Russia’s mission in the United Nations has called for talks among the four international mediators known as the Middle East Quartet for urgent talks after Israel and Palestinian militants announced a truce Thursday. Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky spoke at the UN General Assembly meeting on Israel-Gaza hours after Israeli announced that its security cabinet…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Thursday he successfully eased out of his hunger strike and has discovered the recipe for being “happy” in prison. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s best known domestic critic, is serving two-and-a-half years in a penal colony outside Moscow on old fraud charges he says are politically motivated. Russia’s top opposition politician…
Football fans attending this summer’s UEFA Euro 2020 championship will be able to enter Russia without a visa, according to amendments signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Thursday. Russia’s borders have remained closed to citizens of most countries due to coronavirus restrictions imposed last spring. Entry to Russia will be granted to all foreign…
A Moscow court sentenced a Russian businessman to four years in jail Thursday for attacking a riot police officer during a rally in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny this winter. Yevgeny Yesenov was among the 10,000 people detained across 100 Russian cities in January and February when they took to the streets demanding…
Arctic countries on Thursday pledged to fight global warming, which is happening three times faster in the Far North, and to preserve peace in the region as its geopolitical importance rises. Accelerated global warming, untapped resources, new maritime routes opened up by retreating sea ice, and the future of local populations all topped the agenda…
Parts of Russia’s Arctic are currently experiencing warmer temperatures than the Mediterranean Sea as the region faces a ferocious heatwave. Temperatures in the Arctic Circle village of Nizhnaya Pesha hit 30 degrees Celsius (86.5 degrees Fahrenheit) Wednesday, a measurement Scottish meteorologist Scott Duncan called “truly exceptional for any time of the year but mind-boggling for…
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a voluntary evacuation Thursday of Russian and ex-Soviet republic citizens from the Gaza Strip amid deadly violence between its Islamist rulers Hamas and Israel. Putin’s decree published on the government’s legal portal comes 10 days after Hamas militants fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel and Israeli air strikes killed…
Daria Immerman was taking the bus home after teaching a yoga class outside Tel Aviv last week when the shelling started. As passengers scrambled to get off the bus, she followed the driver to take shelter in a nearby building. They heard the deafening rumble of another rocket behind them. The force of the blast…
Russia’s security chief is set to meet his U.S. counterpart in Europe in the coming weeks to prepare for an anticipated summit between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday. The Putin-Biden summit will be a key item on the agenda at the talks between Russian Security Council chief Nikolai…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has recovered after he ended a 24-day hunger strike last month demanding adequate medical treatment, a top aide and the head of Russia’s prison service said Thursday. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s best known domestic critic, is serving two-and-a-half years in a penal colony outside Moscow on old fraud charges he…
The Vedomosti business daily announced Wednesday that its editor-in-chief Andrei Shmarov will step down one year after his controversial appointment sparked a mass exodus of senior editors and journalists. The decision came a week after VTimes, The Moscow Times’ Russian-language partner founded by the editors and journalists who had left Vedomosti, was declared a “foreign agent” in…
Early in the morning of May 11, CCTV cameras in a quiet suburban district of the Russian city of Kazan picked up a skinny young man, dressed all in black, walking purposefully down a leafy street, shotgun in hand. Unchallenged by passers-by, the gunman approached Gymnasium No. 175, a large public school of over a…
The U.S. and Russian foreign ministers have sought to ease tensions in their first meeting since President Joe Biden took office, saying they were ready to cooperate but acknowledging the wide gulf separating them. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the talks in Reykjavik on Wednesday — aimed in part at confirming a potential summit between…
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday waived sanctions against Nord Stream 2, the Russian-controlled builder of a Russia-Germany gas pipeline, which Washington has called a geopolitical security risk. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a letter to Congress that waiving the original sanctions mandated by Congress for Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 AG, and…
