Russia’s women gymnastics team capitalized on the dramatic departure of Simone Biles from the U.S. team to win the Olympic title on Tuesday. The U.S. team withdrew Biles from the final after a disappointing opening vault and Russia went on to beat the champions from the last two Games by more than three points. Britain…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny Tuesday called on supporters to mobilize ahead of key parliamentary polls after authorities blocked dozens of websites linked to his opposition movement. On Monday, Russia’s media regulator barred 49 websites linked to Navalny including his main website navalny.com as pressure mounts on opponents of President Vladimir Putin ahead of September…
Russian athletes are competing in the Tokyo Olympics under a neutral Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) flag due to a ban stemming from state-sponsored doping violations. Here’s a running list of medals they’ve won so far: July 27 Swimming — Gold men’s 100 meters backstroke for Evgeny Rylov, 24. — Silver men’s 100m backstroke for Kliment…
The St. Petersburg election commission has banned the former head of jailed Kremlin’s critic Alexei Navalny’s headquarters, Irina Fatyanova, from running in elections to the city’s legislative assembly, she said on Twitter Tuesday. According to Fatyanova, the election commission accused her of leading an extremist organization, citing a Moscow court decision to outlaw all the…
Scientists from Tomsk State University (TSU), who are studying the migration of plastic microparticles in the environment, have completed the first stage of the survey of the Nizhnyaya Tunguska River, a large tributary of the Yenisei, located in the Evenki municipal district.
Russia on Tuesday said high-level talks with the United States this week will show how “serious” Washington is in seeking genuine dialogue with Moscow. The two countries will hold the talks on Wednesday in Geneva — where presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin met last month — in a new bid to encourage stability in…
A court in southern Russia has sentenced five anti-lockdown protesters to at least five years in jail, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday. Over 2,000 protesters gathered in Vladikavkaz, the capital of the North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia, on April 20, 2020, to demand an end to the regional self-isolation orders as well as…
Russia has approved clinical trials of a combination of its Sputnik V and the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine that will run through next spring. Five Russian clinics will hold AstraZeneca and Sputnik V trials involving 150 people, with testing wrapping up in early March 2022, according to the entry in Russia’s state drug register…
Russia has begun building an upgraded version of its top-secret aerial command center nicknamed the “Doomsday” plane, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday. The country’s existing “Doomsday” planes, the Ilyushin Il-80s, were developed in the 1980s and are designed to evacuate the Russian president and other top officials in the event of a…
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has snapped up 12 medals after three days of competition at the Tokyo Olympics, with its female athletes leading the way. Vitalina Batsarashkina, 25, won the team’s first gold medal Sunday, winning the women’s 10 meter air pistol and setting an Olympic record of 240.3 points. Fellow shooter Anastasia Galashina, 24, took…
Russia’s state internet watchdog on Monday blocked 49 websites linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, including his personal website where he published investigations into alleged high-level corruption that have sparked nationwide protests in recent years. Roskomnadzor’s actions come one week after it blocked the website of a prominent legal group that represented Navalny’s Anti-Corruption…
The European Union’s planned carbon border tax could cost Russian exporters with a large carbon footprint at least 1.1 billion euros annually, the highest levy of any country, the RBC news website reported Monday. The border tariff — proposed as part of the EU’s sweeping plans to tackle climate change and become the first carbon-neutral…
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Monday visited the disputed Kuril Islands and said authorities wanted to establish a free economic zone there, sparking a protest from Japan. The Kurils, which lie north of Japan’s Hokkaido island, have been controlled by Moscow since they were seized by Soviet troops in the dying days of World…
Libya has launched an official inquiry into delivery delays of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, according to local media reports. The war-torn country’s UN-backed government announced it will launch an investigation into the hold-ups, which are significantly undermining the country’s vaccination campaign, the Libyan Express reported. Libya received a first batch of Sputnik V vaccines in…
President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that Russia’s navy was capable of delivering lethal strikes against underwater and aerial enemy targets during a parade of warships in the port city of St. Petersburg. The Russian leader’s boast comes days after military officials announced tests of advanced new weapons, some of which come from an arsenal Putin…
