A top-secret Russian military intelligence unit has been engaged in a campaign to destabilize Europe, The New York Times has reported, citing intelligence officials in four Western countries that only recently discovered the unit’s activities. GRU Unit 29155 reportedly oversaw a campaign to destabilize Moldova, an arms smuggler’s assassination attempt in Bulgaria, a thwarted coup…
The World Bank has become the latest organization to cut its outlook for the Russian economy, predicting growth of just 1% in 2019. A host of domestic and international factors are holding back the economy, the organization said in its new forecast published today. The bank had previously predicted growth of 1.2% in 2019. “The…
Ever since five employees of Baring Vostok were arrested on fraud charges in February, the world’s attention has been on the private equity fund’s American founder Michael Calvey and his French business partner Philippe Delpal. Outcries in support of the two men, widely seen as having been caught up in a business dispute, came from…
Russian intelligence services have uncovered a secret “charity” that had more than 100 members and sent money to the Islamic State in Syria, authorities said Wednesday. Russian police and the Federal Security Service (FSB) uncovered Islamic State cells in 17 regions so far in 2019, a top anti-extremism official said last month. The FSB said…
Nearly 40% of Russians believe that the recent criminal convictions of more than a dozen people over this summer’s Moscow protests were politically motivated, according to new independent polling. The Sept. 8 local and regional elections were among the most remembered events of the past month, according to the independent Levada Center pollster. Five of…
KAZAN — At first sight, Shahrizat and Shahdiyar Shavkat, 23-year-old twin brothers from China, look like regular students. They spend their days listening to music, playing sports and hanging out with friends in Kazan, Russia’s sixth-largest city and the capital of the majority-Muslim republic of Tatarstan. Only a “Free the Uighurs” screensaver on one of their…
The number of attacks and threats on Russian journalists by the authorities has more than doubled since 2017, according to a new report published by the international Justice for Journalists NGO on Monday. The report was published to mark the 13th anniversary of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskya’s murder. While five men were sentenced to…
Doctors in southern Russia have removed part of a birthmark on the head of an American baby who was born with a rare skin condition, the state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday. Seven-month-old Luna Fenner was diagnosed with giant congenital melanocytic nevus, with the shape of the mark covering her face resembling a Batman mask…
A Moscow court has sent theater director Kirill Serebrennikov’s criminal fraud case back to its starting point a month after the case was returned to prosecutors, and more than two years after he was first arrested. Serebrennikov was detained in August 2017 on charges of embezzling 68 million rubles ($1 million) in government funds, a…
President Vladimir Putin has presented U.S. astronaut Nick Hague with one of Russia’s top state honors a year after the astronaut survived an emergency onboard a Russian spacecraft. Hague, along with Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin, made a dramatic emergency landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan in October 2018 when a booster rocket on their Soyuz…
Russia and China will sign a cooperation treaty aimed at combating illegal content on the internet this month, Russia‘s state communications watchdog said on Tuesday, an example of deepening cooperation between the powers. Critics have accused Russia‘s authorities of trying to implement Chinese-style curbs on the internet. Cooperation in this area between the two regulators could alarm proponents…
A group of friends frolicking on a beach in Brazil recently discovered a Russian message in a bottle thought to be written by Soviet sailors, Brazilian media have reported. The 15 friends were vacationing on the country’s southern tip on Sept. 20 when they came across a glass bottle containing a rolled sheet of paper…
President Vladimir Putin wants to connect ports on Russia’s Arctic coast with ports on the Indian Ocean, he said at the Valdai Discussion Club conference. Asia and the Middle East were in the spotlight during the conference, which Putin has attended since its establishment in 2004. Infrastructure development was a key part of this year’s talks which took…
Russia was not informed in advance by the United States or by Turkey about U.S. plans to pull troops back from Syria’s northeast border region ahead of a Turkish military operation, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has emerged as a leading power broker in Syria over more…
A court in Moscow ruled Tuesday that U.S. investor Michael Calvey should remain under house arrest facing charges of embezzlement until Jan. 13, the state-run TASS news agency reported. Calvey and other executives at private equity group Baring Vostok were detained in February. They deny wrongdoing and say the charges against them are being used…
