Former U.S. marine Paul Whelan told his family that he thinks that Russia is holding him on espionage charges because of U.S. sanctions over Ukraine, Foreign Policy reported on Wednesday. Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28 and accused of espionage, a charge…
Police in a city north of Moscow have filed administrative charges against a man who posted a photograph online of graffiti calling President Vladimir Putin an anti-gay slur. Kirill Potupnikov of Yaroslavl snapped a picture of the phrase which translates as “Putin is a f–” spray-painted on the local police building in late March. Two…
Russian middle distance runner Ksenia Savina has been suspended for 12 years after she was found to have taken a banned substance and then provided false medical documents to avoid sanctions, the Athletics Integrity Unit said on Wednesday. The 29-year-old Savina, whose ban essentially ends her career, tested positive in an out-of-competition test for the…
Seven Russian climbers died and two survived in an avalanche in the Altai mountains in Siberia, emergency officials said on Wednesday. The avalanche happened in a remote area on the border of Russia and Kazakhstan Monday, but the survivors were able to descend and report the incident on Tuesday, Interfax reported. The two female survivors…
Outside the Oktyabr cinema in central Moscow a well-dressed crowd lines the red carpet, waiting to catch a glimpse of acclaimed director Pavel Lungin as he enters the building for the premiere of his latest movie, “Bratstvo” (called “Leaving Afghanistan” for distribution abroad). But inside the auditorium is half empty because the authorities have closed…
A Russian court has placed four private oil firm executives under arrest for what authorities say is their role in the tainted oil scandal that forced Moscow to shut a major pipeline to central Europe and Germany. As of Tuesday, the main route of the Druzhba pipeline had been closed for almost two weeks and…
Only 3 percent of Russians believe that government officials submit trustworthy income declarations every year, according to an independent Levada Center survey. The 2018 declaration showed President Vladimir Putin earning 8.6 million rubles ($134,000), or less than half of what he earned in 2017. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s yearly pay rose to 9.9 million rubles…
Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy could populate eastern Ukrainian land with Jews, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Sergei Glazyev said in an opinion piece published Monday. Glazyev’s blog post on an obscure nationalist website appeared on the day that Zelenskiy, who is himself Jewish, met with top Ukrainian Orthodox Jewish Hasidic rabbis. Kremlin officials and Russian…
Almost half of Russians plan to attend Victory Day military parades and commemorative processions this May 9, a state poll published on Tuesday shows. Every year on May 9, Russia celebrates Victory Day to commemorate the Soviet victory in World War II. In Moscow, the day is marked with a massive parade through the city…
Authorities in annexed Crimea will remove a chapter from a 10th grade history textbook that describes Crimean Tatars as collaborating with Hitler by the beginning of the next school year. The pro-Moscow council of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group asked de-facto authorities in February to remove the offending textbook from local schools and libraries. The…
Morgan Stanley is planning to send a formal notice to the Russian central bank that it will close down its banking operations in the country in the first quarter of 2020, its Russian unit said in its annual report. Morgan Stanley announced late last year that it was planning a voluntary shutdown of its banking business in Russia.…
Russian regional carrier Yamal Airlines said on Monday it was cancelling its planned purchase of 10 Sukhoi Superjet 100s, the same type of aircraft involved in a fatal crash landing the previous day, the state-run TASS news agency reported. Yamal announced its decision hours after Russia’s transport minister said there was no reason to ground…
The share of Russians who support President Vladimir Putin’s military intervention in Syria has dropped from more than half to less than half since August 2017, according to an independent Levada Center survey. Russia launched air strikes in Syria in 2015, helping regime forces take back most of the country in the eight-year-long civil war.…
Almost 7,500 people have been found guilty on charges of bribery last year, more than half of them for giving or taking less than $150, according to data released by the Russian Supreme Court’s justice department. Anti-corruption activists say official figures vastly underestimate the prevalence of bribery in a country that ranks low in transparency…
Belarus has no idea when clean Russian oil will flow across it once more to customers in Europe after contamination rocked the pipeline, sources at Belarusian state oil firm Belneftekhim and in the trading sector said. Flows via the main route of the Druzhba pipeline were suspended in late April because tainted crude had entered…
Forty-one people on board a Russian Aeroflot passenger plane, including at least one child, were killed after the aircraft caught fire during a bumpy emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport Sunday. Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal case and was looking into whether the pilots had violated air safety rules. [embedded content]…
