President Vladimir Putin praised Russia’s closer ties with Belarus on Friday as he hosted strongman Alexander Lukashenko amid a global outcry following the forced diversion of a European plane. Observers will watch the negotiations to see how far Russia goes to support Lukashenko’s regime after Belarus scrambled a Mig jet to divert a Ryanair jet…
The state-backed Russian group behind a massive hacking campaign revealed last year has re-emerged with a series of attacks on government agencies, think tanks, consultants and other organizations, according to officials and researchers. A security update from Microsoft late Thursday said the group known as Nobelium has stepped up attacks, notably targeting government agencies involved in foreign policy as…
The Russian economy could lose more than 5 trillion rubles ($67 billion) by 2050 due to melting permafrost damage to infrastructure, Russian environmental minister Alexander Kozlov told his audience at the 9th Nevsky International Ecological Congress in St. Petersburg on Thursday. Approximately 65% of Russian territory is covered by permafrost – the upper layer of…
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Friday warned Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko “it is time to change course” as her executive held out the promise of a three-billion-euro support package if he leaves power. The European Commission president said the EU’s message was twofold: one of support to the Belarusian people — and a…
The arrest of prominent investigative reporter Ivan Golunov in June 2019 on trumped-up drug charges that could have landed him in prison for up to 20 years sparked an outcry with activists and Kremlin critics demanding for his release. Golunov, 38, was released days later and the charges were dropped after an unprecedented campaign in…
The cancellation of several European flights to Moscow after air carriers said they would not fly over Belarus was due to purely technical reasons, the Kremlin said Friday. “Aviation authorities will give the necessary explanations, but these are technical reasons,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that the measures were taken to ensure aviation…
Air France cancelled another flight from Paris to Moscow on Friday after Russia rejected a flight plan that would have skipped Belarusian airspace, the airline said. A flight was scrapped on Wednesday for similar reasons as the EU has urged airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace after the regime there diverted a Ryanair plane and arrested an opposition…
Russia on Friday welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s “decisive” victory after he claimed re-election with a landslide win in a vote criticized by the opposition and Western nations. “A decisive victory was won by the incumbent head of state,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “We view the elections as a sovereign affair of the…
Russia said Friday that Western countries were being irresponsible and endangering passengers by banning flights over Belarus in response to President Alexander Lukashenko’s forced grounding of a Ryanair flight. “What the West has done by introducing a ban on flights through Belarusian airspace for political reasons is completely irresponsible and endangers the safety of passengers,”…
Russia on Friday threw its weight behind Belarus’s increasingly isolated regime, slamming a European overflight ban as President Vladimir Putin prepared to host strongman Alexander Lukashenko. The meeting is an important show of support for the authoritarian Belarusian leader who is facing a global outcry after he forced a Ryanair jet to land in Minsk last…
The United States has informed Russia that it will not return to the Open Skies Treaty, a key international arms control pact, the Associated Press reported Thursday. The decision came weeks after the U.S. said it was reviewing the previous administration’s withdrawal in November as the decision for Russia’s own exit from the Open Skies…
A Ukrainian soldier was killed by a separatist sniper in the country’s war-ravaged east, the military said Thursday, following an escalation of tensions between Kiev and Moscow. He was shot and fatally wounded near the village of Novotoshkivske in the separatist-controlled Lugansk region that borders Russia, the military said in a statement. Kiev has been battling…
Six Armenian soldiers were captured by Azerbaijan Thursday, the latest in a series of escalating border incidents after last year’s war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The capture of Armenia’s soldiers comes at a delicate time for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ahead of snap elections next month. Pashinyan described the situation as “tense and explosive”…
Austria on Thursday slammed Russia after it refused to allow an Austrian Airlines flight to be rerouted to avoid Belarusian airspace, resulting in the Vienna-Moscow service being cancelled. Austria’s Foreign Ministry said Russia’s refusal to allow the route change was “absolutely incomprehensible,” urging it “not to artificially impede free air traffic between Russia and Europe.”…
Russian gas giant Gazprom has presented an architectural concept to build the world’s second-tallest skyscraper in St. Petersburg. The Lakhta Center 2 is planned to stand 703 meters tall — a reference to 1703, the year when St. Petersburg was officially founded, Gazprom said in a statement announcing plans for the new mega-skyscraper. Construction of…
The number of Russians who approve of how President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin govern Russia has increased over the past two months, according to an independent poll published Thursday. The Levada Center polling agency said that Putin’s approval ratings grew from 63% in March to 67% in May, while 59% of citizens…
A group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have called on the governments of France, Germany, and Italy to stop funding the Arctic LNG II liquified natural gas project, describing investments in the Russian natural gas industry as unsafe and contradictory to EU climate policy. Around 20% of the world’s natural gas comes from…
Bashneft, a subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, participated in the all-country environment project Green Spring and planted 17,000 seedlings at the square of 60 hectares in Bashkortostan, the main region of the company’s operation.