– Nord Stream 2 – The potentially tense sit-down is scheduled for 9:15 pm (2115 GMT) after an opening dinner of the Arctic Council — which brings together the eight countries bordering the region. Since taking over the White House in January, Biden has taken a strong line against Russia, going as far as describing Putin…
A military delegation led by Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Air Force Maung Maung Kyaw will visit Moscow on Thursday, a representative of the Myanmar Embassy told The Moscow Times. The representative said that as part of the visit the delegation planned to attend the HeliRussia exhibition, Russia’s largest helicopter exhibition that will run in Moscow…
A Moscow court has handed prominent political scientist and academic Nikolai Platoshkin a five-year suspended sentence on charges of “inciting unrest,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday. Platoshkin, a former diplomat at the Russian Embassy in Germany who heads the For New Socialism movement, is also a popular YouTube blogger who has openly…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Wednesday hailed close ties between their countries as they launched via videoconference work on Russian-built nuclear power plants in China. The heads of state initiated work on pouring concrete into new units of the Tianwan and Xudabao nuclear power plants. Built jointly with Russia, the…
Russia’s former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has expressed support for compulsory vaccinations Wednesday as the country grapples with slower-than-hoped-for coronavirus vaccine uptake. Medvedev, who was demoted to deputy chief of Russia’s Security Council in a major cabinet reshuffle last year, described mandating vaccinations as a tradeoff between individual choice and protecting the population from disease.…
Russia has sent an expedition to survey radioactivity levels at the wreckage of a Soviet nuclear submarine which sank in the Norwegian Sea three decades ago, the country’s meteorological service said Wednesday. Equipped with a nuclear reactor and two nuclear warheads, the Komsomolets submersible caught fire in April 1989 as a result of a short…
An exiled top associate of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has accused Russian authorities of trying to imprison his elderly father for the rest of his life on corruption charges he says are politically motivated. Yuri Zhdanov, 67, was arrested in March on accusations of abusing his work obligations for personal gain by recommending social…
Russia is among the “worst” countries for living and working abroad, according to the 2021 survey published by the expat community organization InterNations on Tuesday. Russia ranked 56th out of 59 countries on the list, outperforming only South Africa, Italy and Kuwait across a range of categories that evaluated expats’ general satisfaction with life in…
“The enemy shall not pass,” exclaims commander Ivan Glushchenko, standing in the glistening white snow that surrounds an ultra-modern Russian military base in the heart of the Arctic, the site of Moscow’s stand-off with NATO. The growing accessibility of natural resources and navigation routes in this rapidly thawing region has attracted global competition, and Moscow’s…
A conscript has been crushed to death by a military truck at a training ground outside Moscow, state media reported Tuesday. Security camera footage shared by the REN-TV broadcaster shows the young soldier being struck by the truck as he opened the gates to let it pass. A fellow soldier is then seen dragging the…
Russia’s geography will dramatically change by the end of the century if climate change continues at its current pace, scientists at Aalmo University in Finland have predicted in a new study. If the global climate warms by 3.7 degrees Celsius, radical climate zone changes will touch most of the planet’s regions, threatening around one-third of the…
Ukraine on Tuesday denounced what it described as Russia’s ongoing repression of the Tatar minority on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made the comments on the 77th anniversary of the deportation of the Muslim minority group under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. “Unfortunately, Russia continues to systemically suppress the…
Moscow has beaten temperature records over 100 years old for the second day in a row Tuesday. “It hasn’t been as warm as today on this date in the entire history of weather observations,” said the Fobos weather center. The mercury in the Russian capital rose to 29.2 degrees Celsius, beating the previous record set…
