State Duma deputy and notorious anti-gay crusader Vitaly Milonov wants to ban gender-inclusive Barbie dolls from Russia, referring to them as “freak dolls.” Toy manufacturer Mattel unveiled a gender-inclusive line of its iconic Barbie dolls Wednesday, to allow children “to express themselves freely.” The dolls, which are designed without stereotypically male or female features, come…
At 15 years old, Margarita Naumenko is one of the youngest participants in Russia‘s Fridays for Future climate protest movement. Each week, she stands in downtown Moscow with other young activists chanting, brandishing posters and demanding the government take action on worsening climate change threats. Her parents support her decision to protest, Naumenko said, but they…
People identified as Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have questioned an eco-activist in Russia’s Arctic city of Murmansk ahead of Friday’s authorized Climate Strike protest there, the activist has said. Russia was largely absent from the Global Climate Strike last week, where 4 million people in 200 countries took to the streets calling for global…
Russia‘s parliament will ask its Foreign Ministry to consider revoking broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s right to work in the country for allegedly breaking laws on political impartiality, a senior lawmaker said on Friday. Vasily Piskarev said a parliamentary investigation had found evidence that Germany’s publicly funded international broadcaster had urged Russians to attend an unauthorized protest this…
The Kremlin has said it hopes that discussions between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will remain secret following the scandal that erupted over Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s leader. Transcripts from Trump and Putin’s face-to-face meetings have not been made public, with reports saying Trump has gone to “extraordinary lengths” to conceal…
A Russian gay couple whose adoption of two children sparked criminal proceedings against social services officials have requested asylum in the United States, the LGBT group Coming Out has said. Authorities opened a criminal negligence case against Moscow’s social welfare officials in July for allowing the couple to “form distorted ideas about family values in…
A theater in Russia’s fourth-largest city has been fined for its lack of provisions in case of nuclear war. The Cold War-era practice of training civilians on procedures to take in the event of a nuclear attack has grown more commonplace in recent years amid strained relations between Russia and the West. The Emergency Situations Ministry…
NATO has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calls to suspend deployment of missiles in Europe that were banned under a recently abandoned U.S.-Russian nuclear pact. The Kommersant business daily reported and the Kremlin confirmed Putin’s offer, which came amid concerns that Russia and the U.S. are headed toward an arms race after Washington exited the…
Russia detained three North Korean vessels and more than 200 crew on Friday in the second such incident in two weeks as part of a clampdown on poaching by the secretive nation’s fishermen. The detentions mark rare confrontation between North Korea and Russia, which sees itself as an important player in international talks on defusing nuclear tensions…
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a firm it said was participating in a scheme to avoid U.S. sanctions while helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria. The U.S. Treasury Department said the newly sanctioned firm, Maritime Assistance LLC, was operating as a front company for OJSC Sovfracht, a company the United…
Russia is expanding its Hmeimim airbase in Syria and rebuilding a second landing strip to allow the facility to serve more aircraft, Russian news agencies cited an unnamed Defense Ministry official as saying on Thursday. The ministry has also set up new buildings to house aircraft at the site that will defend against drone attacks, the official…
Specialists of RN-KrasnoyarskNIPIneft LLC (a subsidiary of Rosneft’s Corporate Research and Development Complex) have completed a pilot project to re-process and re-interpret 3D-seismic data acquired during the exploration of the Vankor field in 2003-2005.
