A makeshift migrant camp on Belarus’ border with Poland has been cleared, Minsk said Thursday, as hundreds of Iraqis who failed to make the crossing to enter the European Union returned home. Hope for de-escalating the crisis, which has seen thousands camping in desperate conditions on the border for weeks, had been mounting in recent…
Russian police have launched a probe into a photograph of a woman flashing her buttocks in front of a church, the latest in a string of racy photos snapped outside religious landmarks, state media reported Thursday. Authorities have launched at least four cases in recent weeks against young people, mostly women, for posting sexually suggestive…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the West is “escalating” the Ukraine conflict by holding drills in the Black Sea and flying bombers near its borders. His comments come as the U.S. accuses Moscow of a troop build-up near Ukraine. Western countries have for days raised alarm over Russian military activity near Ukraine, with…
Russia’s state-run TASS news agency will open the world’s first permanent news bureau on board the International Space Station (ISS), it reported Wednesday. Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will report on the orbital outpost’s daily routine and “share first-hand experience” of life on the ISS, Russia’s space chief told TASS. “A special enlightenment and educational project by Roscosmos and…
The Polish army detained dozens of migrants who crossed the Belarus border and accused Belarusian special forces of masterminding the operation, as G7 foreign ministers on Thursday urged Minsk to end the migrant crisis. Around 2,000 people, mainly from the Middle East, are estimated to be living near the Poland-Belarus border in dire conditions and…
Russia has fired its Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile from a warship in the north of the country, the military said Thursday. The Admiral Gorshkov frigate has test-launched the Tsirkon several times in recent years. President Vladimir Putin has dubbed the Tsirkon and other cutting-edge weapons “invincible” as Moscow hopes to gain an edge in any arms…
The Kremlin said Thursday that Europe should not blame Russia for “all problems,” as tensions with the West simmer over Ukraine and the migrant crisis on the Belarus-Poland border. “Russia has an interest in everybody in Europe finally coming to their senses and stopping considering Russia the culprit of all problems,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov…
The Russian military said Thursday it has resumed evacuating citizens of Russia and regional allies from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Defense Ministry said it has deployed three military aircraft to send 36 metric tons of humanitarian aid to the local population, according to a statement carried by the RBC news website. The returning planes will transport…
Bashneft, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company, has allocated over 4.2 billion roubles for environmental projects in the nine months of 2021.
Russia reported a new record of 1,251 coronavirus deaths Thursday as case numbers continued declining following nationwide measures to curb the spread. Thursday’s death toll marked the second consecutive day of all-time high coronavirus fatalities, with the previous pandemic record of 1,247 deaths seen on Wednesday. That brings the country’s official Covid-19 death toll to…
Russian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov and his newspaper Novaya Gazeta have been fined for failing to properly label “foreign agents” mentioned in their news coverage, Russian media reported Wednesday. The fines are the latest step to enforce the country’s controversial “foreign agents” law amid what critics call an expanding crackdown on independent voices…
The United States on Monday added Russia to a blacklist of countries singled out for “egregious violations of religious freedom,” a move that comes as ties dip to their lowest ebb since the Cold War. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was designating Russia, as well as China and eight other states, as…
Russia’s role in the migrant crisis reflects conflicting goals in relations with its embattled ally Belarus, Russian and Belarusian experts told the Moscow Times this week. The EU has accused the Belarusian government of shipping Middle Eastern migrants toward Poland to force the bloc to drop sanctions imposed after the disputed victory of longtime leader…
Belarus’ oil pipeline operator has temporarily restricted oil flows to Poland for unscheduled maintenance, Warsaw said Wednesday amid an unfolding migrant crisis on the Belarus-Poland border. Poland’s pipeline operator PERN Group said Russia’s Transneft pipeline monopoly had informed it that “oil pumping to Poland and Germany will be slightly reduced.” “The monthly volume of raw material will…
A year and a half since the coronavirus pandemic closed borders worldwide and halted nearly all international travel, Russia is slowly reopening to other countries it deems sufficiently safe. Because Russia’s border is only open to citizens of countries with which it has resumed air travel, this has been a key issue for many foreigners living…
