Sanctions Loophole Closed as Turkey Blocks Parallel Imports to Russia

Turkish customs officials have suddenly stopped permitting the transit of sanctioned goods bound for Russia through Turkish territory, Russia’s Kommersant FM radio station reported on Thursday citing Russian logistics operators.  Turkey has been a key hub for Russia’s sanction-busting efforts ever since President Vladimir Putin signed the country’s “parallel import” scheme into law in June. The…

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Pro-Russian Separatists in Moldova Say Foiled Ukraine Attack

Pro-Moscow authorities in Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, which borders Ukraine, said Thursday they had prevented an attack organized by Kyiv that targeted separatist officials. Transnistria is a narrow Kremlin-backed region in eastern Moldova that separated from the ex-Soviet republic after fighting in 1992. Russia has maintained a contingent of troops there since. Moldovan President…

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The works on the outside containment concreting are completed ahead of schedule at Rooppur NPP Unit 1

At the Rooppur NPP construction site in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (the general designer and general contractor being the Rosatom Engineering Division), the outside containment concreting has been completed 45 days ahead of schedule. The total process took 110 days instead of 155. According to the RPS project “Optimization of 10UJA outer containment structures…

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Deadly Russian Strikes Pound Ukraine

The largest Russian strikes on Ukraine in weeks killed at least six people and caused power outages across the war-battered nation on Thursday. Kyiv’s military downed nearly half of the missiles launched by Russia over at least 10 regions, as the fight raged on for control of the symbolic prize Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east.  The…

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Georgian Lawmakers Pull ‘Foreign Agents’ Bill After Mass Protests

Georgian lawmakers have dropped a controversial “foreign agents” bill, which critics said resembled Russian legislation used to silence critics, following days of mass protests that saw clashes between police and protesters. “We, as an authority responsible to every member of society, have decided to unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations,” the ruling Georgian…

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Putin Celebrates Russian Women Who ‘Fulfill Their Duty’

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday praised Russian women participating in Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine at a Kremlin event marking International Women’s Day. “Now that Russia is facing direct threats to its security and sovereignty, we see many examples of bravery and determination,” Putin said during the ceremony.  “In this hall there are women who…

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Russia Detains Activist for Railway ‘Sabotage’

The Russian security services have detained a 19-year-old political activist on suspicion of involvement in the sabotage of railway lines, Oleg Filatchev, the head of a group called the Russian Citizen Alliance, told The Moscow Times on Wednesday.  Nikita Klunya, who is also a member of Russian Citizen Alliance, was reportedly detained in the Russian…

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Women’s Day Celebrations a Lightning Rod for a Divided Russia

Russia marked International Women’s Day on Wednesday amid the ongoing war in Ukraine that has caused significant suffering for women — and seen the Kremlin double-down on its promotion of “traditional” values.     “It’s beneficial for the authorities to promote rhetoric about male defenders and women as guardians of the hearth and fragile, vulnerable creatures,” the…

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U.S. Intelligence Concludes ‘Pro-Ukraine Group’ Behind Nord Stream Attack                                            

U.S. officials have seen new intelligence that indicates a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. In a cautious report that did not identify the source of the intelligence or the group involved, the Times said the U.S. officials had…

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Ukraine Urges Probe Over Footage of Alleged POW Killing

Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday urged the International Criminal Court to probe footage circulating on social media that he said showed Russian forces killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war. “Horrific video of an unarmed Ukrainian POW executed by Russian forces merely for saying ‘Glory to Ukraine.’ Another (piece of) proof this war is genocidal,” Foreign…

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A Beginner’s Guide to Russia’s Fragmented Opposition

The political repression driven by the invasion of Ukraine has drastically altered the landscape of Russia’s disparate opposition. While some well-established movements such as Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation have been forced to shut down inside Russia entirely, other initiatives to unite those opposed to the war in Ukraine have sprung up in their place.   To…

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Russia Deems Transparency International ‘Undesirable’ Organization

updates with Transparency International Russia comment. Russia has added global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International to its list of “undesirable” organizations, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Monday. “Formally declaring itself an organization that fights corruption around the globe, it interferes in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, which threatens the constitutional order and the security…

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ROSATOM delegation took part in the 12th International Symposium on Targeted Alpha Therapy in the RSA

ROSATOM delegation took part in the 12th International Symposium on Targeted Alpha Therapy in the Republic of South Africa, ended on March 2, 2023 in Cape Town (South Africa). The symposium brought together more than 300 nuclear medicine professionals from medical and scientific organizations, educational institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and regulatory authorities from around the world.…

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Belarus Hands Exiled Opposition Leader 15 Years in Jail