Angarsk Petrochemical Company, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s refining complex, launched the production of a new product – industrial liquid oxygen.
Open Russia, an opposition movement established by exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, announced its closure Thursday to avoid jail for supporters ahead of parliamentary elections. Executive director Andrei Pivovarov linked the decision to bills advancing through Russian parliament tightening criminal punishment for Russians who support and work for “undesirable” organizations. Open Russia was labeled “undesirable”…
Facebook said Russia and Iran are the internet’s leading spreaders of disinformation aimed at manipulating public opinion in a report published Thursday. Facebook researchers linked most of Russian operations to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based troll factory that was also blamed by the U.S. intelligence community for 2016 election interference. “Facebook’s broader security…
The UN civil aviation agency will hold an urgent meeting Thursday to discuss Belarus after Western powers on the UN Security Council called for the body to investigate Minsk’s diversion of a European flight and arrest of a dissident. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council will meet as the consequences of the incident play…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that mandating coronavirus vaccinations would be “impractical and impossible” amid an ongoing debate on how to ramp up the country’s slow Covid-19 vaccine take-up. Ex-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev kicked off the debate last week by publicly supporting compulsory vaccinations, only to reiterate their voluntary nature later. At least one…
Governments were quick to denounce the diversion of a Ryanair plane by Belarus as an act of “terrorism” and “state-sponsored piracy” — but will the country face legal consequences? It’s not a simple question. “Civil aviation rules were not written with the expectation that a state would behave like a terrorist,” said Nathalie Younan, an…
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Wednesday easing restrictions on tourists coming to Russia by allowing them to stay in the country for up to 6 months if they have hotel bookings. “The law allows the issuance of ordinary tourist visas for up to six months for citizens of all countries, regardless of…
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared in court via video link Wednesday for the start of hearings into complaints against conditions at his penal colony. Navalny, 44, was jailed in February and is serving two-and-a-half years at a facility outside Moscow on old fraud charges he says are politically motivated. His detention, which came months…
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Wednesday that he had acted “legally” in diverting a Ryanair flight with a dissident on board and slammed the West for “crossing red lines.” The Athens-to-Vilnius flight carrying a wanted opposition activist Roman Protasevich was forced to make a landing in Minsk on Sunday over a supposed bomb scare, prompting…
VELIKY NOVGOROD — Yulia Galyamina knew she might be arrested on Saturday for organizing a meeting of independent municipal deputies in Veliky Novgorod, Russia’s ancient seat of self-government. She just didn’t expect it to happen so fast. Within 30 minutes of the start of the two-day Zemsky Syezd, or Congress, a name chosen in a…
A defiant President Lukashenko will address Belarus’ parliament Wednesday as international pressure over the country’s diversion of an airliner in order to arrest a dissident grows, with the UN Security Council set to meet behind closed doors later. The speech to parliament will be the first time the Belarusian leader has spoken in public since…
Belarus’ interception of a commercial flight Sunday in order to arrest Roman Protasevich, a 26-year-old Lithuania-based dissident blogger has triggered global outrage and condemnation. Protasevich faces charges of inciting mass rallies in Belarus following last summer’s disputed presidential election which triggered an unprecedented wave of protest across the country. The EU has already hit Belarus…
Several Russian regions will experience “extreme hot weather” over the next few days, chief scientist at the Hydrometeorological Centre of Russia Roman Vilfand told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. The freak weather conditions are expected to be most severe in the Volga River region and the Ural Mountains. Temperatures in these areas could rise…
The Russian girlfriend of a Belarusian dissident arrested with him when their plane was diverted to Minsk is being held on suspicion of crimes at the time of protests last year, Moscow said Tuesday. Sofiya Sapega, a 23-year-old law student at the European Humanities University (EHU) in Lithuania, was detained along with opposition journalist Roman…