The process of strengthening the state’s role in the economy has switched gears, as the state is no longer simply setting the rules of engagement, but attempting to regulate the whole economic system of the country, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) watchdog warned in a report on competition in 2018. The new trends are…
At least three people have been killed in a chemical plant explosion in central Russia, media reported and the Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday. Three workers were killed and one hospitalized with injuries at the Azot plant owned by fertilizer producer Uralchem, Perm region’s 59.ru news website reported. The outlet quoted the regional safety administration…
Forty-one people were killed and at least nine were injured when a Russian Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet plane made an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday due to fire on board. The plane, a one-year-old Sukhoi Superjet, departed from Sheremetyevo for Murmansk but shortly after taking off requested an emergency landing after experiencing equipment…
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that Russia condemns what he called a campaign to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, arranged by the United States, and urged Washington to cancel its “irresponsible” plans. Lavrov made his statements at the start of a meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza in Moscow. Lavrov is traveling on Monday…
On April 16, 21-year-old Yandex Food courier Artyk Orozaliyev died after a 10-hour shift. Doctors have linked his death to exhaustion stemming from overwork. The incident triggered outrage on social media over the Russian company’s treatment of its couriers. Other Yandex Food couriers posted complaints of steep fines and harsh delivery timetables. We followed a Yandex Food…
Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t seeking to “get involved” in the crisis in Venezuela, despite assertions by the American president’s top national security advisers that the Kremlin is offering critical support to Nicolas Maduro’s regime. “He is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela other than he’d like to…
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than an hour on Friday, discussing the possibility of a new nuclear accord, North Korean denuclearization and the political situation in Venezuela, the White House said. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters Trump and Putin talked about the possibility of a new…
A central Russian man has been detained on charges of vandalizing a monument of a Soviet tank because of its color. Authorities in Saratov were notified that red paint had been poured on the monument with a sign reading “I request that the T-34 is painted a respectable color” attached to it with Scotch tape.…
Two deaths linked to bubonic plague in Mongolia have caused authorities to place its border with Russia under “indefinite quarantine,” leaving Russian tourists stranded, The Siberian Times reported Friday. Experts say the direct descendants of the same bubonic plague that killed 50 million people in the 14th century still exist today, killing around 2,000 people…
The head of a kindergarten in southern Russia who was caught on camera shoving a 5-year-old boy to the ground for his alleged lack of patriotism will be fired after the national holidays, authorities said. Leaked footage of the woman telling the boy to “kiss the ground that feeds you” as she forces him to…
The scores of demonstrators arrested at Labor Day processions in Russia this week have been declared prisoners of conscience, the Amnesty International human rights organization said on Thursday. Russian riot police and national guardsmen detained 131 people during May Day protests on Wednesday, sometimes using extreme force to take anti-government activists into custody. Most of…
The Russian-Ukrainian border is the only thing left in common between the peoples of the neighboring countries, Ukraine’s President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in response to remarks from President Vladimir Putin. Between signing orders that expedite the Russian passport application process for certain categories of Ukrainians, Putin called Russians and Ukrainians “one people” with common…
The Ukrainian government has not duly investigated the dozens of deaths that took place when riots led to a trade union house fire in the port city of Odessa five years ago, the United Nations said Thursday. Forty-two people died in a fire after pro-Russian protesters were trapped in the trade union building on May…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed as untrue on Thursday assertions by U.S. officials that Moscow had urged Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro not to leave the country amid the continuing unrest there, the state-run RIA news agency reported. RIA also cited Lavrov as saying that Russia and the United States had irreconcilable positions on Venezuela but that…