Russia dispatched nearly 100 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba, the Defense Ministry said Saturday, following unprecedented street protests over the communist country’s worst economic crisis in decades. The delivery was directly ordered by President Vladimir Putin, it said. Two An-124 cargo planes carrying more than 88 tons of humanitarian support took off from a…
The Russian Football Federation on Friday named former international midfielder Valery Karpin as manager of the national football team. Karpin, who was coaching FK Rostov, will replace Stanislav Cherchesov, who was sacked after Russia was eliminated in the group stage of Euro 2020. The federation said Karpin, who is 52, had agreed to a contract…
The United States and Russia will hold high-level talks next week in the second bid in as many months to encourage stability in the tense relationship, officials said Friday. The so-called Strategic Stability Dialogue, set up during a June 16 summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva, will…
Russia’s top diplomat commended the Taliban for being “of sound mind” and criticized the Afghan government of stalling power-sharing talks on Friday. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov becomes the latest Russian political figure to praise the militant group this week, with the Kremlin calling it a “powerful force” and Russia’s envoy for Afghanistan calling its rapid…
Only half of Russia’s Olympic team has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, significantly lower than other countries taking part in the games. More than 11,000 athletes will take part in the delayed Tokyo Olympics starting this week, and the International Olympics Committee (IOC) has said that at least 80% of all athletes and staff…
Russian state television cut to a commercial during the Ukrainian Olympic team’s appearance in its broadcast of the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony Friday. During the Opening Ceremony’s parade of athletes — which took place in a nearly empty stadium due to the coronavirus pandemic — Russia’s Channel One took a commercial shortly before the Ugandan…
Russia added investigative news website The Insider to its registry of “foreign agents” Friday, a designation that risks cratering its business model. The Insider is best known for its work alongside U.K.-based Bellingcat in investigating the 2020 poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and the 2018 poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain. It…
Russia is going ahead with plans to deliver Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets to Myanmar’s increasingly isolated military regime, a top defense cooperation official was quoted as saying Friday. Moscow has continued to support Myanmar with arms deals and military delegation visits following the ouster of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint…
World Whale and Dolphin Day is celebrated annually on 23 July.
More than 12 million fry of valuable fish species were released into the river systems of Russia by employees of Rosneft.
Jailed former journalist Ivan Safronov has said he will not make a plea bargain with Russian authorities over what he argues is an unfounded investigation into treason. Safronov’s lawyers said last month that investigators had pressured him to take a plea deal in exchange for a phone call to his mother on her birthday, an…
The head of Russia’s Olympic Committee, an organization weighed down by a protracted doping scandal, believes his athletes are headed to the Tokyo Games with an unfair disadvantage. Still, Stanislav Pozdnyakov wants his Olympians to haul home dozens of medals. “The national flag and the national anthem are additional motivating factors… for any athlete,” he…
Divorces in Russia have reached a seven-year high so far in 2021 with the country’s conservative, Muslim-majority regions unexpectedly seeing the biggest increases, the MBKh Media news website reported Wednesday. The 251,000 divorces filed between January-May accounted for a 44% increase over the same period in 2020, the outlet said, citing the FinExpertiza consultancy. The…
Argentina is in a “very critical situation” as it faces a shortage of second doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, a senior official told Russian vaccine producers earlier this month in a leaked email obtained by Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper. In the July 7 email addressed to Anatoly Braverman, a senior official at the…
Russian authorities on Thursday jailed Pussy Riot member Rita Flores for 15 days on charges of disobeying police, an arrest the group said was for “no damn reason.” Flores’ arrest is the most recent in a growing string of detentions, self-imposed exiles and jail sentences against members of the collective in 2021. Here’s what you…
Moscow has a reputation for fiercely defending its standing on the world stage, but in a years-long and embarrassing doping scandal in sports, it’s playing a different game. Russia is banned from the Tokyo Olympics this summer, a ruling stemming from revelations in 2015 that officials covered up widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs among its…
