Nine people, most of whom were children, have been killed after a lone teenage gunman opened fire at a school in the Russian city of Kazan, regional officials said Tuesday. The victims at Kazan’s School No. 175 some 820 kilometers east of Moscow include one teacher, one female school employee and seven eighth-grade students — four…
Russia’s parliament will next week debate a bill to ban members of “extremist” organizations from being elected as lawmakers, a deputy said Tuesday, in a move targeting supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The legislation can affect not only senior members and activists of Navalny’s political network but tens of thousands of Russians who…
Russia has sentenced a prominent young activist to over two years of home confinement on vandalism charges amid the country’s widening crackdown on dissent, the Mediazona news website reported Tuesday. Olga Misik, 19, became a symbol of Russia’s pro-democracy movement after she read the Constitution to a line of armored riot officers at a July…
President Vladimir Putin has submitted a bill Tuesday to withdraw Russia from an international treaty that allowed surveillance flights after the United States’ exit last year. Russia said in January it was launching the necessary procedures to leave the Open Skies Treaty after the U.S. quit it in November, citing Russian violations including blocking certain…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has countered reports that it plans to relocate to Georgia as it faces an “extremism” ban in Russia. The RBC news website on Monday cited two unnamed sources familiar with FBK’s activities as saying that several key staffers and equipment have allegedly been moved to the Caucasus country.…
Russia on Tuesday rejected U.S. accusations that a Russia-based group was behind a ransomware attack that forced the shutdown of the largest oil pipeline in the eastern United States. “We categorically reject the baseless fabrications of individual journalists and reiterate that Russia does not conduct ‘malicious’ activity in the virtual space,” the Russian Embassy in the United States said…
A Danish court on Monday sentenced a Russian man to three years in prison followed by expulsion from Denmark with no possibility of return, after he was found guilty of espionage. The 36-year-old Denmark resident, whose name was not made public, was arrested in July 2020 but his case only came to light in December.…
President Vladimir Putin will likely remain in self-isolation despite receiving both doses of one of Russia’s domestically made coronavirus vaccines, the Proekt investigative outlet reported Monday. Putin, 68, has lived in one of the most protected virus-free bubbles since the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic swept across Russia last spring. He has worked via…
The former head doctor at the Siberian hospital which first treated Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny who denied his poisoning has been found alive following a three-day search after he went missing on a hunting trip, authorities said Monday. Alexander Murakhovsky was chief doctor at Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1, which admitted Navalny when he fell gravely ill on…
Russia marked 76 years since victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with a massive military procession Sunday. Held every year on May 9, the date of the Nazi surrender, Russia’s landmark military parade on Red Square aimed to boost patriotic sentiment at home and project Russia’s military might abroad. This year’s parade also…
President Vladimir Putin on Sunday vowed Russia will “firmly” defend national interests and denounced the return of “Russophobia,” as the country marked the 76th anniversary of victory in World War II. His speech to thousands of soldiers and veterans on Red Square came as recent tensions between Moscow and the West have recalled the Cold…
Russia on Saturday condemned attacks on civilians after violent clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound and urged both sides to refrain from escalating violence. More than 200 people were wounded when Israeli riot police clashed with Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound late Friday, capping a week of violence…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday attacked a U.S. proposal to hold a “Summit for Democracy,” saying such a gathering would only deepen fissures on the international stage. Speaking in a UN ministerial session organized by his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the veteran Russian diplomat said that developing multilateralism should “be done on a…
Amnesty International has re-designated jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny as a “prisoner of conscience” Friday months after its controversial move to strip him of the label over his past nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. The human rights organization said it has launched a review of its designation practices after it withdrew Navalny’s “prisoner of conscience” status…
Ukrainian authorities have confiscated the first batch of spirit drinks made from apples grown near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the beverage’s British makers said Friday. Prosecutors in Kiev seized the shipment of 1,500 UK-bound bottles of “Atomik,” which British and Ukrainian scientists started making in 2019 following years of research on the transfer of…