Researchers from the Russian Hydrometeorological Institute, Roshydromet, had to flee from their Arctic station on Monday when the ice floe they were working on started to vanish from under their feet. The scientists, who are studying pollution in Russia’s Arctic region, had been on the ice for more than a month when the emergency struck…
Former women’s national football team defender Anastasia Pustovoitova will be the first Russian national to referee a Champions League final after the UEFA selected her to officiate the women’s final later this month. Olympique Lyonnais play FC Barcelona Femenino in Hungary on May 18. No Russian — male or female — has refereed a Champions…
Russia halted oil flows along the Druzhba pipeline to Eastern Europe and Germany last week because of contaminated crude, a move that helped lift global oil prices to a six-month high and left refiners in Europe scrambling to find supplies. Below are details about the problem and action being taken: What happened? At least 5 million…
The author of a popular anonymous political blog in Russia has revealed his identity as a financial trader with a neuromuscular disorder from the North Caucasus, confirming previous media investigations. Stalingulag has entertained his readers with frank and vulgar commentary on current events in Russia on the Telegram messaging service since 2016. His writing style…
Update: The St. Petersburg city court has ruled to uphold Shurshev’s and Pivovarov’s jail sentences on Thursday evening, Open Russia tweeted. Two aides to opposition leader Alexei Navalny and exiled former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky have been jailed for 10 days following May Day protests that ended in mass arrests on Wednesday. The violent detention…
The Russian military has denied reports that four of its soldiers were killed in Syria. Arab media reported earlier that four Russian servicemen may have been killed by Turkish-backed rebels in the northwestern Syrian province of Hama. “Not one Russian soldier has died in the Syrian Arab Republic in recent memory,” the Russian Defense Ministry…
The United States and Russia traded warnings against interfering in Venezuela on Wednesday, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of stopping President Nicolas Maduro from leaving the country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Pompeo by phone that further “aggressive steps” in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences,…
A court in the Czech Republic has ruled that a hotel owner acted legally when he refused accommodation to Russians over the annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Tomáš Krčmář protested Moscow’s takeover of Crimea in spring 2014 by initially banning all Russian tourists, then making them sign a letter stating that they oppose the annexation.…
On Wednesday, Russians holding bright posters with absurd slogans paraded city streets across the country for one of the best-known and oddest modern Russian demonstrations: the Monstration. The first Monstration was held far from the Russian capital city in Novosibirsk in the mid-2000s, and has since spread to Moscow itself. A Monstration is similar to…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by phone that further “aggressive steps” in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Lavrov also condemned what he called the United States’ “interference” in Venezuela’s internal affairs as a breach of international law, adding that…
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a bill that seeks to establish Russia’s “internet sovereignty” into law. Deputies first submitted the measures to tighten state control over the internet in December, citing the need to respond to an “aggressive” U.S. national cybersecurity strategy. It has drawn fierce criticism from civil society groups over fears that it…
Sweden has granted asylum to two members of the anti-Kremlin activist group Pussy Riot, the country’s media reported on Wednesday. Artist Lusine Dzhanyan and her partner Alexei Knedlyakovsky have sought asylum for themselves and their two children in Sweden since 2017, saying they had received harassment and death threats in their home country. Their initial…
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to speak with his Russian counterpart on Wednesday amid tensions over the political situation in Venezuela, White House national security adviser John Bolton said in television interviews. Pompeo on Tuesday accused Russia of intervening when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was prepared to leave the country in the…
More than 120 people have been detained during May Day marches in seven Russian cities on Wednesday. May 1 marks Labor Day in Russia, where official parades and organized street demonstrations celebrating workers and laborers are held across the country. Traditionally, official May Day celebrations in Russia are seen as a source of pride rather…
May 1 marks Labor Day in Russia, one of the country’s major public holidays. Cities across the country hold official parades, organized street demonstrations and marches on this day, which celebrates workers and laborers. More than 100,000 people attended this year’s parade in Moscow, according to police estimates. Here’s a look at the celebrations throughout…
Months of work are needed to restore clean oil supplies via a key Russian pipeline to Europe, Belarus said on Tuesday, as Moscow suggested a deliberate act was behind the contamination that prompted some countries to release state oil reserves. Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia and other countries halted oil imports via the Druzhba pipeline last…
