Moscow’s cost-of-living ranking has plummeted over the past year in comparison to other cities worldwide, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Worldwide Cost of Living survey has found. The decrease in living costs is linked to high inflation and currency deprivation, the survey reported. The Russian capital has fallen 16 places from 86th to 102nd in the…
A Hyundai Motor Group unit and Russia’s biggest technology company Yandex NV will jointly develop autonomous vehicles based the South Korean automotive giant’s cars. Carmakers and tech companies are racing to rollout self-driving cars. Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and BMW have set aside traditional rivalries, while Volvo Cars and Baidu Inc. have joined forces to develop…
The partnership at the heart of the OPEC+ alliance showed further signs of strain after Russia pressured the Saudi-led group to delay a decision on the future of their production cuts. The unusual recommendation to cancel next month’s scheduled meeting means the group probably won’t decide whether to prolong its supply curbs until late June,…
An EU citizen has been placed in solitary confinement, denied visitation with his wife and subjected to a grueling daily regimen while awaiting trial in central Russia, the Jehovah’s Witnesses told The Moscow Times. The federal penitentiary service of Kirov region did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Andrzej Oniszczuk, 50, was one of…
U.S. investor Michael Calvey wants to steer away from the politicization of his detention on suspicion of multimillion dollar fraud in Russia, he told Russian tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets in an interview. “I don’t want to politicize this story and try to distance myself from everything that could lead to that,” Calvey told the Moskovsky Komsomolets…
A court in Chechnya on Monday sentenced Oyub Titiyev, a prominent human rights activist, to four years in a penal settlement after finding him guilty of possessing illegal drugs, a charge his supporters say was trumped up. Titiyev, who runs the office of the Memorial Human Rights Center in the southern Russian region, was detained in…
A court in Moscow has returned to the prosecutors a case against American national Gaylen Grandstaff who faces 20 years in Russian prison for ordering a cleaning product containing a chemical banned in Russia. The judge in the case has decided to release Grandstaff from the pre-detention facility before the second hearing. “The court returned…
Russia has signed a $2 billion contract for the supply of more than 20 Su-35 fighter jets to Egypt, the Kommersant news daily reported on Monday, citing two senior defense industry officials. Russia has become one of Egypt’s largest arms suppliers as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has developed friendly ties with President Vladimir Putin. The…
Residents in the Siberian city of Yakutsk held an unauthorized rally on Sunday after unconfirmed reports alleged that Central Asian migrants raped a local woman. On March 17, a female Yakutsk resident was kidnapped and raped, then fled after her captor fell asleep, the Yakutsk Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. A source in the…
The Russian Football Union (RFS) is set to investigate controversial remarks made by veteran international striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, local media reported on Sunday. Pogrebnyak, who has 33 caps with Russia, came under scrutiny after he commented on the race of Brazilian-born, naturalized Russian striker Ariclenes da Silva Ferreira, also known as Ari, who has two…
Russia celebrated the fifth anniversary of its takeover of Crimea with pomp and pride this weekend. The festivities will reach their peak on Monday when Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to open two new power stations, sealing Crimea’s economic integration with Russia. Patriotic fervor ran high on the peninsula as a giant bronze double-headed eagle—an…
The pro-Kremlin Night Wolves motorcycle gang staged a celebratory concert outside Sevastopol on Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The event was marked by patriotic fervor and featured a display of military equipment, a rock concert, the unfurling of the largest Russian flag in the world and an awards ceremony…
Half a decade has passed since Vladimir Putin annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. For Russia, the costs continue to mount. The accession treaty signed to bring the Black Sea territory into Moscow’s fold is still unrecognized by most countries and the U.S. and European Union led a broad effort to punish Russia with sanctions. Undeterred, Russia…
Russia will respond to new European Union sanctions, its Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, without saying what action it would take. The EU on Friday added eight more Russians to its sanctions list over a stand-off between Russia and Ukraine in the Azov Sea, including senior security service officials and military commanders that the EU accuses of preventing Ukrainian…
Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska sued the United States on Friday, alleging that it had overstepped its legal bounds in imposing sanctions on him and made him the “latest victim” in the U.S. probe into Moscow’s alleged election interference. In what legal experts called a long shot attempt, Deripaska asked a federal court in Washington to…
Thousands of people marched in Crimea’s capital city of Simferopol on Friday in an event staged by Moscow-backed authorities to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine. While participants waved flags and sang songs of celebration, many of them told The Moscow Times that the dramatic increase in living standards…
Russia’s national flag carrier Aeroflot will cancel its order of 20 Boeing 737 Max planes unless Boeing is able to guarantee the plane’s safety after Sunday’s deadly crash in Ethiopia by November, Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev said on Friday. Aeroflot has ordered 20 Boeing 737 Max planes for its low-cost subsidiary Pobeda and Boeing is…