Russia will help Tajikistan build an outpost on the ex-Soviet state’s border with Afghanistan, a senior diplomat said Friday as Moscow stepped up activity in the region amid a Taliban offensive that has seen the group capture swathes of Afghan territory from government forces. Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told the state-run RIA Novosti news…
The Avangard, the Kinzhal and now the Tsirkon – Russia is leading the race to develop a range of new hypersonic weapons that President Vladimir Putin has dubbed “invincible.” Moscow’s latest step came this week with another successful test of the Tsirkon, a ship-launched hypersonic missile. Fired from one of Russia’s most powerful warships, the…
The Russian government is taking Ukraine to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over a slew of issues ranging from violence during anti-government protests and the downing of flight MH17 in 2014. The filing marks Russia’s first-ever interstate complaint with the ECHR. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, which took over the Justice Ministry in…
Russia has “successfully disconnected” from the world wide web during tests of its “sovereign internet” technology, the RBC news website reported Wednesday. Authorities have long flirted with tightening control over the internet on Russian territory, with past attempts to unplug from the global internet having mixed success. The June 15-July 15 test run “tested the…
The Kremlin said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had expressed their satisfaction with the near completion of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline during phone talks. “The leaders are satisfied with the construction of Nord Stream 2 nearing completion,” the Kremlin said in a statement after the talks. During…
A Moscow court on Wednesday extended by six months the house arrest of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s spokeswoman, a top ally said. Russia will hold parliamentary elections in September, and ahead of the polls authorities declared Navalny’s organizations extremist and barred his allies from running. Navalny’s 31-year-old spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, has been under house…
The United States said Wednesday it had reached an agreement with Germany on the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would threaten Russia with sanctions and seek to extend the transit of gas through Ukraine. President Joe Biden’s Republican rivals swiftly denounced the agreement as emboldening President Vladimir Putin but the administration argued that it…
Russian-born, Dubai-based tech billionaire Pavel Durov’s phone number is listed among the 50,000 numbers believed to have been chosen for global surveillance through military-grade spyware, The Guardian reported Wednesday. Investigative reports said politicians, journalists and activists from dozens of countries were the potential targets of the Pegasus spyware, which was developed by Israeli firm NSO…
The Kremlin sees no need to take extra security measures in light of revelations that Israeli-made Pegasus anti-terrorism spyware was misused to monitor politicians, journalists and activists around the world. Russian nationals do not yet appear to be listed in a leak of almost 50,000 phone numbers from 45 countries that investigative reports said were…
The Russian wife of a Nigerian student who drowned while rescuing a swimmer is facing racist online attacks driven by a notorious hate group leader. Richard Eluemunor drowned on a city beach Saturday in Russia’s western exclave of Kaliningrad, unable to break free from a current out of which he had pushed a drowning woman. He…
A northern Siberian region plagued by unprecedented fires is experiencing one of the world’s “worst ever” air pollution events with the concentration of pollutants in the air far exceeding global standards, according to The Guardian. The republic of Sakha’s capital of Yakutsk has been under stay-home orders due to fast-spreading wildfires that blanketed dozens of…
Russia on Tuesday unveiled its new Sukhoi stealth fighter jet designed to compete with the US F-35 and capable of striking six targets simultaneously. Dubbed “The Checkmate,” the plane was first shown to a reportedly “pleased” President Vladimir Putin before the launch at a biennial airshow outside Moscow. Reports first surfaced that the jet was…
Climate change is the main factor behind the massive wildfires burning across the northern Siberian republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, the region’s head Aisen Nikolaev told the Yakutia 24 television channel Tuesday. Russia’s largest, coldest region has been under a state of emergency for nearly a month due to the fast-spreading wildfires covering…
A growing number of Kremlin critics have fled Russia in recent weeks, citing fears of prosecution in the wake of nationwide protests in support of jailed Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny and ahead of high-stakes parliamentary elections. While many of those who have left are allies of Navalny, others are longtime opposition politicians or intellectuals not…