Belarus on Monday sentenced exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to 15 years in prison for spearheading historic protests against the former Soviet country’s authoritarian leader. Tikhanovskaya — who was forced to flee to neighboring EU member Lithuania after the protests sparked by a disputed presidential election in 2020 — was sentenced in absentia on charges…

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Journalist Given 8 Months Community Service for Posting Mariupol Article

Corrects “eight-month jail sentence” with “eight months of community service.” A Russian court on Monday sentenced independent journalist Andrei Novashov to eight months of community service for spreading “falsehoods” about the Russian army, independent Russian TV channel Dozhd reported citing sources close to the journalist.  Novashov, a freelance journalist from the Kemerovo region in southwestern…

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Wagner Boss Says Bakhmut Fighters Lack Ammo

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which is spearheading the longest battle of Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine, has complained his forces still lack ammunition, blaming possible “betrayal.” Kremlin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose recruits have been fighting for months to capture the battle-scarred city of Bakhmut, has been entangled in a power struggle with the Defense…

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Zelensky Pays Tribute to Troops Amid Battle to Defend Bakhmut

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday paid tribute to his soldiers fighting in the “painful and difficult” battle for the country’s frontline eastern Donbas region. He was speaking after Ukraine’s general staff reported that its forces had fought off “more than 130 enemy attacks” the previous day, including in Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiivka. “The…

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Porridge Fit For a Tsar

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day. And although breakfast was different in different centuries, it has always — or almost always — played a great role…

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Conscripts Who Complained to Putin Wiped Out in Battle

Nearly all the Irkutsk region conscripts whose video appeals to President Vladimir Putin decrying their lack of training made headlines last February are believed to have died in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on March 1, the Sibir.Realii website reported on Friday. The unit’s members came to prominence in February 2022, when its recently mobilized reservists made three…

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Russia’s Wagner Mercenary Group Launches Youth Club in St. Petersburg

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has launched a youth club aimed at fostering patriotism and preparing young Russians for military service. The club, called Wagneryonok (“Junior Wagnerite”), is based at the Wagner Center, the group’s glass-fronted headquarters and technology center that opened in St. Petersburg in November. Wagneryonok is headed by recent high-school graduate Alexander Tronin,…

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Kremlin Says Will Take ‘Measures’ to Prevent Ukrainian Border Incursions

Russia will take measures to prevent border incursions from Ukraine following an alleged deadly attack by Ukrainian “saboteurs,” the Kremlin said Friday. Russian officials claimed Thursday that two Ukrainian sabotage groups crossed into Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, killing two civilians, injuring a 10-year-old boy and wounding several Russian servicemen. Ukrainian officials dismissed the…

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Kremlin Promises ‘Measures’ to Prevent Ukrainian Border Incursions

Russia will take measures to prevent border incursions from Ukraine following an alleged deadly attack by Ukrainian “saboteurs,” the Kremlin said Friday. Russian officials claimed Thursday that two Ukrainian sabotage groups crossed into Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, killing two civilians, injuring a 10-year-old boy and wounding several Russian servicemen. Ukrainian officials dismissed the…

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Belarus Jails Nobel Winner Bialiatski for 10 Years

Belarus on Friday handed a 10-year jail term to veteran activist Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel Prize winner and founder of the ex-Soviet authoritarian country’s most prominent rights group. Bialiatski was in the dock with two allies after they were jailed in the aftermath of historic demonstrations against the disputed 2020 re-election of Belarus’s strongman President…

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A Pocketful of Somethings

Вещь: thing, something, really something The Russian language has lots of somethings, that is, lots of words that mean “something,” more or less. Что–то is an undefined something, что–нибудь is an unknown something, and кое–что is a something that the speaker knows but doesn’t want to say. Got that? But of course it’s not that clear-cut,…

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Representatives of National Research University Moscow Energy Institute and AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC discuss the training program for Akkuyu NPP

March 2, 2023, Moscow, Russia. – A working meeting on training specialists for Akkuyu NPP took place at the National Research University Moscow Energy Institute. The Target Training Program for Akkuyu NPP Personnel among citizens of the Republic of Turkey is being implemented on the basis of the Intergovernmental Agreement between the Government of the…

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Russia Says U.S. Aided Alleged Ukraine Drone Attacks

Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Thursday that drone attacks which Kyiv is alleged to have carried out on Russian military bases would only have been possible with U.S. assistance. Sergei Ryabkov, who is in Geneva to address the UN Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament session, said Washington must have provided intelligence and…

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Deadly Clashes with ‘Ukrainian Saboteurs’ in Russian Border Region, Officials Say

Russian forces are clashing with a Ukrainian sabotage group that illegally crossed into the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, and opened fire on civilians, law enforcement agencies said Thursday. The statements could not be independently verified, and Kyiv dismissed the claims from Moscow as a “deliberate provocation.” Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said a sabotage and reconnaissance…

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