The United States on Friday asked why Russia had not provided any evidence to back up its accusation that Paul Whelan, a detained former U.S. marine, was a spy, a day after Whelan alleged he was being mistreated by a “kangaroo court.” Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained in a Moscow hotel…
A Russian State Duma deputy from a small opposition party has been detained on suspicion of accepting 3.2 billion rubles ($49 million) in cooperation with a former governor. Vadim Belousov, 58, had been deprived of official immunity in December in connection with a bribery investigation into fugitive ex-Chelyabinsk region governor Mikhail Yurevich. His detention follows…
Russia wants dialogue between North Korea and the United States to continue, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying on Friday. North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hu said earlier on Friday that North Korea was considering suspending its talks with the United States, the state-run TASS news…
Russia could raise the legal drinking age to 21 from 18 and restrict alcohol sales in residential areas this year, according to the RBC news website. The change would be part of President Vladimir Putin’s ambitious plan to overhaul Russia’s economy by the end of his last term in office. The total spend will be…
Authorities in Siberia have suspended the construction of a controversial Chinese bottling plant in the world’s largest fresh water lake following public outcry and pressure from the Kremlin. Residents in Irkutsk region criticized the Chinese-founded AquaSib company’s plans to bottle 190 million liters of water per year from Lake Baikal starting in 2021, saying the…
The European Union sanctioned on Friday eight more Russians over a stand-off with Ukraine in the Azov Sea, including senior security service officials and military commanders that the bloc accuses of preventing Ukrainian ships from reaching port. Last November, the Russian navy captured 24 Ukrainian sailors and their vessels in the Kerch Strait, which links…
Despite still approving of their country’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, fewer Russians view it as beneficial on the fifth anniversary of the annexation, a state-run survey has found. Independent polls have shown a yearly uptick in the percentage of Russians who believe that their country benefited from “the return of Crimea” despite economic…
European Union lawmakers have called on member states to adopt an EU law which would punish state and non-state actors for human rights violations using the name of Sergei Magnitsky, mirroring similar legislation in the United States. The U.S. passed the Magnitsky Act in 2012 to sanction Russian officials linked to the 2009 death of…
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft has arrived at the International Space Station after a successful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Aboard the spacecraft were NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Hammock Koch and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Hague and Ovchinin were originally meant to launch to the ISS in October, but…
This week on From Russia With News, we discuss the five-year anniversary of the hugely controversial referendum in Crimea with the deputy foreign editor at the Kommersant newspaper Elena Chernenko. We’ll also talk to Moscow Times correspondent Evan Gershkovich about his investigation that revealed how rich Russians dodge taxes and move court cases to a…
This week on From Russia With News, we discuss the five-year anniversary of the hugely controversial referendum in Crimea with the deputy foreign editor at the Kommersant newspaper Elena Chernenko. We’ll also talk to Moscow Times correspondent Evan Gershkovich about his investigation that revealed how rich Russians dodge taxes and move court cases to a…
At the end of 2015, managers at Rosneft, the Russian state-controlled oil firm, sounded the alarm to their bosses about the company’s investments in Venezuela. Rosneft’s local partner, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, owed it hundreds of millions of dollars, according to internal documents, and there seemed no prospect things would get better. “It will be…
Leading Russian banks are working on plans to help each other retain at least short-term access to the global financial system in the event that they are hit by fresh U.S. sanctions, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank and others are examining how they can provide each other with access to U.S.…
The Kremlin plans to attract up to 10 million Russian-speaking migrants in the next six years to reverse the country’s population decline, the business daily Kommersant reported on Thursday. Russia’s population declined to 146.8 million in 2018, official data released on Thursday estimates, its first decrease in 10 years. Migration has been unable to offset…
As U.S. investor Michael Calvey ended his first month in detention on Thursday prominent Russian businessmen told President Vladimir Putin they are concerned the case will put pressure on business. Russian state prosecutors have charged Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group, with fraud along with three other executives from his fund.…
Russia’s intelligence service has refused to declassify the names of members of Stalin’s notorious three-judge panels that issued death sentences without trials, Russian media reported this week. As many as 700,000 people were executed in Stalin’s “Great Terror” of 1937-38, according to conservative estimates. The Memorial human rights NGO keeps a database of some 3…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is holding talks with Venezuela’s foreign minister in Vienna, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday. Venezuela, a close ally of Moscow, is in political turmoil, with the United States and many other Western countries backing opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.
