Russia’s population could drop by more than 12 million by 2035, the national statistics office said in its annual forecast published Friday. Russia’s overall population dropped for the first time in a decade last year, totaling 146.8 million as migration inflows hit record lows. It totaled 146.7 million so far in 2019, the State Statistics…
Iran, China and Russia began joint naval drills on Friday in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman, in what Moscow said was an unprecedented exercise in naval cooperation and training. Waters around Iran have become a focus for international tensions, with the United States exerting pressure for Iranian crude oil sales and other trade…
Two former members of an elite Russian special forces unit have been charged with two contract killings, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday. Their affiliation to security services emerged after Russia’s Investigative Committee announced it had detained three men in connection with contract killings that were carried out in 2008 and 2012 in…
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly expressed concern to Washington over U.S. visa delays for officials from Russia and other countries, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday after Moscow accused Guterres of turning a blind eye. Moscow says Washington has deliberately delayed issuing visas to Russian officials traveling to the U.N. headquarters in New York,…
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday warned Russia, Syria and Iran against killing civilians in Syria’s Idlib province and said Turkey was working hard to stop the “carnage.” “Russia, Syria, and Iran are killing, or on their way to killing, thousands if innocent civilians in Idlib Province. Don’t do it! Turkey is working hard to…
Israel has refused entry to nearly 6,000 Russians this year as it attempts to contain the increase in asylum applications from Russian travelers, the Haaretz newspaper reported Thursday. Israeli officials have noted a surge in asylum requests from Russian citizens in recent years, leading officials to triple the number of times they denied entry to…
A Russian court sentenced three high-ranking police officers on Thursday to six and seven years in prison for raping a young colleague last year. The three men were charged with attacking and raping their 23-year-old victim after drinking alcohol with her at a police office in October 2018. The Kirov District Court in Ufa found…
Five Russian gas, oil and metals magnates ended the year as the country’s biggest earners with a collective $26.9 billion haul, Forbes Russia reported Thursday. All five individuals are among Russia’s 6 richest people. Here is how much Russia’s biggest movers earned in the last 12 months, according to Forbes. 1. Vladimir Potanin,…
China, Iran and Russia will hold joint naval drills starting on Friday in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman, China’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday, amid heightened tensions in the region between Tehran and Washington. China will send the Xining, a guided missile destroyer, to the drills, which will last from Dec. 27 to…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
Russian authorities raided the Moscow headquarters of opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Thursday, using power tools to gain entry before dragging Navalny out by force and confiscating technical equipment such as laptops. Navalny and his allies said the raid on his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) was carried out by the Federal Bailiffs Service and was connected…
2019 was an impressive year in the Russian business world. The Russian stock market was one of the best performing anywhere in the world — up more than 40% in dollar terms and setting new record highs in the process. Corporate profits soared — rising 12% and on track to pass the landmark 15 trillion…
Russian military police have taken over another base that was recently abandoned by the United States in northern Syria, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. U.S. troops reportedly held the former school building as a base north of Raqqa, the former de facto capital of the Islamic State terrorist group, until “days ago.” Russian…
President Vladimir Putin said Russia has a “pipe-laying vessel” to complete the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, Kommersant daily reported citing unnamed sources on Thursday, following sanctions imposed by Washington. Putin spoke about the vessel to a gathering of Russian top businessmen late on Wednesday, Kommersant reported. He said, according…
Authorities in northwestern Russia have detained what they say are two branch leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious group, investigators said Wednesday. They accused the unnamed 45-year-old and 67-year-old of “organizing extremist activity” in the form of religious services in the city of Vologda. Authorities placed the alleged leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Vologda branch in…
Russia should join its smaller neighbor Belarus rather than forcing Minsk to join Moscow’s orbit, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko quipped Tuesday, days after the latest round of integration talks between the two ex-Soviet allies. Moscow and Minsk are members of a bilateral “union state” and have in recent months discussed a projet for even deeper…
How do you achieve fast growth, without compromising macroeconomic stability? That is the central dilemma which has faced Russian policymakers since 2014. When it came to making a choice between the two, stability won out nearly every time. Following the annexation of Crimea, provision of support for pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine and interference in…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
Low-cost airline Ryanair and other budget carriers are expected to start flying from Russia’s St. Petersburg airport in 2020, the Russian Transport Ministry said. The move is part of Russia’s plan to boost tourist flows to St. Petersburg and will mean more competition for Russian air carriers, including national flag carrier Aeroflot. The ministry said…
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Polish officials on Tuesday for siding with the Nazis prior to World War II in comments sparked by a recent European resolution. The European Parliament in September condemned the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact — a Soviet-Nazi non-aggression deal — for the outbreak of World War II and blamed modern Russia for…
