Category: another

A Russian court fined mining giant Nornickel 146 billion rubles ($2 billion) Friday for its role in the worst oil spill in the country’s modern history. Some 21,000 tons of diesel fuel poured into the ground and waterways surrounding Nornickel’s base — the city of Norilsk inside the Arctic circle in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region — […]

The Kremlin on Friday slammed Joe Biden’s “very aggressive rhetoric” after the new U.S. president said Washington’s relationship with Moscow would change and demanded opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s release.  “We’ve already said that we will not heed patronizing statements of this sort. We will not do it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.  “This is […]

The European Union’s top diplomat said on Friday that the bloc’s ties with Russia had reached a new low following the poisoning and jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Josep Borrell was in Moscow for talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as legal pressure mounted on Navalny and the Kremlin criticized “very aggressive rhetoric” from U.S. President […]

More than 10,000 people across Russia have been detained in recent rallies demanding the release of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and criticizing Russia’s ruling elite.  The mass protests, which were not authorized by the government, saw a widespread crackdown and harsh treatment of protesters by baton-wielding officers that has sparked outcry from the West.   […]

Denis Bondarenko is waiting in the snow in a long snaking queue of around 150 people outside the Foreign Citizen Temporary Detention Center in the small village of Sakharovo, 80 kilometers outside Moscow.     The 27-year-old lawyer is clutching a parcel of food and warm winter clothes for his cousin Ivan, a carer at a Moscow […]

Russian police have allegedly detained two gay men who escaped from the republic of Chechnya and handed them over to authorities in their home region, the Russian LGBT Network reported Thursday.  The LGBT Network had helped the two men, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isayev, flee from Chechnya and relocate to the city of Nizhny Novgorod […]

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is on trial Friday charged with defaming a World War II veteran, days after his jailing under a years-old fraud conviction sparked international outcry. Navalny was charged with “discrediting the honor and dignity” of the 95-year-old veteran after describing him and others who appeared in a pro-Kremlin video as “the […]

President Joe Biden said Thursday the United States will no longer be “rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions” and demanded release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. In toughly worded remarks pivoting from his predecessor Donald Trump’s muted approach to Moscow, Biden warned of “advancing authoritarianism” in China and Russia. The speech […]

Alexei Navalny’s supporters will stop staging protests demanding his release until at least this spring, a key aide of the imprisoned Kremlin critic said Thursday. Leonid Volkov, head of Navalny’s regional network of campaign-style offices, announced he would not be calling supporters to take to the streets for a third successive weekend of protests across […]

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced concern over jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny and imprisoned Americans in a telephone call Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. President Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly voiced alarm over Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic whose doctors say he was poisoned and who was promptly detained […]

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called on his supporters Thursday to fight fear and free Russia from “a handful of thieves in power,” in his first detailed comments since being ordered to serve out a prison sentence. The 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner, who was jailed Tuesday on old embezzlement charges, wrote on Instagram that the authorities could […]

French cosmetics company Yves Rocher dismissed Thursday as unjustified criticism against it over its role in a 2014 fraud trial against Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. A Russian court found Navalny guilty in 2014 of defrauding the Russian subsidiary of Yves Rocher in a ruling later declared “arbitrary” by the European Court of Human Rights.  Navalny […]

Almost half of young people in Russia disapprove of President Vladimir Putin’s performance, according to a poll by the independent Levada Center published Thursday. Some 46% of Russians aged 18-24 said they did not approve of Putin — a sharp rise from the 31% who said the same last year. The results are the latest […]

An outcry grew in Russia Thursday over a crackdown on protesters, as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visits the country under pressure to confront Moscow over the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny. Borrell’s three-day visit to Russia beginning Thursday — the first by a top EU envoy since 2017 — comes during a period of […]

There has been “no repression” against Russians detained while protesting in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin said Thursday amid mounting criticism of the harsh law enforcement tactics used against peaceful demonstrators. Independent monitors estimate that more than 10,000 people and dozens of journalists have been detained nationwide during the protests on […]

The jailed editor-in-chief of the independent Mediazona news website has been placed in an overcrowded cell amid reports of detention centers overflowing after mass arrests at rallies in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his Twitter account said Thursday. Sergei Smirnov was jailed for 25 days Wednesday for retweeting a joke about his resemblance […]

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell jets to Moscow on Thursday under pressure to confront the Kremlin over the jailing of Alexei Navalny and a crackdown on protesters. The visit — the first to Russia by a top EU envoy since 2017 — has drawn criticism from some European capitals worried Moscow will spin it as evidence […]

Some European leaders seem to be warming to the idea of deploying Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as the EU struggles with supply shortfalls.   But how likely is it that Moscow’s jab will be going into arms across the 27-nation bloc after trial results showed it to be 91.6% effective? Is anyone using it? Hungary […]

A top aide of Alexei Navalny on Wednesday vowed to fight on despite the Russian opposition figure’s imprisonment, saying the EU should respond by targeting President Vladimir “Putin’s money.” Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s regional network coordinator, told AFP he expected the jailing would boost the Kremlin critic’s approval rating and followers despite a crackdown on protests. […]

