President Vladimir Putin on Friday backed a proposal by the head of Russia’s health watchdog to introduce a non-working period in early May to prevent a surge in coronavirus infections. “If you think that it’s necessary, let’s do it. Today I’ll sign the relevant decree,” Putin said in a televised meeting in response to a…
European lawmakers said this week that a deepfake of a prominent Russian opposition figure had spoken to them via video calls. Latvian member of parliament Rihards Kols posted back-to-back images of the real opposition figure Leonid Volkov and a hyper-realistic fake Volkov that he said had communicated with him last month. Kols said that his…
Russian communists are planning to build a Josef Stalin museum as the country grapples with the Soviet dictator’s legacy, a local Communist Party group said Thursday. The Nizhny Novgorod branch said regional party leaders on May 8 plan to lay the foundation stone of the Stalin Center in the town of Bor some 450 kilometers…
Russia on Friday began withdrawing troops that had been running drills near the borders of Ukraine, the defense ministry said, following weeks of heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over the buildup. “Military units and formations are currently marching to railway loading stations and airfields, and loading onto landing ships, railway platforms and military…
Alexei Navalny’s personal doctors on Thursday urged him to “immediately” call off his hunger strike as the jailed Kremlin critic said he was full of “pride and hope” after nationwide protests. Thousands of Russians took to the streets in dozens of cities across the country on Wednesday evening, after the West warned the Kremlin that…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was welcome in Moscow “any time” but stressed that he should discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine with separatists directly. “If we are talking about bilateral relations, then, by all means, we are ready to welcome the president of Ukraine at any time that…
The Czech government said Thursday it would slap a ceiling on the Russian embassy workforce as part of a spiraling diplomatic row, which means dozens of staff will have to leave by next month. Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek said Russia will have until the end of May to withdraw its embassy’s employees to reduce their numbers to…
Slovakia has decided to expel three Russian diplomats, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Thursday, after a diplomatic rift between its Czech neighbor and Moscow. “Three representatives of the Russian diplomatic mission must end their activities in Slovakia and must leave the country within seven days,” Heger said. Heger said that Slovakia had made its…
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia, the world’s fourth-highest producer of carbon emissions, was committed to fulfilling its international obligations to combat climate change. Russia has set numerous heat records in recent years, with the first half of 2020 seeing the warmest temperatures since the country began weather observations. “Russia is approaching with complete…
Russia has confirmed 4,736,121 cases of coronavirus and 107,103 deaths, according to the national coronavirus information center. Russia’s total excess fatality count since the start of the coronavirus pandemic is above 422,000. April 22: What you need to know today Russia on Thursday confirmed 8,996 new coronavirus cases and 397 deaths. Egyptian firm Minapharm announced Thursday it will produce 40…
Russia will begin withdrawing its military forces from the Ukrainian border starting Friday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Thursday, after the buildup had raised alarms in the West of renewed clashes. Speaking during snap readiness exercises in annexed Crimea, Shoigu ordered the general staff of the armed forces, military chiefs and the airborne troops to…
Russia will deport more than 100 foreign nationals for attending recent rallies in support of jailed and hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, a senior Moscow migration official said Thursday. Tens of thousands took to the streets across 11 Russian time zones Wednesday to demand Navalny’s release and treatment by his own doctors as he entered…
The Kremlin on Thursday downplayed opposition protests in support of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny that saw nearly 1,800 people detained across Russia. Thousands of people took to the streets Wednesday to demand freedom and proper medical attention for Navalny, who has been on a hunger strike for three weeks in a penal colony outside…
The Russian military has launched mass multiple-forces drills in annexed Crimea, the Defense Ministry said Thursday as Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine raises alarm in the West. Russia’s navy, aerospace forces, airborne troops and air defense forces are expected to perform air strikes, deploy cruise missiles and use drones during the snap readiness maneuvers. “More…
Germany is in talks with Russia to buy 30 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine once it is approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Saxony state premier Michael Kretschmer said on Thursday. “Germany is negotiating 3 x 10 million doses for June, July, August. The prerequisite for this is the swift EMA…
