Moscow Could Appeal Russia Sports Ban, Putin Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow had grounds to appeal a decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency to bar Russia from major sporting events, a move he said violated the Olympic charter. Russia was banned from the world’s top sporting events for four years earlier on Monday, including the next summer and…

Russia Cannot Compete in 2022 World Cup Under Own Flag

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…

‘We Got What We Deserved’: Russia Reacts to Doping Ban

Russia will be banned from competing in or hosting major world sporting events for four years after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) unanimously ruled that Moscow had tampered with doping laboratory data. The ruling is the latest blow to Russia’s already tarnished sporting reputation, which has been hit by scandals since a 2015 report commissioned…

Russia Banned From Olympics for 4 Years Over Doping Scandal

Russia was banned from the world’s top sporting events for four years on Monday, including the next summer and winter Olympics and the 2022 soccer World Cup, for tampering with doping tests. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) executive committee acted after concluding that Moscow had planted fake evidence and deleted files linked to positive doping tests…

Siberian Shaman Restarts Trek to ‘Exorcise’ Putin

A self-proclaimed shaman has restarted his cross-country trek to cast President Vladimir Putin out of power after being arrested and declared mentally ill, the RBC news website reported Sunday. Alexander Gabyshev in March embarked on an 8,000-kilometer journey on foot from his native republic of Sakha to Moscow to “expel” Putin, whom he called a…

Latest Russia-Belarus Integration Talks Fall Flat

Talks between the Russian and Belarusian Presidents in Sochi Saturday over plans for closer integration of the two countries appeared to end in a stalemate. Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko were locked in negotiations for more than five hours at the Black Sea resort Saturday, the Kremlin confirmed — although the pair…

Singapore Arrests Sanctioned Russian Vessel

Authorities in Singapore plan to arrest a Russian vessel under U.S. sanctions for violating economic sanctions imposed on North Korea, Interfax reported Friday. The U.S. Treasury targeted Russia’s Gudzon shipping company in 2018 with sanctions on six of its vessels, including the tanker Sevastopol. South Korea briefly held the Sevastopol last year and China later…

Russia Faces Up to Its Dark Domestic Violence Problem

In December 2017, Margarita Gracheva’s husband drove her into a forest in the Moscow region and chopped off her hands with an axe. Two years later, police pulled a history professor out of a St. Petersburg canal with a backpack containing the severed arms of his girlfriend, Anastasia Yeshchenko.       These are the most shocking of…

For Sale: Access to Moscow’s CCTV Network on Black Market

Access to Moscow’s network of more than 170,000 surveillance cameras is being sold on the black market, investigators have found. Researchers at MBKh Media — an investigative media outlet run by Kremlin opponent and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky — found that live access to any one of Moscow’s public surveillance cameras, which come with…

4 Quotes From Prime Minister Medvedev’s Q&A

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held his annual end-of-year press conference Thursday, 24 hours after prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny alleged that his wife Svetlana Medvedeva owns a $50 million private jet.  Over the course of two hours, Medvedev fielded questions from 20 news, sports, comedy, music and youth television channels. Despite Navalny’s pleas to raise…

Dozens of Polar Bears Descend Upon Russian Town

An unusually large group of polar bears has converged around a village in Far East Russia, forcing residents into lockdown, the global conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russia said Thursday. Residents of Ryrkapiy, population 600, were said to have organized patrols and canceled all public gatherings, including New Year’s celebrations, to prevent the polar…

U.S. Sanctions Russian Cybercrime Outfit ‘Evil Corp’

The U.S. Treasury Department said it would sanction a Russian group known as “Evil Corp” and its leaders for cyber-thefts at hundreds of financial institutions around the world that total more than $100 million. The targets include the group’s leader, identified as Maksim Yakubets. The U.S. said he also worked for the Russian Federal Security…

‘The Darker My Future, The Wider My Smile’: Student Protester Zhukov’s Closing Statement