The Kremlin will no longer allow authorities in Moscow to run their own elections after the ruling party lost a third of its seats in the capital’s city legislature last month, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin’s administration has reportedly reviewed the results of the Sept. 8 vote — where the pro-Putin…
Russia is aiming to launch a new high-speed rail connection between Moscow and St. Petersburg by 2026, the state railway organization said yesterday. The proposed launch date was confirmed at a meeting between lawmakers in Russia’s Federation Council and Dmitry Kattsyn, head of high-speed projects at the country’s state rail operator, Russian Railways. Russian Railways…
The former head of a Siberian diamond mine owned by Alrosa where eight men were killed in a flood two years ago was found dead in a pre-trial detention center on Tuesday, a day after he was arrested, Russian investigating authorities said. A regional branch of the federal Investigative Committee said there were indications the…
A group of scientific researchers has discovered a record methane emission coming from the eastern Siberian Sea, expedition organizer Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) said in a statement. The scientists found concentrations of the greenhouse gas — which can significantly influence the planet’s climate — up to nine times the global average. “This is the most…
Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has for the first time said he is linked to pro-Kremlin media after years of denying the association, Russia’s RBC news website reported. A newly formed group of four pro-Kremlin outlets called Patriot mentioned Prigozhin by name, identifying him as chairman of its board of trustees. “This is undoubtedly a big honor…
Personal data relating to the Russian mobile operator Beeline’s 2016 database of 8.7 million clients has been leaked, the Kommersant business daily reported citing banking security department sources. Kommersant checked the database, which list Beeline’s internet clients, and found that it includes full names, addresses and phone numbers. Beeline’s press office told Kommersant the leak…
Couriers at one of Russia’s biggest online retailers Ozon staged a strike in St. Petersburg against low wages on Saturday and Sunday, disrupting deliveries in the country’s second-biggest city, the Fontanka news website reported. Ozon, which pioneered the Russian e-commerce sector in 1998 and is often referred to as Russia’s Amazon, holds around 10% of…
Almost 300 lawyers have signed an open letter demanding that Russian authorities stop prosecuting two of their colleagues for allegedly insulting an FSB investigator, the Bumaga news website reported Sunday. St. Petersburg lawyers Andrei and Mikhail Zlomnov are accused of insulting Dmitry Sablin while they were defending their relative Pavel Zlomnov against charges of arms…
A Russian journalist who is being held in Iran was detained last week for a visa violation and not for spying, the Students News Agency ISNA quoted Iran’s government spokesman as saying on Monday. The spokesman said Yulia Yuzik’s case was undergoing a “quick review” by the Iranian authorities but gave no more details. “Her case…
President Vladimir Putin turns 67 today. The Kremlin announced that Putin would be spending his birthday outdoors with family and friends, and released a series of pictures of the president hiking in the Siberian taiga over the weekend. Today also marks the 13th anniversary of the murder of Russian investigative journalist and fierce Putin critic…
Michael Calvey has had almost $1 million in assets frozen in the latest development in the high-profile legal case against the star U.S. investor and his Baring Vostok private equity fund, the Financial Times reported. The development is a setback for Calvey’s team following reports last month that prosecutors were considering dropping the case. A…
Thousands of people gathered in Kiev’s main square on Sunday to protest against President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s deal with Moscow to grant autonomy to Ukraine’s pro-Russian rebel-held east as part of efforts to end a five-year conflict there. In the first breakthrough towards a possible peace deal in years, envoys from Moscow and Kiev agreed at…
Russia will find ways to help Cuba secure supplies of oil and petroleum products, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview broadcast on Saturday. Medvedev pledged to help develop Cuba’s energy sector during a visit to the island this week, but did not announce any short-term measures to provide relief for the island…
Blaming Stalin for starting World War II is “the height of cynicism,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said amid renewed discussion over the Soviet Union’s role in the conflict. “To say that Stalin unleashed the war is the height of cynicism,” Putin said at an international conference in southern Russia on Thursday. “It’s as if…
Russia’s protest movement is spreading across the country and narrowing its focus to political issues, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday, citing a new study that tallied 434 rallies from April-June 2019. The Moscow-based Center for Social and Labor Rights NGO found that only the Chechnya and Chukotka regions saw little protest activity. “There are…