Russia on Wednesday welcomed direct talks held between EU and Belarus officials over a migrant crisis on the Polish border. “It is very important that contact has been made between representatives of the EU and the leadership of Belarus,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the issue with Belarus leader Alexander…
A Moscow court has fined a music video channel for “gay propaganda” after its awards show featured gender-flipping stars and what viewers said resembled a same-sex wedding, Russia’s independent Dozhd TV broadcaster reported Wednesday. Russia’s media watchdog launched a probe over the June 2021 Muz-TV music awards where TikTokers and beauty bloggers walked the red carpet…
A former U.S. Marine serving a nine-year prison term in Russia ended a hunger strike he launched to protest against alleged violations of his rights, his lawyer told AFP Wednesday. U.S. citizen Trevor Reed is serving his sentence in a penal colony some 500 kilometers southeast of Moscow after being convicted of assaulting police officers…
A Far East Russian region has become the first in the country to introduce vaccine passports for internal flights Wednesday as federal lawmakers race to mandate health passes for public transport and other areas amid a record-breaking wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Starting Dec. 1, the Khabarovsk region 8,000 kilometers east of Moscow will require digital…
Russia’s Supreme Court has banned the criminal prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses for joint worship, potentially putting an end to the law enforcement practice of jailing believers for prayer sessions. The ruling could also affect the 152 convictions that have not yet entered into force or are being appealed, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia organization said…
A Russian MMA fighter has been arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing a doctor with an “animal bone” in the U.S. Pacific island of Guam after a dispute over Covid-19 vaccines, Guam media have reported. Akmal Khozhiev, who has called himself the “Unvaccinated Assassin” and shared anti-vaccine posts on social media, was born in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan…
Armenia and Azerbaijan on Tuesday reached a Russia-brokered ceasefire, ending hostilities that erupted earlier in the day along their border, the defense ministry in Yerevan said. The clashes that Armenia said left one of its soldiers dead and a dozen others captured sparked fears of another flare-up a year after the Caucasus arch-foes fought a war…
Armenia said Tuesday it is appealing for Russia’s military aid in the worst fighting with its arch-foe Azerbaijan since the end of last year’s war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian security council said Yerevan was invoking a 1997 Russian-Armenian mutual defense treaty to repel what it said was an attack by Azerbaijani…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said the use of tear gas and water cannon by Polish forces to stop migrants entering from Belarus was “absolutely unacceptable.” “The behavior of the Polish side is absolutely unacceptable,” he told a press conference in Moscow, citing “tear gas and a water cannon and shots fired above…
The Russian military confirmed Tuesday that it tested a space weapon and brushed off U.S. concerns of endangering astronauts at the International Space Station as “hypocritical.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said it “successfully conducted a test on Nov. 15, hitting the non-operating Russian spacecraft ‘Tselina-D,’ which had been in orbit since 1982,” the state-run TASS news agency reported. …
Germany’s energy regulator on Tuesday suspended the certification process for Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the latest setback for the controversial project. The pipeline, which was completed earlier this year after months of delays and setbacks amid U.S. sanctions designed to thwart it, needs approval from German authorities before it can be put…
Iraqis willing and able to pay thousands of dollars for would-be “package deals” to the EU via Belarus have a variety of itineraries to choose from. As thousands of migrants remain stuck in the cold at the razor wire fence along the Belarus-Poland border, AFP spoke with travel agents and migrants involved. The EU has…
Russia’s space agency on Tuesday called for the world’s space powers to work together after the United States denounced Russia’s “dangerous and irresponsible” missile strike that blew up one of its own satellites and created a debris cloud. The International Space Station’s crew was forced to take shelter in their return ships from an unidentified satellite’s…
Gazprom has rejected an opportunity to book extra transit capacity on pipelines to Europe for the third month running, as the energy squeeze on the continent continues to push prices higher. Politicians in Europe have accused Moscow of withholding gas supplies in an attempt to accelerate approval for the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which…
Now that the United Nations’ COP26 climate summit has ended, opinions are split over whether world leaders made the commitments needed to keep global warming from passing a catastrophic threshold. Here’s a look at things Russia did — and did not do — at the landmark summit in Glasgow: Deforestation pledge Russia, which is home…