A court in Moscow has ruled to fine and release protester Samariddin Radzhabov for throwing a plastic water bottle at police during anti-government rallies this summer, the Mediazona news website reported Tuesday. Minutes earlier, the Tverskoy District Court sentenced another protester Sergei Surovtsev, 30, to two and a half years in prison for pushing a…
U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions last week on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline designed by Moscow to bypass Ukraine and increase gas supplies via the Baltic Sea to Germany, Russia‘s biggest energy customer. The United States wants to sell more of its gas to Europe and has said the pipeline would make the continent…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
A Kremlin critic and prominent aide of opposition leader Alexei Navalny has reportedly been forcibly conscripted into the military in northern Russia almost 24 hours after he went missing. Ruslan Shaveddinov’s supporters raised the alarm Monday evening when he stopped answering phone calls and colleagues posted pictures of his apartment’s door — which appeared to…
A Russian state journalist who asked President Vladimir Putin a question during his end-of-year press conference last week has been told to resign, the Znak.com news website reported Monday, sparking speculation about the causes for her dismissal. At the press conference on Thursday, Alisa Yarovskaya, a Yamal-Region television channel correspondent, had asked Putin to help…
2019 has been a busy year for Russia abroad. For one, the country has continued to cultivate its ties with new partners — including the 43 African leaders who attended the first Russia-Africa forum in Sochi in October — while sparring with major powers like the U.S. (ending a historic Cold War arms treaty). While…
Russia on Tuesday released five Japanese fishing boats detained last week near Russian-controlled islands claimed by Japan, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, adding that all crew members are in good health. The boats were fishing for octopus near the disputed islands when they were detained by Russian ships on Dec. 17. “The five…
Russia completed a series of tests on Monday checking that its internet services could function if the country were to get cut off from the worldwide web, Deputy Communications Minister Alexei Sokolov said. The tests, conducted over the course of several days on specially designated networks, follow Russia’s controversial “sovereign internet” law enacted last month,…
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be completed in a matter of months and U.S. sanctions imposed on the project last week would not be “catastrophic”. Russia’s new gas transit deal with Ukraine would also mollify the impact on Russian gas supplies of U.S. sanctions…
A Turkish delegation was in Russia on Monday for talks on Syria, following reports that Russian-backed attacks there were forcing tens of thousands more Syrians to flee towards Turkey. Turkey already hosts about 3.7 million Syrians — the world’s biggest refugee population. President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday it could not handle a new influx and…
A Russian fifth-generation stealth fighter jet has crashed during tests in the country’s Far East, news agencies reported Tuesday. The incident occurred days before Russia’s Aerospace Forces were due to receive their first serial-produced Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jet. Its developer Sukhoi plans to deliver a total of 67 fifth-generation Su-57s to the Russian Aerospace Forces…
President Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s first direct train to Crimea on Monday, opening railway service along a now-completed $4 billion bridge that links continental Russia to the annexed peninsula. Dozens of Western countries targeted Russia with economic sanctions over its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 following an unrecognized referendum. The…
A special forces unit demonstrated its melee combat skills to elementary school students in central Russia last week, sparking outrage among parents, a local television station has reported. Prison service guards wearing helmets and bearing shields showed fifth-graders how to club an imaginary enemy at a school auditorium in the Chelyabinsk region town of Zlatoust,…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
The year in domestic affairs came to a close just like the year before: with a surprise protest in Russia’s far north, hundreds of kilometers away from the country’s beating political heart of Moscow. In Kotlas, a town in the Arkhangelsk region with a population of 60,000, several thousand people came out at the beginning…
Rosneft Oil Company and Equinor ASA, the shareholders of SevKomNeftegaz LLC, approved the decision to commence the first stage of full-field development of North-Komsomolskoye field.
Five years ago, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina’s decision to let the ruble trade freely faced a gut-wrenching test. An oil-price collapse and international sanctions had put the currency into a nosedive that even a 650 basis-point rate hike couldn’t immediately halt. Fast-forward half a decade and the picture in Russian markets couldn’t look more…
Greece will extradite a Russian man suspected of having laundered billions of dollars in the digital currency bitcoin to France, the justice minister decided on Friday, court officials said. Alexander Vinnik, the alleged mastermind of a $4 billion bitcoin laundering ring, is one of seven Russians arrested or indicted worldwide this year on U.S. cybercrime…
The United States is “very concerned” about the intensification of the conflict in Libya, with a rising number of reported Russian mercenaries supporting Khalifa Haftar’s forces on the ground turning the conflict into a bloodier one, a senior State Department official said on Saturday. The United States continues to recognize the Government of National Accord (GNA)…
Russia and Ukraine announced terms of a new gas transit deal on Saturday, under which Moscow will supply Europe for at least another five years via its former Soviet neighbor and pay a $2.9 billion settlement to Kiev to end a legal dispute. The deal is a major breakthrough for both countries, which have been seeking to resolve…
Alpha Conde of Guinea had a favor to ask Vladimir Putin when the two presidents met at the inaugural Russia-Africa summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in October. “I would like, if possible, to spend most of our meeting in a one-in-one format because I have things to say to you that are…
Russian-backed Syrian forces have gained ground after a week-long renewed assault against the last opposition enclave in Syria’s northwest, the biggest such push in more than three months that has prompted a large civilian exodus, witnesses and residents said on Sunday. The wide-scale offensive led by intense aerial strikes on civilian areas in rural southeastern…
A Moscow court on Friday slapped climate change activist Arshak Makichyan with a six-day sentence for participating in an unsanctioned picket in Moscow. Makichyan, 24, was reportedly detained in Moscow hours after returning from a trip to Madrid, Spain, where he spoke at the COP 25 UN Climate Change Conference together with climate activist Greta…
A court in Russia has sentenced a Tajik man to 22 years in maximum-security prison for orchestrating an attempted bombing of a high-speed train between Moscow and St. Petersburg, Interfax reported Friday. The court found that Emom Burkhonov had played a role in derailing a Sapsan train in 2017 by placing a metal device on…
Russia has opened recruitment centers for a new military force in northeastern Syria aimed at replacing U.S.-backed Kurdish groups that neighboring Turkey views as terrorists, the Voice of America broadcaster reported Thursday. Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies launched a cross-border offensive against the Kurdish militia after President Donald Trump pulled U.S. forces from the…
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey will not stay silent over Russian-backed mercenaries supporting Khalifa Haftar in Libya, as Moscow voiced concerns over possible Turkish military deployment to Libya in support of Haftar’s enemies. Turkey has backed Libya’s internationally recognized government led by Fayez al-Serraj and the two sides signed a security agreement…
Russia on Friday honored two members of the British “Cambridge Five” spy ring who passed information to the Soviet Union with a memorial plaque and a tribute from the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service. The plaque, unveiled on the day Russia celebrates the work of its security services, was dedicated to Guy Burgess and…
Russia’s FSB security service on Friday searched the home of a man named by Russian media as the prime suspect in a rare shooting incident near the FSB’s central Moscow headquarters, neighbors said. A gunman opened fire on the FSB’s main building in Moscow on Thursday evening, killing at least one FSB employee and wounding…
Russian state energy company Gazprom is planning to construct a giant petrochemical plant in Bovanenkovo, the company’s hub on the Yamal Peninsula. It will be able to produce about 3 million tons of plastics products polyethylene and polypropylene per year, several sources in the company told Vedomosti business daily. If built, the plant will be the northernmost…
A court in Moscow has upheld U.S.-Israeli tourist Naama Issachar’s seven-and-a-half year prison sentence on drugs charges Thursday in a case that has strained ties between Russia and Israel. Naama Issachar, 25, was found guilty of drug possession and smuggling last month. Moscow airport authorities had found 9.6 grams of cannabis in Issachar’s luggage during her…
Donald Trump’s administration has slammed a new package of tough anti-Russia sanctions advanced by U.S. lawmakers earlier this week, The Daily Beast reported Thursday, citing a leaked letter from a State Department official. The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved draft legislation Wednesday that would impose new sanctions against Russia’s banking, energy and ship-building sectors…
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he was open to the possibility of altering Russia’s Constitution to limit the number of presidential terms anyone can serve. “Your humble servant served two terms consecutively, then left his post, but with the constitutional right to return to the post of president again, because these two terms were not…
Russia will carry out tests on Monday on the reliability of its domestic internet infrastructure in the event that the country is disconnected from the worldwide web, the communications ministry said. The threat testing will take place in stages on Dec. 23 and will not affect regular internet users, the ministry said on Thursday. Russia enacted a…
Russian President Vladimir Putin sidestepped a question about the identities of his two daughters at his annual end-of-year news conference on Thursday. Named sources have told Reuters — but later retracted their statements — that one of Putin‘s adult daughters is Katerina Tikhonova, who runs publicly funded projects and takes part in competitive rock’n’roll dancing. Media have identified Putin‘s…
As the only remaining independent, English-language news source reporting from Russia, The Moscow Times plays a critical role in connecting Russia to the world. Editorial decisions are made entirely by journalists in our newsroom, who adhere to the highest ethical standards. We fearlessly cover issues that are often considered off-limits or taboo in Russia, from…
A gunman opened fire at Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters in central Moscow on Thursday evening, killing one officer and wounding five others, including one civilian. An unverified video depicted officers exchanging gunfire and appearing to kill the alleged shooter behind a column. Other videos showed the FSB building being sprayed with gunfire and…
The son of Russian spies who was born in Canada and was stripped of his citizenship after his parents were arrested for espionage in the United States is a Canadian national, the country’s top court ruled on Thursday. Canada’s Supreme Court unanimously upheld an earlier federal court ruling that said a 2014 administrative decision to strip…
At least one person has been killed in a shooting in downtown Moscow on Thursday evening, state media have reported. An unidentified gunman opened fire near the entrance of the Federal Security Services (FSB) building before being killed in a shootout, RIA cited an FSB spokesperson as saying. One FSB officer was killed at the…
Russian President Vladimir Putin held his 15th annual end-of-year press conference at the World Trade Center in Moscow on Thursday. Almost 1,900 journalists, including reporters from the UK, Turkey, Ukraine and Estonia, were accredited to attend the event, meaning almost 2,000 questions had been prepared in advance. Of course, there wasn’t enough time for the…
President Vladimir Putin held his annual end-of-year press conference on Thursday, answering questions from state media and independent journalists on an array of topics related to Russia’s domestic and foreign policy. Here are the highlights from the marathon presser that lasted four hours and 19 minutes: On constitutional term limits for the presidency: — “One…