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration Wednesday extended the New START nuclear treaty with Russia by five years, saying it hoped to prevent an arms race despite rising tensions with Moscow including over its imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. One day before the treaty was set to expire, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the […]

Russia has jailed the chief editor of the independent Mediazona news website for 25 days for retweeting a joke that allegedly promoted a recent protest in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, Mediazona reported Wednesday.  Sergei Smirnov, 45, was detained and later released Saturday on charges of “inciting participation in an unauthorized rally.” Photos […]

On Tuesday evening, as the world was reacting to a court decision to sentence Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to two years and eight months in jail for violating the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence, Russia’s capital was being swiftly fortified and closed off. Riot police in black balaclavas formed columns in popular tourist spots […]

Germany warned Wednesday that Russia may face further EU sanctions over the jailing of opposition figure Alexei Navalny. “After this ruling, there will now also be talks among EU partners. Further sanctions cannot be ruled out,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert. The ruling against the 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner is “far off from constitutional […]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has banned three pro-Russian television channels in a move the presidency said was aimed at staving off Kremlin propaganda.  Kiev says it has become a regular target of Russian misinformation since 2014, when Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, a conflict that has claimed more than […]

Turkey and Russia have opened a joint military facility in Azerbaijan to help monitor the ceasefire with Armenia, a stark indicator of the shifting geopolitics in the region. The center formally opened on Jan. 30, near the village of Giyameddinli in the Aghdam region. Staffed by an equal number of Russian and Turkish troops — 60 on […]

Russians in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities took to the streets Tuesday in protest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny being sentenced to 2.8 years in prison. Despite hundreds of riot police stationed throughout central Moscow and St. Petersburg warning people not to stage unauthorized protests, thousands of Navalny’s supporters rallied in spontaneous groups throughout […]

The sentencing of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to prison on Tuesday sparked swift condemnation from the West.  A Moscow court sentenced the fierce Kremlin critic to two years and eight months in a prison colony over alleged parole violations while recovering in Germany from a near-fatal poisoning he blames on President Vladimir Putin. His […]

Mexico on Tuesday approved Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in the country, one of the worst hit by the pandemic, following the release of positive trial results. The move is a boost to the Latin American nation’s efforts to keep its immunization program on track in the face of limited supplies from other […]

A Moscow court sentenced Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to two years and eight months in a penal colony, defying tens of thousands of his supporters who had rallied in his support since his return to Russia and Western governments who had urged for his immediate release. Navalny, 44, was detained on Jan. 17 when he […]

A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to two years and eight months in a prison colony, after his arrest last month prompted tens of thousands to rally in his support across the country. The 44-year-old anti-corruption activist was convicted of violating a 2014 suspended sentence for fraud by missing probation […]

A prominent U.S. investor and French banker denied they were guilty of embezzlement Tuesday, on the opening day of a trial in Moscow that has rattled Russia’s business community. Michael Calvey, the 53-year-old founder of Russia-based investment fund Baring Vostok, was arrested along with French banker Philippe Delpal in February 2019 and accused of defrauding […]

The Russian government suspects the poisoning attack on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny could have been “staged” by the West since it still hasn’t received evidence from Germany, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference Tuesday. Lavrov’s comments come as Navalny faces years in prison for allegedly violating his probation while recovering in […]

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19, according to results published in The Lancet on Tuesday that independent experts said allayed transparency concerns over the jab, which Moscow is already rolling out. Sputnik V — named after the Soviet-era satellite — was approved in Russia months before results from its final-stage clinical […]

A prominent US investor and French banker went on trial in Moscow on Tuesday nearly two years after they were arrested on embezzlement charges that rattled Russia’s business community. Michael Calvey, the 53-year-old founder of the Russia-based investment fund Baring Vostok, was arrested along with French banker Philippe Delpal and several associates in February 2019 […]

A Moscow court is beginning a hearing Tuesday on whether jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose arrest has triggered mass protests, should face years in prison. Navalny, 44, was detained on Jan. 17 when he returned to Moscow from Berlin, where he had spent months recovering from a near-fatal poisoning attack in August he blames […]

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been placed in custody until Feb. 15 for allegedly violating the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence on fraud charges. On Tuesday, a court will deliberate over whether the 44-year-old anti-graft campaigner’s suspended sentence should be converted to prison time. Here are three things to know about the case: Yves […]

Breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists began a vaccine drive with Russia’s Sputnik V jab, officials said Monday, as the government in Kiev struggled to secure alternative doses. The supply of Sputnik V to separatist authorities is Russia’s latest show of support for the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics, which have been locked in […]

A Russian Sukhoi Su-24 frontline bomber has conducted a low pass over the United States Navy’s guided-missile destroyer in the Black Sea, the U.S. Sixth Fleet reported Monday.  The USS Donald Cook has been stationed in neutral waters “to ensure security and stability in the region” as part of an operation under a NATO mandate, […]