Russia‘s aviation authority on Thursday suspended flights by Boeing 737 MAX planes in the country’s airspace following Sunday’s deadly plane crash in Ethiopia, the Interfax news agency cited the authority’s head as saying. Russia‘s S7 Airlines said earlier this week it would ground its Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes starting from Wednesday. It said its…
Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Ministry estimates that the combined cost of the country’s oil, gas and other resources amounts to 60 percent of its gross domestic product, the RBC news website reported on Thursday. As one of the world’s top producers of natural gas and oil, Russia’s economy is heavily reliant on exports of…
Moscow and St. Petersburg have ranked in the bottom 50 of the world’s most livable cities and have been named the two most dangerous cities in Europe, according to rankings from a global consulting firm. Moscow placed 167th and St. Petersburg 174th out of 231 cities worldwide in Mercer’s 2019 Quality of Living Ranking published…
Two astronauts who survived a dramatic launch mishap in October said on Wednesday they were confident this time about reaching the International Space Station, though they said a small fault had been discovered on their rocket during final checks. Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and U.S. astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch are due to blast…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has filed a defamation lawsuit demanding that the investigative Novaya Gazeta newspaper remove reports that accused the agency of torture, the paper has said. Novaya Gazeta has been the target of several libel lawsuits, the most recent of which came from the former head of the state-run Russian Railways, who…
Russian lawmakers passed a controversial set of bills that would make it a crime to “disrespect” the state and spread “fake news” on Wednesday, setting the legislation up for President Vladimir Putin’s signature. The bills amending existing information laws overwhelmingly passed both chambers of Russian parliament in less than two months. Observers and some lawmakers…
Artisans are crafting a new icon of “The Savior Not Made by Hands” for a Russian Orthodox cathedral built in honor of the country’s Armed Forces. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that President Vladimir Putin has made a personal donation toward the icon’s production, the RBC news outlet reported on Tuesday, though he declined to…
Russia plans to start operating two new power stations in Crimea at full capacity on March 18, five sources familiar with the plans told Reuters on Wednesday. The power stations were at the center of an international scandal after German engineering company Siemens said its power turbines had been installed at them without its knowledge and…
The World Anti-Doping Agency has been vindicated over its decision to readmit Russia’s anti-doping agency six months ago, its president Craig Reedie said on Wednesday. In particular, Reedie said that Russia’s decision to allow access to its Moscow laboratory following readmission of RUSADA was a “game changer.” RUSADA was suspended in 2015 after a WADA-commissioned…
Some $750 billion has been moved from Russia in the last quarter-century, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Russia’s net capital outflow, typically used as a measure of economic or political stability, has increased in the past two years, reaching $67.5 billion in 2018. Some economists forecast the trend will slow down to $30 billion in 2019.…
The Russian military plans to bolster its positions in the Arctic with additional air defense systems as it flexes its muscle in the hydrocarbon-rich region, a top naval commander has said. The Defense Ministry has worked at breakneck pace to reassert its presence in the region by reopening old defense installations and deploying new weaponry.…
Russia plans to send delinquent youngsters to military-patriotic re-education camps and to install special software blocking banned websites in schools, the head of Russia’s Security Council has said. President Vladimir Putin created a patriotic directorate inside the Russian army last summer, evoking memories of a Soviet practice that once taught soldiers the tenets of Marxism.…
Russian luxury car manufacturer Aurus introduced its vehicles to the world at the Geneva International Motor Show in Switzerland last Thursday, March 7. Visitors to the show, which showcases the latest in automobile design and concepts, got a glimpse of a high-end armored Aurus Senat limousine, as used by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Here are…