A celebrated Russian priest who adopted 70 children has been arrested on suspicion of pedophilia. Father Nikolai Stremsky, said to be the patriarch of Russia’s largest family and a recipient of a prize established by the Red Cross and Russian government, was reportedly detained Tuesday. Local media reported that authorities first opened a criminal investigation…
A whistleblower report released by a congressional panel on Thursday said President Donald Trump used his office to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 election to advance his personal political interests, risking U.S. national security. The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee released a declassified version of the report made by the whistleblower, which…
Russia said on Thursday that Belarus’s refusal to host a military airbase backed by President Vladimir Putin had been an “unpleasant episode,” a rare public display of disagreement between the close allies. Russia and Belarus are members of a largely symbolic union state and are in talks to deepen their integration, but the airbase spat illustrates the…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Moscow wants to end the five-year war in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskiy has said. More than 13,000 people have been killed since the conflict between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government erupted in the region known as the Donbass in 2014. Sporadic fighting continues despite…
Today, tourists tend to choose to travel to Iceland or Norway to get a taste of the Arctic experience. The establishment of a new special customs zone in Russia has the possibility to change that, Alexander Kirilov, the director of the Russian Arctic National Park, said in a statement issued by the Natural Resources Ministry. …
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This story was updated on Sept. 26 at 11:42 a.m. A Russian trawler that caught fire in the northern Norwegian port of Tromsø capsized and sank Thursday morning after burning for nearly 24 hours, the Defense Ministry’s Zvezda television channel has reported. Negligence during welding work is suspected to have caused the fire, Russia’s consul…
Russia can overcome its gender-related issues by legalizing polygamy, the leader of Moscow’s Muslims has said. Polygamy, the practice of taking more than one spouse, is frowned upon by an overwhelming majority of Russians. While polygamy is not permitted under Russian law, it remains commonplace in the country’s predominantly Muslim republics of the North Caucasus.…
For U.S. President Donald Trump, White House publication on Wednesday of a memo summarizing his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy fuelled a domestic political crisis. For Zelenskiy, it was a far-reaching diplomatic disaster. Zelenskiy’s comments to the Republican Trump, disclosed in the summary, will likely irk U.S. Democrats, risking the bipartisan U.S. support Kiev…
President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine’s leader to investigate Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden, in coordination with the U.S. attorney general and Trump’s personal lawyer, according to a summary of a telephone call released by the Trump administration on Wednesday. The official account of the half-hour July call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy laid bare an astonishing…
Russia, the United States and 17 other members of the United Nations have banded together to try to purge abortion- and reproductive health-related language from the international body’s terminology. The UN adopted a universal health care declaration Monday which included “the need to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services and reproductive…
A man who stole a Russian masterpiece worth about $1 million from a Moscow art gallery in broad daylight in January was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday. Police arrested Denis Chuprikov after he was caught on camera taking the 1908 landscape painting “Ai Petri. Crimea” by artist Arkhip Kuindzhi off the wall…
U.S. President Donald Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July telephone call to investigate whether former Vice President Joe Biden shut down an investigation into a company that employed his son, a summary of the call released by the Trump administration on Wednesday showed. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced…
Top members of the ruling United Russia party in St. Petersburg meddled in the city’s municipal elections earlier this month, Central Election Commission Head Ella Pamfilova said Wednesday. Observers noted widespread violations during the Sept. 8 elections, including lengthy delays in the official count, intimidation and recounts. According to official results confirmed Tuesday, deputies from…
Russian Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that it will be difficult to boost much-needed investment activity without first improving trust in the courts and Russia’s law enforcement agencies. Speaking at a meeting of Putin and other officials that was broadcast on state television, Oreshkin said it was “very important” to…
Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that Russia must restore trust in its courts and law enforcement agencies if the government is to have a chance of fulfilling the Kremlin’s ambitious economic plans. The unusually direct comments to Putin were broadcast on state television and come as the government is searching for ways…
A Russian Soyuz spaceship blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome towards the International Space Station on Wednesday carrying a crew of three, including the first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates, NASA television reported. Emirati astronaut Hazzaa AlMansoori, Russian commander Oleg Skripochka, and flight engineer Jessica Meir of NASA were expected to dock with the space station about six…
