Moscow residents are most likely to back President Vladimir Putin and the pro-Putin ruling party despite their tepid support for both, an independent poll published Tuesday has said. The Levada Center polling agency’s latest results come four months ahead of key parliamentary elections in which the United Russia party seeks to maintain a supermajority despite historically low approval ratings.…
Russia has delivered its latest weapons batch to the mineral-rich and violence-racked Central African Republic, Moscow’s ambassador in Bangui told state media Monday. The shipment of 5,000 pieces of small arms is the third delivery in as many years. Moscow donated hundreds of weapons in 2019 and airlifted 10 BRDM-2 armored personnel vehicles as a…
Russia will not block access to Twitter but will continue slowing page loading speeds for the social media platform’s mobile app within its borders, state communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Monday. The regulator gave Twitter a May 15 deadline to comply with thousands of requests to remove content which it said violates Russian law — or…
A recent oil spill in northern Russia may be 4-5 times larger than originally estimated, authorities said as environmentalists warned that the pollution could reach the Arctic Ocean. Authorities in the republic of Komi declared an emergency last week after the oil spill at the Oshskoye field, operated by a subsidiary of oil giant Lukoil,…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday warned Western countries against staking claims in the Arctic, as global warming makes the region more accessible and a site of global competition. Lavrov’s comments came ahead of a ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council that comprises Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland…
Russia has registered cases of a rare and deadly fungal infection afflicting current and former coronavirus patients that has been on the rise in virus-stricken India, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported Monday. Experts interviewed by the publication stressed that mucormycosis, which Indian doctors have dubbed “black fungus” due to its dark pigmentation, does not spread…
The United States’ consul general in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has left her post as Washington cuts services at its remaining consulates and shrinks operations at its Moscow embassy. The U.S. in April suspended visa services as well as U.S. citizen services in Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok, leaving the U.S. Embassy in Moscow as the…
Manizha Sangin has never been your typical Russian popstar. A refugee from Tajikistan and outspoken pro-LGBT feminist, the art pop singer’s March selection by public vote on state television to represent her adopted country at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in the Dutch city of Rotterdam stunned Russia’s musical establishment. With Russia’s turn towards social…
Polish authorities said they have arrested a man suspected of spying for Russia, the Polish internal security agency said in a statement Monday. The 43-year-old is accused of “providing the Russian special services with information and materials in the military field and about Polish entities and citizens.” The ISA said its officers detained him on…
Around 100 Moscow metro employees have been dismissed after they appeared in an email database leak exposing half a million supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the independent Dozhd broadcaster reported Saturday. Vasily Shelyakov, the deputy head of the Moscow metro trade union, told Dozhd that the ex-staffers directly link their termination to last month’s…
Rosneft Oil Company continues to strengthen its position in international ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) ratings.
Three people have been killed in a knife attack in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg, state and local media reported Monday. A man stabbed three passersby with a knife in a park near the Zheleznodorozhny railway station in the city of 1.3 million located 1,400 kilometers east of Moscow, the state-run TASS news agency reported,…
Over one-third of Russians refuse to get vaccinated against the coronavirus under any circumstances, the SuperJob.ru job portal said in a survey published Sunday. Last week, Greece opened to Russian tourists vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V jab, prompting one in five Russians to say they are ready to get vaccinated so they can travel, Superjob…
Young Russian schoolchildren were filmed holding mock weapons and marching in military formation at an event marking Soviet victory in World War II last Friday. Footage shared by the MBKh Media news website showed the children singing “We are Russians, God is with us” while marching around the schoolyard holding the weapons resembling Soviet submachine…
A Russian court on Monday postponed the first hearing in the “extremism” case against the political network of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, part of a campaign to outlaw the opposition to President Vladimir Putin. As the hearing got underway behind closed doors, the prosecution submitted additional documents and the proceedings were postponed until June…
Russia on Friday formally designated the United States and the Czech Republic as “unfriendly states” amid the biggest crisis in ties between Moscow and Washington in years. The Russian government released a decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin that was accompanied by a list of “unfriendly states” that “have carried out unfriendly actions” against…
Authorities in the northern Russian republic of Komi have declared an emergency this week after roughly seven tons of crude oil spilled into local soil and waterways, threatening the area’s ecosystems and populated areas. The spill was likely the result of an accident at a pipeline operated by Russian oil producer Lukoil, officials have determined.…
Azerbaijani forces advanced significantly into territory along the border with Armenia this week, sparking a security crisis in which Russia — Armenia’s treaty ally and the broker of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides — has taken a conspicuously passive role. The details of precisely what happened remain unclear, but Armenia says that Azerbaijani…
India on Friday started inoculating its population with Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the jab’s developers said. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which helped finance the jab, said vaccination started in the southern city of Hyderabad on Friday, making Sputnik V the “first foreign-made vaccine that is used in India”. It said a first…
On May 15, the international community celebrates World Climate Change Day.
A Siberian muckraking journalist who investigated oil-theft schemes has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of blackmail and distributing pornography, authorities said Friday. Eduard Shmonin, 50, was arrested in 2017 after he released an investigative documentary alleging industrial-scale oil theft with Federal Security Service (FSB) and police involvement in the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous…
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Friday to respond to what he said was the persecution of Moscow-friendly politicians in Ukraine, accusing the West of turning a blind eye to Kiev’s political “clean-up.” With tensions between Moscow and Kiev high, Ukraine this week placed Putin’s top ally Viktor Medvedchuk under house arrest on suspicion of high…
Moscow city bailiffs have visited the offices of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to take inventory of the news outlet’s equipment, the independent Meduza news website reported Friday. The U.S. government-funded news outlet has come under increasing pressure in Russia since being added to the country’s “foreign agents” registry in February 2020. By last month,…
Russian oil giant Rosneft said Friday that its earnings were back in the black in the first quarter after oil prices recovered following Moscow’s production deals with OPEC. State-controlled Rosneft reported a net profit of 149 billion rubles ($2 billion) in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 156 billion rubles in the same period last year. It…
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow will temporarily resume routine U.S. citizen services and processing of immigrant visas in priority and urgent cases after Russia paused a ban on it hiring foreign nationals, the Embassy said Friday. On Wednesday, the Embassy halted most of its consular services to U.S. nationals and Russians seeking a visa after…
Russia has declared The Moscow Times’ Russian-language partner VTimes a “foreign agent” on Friday amid what critics call the Kremlin’s ongoing crackdown on free speech and independent media. The designation puts the independent news site’s future in jeopardy as it risks cratering its advertising budget and levying steep fines for auditing violations. VTimes was launched…
Moscow residents are more likely to approve of President Vladimir Putin and their mayor than of their city’s municipal authorities, according to an independent poll published Friday. The Levada Center polling agency said both Putin and Mayor Sergei Sobyanin shared a 41% approval rating among Muscovites. That compares to 13% approval for the Moscow City…
Moscow has reported 3,818 new coronavirus cases Friday, the highest daily count since January, as Russia returned from an extended non-working period designed to prevent a third wave of the pandemic. Nationwide, Russia confirmed 9,462 new cases and 939 deaths across all but one region Friday. The country has one of the world’s highest Covid-19…
Greece will open to tourists who have received Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine from Friday, the country’s tourism minister has said. The Mediterranean country, a popular tourist spot for Russians, is the first European country to open its borders to Sputnik V recipients. The country will no longer require vaccinated tourists to quarantine for seven…
Russian troops have blocked and turned around a U.S. military convoy in northeast Syria, the Russian military said Thursday, accusing it of violating deconfliction arrangements in the country. The Russian Defense Ministry’s Syria reconciliation center said six American MRAP-type armored vehicles drove “along an uncoordinated route and without prior notice” in the Kurdish-held Syrian province…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday jointly called for an end to fighting between Israel and Palestinians. “In light of the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it was stated that the primary task is to stop violent actions on both sides and ensure the safety of the civilian population,”…
Rosneft Aero, the operator of Rosneft Oil Company’s aircraft fuelling business, has received a certificate of compliance with international quality management system standards ISO 9001:2015.
Maezawa, 45, who made his fortune in online retail, said he plans to document the mission and share it with the world on his YouTube channel with over 700,000 subscribers. The Roscosmos space agency said Maezawa would make the flight from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with production assistant Yozo Hirano aboard a Soyuz MS-20…
A Belarusian court jailed a drummer for six years on Thursday after his band played at mass protests in the wake of disputed presidential elections last year, a rights group said. Belarus was for months gripped by weekly demonstrations demanding the resignation of strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed a landslide victory in the August vote…
An international group of scientists has reiterated “serious concerns” over what they call a lack of transparency, missing data and questionable findings in the clinical research behind Russia’s homemade Sputnik V vaccine. In an open letter to The Lancet — the leading medical journal which published Russia’s interim research showing an efficacy of 91.6% for…
Vitalik Buterin, the Russian-born co-founder of the Ethereum digital currency and the world’s youngest crypto billionaire, has donated more than $1 billion to coronavirus-stricken India’s relief fund. The Russian-Canadian programmer moved $1.2 billion worth of dog-themed SHIB meme tokens on Wednesday and about $600,000 in Ether and Maker tokens last month, Forbes reported, citing Buterin’s…
Only 16% of Russians viewed last month’s nationwide protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny positively, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center published Thursday, a signal of flagging momentum for his embattled opposition groups. Navalny’s team had called on supporters to take to the streets on April 21 to demand proper…
Russia has confirmed the first cases of the Indian coronavirus mutation within its borders among a group of Indian students, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, citing the regional consumer protection watchdog. The national headquarters of Rospotrebnadzor later denied the presence of the Indian strain among the students. The news comes amid heightened fears worldwide…
An influential Russian feminist activist and sex blogger, Tatiana Nikonova, has died from an unknown illness at age 43, a message on her website said Wednesday. Nikonova had advocated gender equality, sexual literacy and adolescent sex education, and supported the LGBT movement since 2001. She launched a feminist blog in 2012 and had since gained…