Russian bank VTB has begun a procedure to hand over to the Russian state property agency its stake in Evrofinance Mosnarbank, a bank hit with U.S. sanctions this week over its dealings with Venezuela, two sources familiar with the deal told Reuters. Agreement has been reached for the transfer of VTB’s 25 percent stake in…
Doctors at a hospital in southern Russia have conducted what they say is Europe’s first surgery with the help of exoskeletons, the state-run lender Sberbank announced on Monday. ExoChair, developed with help from Sberbank’s robotics division, is designed to support the lower limbs and pelvic region to help reduce fatigue and improve efficiency among workers…
The Kremlin has reversed course in its negotiations to cede control of the disputed Kuril Islands to Japan, the RBC news website reported, citing unnamed sources. The row over the islands, which Soviet troops seized at the end of World War II, has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from formally signing a peace treaty to the…
The Kremlin on Tuesday shrugged off talk of a possible boycott by U.S. companies of Russia‘s showcase International Economic Forum over the arrest of prominent U.S. investor Michael Calvey, saying such boycotts had come to nothing in the past. Calvey’s detention last month on embezzlement charges, which he denies, has rattled some foreign investors in Russia who are…
Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft said on Tuesday that U.S. statements that it had violated U.S. sanctions in its Venezuela activities were “groundless accusations.” Pompeo said this week Rosneft was defying U.S. sanctions by buying oil from Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA. Rosneft said it was not involved in politics and was conducting “purely commercial…
Move over, Leonard Blavatnik: There’s a new leader in town. A Russian oligarch has for the first time topped the list of richest Londoners, according to Forbes Russia. Mikhail Fridman’s net worth of $15 billion knocked billionaire investor Len Blavatnik from the top of the list, Forbes reported Tuesday. Fridman is one of 55 billionaire…
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday blamed Russia and Cuba for causing Venezuela’s political crisis by supporting President Nicolas Maduro. His comments came after the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Russian bank Evrofinance Mosnarbank for helping Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA evade U.S. financial restrictions. “This story is not complete without acknowledging…
Latvia has completed construction of a 93-kilometer barbed wire fence on the border with Russia to combat illegal migration, media outlets reported, citing the Latvian border service. The 2.7-meter-tall fence, announced in 2015, alternates between sensor-based systems and surveillance camera zones. It is part of a 21 million euro ($23.8 million) project to modernize 283…
Prosecutors in Russia’s Irkutsk region want to stop a Chinese company from building a water-bottling factory that residents say will drain and pollute the deepest lake and largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth. The AquaSib company began construction of the 1.5 billion-ruble ($22.7 million) factory in January, with plans to bottle 190 million liters…
Two new videos showing guards abusing inmates have brought national attention back to a notorious prison near Moscow that rocked Russia’s penitentiary system last year with reports of systemic torture. Bodycam footage released last summer by the investigative Novaya Gazeta newspaper showed guards violently beating prisoners in the Yaroslavl region. The videos’ publication touched off…
The Russian military has significantly expanded and upgraded its weapons systems in the past six years, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told lawmakers on Monday. The country’s military achievements between 2012 and 2018 have turned Russia’s military into a mobile force capable of projecting influence abroad, The Associated Press quoted the minister as saying at a…
One in 10 foreigners who visited Russia visa-free for the FIFA World Cup last summer took advantage of a visa waiver to return to the country by the end of 2018, Russia’s top lender Sberbank has said. Security services estimate that more than 633,000 Fan ID holders visited Russia during the 2018 World Cup, according…
Russia remains the world’s second-largest arms exporter after the United States despite five years of declining sales abroad, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has said in a new report that was disputed by Russia’s state-owned arm exporter. Russia’s arms exports dropped 17 percent between 2014 and 2018 when compared to 2009-2013, contributing to…