Russia is not amassing its forces on the immediate border with Ukraine, the country’s border service said Monday as Western leaders continue to sound the alarm over possible aggression. The comments come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia has gathered nearly 100,000 troops near its border and that Western countries had shared information about active…
The European Union is readying new sanctions for Wagner, the Russian mercenary group with alleged links to the Kremlin, France’s foreign minister said Monday. “There’s a common desire to draft a legal framework for sanctions against Wagner,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Jean-Yves Le Drian as telling reporters in Brussels. Wagner has been reported to be involved…
The United States denounced Russia on Monday for conducting a “dangerous and irresponsible” missile strike that blew up one of its own satellites, creating a debris cloud that forced the International Space Station’s crew to take evasive action. Washington wasn’t informed in advance about the test, only the fourth ever to hit a spacecraft from…
Russian President Vladimir Putin told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday that “provocative” U.S.-led exercises in the Black Sea were “increasing tensions” between Moscow and NATO, the Kremlin said. Both leaders expressed “dissatisfaction” with what Moscow called a “worsening” situation in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin statement said. Putin “drew attention to the provocative nature of…
French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Monday that tensions on the Poland-Belarus border where migrants have been massing had to be de-escalated, Macron’s office said. Tensions have soared since last week as coordinated efforts by migrants to cross from Belarus into EU member Poland were thwarted by Polish border guards.…
Growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine are unlikely to lead to a full-blown invasion because of the enormous military, economic and human costs such action would provoke, experts told The Moscow Times on Monday. Russia has been mustering military units on its border with Ukraine this month, in moves the EU on Friday called “rather worrying,”…
A large crowd of migrants was gathering at a shut border crossing between Poland and Belarus on Monday, videos released by Poland’s border guards and defense ministry showed. “More and more groups of migrants are being brought to the Kuznica border crossing by Belarusian forces,” the defense ministry said on Twitter, as videos appeared to…
Belarus is working to repatriate migrants that have amassed on its border with Poland, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday, apparently aiming to defuse the crisis ahead of an EU meeting over new sanctions on the ex-Soviet country. Thousands of migrants from the Middle East have been trying to cross from Belarus into EU member…
Rosneft and Zvezda shipyard donated a modern tomographic scanner to Bolshoy Kamen (Federal Medical and Sanitary Unit No. 98 of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia).
As Russia continues to grapple with a devastating fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, its regions have implemented a digital health pass system to control entry to public areas. The scannable QR code passes prove that one has been vaccinated within the past 12 months, has recently recovered from Covid-19 or recently tested negative for…
Poland has charged two Russian nationals and one Ukrainian citizen on accusations of ferrying undocumented migrants from the Middle East to Germany, prosecutors said Monday. The announcement comes amid a tense standoff over thousands of migrants from war-torn countries who are stranded on Belarus’ border with EU member Poland. According to the Russian state-run TASS news…
Dozens of migrants have been detained after crossing into Poland from Belarus, Warsaw said on Sunday, warning of a possible larger breakthrough ahead of an EU meeting to widen sanctions on Belarus. Police said on Twitter that 50 migrants had crossed the heavily guarded EU and NATO border near the village of Starzyna “by force”…
MINSK – Opposite the Minsk Sports Palace, a brutalist 1960s indoor ice hockey arena in the Belarusian capital, a column of around fifty men and women walks behind a police officer in a black balaclava covering everything but his eyes. Some are carrying their children. The officer leads them to the parking lot opposite the…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview aired Saturday that Moscow had nothing to do with the migrant crisis on the Belarus-Poland border. “I want everyone to know. We have nothing to do with it,” he said in an interview with state broadcaster Vesti, after Poland and other Western critics accused Moscow of working…
The Russian government said Friday it had submitted to parliament two bills that will introduce mandatory health passes to access restaurants and public transport, amid a new wave of coronavirus cases. With more than 8.9 million cases registered since the start of the pandemic, Russia is one of the worst-hit countries in the world and…