Supporters of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny took to the streets Wednesday with calls to free the Kremlin’s most outspoken critic as he entered his fourth week of a hunger strike. Navalny’s allies called on supporters to protest in a last-ditch effort to save his life after his doctors warned that he could die “any…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s depleted team has vowed to press on with its activities despite billing Wednesday’s mass Russia-wide rallies as the “final battle” before authorities drive them underground as an “extremist” organization. Tens of thousands took to the streets across more than 100 Russian cities to demand Navalny’s release or treatment by outside…
The number of Russian officials convicted on corruption charges sank to an eight-year low during 2020, data collated by the independent Open Media news site has shown. Some 6,948 convictions were handed out for corruption last year — the lowest level since 2012, the site found. It marks a continued decline from a high of…
The United States’ Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan has left Russia for consultations with Washington on the future of U.S.-Russia ties as tensions between the two powers reach new highs, Interfax reported. Moscow advised Sullivan last week to return to Washington for consultations after U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration levied sanctions and diplomatic expulsions against…
Rosneft will take part in the All-Russian environmental cleanup Green Spring – 2021.
Tens of thousand supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny rallied across Russia Wednesday to demand the release of the jailed activist, who has been on hunger strike for three weeks. Allies of the anti-corruption campaigner — who returned to Russia in January after recuperating from an alleged poisoning attempt last August — called the action…
The Czech government on Wednesday gave Moscow an ultimatum, warning it may expel more Russian diplomats unless the 20 Czech nationals ejected from Russia are allowed to return to work by noon on Thursday. Prague expelled 18 Russian embassy staff and Moscow sent back the Czech diplomats in retaliation on Monday, in a row over…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s team have called for protests across the country on the day President Vladimir Putin gives his annual address to the nation. Putin’s most vociferous critic has been on hunger strike for three weeks, demanding to see his own doctors for a host of ailments. They have said he “could die…
Russian investigators on Wednesday said they are inspecting an oil spill in the Gulf of Finland near the city of Vyborg in the Leningrad region, hours after President Vladimir Putin called for stronger action against polluters. The Investigative Committee’s northwestern transport investigation department said it dispatched a team of its investigators and specialists from environmental…
Czech police have detained five of its nationals suspected of fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Czech prosecutors announced Wednesday as ties between the countries eroded over allegations of Moscow’s involvement in a 2014 explosion. The Prague High Public Prosecutor’s Office said on its website that the suspects taken into custody are suspected of…
With troops massing on the border with eastern Ukraine, Alexei Navalny languishing in jail, mass protests planned across Russia, rumors of closer integration with Belarus and relations with the West at a new low, President Vladimir Putin’s annual state of the nation address Wednesday had promised fireworks. In the end, few exploded. Instead, Putin’s speech…
The ex-wife of a Russian billionaire on Wednesday won a British court case against her son, whom she accuses of helping his father hide his assets during the bitter divorce battle. The High Court of England and Wales in 2016 awarded Tatiana Akhmedova 41.5% of Farkhad Akhmedov’s $1-billion-plus fortune. But she said 65-year-old businessman Akhmedov…
President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday of Russia’s “swift” and “severe” response to foreign hostile actions and decried Western sanctions, which he likened to a sporting competition. “I hope that no one will think of crossing the ‘red line’ in relation to Russia, which we ourselves will define in each specific case,” Putin said in his…
Russian President Vladimir Putin is addressing the nation in the annual speech to the Federal Assembly as tensions brew at home and abroad. The Russian president’s address to lawmakers and regional heads comes hours before planned nationwide protests in support of hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose failing health in prison has drawn worldwide concern.…
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet in war-torn eastern Ukraine, stressing that millions of lives were at stake from fresh fighting in the separatist conflict. The blunt offer for talks came following a flare-up in clashes between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russian separatists controlling two regions in the country’s east,…
The number of scientists and highly qualified specialists leaving Russia has risen fivefold in nearly a decade, Russia’s Academy of Sciences (RAS) said Monday. Nikolai Dolgushkin, the RAS presidium’s chief scientific secretary, estimated that emigration among Russian researchers increased from 14,000 in 2012 to almost 70,000 last year. He contrasted the figures with China, the…
Russian prosecutors have asked a court to dissolve jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and his regional network of headquarters, Interfax reported Tuesday. The demand comes ahead of planned protests on Wednesday calling for Navalny’s immediate treatment at a civilian hospital as his allies sound the alarm over his deteriorating health in prison. …
Russia is once again facing questions over its coronavirus-related data after it claimed its Sputnik V vaccine has 97.6% effectiveness based on an analysis of infections among vaccine recipients in Russia. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is funding and marketing the vaccine, said Monday it had analyzed the number of coronavirus cases among…
Alexei Navalny’s doctors were again denied access Tuesday to the jailed Kremlin critic, as lawyers for the hunger-striking opposition figure said he was “very weak” and demanded he be transferred to a civilian hospital. A team of medics has been trying to see the 44-year-old since early this month, after President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken…
The Czech Republic on Tuesday called on its EU and NATO partners to expel Russian diplomats in solidarity, accusing Moscow of orchestrating an “unprecedented terror attack” on Czech territory. Foreign and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said he would summon the Russian ambassador Wednesday to disclose further steps after the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats believed…
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law Tuesday that will require electoral candidates who receive any amount of financial support from abroad to label themselves as “foreign agents.” Russia’s “foreign agents” law, first passed in 2012, has been gradually expanded in recent years to apply to any politically active individual or organization receiving funding from…
Today is the National Blood Donor Day.
President Vladimir Putin is due to give his annual state-of-the-nation speech Wednesday as tensions brew both at home and abroad. The Russian president’s address to lawmakers and regional heads comes hours before planned nationwide protests in support of hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose failing health in prison has drawn worldwide concern. Putin’s address also…
Russia has blocked flights over annexed Crimea and the Black Sea for naval and aviation drills this week, Interfax reported Tuesday, citing an alert to pilots. The so-called “notice to airmen” (NOTAM), which is filed to warn aircraft pilots of potential hazards, reportedly applies to territorial waters off the southern coast of Crimea and parts…
The Myanmar military regime imported $14.7 million in radar equipment in February, Russian customs data published on Monday showed. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu agreed to supply Myanmar with Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems, Orlan-10E surveillance drones and radar equipment during a visit to the capital Naypyidaw in January. The deal was made a week before…
Russia’s space agency said Tuesday it hoped to launch its own orbital station in 2025 as Moscow considers withdrawing from the International Space Station program to go it alone. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said work had begun on the fist module of a new station, after officials warned that Russia was considering pulling out of the ISS,…
Italy will begin accepting Russian tourists this summer as it eases coronavirus restrictions, Russian state media reported Tuesday, citing Rome’s envoy to Moscow. Italian Ambassador to Moscow Pasquale Terracciano made the promise days after officials in Rome announced reopening dates for the country’s schools, restaurants, swimming pools and gyms in response to anti-lockdown protests. Pasquale…
Updated at 1:00 p.m. on April 20 to add U.S. Embassy confirmation. The United States’ Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan will briefly return to Washington for consultations following tit-for-tat sanctions and diplomatic expulsions amid heightened tensions, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow confirmed Tuesday. Axios reported Monday that the State Department recalled Sullivan after he initially defied…
The Czech government said Monday it will no longer consider using Russia’s coronavirus vaccine before EU approval amid the diplomatic fallout from its accusations of Russian secret services’ involvement in a fatal arms depot explosion. Prague announced the expulsion over the weekend of 18 Russian diplomats whom it identified as secret agents of Russia’s intelligence…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday it had killed “up to 200 fighters” in Syria during airstrikes on a “terrorist” base northeast of Palmyra, where fighters were planning attacks ahead of presidential polls next month. “After confirming data through multiple channels on the location of terrorist facilities, Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft carried out airstrikes,” the ministry…
Russia has launched a probe against YouTube for “abusing” its dominant position in the market by making “biased” decisions about comment moderation, a government regulator said on Monday. The move comes as Russia ramps up pressure on foreign tech platforms, with Moscow stepping up its efforts to control the Russian segment of the internet. The…
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska on Monday softened his criticism of federal poverty statistics to instead praise President Vladimir Putin’s government for supporting workers and small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. In his initial Telegram post, Deripaska accused state statistics service Rosstat of under-reporting the number of Russians living in poverty. “They are trying to convince us…
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that Russia has massed over 150,000 troops along the Ukrainian border and in the annexed Crimea peninsula. “It is the highest Russian military deployment at Ukrainian borders ever,” Borrell told journalists after talks involving Ukraine’s foreign minister, refusing to disclose the source of the figure. “The risk of further…
Russian President Vladimir Putin will on April 22 address an international climate summit hosted by the United States, the Kremlin said Monday, despite a sharp deterioration in ties between Moscow and Western capitals. “Vladimir Putin will outline Russia’s approaches within the context of establishing broad-ranging international cooperation aimed at overcoming the negative consequences of global climate…
It is nearly three weeks since jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny went on hunger strike to demand his own doctors be allowed to visit him in prison. Navalny’s health has deteriorated rapidly since he went on hunger strike, his doctors say, and an international chorus of protest is growing amid rising tensions between Moscow and…
The United States’ aviation authority has warned airlines to exercise “extreme caution” when flying over areas near the Russia-Ukraine border as tensions surge over Russia’s military buildup and renewed clashes in eastern Ukraine. Tensions between Moscow and Kiev have escalated in recent weeks following an uptick in fighting between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russia separatists in…
Parents of victims of the deadly Beslan school siege have started a hunger strike in solidarity with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny amid increasing concern among supporters that his life is in danger, the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported Monday. Ella Kesaeyva, who co-chairs Russia’s Voice of Beslan grassroots organization, likened Navalny’s plight to the…
The Kremlin on Monday denounced the “provocative and unfriendly” expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic who were accused by authorities in Prague of spying. “We categorically do not agree with these conclusions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, describing the Czech move as “provocative and unfriendly.” Czech authorities on Saturday said they…
The Kremlin on Monday rejected Western concerns over hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s health as supporters warn that he is at risk of dying in prison. World leaders, celebrities and media organizations have called on President Vladimir Putin to allow Navalny see his doctors after the medics warned that he could suffer cardiac arrest at “any…
Russian epidemiologists have detected two mutated strains of the coronavirus within the country but said they aren’t necessarily deadlier or more contagious, the head of state consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor announced Monday. “We are seeing the formation of a Siberian version and the formation of a northwestern version” of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes coronavirus…
Thanks to Rosneft in 2020 about 800 ancestral lands residents of the indigenous small-numbered North peoples on the territory of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra gained access to the Internet.
Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Sunday handed over 34 orphaned children, whose parents were suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group, to a Russian delegation to be repatriated. An AFP correspondent in the city of Qamishli said the children aged between three and 14 were handed over to a delegation headed by the…
Russia on Sunday said it would retaliate against the Czech government’s “unprecedented” decision to expel 18 Russian diplomats identified as secret agents and summoned the Czech ambassador. “We will take retaliatory measures that will force the authors of this provocation to understand their full responsibility for destroying the basis of normal relations between our countries,”…
France, Germany and the European Union on Sunday joined a growing international chorus of protest at Navalny’s plight, and EU foreign ministers will discuss the situation on Monday. Concerns over Navalny’s health have mounted against the background of a new spike in tensions between Moscow and the West over a litany of issues, including Russia’s…
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned Sunday that Russia will face “consequences” if hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny dies. Jailed opposition leader Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, was arrested in January upon returning to Russia after recovering from a near-fatal poisoning attack he says was orchestrated by Moscow. “In terms of the…