A court fined Google for failing to remove content banned by the Russian authorities as Moscow’s 24-hour ultimatum to comply or have its services slowed down passed on Tuesday. Russia’s internet regulator Roskomnadzor threatened to slow down Google services if the internet giant did not comply with requests to delete an estimated 5,000 links. Roskomnadzor…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden will hold their first summit in Geneva on June 16, the Kremlin and the White House said Tuesday. The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin and Biden will discuss “the current state and prospects for further development of Russian-American relations, issues of strategic stability”…
The Kremlin said Tuesday it regrets Europe’s plans to cut air links with ex-Soviet Belarus and avoid its airspace after the diversion of a Ryanair flight carrying an opposition activist. The aircraft traveling from Athens to Vilnius landed in the Belarus capital Minsk after a supposed bomb threat. The incident caused a global outcry, with…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Tuesday that Russian authorities have opened a new criminal case against him for allegedly insulting a judge. Navalny, 44, is already serving two and a half years in a prison colony outside Moscow on old fraud charges he says are politically motivated. He is already being additionally accused of…
The Russian government wants to exempt state media from financial scrutiny to avoid being labeled “foreign agents” because they are not prone to foreign influence. The proposal comes after Russia labeled the independent news sites Meduza and VTimes “foreign agents,” jeopardizing their futures by discouraging advertisers and levying steep fines for auditing violations. Russia’s Ministry…
EU leaders cut Europe’s air links with Belarus on Monday, as strongman Alexander Lukashenko’s regime paraded a dissident journalist arrested after his flight was forced to land in Minsk. Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying wanted reporter Roman Protasevich, 26, and his girlfriend Sofia…
EU leaders have agreed to ban Belarus’ airlines from the bloc’s airspace and urged EU-based carriers not to fly over its airspace after Minsk forced a jet to land to arrest a dissident. The leaders of the 27-nation bloc also called for the “immediate release” of journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega from…
Arrested Belarusian opposition blogger Roman Protasevich, who was on the diverted Ryanair flight, says he is cooperating and admitting to charges of organizing protests in a video circulated by state TV channels on Monday. The passenger flight from Athens to Vilnius was diverted while in Belarusian airspace on Sunday over a supposed bomb threat, prompting…
European countries began banning flights over Belarus Monday after it provoked an international outcry by forcing a commercial airliner to land so it could arrest an opposition activist. The Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was diverted while in Belarusian airspace Sunday over a supposed bomb threat. Accompanied by a…
Britain on Monday banned Belarus flag carrier Belavia and said Russia was likely complicit in the forced landing in Minsk of a civilian jet to detain a dissident journalist. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also said he had told the Civil Aviation Authority to instruct UK aircraft to avoid Belarusian airspace, “in order to keep passengers safe.”…
In the hours after Belarus shocked the world by forcing a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk and arresting prominent opposition figure Roman Protasevich, officials in Russia — Minsk’s ally and patron — maintained conspicuous radio silence on the events. Though a string of junior officials praised the action, with…
Russian officials have defended Belarus’ use of a military jet to divert a passenger plane carrying a dissident, an act Western leaders have called “state terrorism” and that may spark tougher sanctions against Minsk. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists that Belarus had treated the incident with an “absolutely reasonable approach.” “A representative of…
Russia’s internet regulator has threatened to slow down Google services in Russia if it does not comply with requests to delete content within 24 hours, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency has reported. The federal communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said Monday that Google had failed to remove 20-30% of links to content which it says are prohibited…
Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich, who was detained in Belarus after the Ryanair flight he was on was diverted and forced to land on Sunday, began his digital activism in his teens. A student at the time, he was arrested in 2012 aged just 17 for running two groups on the Russian-based social networking site Vkontakte…
A recent oil spill in the Russian Arctic may cost as much as 1 billion rubles ($13 million) in damage, experts told the Izvestia newspaper. Authorities in the republic of Komi declared an emergency on May 14 after the spill at the Oshskoye field, operated by a subsidiary of oil giant Lukoil, in the neighboring…
Belarus forced an Athens-to-Vilnius Ryanair flight carrying a wanted opposition activist to divert and land in Belarus on Sunday, provoking a furious outcry from European leaders. Belarusian state television reported that Roman Protasevich, a 26-year-old opposition blogger exiled in Poland, had been detained in Minsk after flight FR4978 was diverted from EU airspace — ostensibly over a security…
Police on Saturday broke up a meeting of independent, elected Russian opposition figures, saying they had failed to observe coronavirus health restrictions, participants said. The May 22-23 forum brought together representatives from 30 regions to coordinate their campaign for the September legislative elections. Ahead of the vote, the authorities have cranked up pressure on the…
Authorities in St. Petersburg said Saturday they have taken the necessary health and safety measures ahead of co-hosting Euro 2020 matches as virus cases in the city continue to climb. Russia’s second city is set to host seven matches, including a quarter-final, in June and July after the tournament was postponed for a year due…
On 22 May, the international community celebrates International Day for Biological Diversity established by the UN General Assembly in 2000 to draw attention to preserving the numbers and viability of populations of rare species.
At least 10 people have died from methane poisoning while carrying out work at a water treatment plant in southern Russia, the state-run TASS news agency reported Friday. TASS quoted an emergency services source in the city of Taganrog 1,000 kilometers south of Moscow as saying they were still searching for workers who may be trapped…
Like many Russians, Darya Apakhonchich is an enthusiastic Facebook user. Her wall is filled with posts about her young children, her work as a language teacher and topics she worries about. But everything Apakhonchich posts includes a prominent disclaimer in Russian: “THIS MESSAGE (MATERIAL) WAS CREATED AND (OR) DISTRIBUTED BY FOREIGN MASS MEDIA PERFORMING THE…
Jailed Russian gulag historian Yuri Dmitriyev, who is serving 13 years in prison, has won the Sakharov Freedom Award on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nobel laureate and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov.. Dmitriyev was recognized for his work in identifying victims of Soviet repressions in Karelia by reassembling the bones from mass…
A new film depicting a group of Russian military advisors in the Central African Republic (CAR) as heroes was funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the catering magnate and Kremlin ally known as “Putin’s Chef,” according to an investigation by The Moscow Times. “The Tourist” tells the story of a group of young Russian military advisors sent…
Russia has raised 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in its first international debt placement since the U.S. banned American banks from buying Russian government debt in its latest escalation of sanctions against Moscow. Foreigners accounted for some 47% of the so-called Eurobonds — government debt coupons denominated in euros — which were sold by the…
Russian lawmakers on Friday submitted a bill that would force foreign technology companies to set up local offices or face punitive measures up to an outright ban. Russia has in recent months stepped up efforts to impose more control on online platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, with President Vladimir Putin saying large tech companies have…
The share of Moscow residents who have been vaccinated against coronavirus is lower than that of any other European city, the Russian capital’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said. Only 1.3 million Muscovites out of 12 million (10.83%) have been vaccinated from Covid-19, Sobyanin said. He called this percentage “a decent figure on the one hand,”…
Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Friday promised that production of his Tesla electric cars would come to Russia sometime in the future. “I think we’re close to establishing a Tesla presence in Russia [and] more broadly in Kazakhstan and neighboring regions,” Musk told a Russian innovation forum via videolink. “Over time, we will look to have factories…
Dozens of new pits have been discovered in a notorious Stalin-era execution site outside Moscow where more than 10,000 political dissidents are believed to be buried, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. The existence of the mass grave in southwestern Moscow’s district of Kommunarka became known when the KGB opened its archives, before abruptly closing…