Siberian schoolchildren marched with portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin to celebrate his “era” during their town’s processions dedicated to Victory Day, media reported Thursday. The Irkutsk region children were photographed holding photos of Putin and wearing signature military-style uniforms and red berets of the “Youth Army” movement that the president formed in 2015. Critics…
YouTube has briefly restricted access to a leading Russian independent media outlet’s account and warned others for linking to the website of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s anti-Kremlin voting project. Navalny and his allies plan to use his “Smart Voting” strategy — which was first deployed in 2018 after authorities barred him and nearly all…
Belarus’ exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called on the U.S. Thursday to impose more sanctions so as to isolate President Alexander Lukashenko, whose election win Washington considers fraudulent. “I urge you, the elected representatives of American people, to continue acting decisively. We call on the U.S. to engage in international mediation jointly with European partners,”…
At least 170 endangered seals washed up dead over the course of several days on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Russia’s republic of Dagestan, researchers told AFP on Thursday. “These are the dead animals that we saw, photographed and whose GPS coordinates we noted,” said Viktor Nikiforov of the Moscow Marine Mammals research…
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday demanded that Russia end its “aggressive” actions towards Ukraine, warning on a solidarity visit to Kiev that the giant neighbor has yet to withdraw most forces from a recent buildup. The top U.S. diplomat met Ukraine’s leadership and toured a somber memorial with photographs of some of…
Russian scientists and President Vladimir Putin raised objections Thursday after an annual vaccine conference named Moderna’s coronavirus jab the best in the world. The U.S. pharmaceutical giant’s jab was recognized as the world’s best Covid-19 vaccine at the annual World Vaccine Congress earlier in the day, edging out competitors including Pfizer-BioNTech and Russia’s Sputnik V.…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said he supported the idea of a waiver on patent protections for coronavirus vaccines as Russia registered its fourth virus jab called Sputnik Light. A campaign to lift patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines picked up steam on Thursday, with French, German and EU leadership saying they were ready to…
Updated at 4:09 p.m. on May 6 to add the event’s postponement. Russian kindergarteners in full military gear will march in a “baby parade” to mark Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, authorities in a region near Moscow said in an announcement, which was later deleted. The Tver region’s Likhoslavsky district 200 kilometers…
Health officials in Russia approved a single-dose version of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the developers of the shot said Thursday. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which helped finance the vaccine, said in a statement that Sputnik Light “demonstrated 79.4% efficacy” compared to 91.6% for the two-shot Sputnik V. The results, it said, were…
The Kremlin said Thursday it is unaware of its alleged employment of the suspected Russian agents wanted over the 2018 Skripal poisonings in Britain and fatal 2014 arms depot blasts in the Czech Republic. Investigative journalist Christo Grozev said Friday that the duo identified as GRU military intelligence agents Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin have…
Russian lawmakers have proposed banning comparisons between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as the Kremlin seeks to revive interest in the memory of World War II and praise for Russia’s Soviet past. The bill submitted in the lower-house State Duma on Wednesday follows President Vladimir Putin’s orders earlier this year to legally prohibit publicly…
The makers of Russia’s third coronavirus vaccine CoviVak said their tests of a live polio vaccine for preventing Covid-19 have proven effective. Aydar Ishmukhametov, the director of the state-run Chumakov Research Center which developed CoviVak, told state television that the results “prove” the polio vaccine’s short-term effectiveness. “We gave some 60 volunteers a live polio…
The makers of Russia’s second approved coronavirus vaccine EpiVacCorona are studying third doses to boost recipients’ immune response, a senior scientist said Wednesday. Approved last fall and added to Russia’s mass immunization program last month, EpiVacCorona has come under scrutiny after a group of late-trial study participants claimed that it does not produce an immune…
The Central African Republic described UN information about abuse by CAR troops and Russian forces as “denunciations,” but promised to investigate them. Government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui, in a statement late Monday, said President Faustin Archange Touadera had received a report from the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA. In it, the mission detailed abuses committed between…
Hollywood action star Steven Seagal, known for dropping in on tough guy leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, paid a visit to Venezuela’s leftist president Nicolas Maduro to give him the gift of a samurai sword. The hero of 80s and 90s hits including “Hard to Kill” and “Under Siege” appeared in state-run TV footage on Tuesday…
Russian lawmakers have proposed banning people linked to terrorist or extremist organizations from running for office ahead of a landmark ruling to outlaw jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s political and activist groups. The changes to Russia’s election law, submitted in the lower-house State Duma on Tuesday, come days ahead of a highly anticipated Moscow court…