Russia’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday approved draft legislation that would ban members of “extremist” organizations from being elected as lawmakers. The changes to Russia’s election law would shut out jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s supporters from critical lower-house polls in September. The move also comes ahead of a court ruling to add Navalny’s…
Moscow authorities have canceled an exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Soviet Nobel laureate and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov. The Sakharov Center had planned to exhibit photographs of the dissident nuclear physicist and quotes from his articles and speeches on central Moscow streets on May 17. “Sakharov’s anniversary is a…
Authorities in Belarus raided the offices of the country’s largest independent news portal and took down its website on Tuesday, management said, signaling a widening crackdown after historic opposition protests last year. Journalists in the ex-Soviet nation are facing mounting pressure in the wake of the protests against contested elections won by strongman President Alexander…
Moscow residents are most likely to back President Vladimir Putin and the pro-Putin ruling party despite their tepid support for both, an independent poll published Tuesday has said. The Levada Center polling agency’s latest results come four months ahead of key parliamentary elections in which the United Russia party seeks to maintain a supermajority despite historically low approval ratings.…
Russia has delivered its latest weapons batch to the mineral-rich and violence-racked Central African Republic, Moscow’s ambassador in Bangui told state media Monday. The shipment of 5,000 pieces of small arms is the third delivery in as many years. Moscow donated hundreds of weapons in 2019 and airlifted 10 BRDM-2 armored personnel vehicles as a…
Russia will not block access to Twitter but will continue slowing page loading speeds for the social media platform’s mobile app within its borders, state communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Monday. The regulator gave Twitter a May 15 deadline to comply with thousands of requests to remove content which it said violates Russian law — or…
A recent oil spill in northern Russia may be 4-5 times larger than originally estimated, authorities said as environmentalists warned that the pollution could reach the Arctic Ocean. Authorities in the republic of Komi declared an emergency last week after the oil spill at the Oshskoye field, operated by a subsidiary of oil giant Lukoil,…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday warned Western countries against staking claims in the Arctic, as global warming makes the region more accessible and a site of global competition. Lavrov’s comments came ahead of a ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council that comprises Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland…
Russia has registered cases of a rare and deadly fungal infection afflicting current and former coronavirus patients that has been on the rise in virus-stricken India, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported Monday. Experts interviewed by the publication stressed that mucormycosis, which Indian doctors have dubbed “black fungus” due to its dark pigmentation, does not spread…
The United States’ consul general in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has left her post as Washington cuts services at its remaining consulates and shrinks operations at its Moscow embassy. The U.S. in April suspended visa services as well as U.S. citizen services in Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok, leaving the U.S. Embassy in Moscow as the…
Manizha Sangin has never been your typical Russian popstar. A refugee from Tajikistan and outspoken pro-LGBT feminist, the art pop singer’s March selection by public vote on state television to represent her adopted country at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in the Dutch city of Rotterdam stunned Russia’s musical establishment. With Russia’s turn towards social…
Polish authorities said they have arrested a man suspected of spying for Russia, the Polish internal security agency said in a statement Monday. The 43-year-old is accused of “providing the Russian special services with information and materials in the military field and about Polish entities and citizens.” The ISA said its officers detained him on…
Around 100 Moscow metro employees have been dismissed after they appeared in an email database leak exposing half a million supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the independent Dozhd broadcaster reported Saturday. Vasily Shelyakov, the deputy head of the Moscow metro trade union, told Dozhd that the ex-staffers directly link their termination to last month’s…
Rosneft Oil Company continues to strengthen its position in international ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) ratings.