A Russian trawler has caught on fire in the northern Norwegian port of Tromsø, local police said Wednesday. Twelve out of 29 crew members have been sent to the hospital for smoke inhalation, Norway’s NRK broadcaster reported. The Maritime Bulletin news outlet, which identified the trawler a the Bukhta Nayezdnik, said 27 people have been…
Helicopters, excavators and people wearing hazmat suits have been filmed near the site of a mysterious nuclear explosion at a Russian military site that has raised international concerns and safety fears. A liquid propulsion system blast on Aug. 8 at a naval missile test facility in Nyonoksa has killed seven people and led to a…
A group of Russian military specialists has arrived in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Russia’s Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying on Wednesday. The report did not say how many specialists had been sent, but it cited another unnamed source saying they had been dispatched in order to service and carry out…
Russian President Vladimir Putin backed negotiations between Venezuela’s government and opposition groups that have been rejected by the leader of the main opposition to President Nicolas Maduro. Last week, a group of Venezuelan opposition parties agreed to enter a dialogue with Maduro’s government. But larger groups, led by opposition leader Juan Guaido, rejected the move.…
A private army linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun fighting on the front lines of the Libyan war, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest projection of Russian power following a decisive military intervention in Syria. More than 100 mercenaries from the Wagner group headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as…
A famous elderly model from Russia has been featured in an ad campaign for the French cosmetic giant L’Oreal. Valentina Yasen, the 64-year-old winner of Russia’s 2018 Glamour Model of the Year award, has donned magazine covers and graced catwalks as part of Oldushka, the Russian over-45 modeling agency. The retired theater actress explained that…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged NATO to suspend the deployment of missiles in Europe that were banned under a recently abandoned U.S.-Russian nuclear pact, the Kommersant business daily has reported. There are increasing concerns that Russia and the U.S. are headed toward an arms race after Washington formally pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear…
St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena will host the final of the 2021 UEFA Champions League, the European football governing body’s executive committee announced Tuesday evening. It will be Russia’s second time hosting a Champions League final. In 2008, Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium saw Manchester United beat Chelsea in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. The competition’s final is one of the…
Russia’s Transportation Ministry expects to build a toll road linking Moscow with the city of Kazan by 2027, three years after its original planned completion date, the Vedomosti business daily has reported. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov last week authorized the Transportation Ministry to start building two sections of the Moscow-Kazan highway. The toll road is…
A Russian lab says it has produced the country’s first artificially grown piece of meat, opening up possibilities for a sustainable alternative to traditional meat products for the country’s consumers. The idea of “cultivating” meat in labs using in vitro animal cells has gained worldwide popularity over the past several years as a more ethical…
The average woman in Russia gets married eight years later than she did earlier this decade, according to official data. Marriage rates in Russia hit their lowest point since 2000 last year, according to Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) data, and researchers don’t expect rates to begin rising again until the mid-2020s. Most women in Russia…
Protesters who were jailed over this summer’s mass election rallies in Moscow would have been shot dead if they had been protesting in the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has said in a leaked video. Dmitry Peskov’s conversation with students at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE) appeared on social media in the wake…
Russia on Tuesday summoned a senior U.S. diplomat in Moscow to protest over what it said was Washington’s unacceptable refusal to issue visas to members of a Russian delegation traveling to the United Nations General Assembly. The Kremlin promised a tough response and said Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador in Moscow, had been summoned to…
While ice-cold fall storms were gathering force in Russia’s far northern region, Russian and Italian businessmen and state officials exchanged warm handshakes in a party tent erected on desolate lands about 80 kilometers northeast of the city of Murmansk. The spot will soon house 57 major wind turbines, making it Russia’s largest wind park and…
Terrorists in Syria get help from an “outside” source in assembling their combat drones, the Russian military has claimed. Russia’s Khmeimim airbase in northwest Syria has been subjected to numerous drone attacks in recent weeks, including a Sept. 3 attack repelled by Russian air defense. The drones can travel over a path of 150 kilometers…
Russia is testing face- and voice-recognition technology to identify mobile device users as it moves toward approving eSIM technology which allows consumers to switch easily between carriers, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper has reported. The Central Bank is overseeing a pilot project that uses personal biometric data to remotely open accounts despite concerns over state surveillance,…
RN Bunker LLC – a specialized Rosneft subsidiary – has started bunkering of ships with RMLS 40, a marine fuel that has advanced environmental properties in the Far East.