The European Union claims Russia is seeking “de facto integration” with separatist-held eastern Ukraine through its actions, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing a document shared with member states. Kiev has been at war with pro-Russia rebels in the eastern breakaway region called Donbass since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea. Tensions flared this year with a spike…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called for an urgent meeting of the Middle East Quartet in order to halt violence between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking alongside United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Lavrov said: “Today we’ve come to the common opinion that the most pressing task is to convene the Quartet of international…
A British police officer poisoned in the Novichok nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy is suing the force he worked for at the time, his lawyers said on Wednesday. Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who left the police in October last year, became critically ill following the Novichok poisoning attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal…
Slovakia’s health minister said Wednesday that the EU member would start offering Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in June, months after Bratislava’s purchase of the coronavirus jabs triggered a government crisis. The announcement comes a day after the health ministry said it would suspend first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as it investigates a fatal blood…
A former student opened fire at a high school in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday, killing seven students and two adults and injuring more than 23 people in one of the country’s worst shooting incidents in recent history. Officers detained the gunman at the scene, whose official motive remains unclear. Here’s what we…
Russia’s Arctic and Far North regions could become arable in as soon as 20 to 30 years as climate change accelerates permafrost melt, opening up vast swathes of land to agriculture, the country’s environment minister said Tuesday. Some 60-65% of Russia’s territory is covered in permafrost, the upper layer of soil that stays frozen year-round.…
The first field studies of the polar bear population this year have been completed as part of Rosneft Oil Company’s corporate environmental programme.
Ukrainian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top ally in Kiev, has slammed a treason investigation against him, calling it a “political reprisal.” The 66-year-old business tycoon, who counts the Kremlin chief among his personal friends, is a hugely controversial figure in Ukraine for his ties to Russia, which has backed separatists…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to halt fighting in a call with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the world needs to give Israel a “strong” lesson. “Serious concern was expressed about the continuing clashes and the growing number of people killed and wounded,” the Kremlin said in…
The former opposition mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city has been sentenced to nine days in jail for promoting this year’s nationwide pro-Navalny protests on his Twitter, the MBKh Media news website reported Wednesday. Mass protests calling for the release of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were held across Russia on Jan. 23, Jan. 31 and…
Russia-U.S. relations have been in tatters with Washington accusing the Kremlin of interference in U.S. elections, a massive cyber attack and other hostile activity. Joe Biden has increased pressure on Moscow since becoming U.S. president, and comments he made likening Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to a killer were met with fierce criticism in Moscow. Washington…
The majority of Russians (62%) are still not ready to be vaccinated with their country’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center published Wednesday. The results are the latest sign that Russians are largely still skeptical of the domestically-produced vaccine amid Russia’s attempts to boost its slower-than-hoped vaccination campaign. …
Mourners laid flowers Wednesday at the gates of a Russian school where a day earlier a lone gunman killed nine people, mostly children, in one of the country’s worst shooting incidents in recent history. Flags were flown at half-mast on official buildings Wednesday, an official day of mourning, while funerals were planned for some of…
The spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow is among the 10 diplomats to be expelled from Russia in response to sanctions from Washington, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday. Rebecca Ross and nine other American diplomats have until May 21 to leave the country in line with Russia’s retaliation to the expulsion of 10…
Russia should do away with online anonymity to prevent future repeats of Tuesday’s deadly shooting at a high school in the central city of Kazan, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament has said. Nine people, most of them children, were killed and over 20 were hospitalized when a former student opened fire at…
Apple has lodged a legal challenge against the Russian antitrust authority’s $12 million fine over unfair competition. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) last month fined the Silicon Valley tech giant 906 million rubles, accusing it of abusing its dominant position in the app market. It previously ruled that Apple had wrongfully blocked the Russian cybersecurity…
President Joe Biden said Monday that a Russia-based group was behind the ransomware attack that forced the shutdown of the largest oil pipeline in the eastern United States. The FBI identified the group behind the hack of Colonial Pipeline as DarkSide, a shadowy operation that surfaced last year and attempts to lock up corporate computer systems…
Russia on Tuesday expelled the aide to Romania’s military attache, as part of an ongoing diplomatic spat between Moscow and Western capitals. The move comes in response to Bucharest’s decision last month to remove Russia’s deputy military attache from the country as part of the dispute that has embroiled several EU countries formally under the…
Kondaneft, a production enterprise of Rosneft, has introduced an unmanned aerial complex to monitor the industrial infrastructure at its fields consistently.
Ukraine has formally accused two leading pro-Russian lawmakers, including one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close allies, of high treason, the country’s top prosecutor said Tuesday. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced that she authorized suspicion against two members of parliament, whom she identified only as “M and K,” of attempted theft of natural resources…
Ukraine has formally accused two leading pro-Russian lawmakers, including one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close allies, of high treason, the country’s top prosecutor said Tuesday. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova announced that she authorized suspicion against two members of parliament, whom she identified only as “M and K,” of attempted theft of natural resources…