Russia‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday rejected a suggestion by Washington that it had persuaded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro not to flee in the face of street protests, calling the assertion part of an information war. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was prepared to leave the country on Tuesday morning in the face of a…
Russian President Vladimir Putin suddenly sacked Moscow’s ambassador to Belarus, Mikhail Babich, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, amid a row over contaminated oil and a wider political discord between the ex-Soviet countries. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has generally been more closely aligned with Moscow than any other ex-Soviet leader, while the lack of tolerance for…
Russia‘s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused the opposition in Venezuela of resorting to violence in what it said was a brazen attempt to draw the country’s armed forces into clashes. The ministry made the allegation after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a military uprising to oust President Nicolas Maduro and armed factions exchanged…
National Guard troops have been sent to a northern Russian region at the heart of longstanding resistance to importing Moscow’s trash, the investigative Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported on Tuesday. Residents have opposed plans to build the 10.5 billion ruble ($160.7 million) Shiyes landfill in Arkhangelsk region since last summer. Arkhangelsk is one of dozens of…
Russia’s online community has been abuzz over the past week with praise for popular YouTuber Yury Dud’s documentary about life in the land of the gulag labor camps. It’s a departure for the 32-year-old sports editor, whose 5.1 million subscribers tune in to watch him interview personalities from all walks of life about their personal…
Europe’s human rights court has awarded opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s aide and an activist $17,000 each for violations of their rights and freedoms by the Russian government. Elvira Dmitriyeva, Navalny’s coordinator in the city of Kazan, was fined in 2017 for organizing and campaigning for participation in an unauthorized public event. Grigory Kablis’ social media…
The Stone Flower fountain is one of the more famous attractions in Moscow’s VDNKh exhibition park. The fountain, which was built in 1954, recently underwent renovations. But do Moscow’s residents know how much it really cost? According to a government tender, the restoration of the fountain cost 1.2 billion rubles ($18.6 million). For comparison, the…
Each year on May 9, Russia and a handful of former Soviet countries celebrate Victory Day, which marks the day after Nazi Germany surrendered and Soviet forces took control of Berlin. The end of the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is known in Russia, is still celebrated as the country’s most important public…
Russian lawmakers have asked the foreign minister to draw up a list of officials involved in the prosecution of admitted Russian agent Maria Butina, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported Tuesday. Butina was sentenced to 18 months after she pleaded guilty in December to conspiring with a Russian official to infiltrate a gun rights group and…
Infrastructure development was the top issue when Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on April 25 to attend Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top-level meeting on the Belt and Road initiative. The meeting was the second of its kind and Putin was the prime guest. Russia is a country of key importance for the Belt…
The United States obstructs Russia’s work in the United Nations by selectively issuing visas to Russian nationals, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. Russia’s chemical weapons expert Dmitry Poklonsky was denied a U.S. visa to attend a UN Security Council session last Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a press statement. He was due…
Moscow does not expect any foreign leaders to attend its Victory Day celebrations, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the state-run RIA Novosti news outlet on Monday. Every year on May 9, Russia celebrates Victory Day to commemorate the Soviet victory in World War II. In Moscow, the day is marked with a massive parade through…
Russia has opened its first center aimed at issuing Russian passports to residents of separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine, Interfax reported on Monday. Last week, President Vladimir Putin signed an order to simplify the procedure for obtaining a Russian passport for residents of separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine, prompting calls from Kiev for more international sanctions. “Today, the center…
Around 200 prisoners in 2018 were so badly injured during questioning by investigators in Moscow region pre-detention facilities that they required hospitalization, a senior Federal Prison Service (FSIN) official has claimed. Russia’s federal penitentiary system was rocked by a scandal last year after bodycam footage showed guards violently beating prisoners in a notorious prison outside…