Popular YouTube blogger and political science student Yegor Zhukov faces up to five years in prison on charges of calling for extremism online, a case that critics say is politically motivated. Authorities initially charged Zhukov, 21, with mass unrest in connection with anti-government protests that swept Moscow this summer. After fellow students and activists campaigned…

No Russia Agreement, No Donbass, Warns Ukraine

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…

Russia Expels Bulgarian Diplomat in Tit-for-Tat Move

The Russian government has expelled a Bulgarian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move after Sofia asked Moscow to recall a diplomat on suspicion of espionage, Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said on Thursday. Bulgaria’s ambassador in Moscow, Atanas Krastin, has been informed that the diplomat must leave Russia within the next 24 hours in line with diplomatic protocol, the ministry said…

Russian Parliament Demands Apology From Norway as Tensions Escalate

Senator Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee, and Rune Resaland, the Norwegian Ambassador to Russia, had a tense meeting Wednesday as they discussed the countries’ relations and the 2018 arrest of a Russian parliamentary aide.  Kosachev told the Norwegian ambassador that there could be no normal cooperation between the two countries’…

Russian Judges Eye Punishments for ‘Biased’ Media Coverage

Russian judges are considering punishing journalists and media outlets for “biased coverage” of the national court system, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, a move that observers say would harm free speech in the country. The Russian judicial system’s 2020-2030 draft information policy obtained by Vedomosti aims to penalize the publication of “negative materials” about…

Navalny Links $50M Jet to Russian PM Medvedev’s Wife

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s wife jetsets on the government’s dime, prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has said in a new video published ahead of Medvedev’s annual end-of-year press conference with reporters from 20 television channels. Medvedev, the subject of Navalny’s viral 2017 investigation into corruption that has been viewed 32.7 million times, is scheduled…

‘We Don’t Call It Annexation,’ Kazakh Leader Says of Crimea

Kazakhstan doesn’t believe that Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, its new leader said in an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle news outlet published Wednesday. Kazakh President Kassym Jomart-Tokayev appeared to tamp down concerns that, given northern Kazakhstan’s sizable ethnic Russian minority similar to Crimea’s, the Kremlin could seize parts of its…

Russian Man Arrested Over Fake EU Border Scam

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…

Defected Pro-Kremlin Lawmaker Resettles in Germany

A former pro-Kremlin lawmaker who voted for a law banning U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children has resettled in Germany, the country’s Süddeutsche Zeitung daily reported Monday. Robert Schlegel supported the adoption ban, tried to push through a “fake news” bill, co-authored Russia’s “Google tax” and boasted about a 2007 cyberattack that crippled neighboring Estonia’s…

U.S. Charges Russian Companies for Attempt to Evade Trade Sanctions

U.S. federal prosecutors have charged Russian, Italian and U.S. companies and several employees for allegedly trying to evade U.S. sanctions by providing a U.S.-manufactured power turbine to a Russian state-controlled business, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. The unidentified Russian company was barred from acquiring the turbine under U.S. sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation…

Russia to Make Investors Pass Exam Before Trading Shares

Millions of Russians will have to take a test to prove they understand financial markets if they want to carry on trading foreign stocks, under a central bank plan aimed at stemming potentially heavy losses among retail investors. The central bank had sought to limit access for non-professional investors, arguing that some lacked the knowledge…

Rosatom Signs Deal to Boost Russia’s Arctic Infrastructure

State nuclear agency Rosatom has confirmed it will take a stake in transport conglomerate Delo Group as part of Russia’s plans to capitalize on Arctic shipping routes. In a statement published on Rosatom’s website Tuesday, the organization said the deal would “launch a global international transport and logistics business” to develop Russia’s infrastructure and capacity…

Kremlin Laughs Off Allegations of Possible U.K. Election Meddling

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it viewed suggestions from Western researchers that Russian hackers may have leaked British-U.S. trade documents before Britain’s election with derision, saying such allegations were often a ploy to deflect attention. Moscow was reacting after experts said the leak and distribution of the classified documents online resembled a disinformation campaign uncovered…