Russian airlines are demanding the government compensate them for three months of losses from suspended flights to Georgia as the neighboring countries move toward resuming the schedule, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. President Vladimir Putin ordered the temporary ban of passenger flights from Russia to Georgia following an outbreak of unrest in Tbilisi triggered…
Russian journalist Yulia Yuzik has been detained in Iran on suspicion of espionage, according to her family members and Russian media reports. Yuzik’s disappearance was first announced by her daughter, who said her mother was arrested “in another country” and that her trial was scheduled for this Saturday. She faces up to 10 years on…
The Kremlin said on Friday that Moscow’s move to help Beijing build an early warning system to detect missile attacks showed the two countries had a special relationship. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was helping China build an early warning system to spot intercontinental ballistic missile launches, something only Russia and the United States possess at…
Only 10.3 million people in Russia can be fully considered as members of the middle class, according to Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE). Real wages have been declining for five years in a row, fueled by Western sanctions and low oil prices. State-run media analysis of official data placed Russia’s middle-class figures at 14%,…
Ukraine plans to carry out a major prisoner swap with Russia and hopes it will take place next week, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said late on Thursday. The comments come after a breakthrough at talks between Moscow and Kiev this week that open the way for an international summit to be held aimed at…
In a new wave of Russian feminism, thousands of women are posting selfies on social media showing their pimples, cellulite and hair loss to challenge beauty stereotypes that women’s rights activists say fuel low self-esteem and eating disorders. The #AllIsFineWithMe trend — started by a Russian teen who has struggled with anorexia — is the latest initiative…
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev lambasted the Trump administration on Thursday for trying to create a “toxic atmosphere” around Cuba, during a two-day trip to the island demonstrating Russia’s support for its Communist government. The former Soviet Union was Cuba’s main backer for decades and Moscow has sought to renew its commercial, military and political…
Greta Thunberg has changed her Twitter profile in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s criticism of the Swedish climate activist for her United Nations speech. The 16-year-old schoolgirl denounced world leaders at the UN General Assembly last month for failing to tackle climate change, igniting a backlash among Russians. Putin criticized Thunberg’s speech Wednesday, calling…
A Siberian shaman who had been crossing Russia by foot to exorcise President Vladimir Putin has been declared “insane,” his lawyer says. Officials had placed the shaman, Alexander Gabyshev, in a psychiatric hospital after he was detained about 3,000 kilometers into his journey to Moscow. Gabyshev is now reportedly facing criminal charges of calling for…
Russia jails more people than any other European country, according to a report published by the All-Russia Civil Forum civic monitor. Russia’s prison system has been under scrutiny since mid-2018, when revelations of torture sparked nationwide inspections and dozens of legal cases. The country has the world’s fourth-largest prison population, according to The World Prison…
Video of a homeless woman singing an Italian opera on a Los Angeles subway platform has become a social media sensation, inspiring multiple offers of professional and financial support. Viewers have reached out through social media to offer Emily Zamourka, 52, housing in the form of an Airbnb. One California man has invited her to perform at…
These days, it’s not very common to see a grey-colored NATO ship sailing into a Russian port. Sailing in the Dvina river delta, the Norwegian Coast Guard ship received some attention. These waters in the White Sea are of strategic importance for Russia. Both the shipyard for building nuclear-powered submarines in Severodvinsk and the mysterious…
At least six top ice-class Arc7 tankers traveled the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route in the last days of September and early October. It is the most complicated part of the Arctic shipping route. Normally, ice lies thick in the area until late July and the waters start to freeze again in early…
The FBI appears to be recruiting Russians living in and around the U.S. capital with awkwardly worded and grammatically incorrect Russian-language Facebook ads, CNN has reported. Washington and Moscow have traded accusations of espionage, disinformation and other influence campaigns as relations between the powers have deteriorated to Cold War levels. An investigation into the 2016…
Rosneft together with Innopraktika, a non-governmental development institute, has published a unique atlas “Russian Arctic. Space, Time, Resources”.