Europe’s three largest low-cost airlines have applied to fly in and out of St. Petersburg in a move that would increase tourism to Russia’s northern capital but has drawn criticism from Russian airlines. St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport could become the first Russian airport to permit “seventh freedom flights,” which allow international carriers to operate flights…
A Russian man pleaded guilty on Monday to U.S. charges he took part in a massive computer hacking scheme that targeted JPMorgan Chase & Co and other financial services companies. Andrei Tyurin, 36, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to six counts including wire fraud and computer hacking conspiracy, admitting that he illegally obtained the…
Russia will miss the World Athletics Championships for the second time in a row after the sport’s governing body, the IAAF, extended the ban against country’s federation on Monday. The IAAF confirmed the decision four days before the start of the competition in Qatar after hearing a report from its Task Force (TF) overseeing Russia’s…
Moscow has landed in CNN Travel’s list of the top 10 destinations to witness the red and golden hues of autumn. While acknowledging that “no country has a patent on trees filled with russet, scarlet and golden leaves,” the outlet singles out the Russian capital for “some unexpectedly fine spots for autumn hues.” Tsaritsyno, CNN…
A phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy has become a political flashpoint in Washington following reports that Trump repeatedly pressed Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and his son. The July 25 call has wide-ranging implications for Russia’s western neighbor Ukraine, which depends heavily on U.S. aid…
As many as 4 million people in 200 countries took to the streets for the Global Climate Strike on Friday — but Russia, the world’s largest country, was largely absent from the event. Inspired by 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s “Fridays for Future” campaign, young people around the world have organized protests calling for…
Russia said it would implement the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight climate change after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday approved a government resolution signifying Moscow’s final acceptance of the deal. The same resolution said Russia would not technically ratify the accord however due to a legal nuance. Medvedev said Moscow would adapt the accord to existing legal…
Russia, China and India held joint anti-terrorism exercises with Pakistan and four Central Asian republics last week. Nearly 130,000 troops, 20,000 pieces of equipment, 600 aircraft and up to 15 warships were rolled out across eight Russian training grounds for the Tsentr-2019 (Center-2019) drills. The Sept. 16-21 war games, which President Vladimir Putin observed Friday…
Russia is once again in danger of being banned from next year’s Olympics after the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed that historical data supplied by the country’s anti-doping authority contained “inconsistencies.” WADA said on Monday it had opened compliance proceedings against the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) after examining the vast bank of historical testing data finally…
IZHEVSK — It was a Tuesday morning like any other. Albert Razin, a 79-year-old activist, stood outside the State Council building in the capital of Russia’s republic of Udmurtia holding two handwritten signs. One read: “Do I have a fatherland?” The other quoted Soviet Avar poet Rasul Gamzatov: “If tomorrow my language will be forgotten,…
Russia has officially declared a former Kremlin official alleged to have been a CIA informant missing and is looking for him, according to an entry in the Interior Ministry’s database, the state-run RIA news agency reported on Monday. U.S. media reports, confirmed to Reuters by two sources, have said a CIA informant in the Russian government was…
Around 2,000 people have staged an authorized protest in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk on Sunday demanding the government drop plans to create a giant landfill in the remote Shiyes railway station. Residents of nearby regions have for over a year fiercely opposed plans to ship more than 2 million tons of garbage a…
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron has said in his new memoir that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him he passed a law against “gay propaganda” to reverse the country’s declining birth rates. Russia banned “propaganda of homosexuality toward minors” in 2013 around the same time England legalized same-sex marriage, drawing criticism from Western states…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a government proposal to bankroll the modernization of the armed forces in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, a government document published online showed on Monday. Georgia lost control of the Black Sea region of Abkhazia after an inter-ethnic conflict which followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia…