “People Against Corruption” party, which was dissolved last month by the Russian Supreme Court for…
American action star and Russian citizen Steven Seagal’s Russian bank account has been blocked by the country’s Federal Tax Service, the Moskva news agency reported Wednesday. The Sberbank account was blocked in order to ensure the collection of a tax, penalty or fine, Moskva cited documents in the Bankinform database as saying. A spokesperson for…
Aeroflot will allocate special seating for passengers who refuse to wear face masks on flights, a spokeswoman for Russia’s flagship carrier said Tuesday. The changes came after the airline warned that it would deny boarding to maskless passengers as part of its tighter coronavirus control measures. “Dedicated seats are provided for passengers who refuse to…
Russian activist Konstantin Kotov was released from prison Wednesday after serving 18 months for “multiple breaches” of Russia’s protest law. Kotov, who was arrested during the summer 2019 Moscow election protests, was the second person ever to be prosecuted under the controversial law criminalizing “repeated” participation in unauthorized rallies. A Moscow court cut the 35-year-old…
Residents of Russia’s heavily polluted industrial city of Chelyabinsk are calling on U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to help them avoid “ecological genocide.” In a video appeal, residents said Russian authorities routinely ignore their complaints that industrial emissions are getting worse every year, causing rising cases of cancer and suffocating the city in smoke. “They’re taking…
America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused Russia of continuing to “threaten Mediterranean stability” and sowing “chaos, conflict and division” in countries around the region. In a statement on “Russian Influence in the Mediterranean,” the outgoing Secretary of State responded to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who he said “accused the United States of…
Eligible Moscow-based foreigners can get vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as part of the mass rollout currently underway, a representative from the Moscow Health Department told The Moscow Times. Russia kicked off its nationwide vaccination campaign among medics, teachers and other high-risk workers in recent days. Foreign nationals including doctors and educators with…
Russia’s MC-21 medium-range passenger aircraft has made its first flight with a domestically made engine, state industrial conglomerate Rostec announced Tuesday. “Through the efforts of scientists, designers, engineers and workers, a next-generation airliner is being created that returns our country to the top league of world aviation,” Rostec head Sergei Chemezov said in a statement.…
At least five members of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, have been infected with coronavirus twice, its speaker said Tuesday. Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said 11 lawmakers have tested positive for coronavirus over the past week, bringing the total number of infections in the 450-member chamber to 157. “What’s more concerning is that five…
Russians have some of the world’s most conservative attitudes toward gender roles, according to a multinational survey spanning 10 countries. The GlobalNR research network and its Russian partner ROMIR found that 82% of Chinese respondents, 71% of Russians and 69% of Indians agreed with the statement that traditional gender roles are best suited for society.…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory telegram to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden after the Electoral College confirmed his win, the Kremlin announced Tuesday. Putin is one of the last world leaders to congratulate the president-elect, with his message coming six weeks after the Nov. 3 vote in which Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump.…
Fire erupted in a retirement home in central Russia overnight, killing 11 people who were trapped as the blaze swept through the small wooden building, investigators said Tuesday. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it had opened a criminal investigation into possible negligence over the blaze at the home in the Bashkortostan region. …
U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone said he has received Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus despite the country’s mass rollout not covering his age group. Russia launched nationwide Covid-19 vaccine distribution late last week among high-risk health, education and other workers aged 18 to 60. Experts have warned it could be harmful for patients aged…
The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Turkey’s military procurement agency after the NATO ally defiantly bought Russia’s S-400 air defense system. “Today’s action sends a clear signal that the United States will fully implement (U.S. law) and will not tolerate significant transactions with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo…
Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is 91.4% effective, its developers announced Monday, citing a new analysis of data from its Phase 3 clinical trials. The state-run Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow that developed Sputnik V said the data was obtained 21 days after volunteers received the first dose of the two-shot…
An ally of President Vladimir Putin has shelled out nearly $500,000 to two Russian political operatives recently freed by Libya after 18 months in captivity, his company said Monday. Russian media last week reported that Maxim Shugaley and his interpreter Samir Seifan, who were arrested in Libya in May 2019 on charges of vote meddling,…
Two Russian men were on Monday sentenced to jail terms of three years and 10 years for a savage attack on an English football supporter at the 2016 European championships. Mikhail Ivkin received a three-year term and Pavel Kossov the longer sentence for their role in the beating that left Briton Andrew Bache with a…
Restaurants and bars in Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg are at odds with authorities over New Year’s restrictions aimed at combating one of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, saying the measures threaten their survival. Dozens of establishments have said they intend to remain open for Russia’s most festive holiday, while city authorities have clamped…
An elite Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical weapons unit shadowed opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s movements for the past three years up until his near-fatal poisoning, a joint media investigation said Monday. Navalny is recovering in Berlin after being poisoned with what Western governments say was the deadly Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in August. The European…
Russia successfully test launched its first post-Soviet rocket for the second time in six years following delays and glitches, Russia’s Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, announced Monday. A vital part of President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to revive the space industry, the Angara are the first new family of space rockets developed since the Soviet era. Angara…
The United States is considering closing its two remaining consulates in Russia amid the coronavirus pandemic and continued bilateral tensions, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday, citing unnamed diplomatic sources. The U.S. in March temporarily suspended operations at its Vladivostok consulate and reduced services at the Yekaterinburg consulate due to the Covid-19 outbreak. According to…
The U.S. government confirmed Sunday that its computer networks had been hit by a cyberattack, as The Washington Post reported at least two departments had been targeted by Russian state hackers. “We have been working closely with our agency partners regarding recently discovered activity on government networks,” a spokesperson for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency…
Russia has confirmed 2,681,256 cases of coronavirus and 47,391 deaths. Dec. 15: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 27,328 coronavirus cases and 450 deaths Monday. 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”…
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…