U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday he expects to hold a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a June trip to Europe. “That is my hope and expectation,” Biden said. Biden in April offered a meeting in a third country to discuss rising tensions over Russian sabre rattling around Ukraine, the treatment of…
A Russian astrologer and yoga instructor said she has been accused of illegal missionary work for organizing celebrations of a major Hindu festival. Yekaterina Kalinkina, 47, faces a fine of 50,000 rubles ($650) for organizing and promoting events marking the festival of Maha Shivratri on social media in March, according to documents she posted Friday. Maha Shivratri,…
A monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has been dismantled days after local communists in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan erected it on Russia’s last remaining Stalin Avenue, media reported Monday. The Communist Party chapter in the town of Dagestanskiye Ogni 2,000 kilometers south of Moscow ignited deep-seated divisions when its members placed Stalin’s…
Rosneft will report its Q1 2021 IFRS financial results on Friday, May 14, 2021.
CHOKH, Dagestan – Maxim Alyoshin sips sweet black tea from a thermos flask in this picturesque mountain village as he recalls the horror stories his father told him about fighting jihadist militants in the region in the 1990s as part of an elite Russian special forces regiment. “We always heard scary things about Dagestan, that…
Hundreds of journalists from scores of countries have called on Russia to end its persecution of independent media, according to an open letter published on the Russian student-run news outlet DOXA’s website Monday. The World Press Freedom Day statement came a month after authorities filed a criminal case against DOXA’s editorial team for allegedly “inciting…
The European Union summoned the Russian ambassador on Monday after Moscow put eight EU nationals, including top Brussels officials, on a blacklist in retaliation for sanctions by the bloc. Moscow’s envoy was to meet senior officials from the European Commission and the EU’s diplomatic service later in the afternoon, EU spokesman Peter Stano said. “These…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law fines for publishing information and reports from “foreign agent” media without identifying the outlet’s status amid what observers call tightening restrictions on dissent ahead of key elections. Under to the new law that Putin signed Friday, media organizations can be fined up to 50,000 rubles ($650) for…
Three Russian tycoons and the Rosneft oil giant have filed libel and data protection lawsuits in Britain against the publisher of journalist Catherine Belton’s acclaimed 2020 book “Putin’s People,” the Financial Times has reported. The billionaires — Mikhail Fridman, his longtime business partner Peter Aven and real estate tycoon Shalva Chigirinsky — and Rosneft filed…
Kyrgyzstan said a ceasefire with Tajikistan was holding on Sunday, as it accused citizens from its Central Asian neighbor of crimes during the pair’s worst clashes at their contested border in decades. The Kyrgyz interior ministry said that casualties on its side had risen to over 160 with 34 deaths, 31 of whom were civilians. The…
In December 2019, police officers came to Ruslan Shaveddinov’s Moscow apartment, sawed through the door and placed him in handcuffs before whisking him away for forced military service in the Arctic. Denied access to a cell phone — a rule violation, according to the 25-year-old opposition activist — he had to correspond with his loved…
Russia recorded more than 460,000 excess deaths during the first 12 months of the coronavirus pandemic, according to analysis of official statistics published by the Rosstat federal statistics agency. In its latest report published Friday, Rosstat data showed 38,000 more people died in March 2021 compared to the same month in 2020 — the last…
Five girls were killed Friday when a truck overturned on a highway in southern Russia and crushed a minibus carrying their basketball team to a tournament, officials said. The team was going from the city of Volgograd to a tournament in Cherkessk when the accident happened. “It is very difficult to write about this […] five children…
Five girls were killed Friday when a truck overturned on a highway in southern Russia and crushed a minibus carrying their basketball team to a tournament, officials said. The team was going from the city of Volgograd to a tournament in Cherkessk when the accident happened. “It is very difficult to write about this […] five children…
Russia’s foreign ministry said Friday it had barred eight European officials from entering the country in response to EU sanctions against Russian officials last month. The ministry said it was responding to sanctions imposed by the European Council last month against four top Russian security officials over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and…
Hundreds of military vehicles and thousands of troops swept through Russia’s capital late Thursday for the first grand rehearsal of Moscow’s Victory Day parade. Held annually on May 9, the parade commemorates the Soviet victory in World War II, or the Great Patriotic War as it is usually referred to within the country. Apart from…
Bashneft, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company, reduced overall air pollution by 8% in 2020.