Three people have been killed in a knife attack in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg, state and local media reported Monday. A man stabbed three passersby with a knife in a park near the Zheleznodorozhny railway station in the city of 1.3 million located 1,400 kilometers east of Moscow, the state-run TASS news agency reported,…
Over one-third of Russians refuse to get vaccinated against the coronavirus under any circumstances, the SuperJob.ru job portal said in a survey published Sunday. Last week, Greece opened to Russian tourists vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V jab, prompting one in five Russians to say they are ready to get vaccinated so they can travel, Superjob…
Young Russian schoolchildren were filmed holding mock weapons and marching in military formation at an event marking Soviet victory in World War II last Friday. Footage shared by the MBKh Media news website showed the children singing “We are Russians, God is with us” while marching around the schoolyard holding the weapons resembling Soviet submachine…
A Russian court on Monday postponed the first hearing in the “extremism” case against the political network of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, part of a campaign to outlaw the opposition to President Vladimir Putin. As the hearing got underway behind closed doors, the prosecution submitted additional documents and the proceedings were postponed until June…
Russia on Friday formally designated the United States and the Czech Republic as “unfriendly states” amid the biggest crisis in ties between Moscow and Washington in years. The Russian government released a decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin that was accompanied by a list of “unfriendly states” that “have carried out unfriendly actions” against…
Authorities in the northern Russian republic of Komi have declared an emergency this week after roughly seven tons of crude oil spilled into local soil and waterways, threatening the area’s ecosystems and populated areas. The spill was likely the result of an accident at a pipeline operated by Russian oil producer Lukoil, officials have determined.…
Azerbaijani forces advanced significantly into territory along the border with Armenia this week, sparking a security crisis in which Russia — Armenia’s treaty ally and the broker of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides — has taken a conspicuously passive role. The details of precisely what happened remain unclear, but Armenia says that Azerbaijani…
India on Friday started inoculating its population with Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the jab’s developers said. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which helped finance the jab, said vaccination started in the southern city of Hyderabad on Friday, making Sputnik V the “first foreign-made vaccine that is used in India”. It said a first…
On May 15, the international community celebrates World Climate Change Day.
A Siberian muckraking journalist who investigated oil-theft schemes has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of blackmail and distributing pornography, authorities said Friday. Eduard Shmonin, 50, was arrested in 2017 after he released an investigative documentary alleging industrial-scale oil theft with Federal Security Service (FSB) and police involvement in the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous…
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Friday to respond to what he said was the persecution of Moscow-friendly politicians in Ukraine, accusing the West of turning a blind eye to Kiev’s political “clean-up.” With tensions between Moscow and Kiev high, Ukraine this week placed Putin’s top ally Viktor Medvedchuk under house arrest on suspicion of high…
Moscow city bailiffs have visited the offices of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to take inventory of the news outlet’s equipment, the independent Meduza news website reported Friday. The U.S. government-funded news outlet has come under increasing pressure in Russia since being added to the country’s “foreign agents” registry in February 2020. By last month,…
Russian oil giant Rosneft said Friday that its earnings were back in the black in the first quarter after oil prices recovered following Moscow’s production deals with OPEC. State-controlled Rosneft reported a net profit of 149 billion rubles ($2 billion) in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 156 billion rubles in the same period last year. It…
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow will temporarily resume routine U.S. citizen services and processing of immigrant visas in priority and urgent cases after Russia paused a ban on it hiring foreign nationals, the Embassy said Friday. On Wednesday, the Embassy halted most of its consular services to U.S. nationals and Russians seeking a visa after…
Russia has declared The Moscow Times’ Russian-language partner VTimes a “foreign agent” on Friday amid what critics call the Kremlin’s ongoing crackdown on free speech and independent media. The designation puts the independent news site’s future in jeopardy as it risks cratering its advertising budget and levying steep fines for auditing violations. VTimes was launched…
Moscow residents are more likely to approve of President Vladimir Putin and their mayor than of their city’s municipal authorities, according to an independent poll published Friday. The Levada Center polling agency said both Putin and Mayor Sergei Sobyanin shared a 41% approval rating among Muscovites. That compares to 13% approval for the Moscow City…
Moscow has reported 3,818 new coronavirus cases Friday, the highest daily count since January, as Russia returned from an extended non-working period designed to prevent a third wave of the pandemic. Nationwide, Russia confirmed 9,462 new cases and 939 deaths across all but one region Friday. The country has one of the world’s highest Covid-19…
Greece will open to tourists who have received Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine from Friday, the country’s tourism minister has said. The Mediterranean country, a popular tourist spot for Russians, is the first European country to open its borders to Sputnik V recipients. The country will no longer require vaccinated tourists to quarantine for seven…
Russian troops have blocked and turned around a U.S. military convoy in northeast Syria, the Russian military said Thursday, accusing it of violating deconfliction arrangements in the country. The Russian Defense Ministry’s Syria reconciliation center said six American MRAP-type armored vehicles drove “along an uncoordinated route and without prior notice” in the Kurdish-held Syrian province…