Wagner Boss Defends Russians’ Right to Criticize Military Top Brass

The outspoken founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Wednesday that he thought Russians should be free to criticize the country’s top military commanders after lawmakers introduced tougher penalties for anyone deemed to have discredited those fighting on Russia’s side in Ukraine. On Tuesday, the Russian parliament’s lower house approved legislation introducing long…

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ROSATOM and Algerian Atomic Energy Commission discussed nuclear energy solutions in a jointly organized workshop in Algeria

March 13, 2023 – Algeria (Algeria) – ROSATOM and the Algerian Atomic Energy Commission (COMENA) jointly organized a workshop on nuclear energy solutions for key stakeholders and companies in the Algerian energy market. This is the first event organized by the two parties taking place at the COMENA headquarters. Abdelhamid Mellah, COMENA commissioner, and Boris…

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Putin Calls to Step Up Fight Against Destabilization

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called on prosecutors to increase pressure on “attempts to destabilize” Russia’s domestic situation amid the Ukraine offensive. Moscow has heightened its crackdown on critical voices since sending troops to Ukraine last year, introducing new legislation to silence dissent.  “I ask you to react harshly to attempts to destabilize the socio-political…

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Russia Moves to End Tax Deal With ‘Unfriendly’ Countries

Russia moved Wednesday to suspend double tax agreements with “unfriendly” countries in response to sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. Double tax treaties prevent people or companies who receive income abroad also being taxed by their home countries. Russia’s foreign and finance ministries said they had proposed that President Vladimir Putin “issue a decree…

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Prominent Soviet Dissident Sergei Grigoryants Dies Aged 82

Sergei Grigoryants, a leading dissident in the Soviet Union and a Russian human rights activist, has died at the age of 82, his family said Tuesday. “My father passed away today,” Grigoryants’ daughter Anna Grigoryants wrote on Facebook without specifying the cause of his death. “Eternal memory.” Grigoryants, an Armenian-Ukrainian national who was born in Kyiv…

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Russian Lawmakers Introduce Bill Raising Draft Age

Russian lawmakers introduced a bill raising the upper age limit for military conscription on Monday, drawing criticism that it may be attempting to compensate for troop losses in Ukraine by expanding eligibility for mobilization. At present, Russian law requires men aged 18-27 are required to perform military service. The new bill, which was authored by…

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Russian Lawmakers Approve Punishments for Criticism, ‘Fake’ Info on Mercenaries

Russian lawmakers have passed legislation introducing criminal punishment for “discrediting” and spreading “fake” information about any force fighting for Russia in Ukraine, not just the Russian Armed Forces. Russia outlawed “discrediting” and spreading “deliberately false” information about the Russian military shortly after the country invaded Ukraine last February. The move has led to the silencing of…

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Russian Lawmakers Approve Punishments for ‘Fake’ Info on Army Volunteers, Mercenaries

Russian lawmakers have passed legislation introducing criminal punishment for “discrediting” and spreading “fake” information about any force fighting for Russia in Ukraine, not just the Russian Armed Forces. Russia outlawed “discrediting” and spreading “deliberately false” information about the Russian military shortly after the country invaded Ukraine last February. The move has led to the silencing of…

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Moscow Hosts First ‘Russia Lovers’ Gathering

Moscow played host Tuesday to an event that organizers touted as the first international gathering of Russia lovers as the country finds itself isolated over its invasion of Ukraine. The founding congress of the so-called “International Russophile Movement” describes itself as a meeting of “those who sincerely love our country, its history and culture,” the…

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Armenia PM Says Raised Peacekeeper ‘Problems’ with Putin

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Tuesday he had complained to Russian President Vladimir Putin about “problems” linked to Russian peacekeepers in restive Nagorno-Karabakh. Caucasus arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two brutal wars for control of the Armenian-majority region and the latest conflict in 2020 ended with the deployment of Moscow’s forces. “In a…

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Kremlin Critic Kara-Murza Goes on Trial for Treason

Russia on Monday began the closed-door trial of jailed opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who faces more than two decades in prison on charges including treason for comments critical of the Kremlin.  His high-profile trial is the latest in a string of cases against opposition voices in Russia in a crackdown that has intensified since President…

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Radiopharmaceuticals Production Complex Built by Rosatom Starts Medical Supplies to Bolivian clinics

March 9, 2023, El Alto, Bolivia – A unique for Latin America complex for radiopharmaceuticals production buit by Rosatom by order of the Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN), has started supplies of radiopharmaceuticals to the network of the Bolivian nuclear medicine centers. The ceremony of the beginning of supplies of the radiopharmaceutical fluodeoxyglucose took place…

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Still No Sign of Integration for Occupied Ukrainian Regions

The Kremlin maintains direct control over the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims as its own territory amid continuing fighting and a lack of established borders, Russia’s Kommersant daily reported Monday, citing unnamed presidential administration sources.  Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions are not included in any of Russia’s eight federal districts and do…

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‘Navalny’ Wins Oscar for Best Documentary Film

LOS ANGELES — “Navalny” won the best documentary Oscar at Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood, besting “All That Breathes,” “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” “Fire of Love” and “A House Made of Splinters.” The film, directed by Daniel Roher, follows an investigation by the journalist group Bellingcat and CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa…

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Moldova Smashes Pro-Moscow Subversion Ring – Police

Moldovan police said Sunday they had arrested members of a network “orchestrated by Moscow” in a bid to destabilize the small ex-Soviet nation as an anti-government protest kicked off.  After searches on Saturday night, 25 men were questioned and seven of them detained, police chief Viorel Cernauteanu told media. An agent managed to infiltrate the…

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Revenge is Sweet With Russian Eclairs

The kitchen would seem to be a peaceful place. After all, pies and eclairs do not conceal hidden conflict and tragedy. But our history often presents us with surprises that even the most inventive writer could not dream up. Here is one such story. “M. Conradi’s Candy and Chocolate Factory” was founded in 1853 by…

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Russia’s Wagner Group Opens Dozens of Recruitment Centers

The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced the opening of Wagner recruitment centers in dozens of cities across Russia on Friday. Wagner has been spearheading offensives against cities in eastern Ukraine including Bakhmut, in what has become the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia’s year-long invasion. Both sides have suffered heavy…

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Please Don’t Hit On Me, Bug Me, or Harass Me

Рыпаться: fidget, pester, make a ruckus A few weeks ago a video appeared on social media of a Russian woman being asked about Poland. She was very angry and indignant. She said that Poland should be destroyed because the country “всё рыпалась на нас.” Whatever рыпаться is, it must be absolutely diabolical if it requires…

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In Photos: The Historic Moscow Protests of 1991

Thirty-two years ago today, hundreds of thousands of Muscovites packed Manezhnaya Ploshchad next to the Kremlin to demand the resignation of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The protests, which started in February 1991 and would continue into the spring, were the biggest in Russia’s modern history. By the end of the year, Gorbachev would resign, the…

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