Experts of Verkhnechonskneftegaz JSC, a subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, have successfully implemented a physical and chemical method of enhanced oil recovery and achieved a 54% increase in additional oil production using this technology in 2018 compared to 2017.
Russia’s permafrost is expected to thaw at an accelerating rate between now and 2100, a process that could trigger a “feedback loop” of carbon emissions, according to a new report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). More than 50% of Russia’s territory is located in the planet’s frozen cryosphere. The country is…
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev kicks off an official two-day visit to Havana on Thursday in a strong show of Russia’s support for the communist-run island as it faces escalating pressure from the United States. Moscow has sought to renew its commercial, military and political ties with Cuba in recent years, as part of a…
A court in St. Petersburg has ruled that two LGBT groups must be disbanded for posting information for the community on Russia’s largest social network, VKontakte, the city’s joint court press service said Thursday. VKontakte is obliged to block LGBT groups due to Russia’s controversial so-called “gay propaganda law,” which since 2013 has prohibited “propaganda…
Outgoing U.S. Ambassador in Moscow Jon Huntsman has urged the Russian government to release Paul Whelan, an American detained in Russia on suspicion of espionage. Whelan, 49, who Russian authorities say was detained while receiving classified information late in December 2018, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of spying. He denies…
Between 10 and 35 Russian mercenaries may have died while fighting in Libya’s civil war that has plunged the oil-producing nation into crisis, the Meduza news website has reported, citing unnamed colleagues and veterans. Forces loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar in April launched an offensive to take Tripoli, held by Libya’s internationally recognized government,…
The personal details of millions of Sberbank customers may have been leaked, in what would be the largest-ever data breach in Russian banking, according to cyber security experts. Analysts at cybersecurity firm DeviceLock found personal information relating to up to 60 million Sberbank credit card holders for sale on the black market. They were able…
North Korea needs to rein in its poachers in Russian waters, Russia’s Ambassador in Pyongyang has said in the wake of a recent flare-up between the allies. Russian guards have detained hundreds of North Korean fishermen in four roundups in recent weeks, one of which resulted in a North Korean man’s death. The detentions mark…
Russians view China most positively out of dozens of countries, according to a U.S.-based Pew Research Center report that shows global perceptions of China have declined in the past year. Chinese President Xi Jinping oversaw a massive military parade through central Beijing on Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sided with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in the domestic political storm raging in the United States, and briefly joked that Moscow would hack the U.S. presidential election in 2020. Putin said Trump, who faces an impeachment inquiry over accusations that he pressured Ukraine’s president to dig up dirt…
Many Russian hostels and hotels located in residential buildings are still open for booking despite a controversial ban that went into effect yesterday, according to media reports. Under the new law, it’s now illegal to provide hotel services in residential buildings, sparking concerns for the future of budget travel in Russia. Hoteliers previously warned that…
One of the oldest and largest Italian circuses has arrived in Russia’s northernmost city of Pevek after an epic cross-country trek — but their tour has raised concerns among Russians over the ethics of using wild animals as performers. The Togni circus, which includes human and animal performers, had come all the way from Kazan…
A Russian man is seeking more than $15,000 in damages from Apple after claiming that the U.S. tech giant drove him to homosexuality, the Govorit Moskva radio station has reported. The plaintiff, identified as D. Razumilov, alleges that he became “mired in same-sex relationships” this summer after receiving 69 GayCoins on a cryptocurrency payment app…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday took aim at teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, telling an energy forum he did not share the excitement about her United Nations speech last month. The 16-year-old Swede electrified the UN summit in New York when she denounced world leaders for failing to tackle climate change, unleashing the outrage…
A wave of resignations sweeping Russia’s health sector has reached the country’s capital this week after employees at one of Moscow’s best cancer hospitals threatened to quit in protest of its new leadership. Nurses, doctors, ambulance staff and paramedics across Russia have expressed their grievances by resigning or staging various forms of strikes since the…