The Russian Navy for the first time test-fired a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile in the Black Sea, the military announced Friday with tensions still high following Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine. The Moskva guided missile cruiser launched one turbojet missile toward the “opposite end” of the Black Sea, according to the Defense Ministry-run Zvezda broadcaster’s…
Officials in Kyrgystan and Tajikistan sought to ease tensions on Friday after major clashes between the ex-Soviet neighbors in Central Asia left over a dozen dead and thousands displaced in Kyrgyzstan. Clashes between communities over land and water along the pair’s long-contested border are regular occurrences, with border guards often getting involved. But the shooting…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s political network has been blacklisted as a “terrorist-linked” organization, Russia’s state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring said Friday. “Navalny Networks” now appears on Rosfinmonitoring’s searchable database of groups and persons with links to terrorist activities, which includes al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Islamic State. The designation means that authorities can block the…
A member of German metal band Rammstein has expressed support for an ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny who was jailed for reposting one of the band’s music videos on social media. Andrei Borovikov, the former coordinator of Navalny’s Arkhangelsk headquarters in northern Russia, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison Thursday on charges…
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said Friday it will cut most visa services for Russians and eliminate non-emergency consular services for Americans from next month following Moscow’s hiring ban on “unfriendly” countries. The move means 75% of consular staff will lose their jobs. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week capped the number of Russians allowed…
One of Russia’s leading defense lawyers has been detained on criminal charges of disclosing details of an investigation hours before he was due in court to represent a prominent former journalist accused of treason, his colleagues said early Friday. “Ivan Pavlov, the leader of Team 29, was arrested on April 30 in Moscow after a…
A prominent Russian scientist accused of state treason has died from cancer at age 77, his lawyer and the RBC news website reported Thursday. Viktor Kudryavtsev was charged in 2018 in connection with a suspected leak of hypersonic missile secrets to Belgium. He was later released after over a year in pre-trial detention after he…
Brazil’s health regulator said Thursday its decision to reject the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was based on the developer’s own data, after the latter threatened to sue for defamation. Brazilian regulators’ decision Monday to deny emergency use authorization for the vaccine has blown up into an all-out international row, with Sputnik V’s makers accusing…
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced an ally of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny to two and a half years in prison on pornography charges, his lawyer said. The sentencing came as Russia inches closer to shutting down Navalny’s political network, with his regional offices announcing they would disband ahead of a ruling over whether…
The developer of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine said Thursday it would sue Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa after it refused to import the jab. “Sputnik V is undertaking a legal defamation proceeding in Brazil against Anvisa for knowingly spreading false and inaccurate information,” the developer said on the official Sputnik V Twitter account. Anvisa announced…
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has completed a special investigation into how Russia conducted clinical trials for its Sputnik V vaccine as part of the jab’s application for approval in the EU. The regulator told The Moscow Times on Thursday that an EMA inspection team currently in Moscow had conducted a Good Clinical Practices (GCP)…
A visibly gaunt Alexei Navalny made his first public appearance Thursday since being imprisoned on old fraud charges and finishing a three-week hunger strike. Joining a court hearing via videolink from the notoriously harsh prison colony outside Moscow where he is serving two and a half years, the 44-year-old Kremlin critic compared himself to a…