Russian investigators said Tuesday they have uncovered a multi-million ruble bribery scheme run by dozens of senior traffic police officers, with the top cop’s golden toilet bowl stealing the show. In what looked more like a luxury real estate ad, the Investigative Committee published footage of police colonel Alexei Safonov’s opulent residence in southern Russia’s…
Russia’s military has for the first time released footage of a live fire test of its advanced S-500 Prometheus missile system on Tuesday. The footage showed the vehicle elevating into the launch-ready position, releasing the radar and firing a missile into the air. The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the launch took place…
St. Petersburg-based media reported Monday that it had uncovered a secret underground prison disguised as a cottage with a human-sized crematory in an abandoned village outside Russia’s second city. Video shared by the city’s 47news.ru outlet showed two prison cells with bunk beds and toilets in the cottage’s flooded basement. Next to one of the…
Russian tanks stationed at Moscow’s base in Tajikistan have arrived at training grounds near the border with Afghanistan ahead of army drills next month, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. Russia will stage military drills from Aug. 5 to 10 with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at the Harb-Maidon training ground near the border with Afghanistan where the…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has published a list of military information that is off-limits to foreigners on national security grounds, including nearly every aspect of state space agency Roscosmos that has been plagued by corruption scandals in recent years. The draft list is not classified but the FSB, acting on President Vladimir Putin’s orders,…
St. Petersburg residents will be faced with a unique choice when they head to the polls in this fall’s elections: Which of the three Boris Vishnevskys should get their vote? The Russian city’s most vocal opposition politician is running for both the local legislative assembly and federal parliament in September, and authorities appear to be…
Russia said Monday it will stage military drills next month with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan near the border with Afghanistan where the Taliban has led a lightning offensive against government troops. The insurgents have capitalized on the withdrawal of foreign troops to launch a series of offensives across the country. Afghan government troops and refugees have…
American investor Michael Calvey reiterated his innocence and said his acquittal “could lead to billions of dollars in new investment in Russia” in his final statement to court on Monday. Russian prosecutors are seeking a six-year suspended sentence for Calvey, who has been one of the country’s leading foreign investors for decades, in a criminal…
Russia has reportedly consented to allow the United States to use its bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for limited security operations in Afghanistan, according to a newspaper report over the weekend, although mutual suspicions may scupper any cooperation before it can begin. The countries in question, meanwhile, are not known to have been consulted directly…
Scientists believe that Russia has reached 60% herd immunity through a combination of vaccines and infections as the country struggles to increase vaccination rates amid a deadly Delta variant-driven surge in the pandemic. The Kremlin admitted last month that it won’t meet its original target of vaccinating 60% of the population by the fall after…
A botched deal to supply 1 million Sputnik V doses to Kenya was part of the same controversial Emirati scheme which has seen an Abu Dhabi-based company with royal connections ink deals to resell Russia’s flagship coronavirus vaccine at huge mark-ups. Documents obtained by The Moscow Times confirm that Russia named Aurugulf Health Investments —…
Russia said Monday it had carried out another successful test of its Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile, a new addition to an arsenal of weapons called “invincible” by President Vladimir Putin. Moscow has in recent years touted the development of futuristic weapons which it hopes will give it the edge in any arms race with the…
A Russian legal group that recently defended the organizations of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny said on Sunday it was disbanding over fears of criminal sanctions. Team 29 said its website had been blocked after a request from prosecutors, who accuse the group of links with a Czech organization that has been deemed “undesirable.” Since Navalny’s…
Russian officials hailed a “miracle” on Friday after a passenger plane made an emergency landing in a Siberian field and all 18 people on board emerged, suffering only cuts and bruises. The An-28 plane, operated by Siberian Light Aviation (SiLA), was flying from the town of Kedrovy to Tomsk when communication was lost, Governor Sergei…
Russian investigative journalism outlet Proekt was added to the country’s registry of “undesirable” organizations Thursday, banning its activity in Russia and putting its staff at risk of legal penalties including jail time. The designation is the latest example of Russia’s crackdown on independent and investigative media in recent months, with multiple organizations and individuals being…