Two Russian paratroopers died during snap military drills with Belarus near its western border with EU member Poland on Friday when their parachutes malfunctioned in strong winds, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said. “Despite doctors’ efforts both Russian servicemen died of their wounds,” the ministry said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies. Earlier…
Update: Late Friday evening, Russia’s Defense Ministry said at least two paratroopers have died during landing. Russia said Friday it sent paratroopers near the Polish border for joint drills with Belarus as Moscow stepped up military involvement in the neighbor’s territory amid tensions with the West over an escalating migrant crisis in recent days. The Russian…
The European Union said on Friday that it was alarmed by Russian military activities close to Ukraine’s border, after Washington demanded an explanation from Moscow. “We continue to watch the situation and the information we gathered so far is rather worrying,” EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano told journalists. He said the 27-nation bloc was…
Russia has added the founder of a prominent prisoners’ rights NGO that has leaked video of alleged widespread prison torture to its wanted list for a second time, the activist said Friday. Gulagu.net founder Vladimir Osechkin, who has lived in France since 2015, was added to Russia’s wanted list two days after the NGO published…
Closing down respected Russian rights group Memorial would deal a “devastating blow” to civil society in the country, the secretary-general of pan-European rights body the Council of Europe said Friday. The closure of “Memorial would deal a further devastating blow to civil society, which is an essential pillar of any democracy,” said Marija Pejcinovic Buric,…
Belarus’ flagship carrier Belavia announced Friday that it will no longer transport passengers from three Middle East countries from Turkey to Minsk as the migrant standoff on the Poland-Belarus border placed it at risk of EU sanctions. Belavia said the ban on passengers from Syria, Iraq and Yemen goes into effect immediately and is the…
Russia is not among the countries the European Union is considering sanctioning over the migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border, a senior EU official said Thursday after reports suggested Brussels could punish Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot for what it called “human trafficking.” Bloomberg previously reported that the European Commission was considering sanctioning Aeroflot alongside Belarus’ Belavia,…
ISTANBUL – As the last rays of the setting sun shone through Istanbul Airport’s floor-to-ceiling windows on Wednesday, a large group of Iraqi men, women and children gathered in front of the departure gate for Minsk. “This is our lucky ticket, we are going to Europe,” said Zoran, 18, wrapped in a thick winter coat…
A database of Russians who purchased fake coronavirus vaccine certificates has leaked online, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday, with experts warning that the buyers are now at risk of both blackmail and jail time. With vaccine skepticism rampant, many Russians have turned to the black market to purchase counterfeit QR code passes that prove one’s…
The staff at Ukraine’s English-language newspaper The Kyiv Post announced efforts to relaunch as an “independent” publication Thursday, days after its owner shuttered it amid a dispute over editorial independence. The Kyiv Post’s publisher, real estate developer Adnan Kivan, made the shocking announcement Monday that the newspaper will close “for a short time” after 26 years…
Russian prosecutors are moving to shutter the country’s most respected rights group Memorial, it announced Thursday, in the latest legal effort to silence independent voices critical of President Vladimir Putin. Memorial said it was notified by Russia’s Supreme Court that prosecutors had filed a demand to dissolve the group over systematic violations of “foreign agent”…
Moscow vowed Thursday to continue military cooperation with Mali and to defend the Sahel state’s territorial integrity while denying any links to Russian military contractors in the country. The Kremlin came under scrutiny earlier this year from France and Germany over a reported deal to send 1,000 fighters from the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group to…
Iraq has announced evacuation plans for its citizens stranded in Belarus on Thursday amid mounting calls to address the migrants’ plight. Hundreds of migrants, mainly from the Middle East, have gathered on the border this week in hopes of crossing into European Union member Poland and claiming asylum. Belarus says some 2,000 people are living at the…
Belarus and Poland have been locked in a war of words as a migrant crisis on their shared border has escalated in the past week. Warsaw and the European Union accuse Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating the transport of thousands of migrants, mainly from the Middle East, to the Polish border in retaliation for…
Belarus’s strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko vowed Thursday to respond to any new sanctions imposed over the migrant crisis on the country’s border with Poland, including by potentially cutting off the transit of natural gas to Europe. “If they impose additional sanctions on us… we must respond,” Lukashenko said in comments to officials released by the…