Russia is “legally and technologically” ready to disconnect from the global internet if needed, former President Dmitry Medvedev told Interfax Monday. Russian authorities have long flirted with the notion of tougher restrictions and control over the internet on Russian territory. While the country’s “sovereign internet” law passed in 2019 gives Russia the ability to cut […]

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who has channeled the frustrations of Russians over the past two weeks to rally tens of thousands to protests across the country, has been on a complex ideological journey throughout his two decades in Russian politics. Over the course of his political career the 44-year-old activist has been described as […]

Calls for targeted U.S. sanctions against several dozen Russian business and political elites by jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) confirms its status as a foreign agent, the Kremlin said Monday.   On Jan. 30, FBK executive director Vladimir Ashurkov shared a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden listing individuals — many of whom […]

Thousands of Muscovites protested in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny for a second weekend despite an unprecedented crackdown against the opposition in the days prior and a lockdown imposed by the authorities across central Moscow. Unable to gather at the planned protest point in front of the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters, protesters […]

Russian prosecutors have supported handing opposition leader Alexei Navalny a prison sentence of up to 3.5 years in a high-profile trial that starts Tuesday. Navalny was swiftly detained upon his Jan. 17 return to Russia from Germany, as Russia’s prison service accused him of violating his probation in a 2014 fraud conviction by failing to […]

France on Monday urged Germany to scrap a major gas pipeline project with Russia in protest over the detention in Moscow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. “We have always said we have the greatest doubts on this project in this context,” European Affairs minister Clement Beaune told France Inter radio.  Asked specifically if France wanted Berlin to […]

Russia has confirmed 3,868,087 cases of coronavirus and 73,619 deaths. Feb. 1: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 17,648 new coronavirus cases and 437 deaths. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev got vaccinated against the coronavirus two months ago, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted Medvedev as saying. Russia’s former Prime Minister did […]

Tens of thousands of Russians joined unsanctioned protests across the country in support of jailed opposition activist Alexei Navalny for a second consecutive weekend, despite a week of crackdowns and threats of mass arrests. Navalny was detained in mid-January on his return from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning attack he blames […]

Russians nationwide staged a second round of protests calling for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s release despite a growing crackdown and threats of prosecution by the authorities. Navalny’s allies called for new protests to demand his release after tens of thousands took to the streets nationwide last Saturday in rallies that also protested Russia’s elite, […]

Russians nationwide are staging a second round of protests calling for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s release despite a growing crackdown and threats of prosecution by the authorities. Navalny’s allies called for new protests to demand his release after tens of thousands took to the streets nationwide at last Saturday’s protests, resulting in a single-day […]

Blue underwear and toilet brushes, snowball barrages and snow graffiti — Russia’s protest movement in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has seen demonstrators get creative. Here’s a rundown of the unusual memes and symbols from recent anti-government rallies and what they mean. Blue underwear Since December Russian protesters have hung blue boxer shorts […]

Billionaire and Vladimir Putin ally Arkady Rotenberg said Saturday he owns a Black Sea coast property that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny says costs over $1.5 billion and belongs to the Russian president. Navalny claims the 17,691 square meter mansion sits on a property 39 times the size of Monaco and features a casino along with […]

Iran’s ambassador to Russia said Saturday that Tehran expects to receive the first batch of Moscow’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine by Feb. 4, state news agency IRNA reported. The news comes just days after Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced the vaccine had been approved by the Islamic republic. “A contract for the purchase […]

Russia has confirmed 3,832,080 cases of coronavirus and 72,697 deaths. Jan. 30: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 19,032 new coronavirus cases and 512 deaths. All Russian universities will be allowed to resume in-person classes starting Feb. 8, according to the decree issued by Russia’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education Friday.   Russia resumed flights with […]

The brother and aides of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were placed under house arrest on Friday ahead of new rallies, as Russian authorities warned that protesters could face charges of taking part in “mass unrest.” Moscow police also announced that on Sunday, when the fresh protests are planned, movement in the center of the […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed off on legislation extending a key nuclear pact between Russia and the United States by five years, the Kremlin said Friday. “Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the federal law ‘on the ratification of the extension of the agreement between Russia and the U.S.’,” the Kremlin said in a statement, […]

Employees of an online retail platform in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg have expressed their support for President Vladimir Putin in a massive dance flashmob.  In the video, which was widely distributed by pro-Kremlin media channels, hundreds of Sima Land employees march and dance in military-style uniforms to patriotic Russian pop songs like “When They […]

A Kremlin-loyal news outlet has gained access to the Black Sea palace that jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny links to President Vladimir Putin, confirming his claims that the property had to be gutted and rebuilt due to design flaws. Video published by the Mash Telegram channel Friday showed its chief editor being escorted inside the […]

A Russian warship has sailed out of its home berth in the Black Sea to confront a U.S. destroyer navigating the area, the Russian Navy announced Friday. The Admiral Makarov performed air defense and combat-readiness exercises “under combat training plans,” Interfax cited the Navy’s Black Sea Fleet as saying. “The frigate’s crew will next conduct […]