Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Belarus Briefing | Nov. 4
Belarus has seen weekly mass protests against the disputed presidential re-election of Alexander Lukashenko for nearly three months. On Monday, exiled Belarusian opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called for a national strike after the deadline she set for Lukashenko to resign and free all political prisoners expired the previous day. Here’s more of the latest news…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Nov. 5
Russia has confirmed 1,693,454 cases of coronavirus and 29,217 deaths. Nov. 4: What you need to know today Russia has confirmed the record-breaking number of 19,768 new coronavirus cases and 389 deaths. Russia is set to miss the self-imposed coronavirus vaccination timeline, information obtained by the business news website The Bell suggests. While the authorities have vowed to vaccinate…
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Russia Not on Track for Mass Coronavirus Vaccination by Year-End – The Bell
Russia will likely miss its self-imposed timeline for mass vaccination against the coronavirus because of insufficient production capacity, the business news website The Bell reported Tuesday. Authorities have vowed to vaccinate a sizable part of Russia’s population by the end of 2020, but developers are reportedly facing issues with scalability and quality control. As a…
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Kyrgyzstan Elects Speaker Loyal To New Leader Ahead of Vote
Kyrgyzstan’s parliament elected an ally of acting leader Sadyr Japarov as speaker Wednesday, in a move bolstering the populist politician’s position as he prepares for a January presidential election. Japarov, who was propelled to power less than two weeks after being freed from jail during political chaos that saw Sooronbay Jeenbekov resign as president, has…
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Wary Armenians and Azerbaijanis Watch War From Moscow
At a bustling produce market in southwest Moscow, Azerbaijani salesman Avas’ fruit and vegetables kiosk is a few steps away from Armine’s where she sells cheese from Armenia. When Avas was 26 years old, conflict broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and he was forced to leave his home. The…
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Russia Breaks Coronavirus Cases and Deaths Records, Surges Past 19K Infections
The number of new coronavirus cases in Russia hit another record Wednesday, surpassing 19,000 for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 19,768 new coronavirus cases smash Sunday’s record by more than 1,000 and push the total caseload to 1,693,454, the world’s fourth-highest number. The national coronavirus information center said that…
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Shock and Fear Grips Chechens in France After Teacher’s Beheading by ‘One of Our Own’
Soon after news broke that a Chechen teenager was responsible for the gruesome daylight beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty, Parisien student Akhmat started to get texts from his friends asking him if he knew the killer. “We are a relatively small group, so people just assumed we knew each other. It shows what an…
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MH17 Suspect Denies Seeing Deadly Missile
A Russian suspect in the crash of flight MH17 saw no sign of the missile allegedly used to shoot down the plane, he said in a video played Tuesday at his trial. Oleg Pulatov is one of four men being tried in absentia by a Dutch court over the loss of the Malaysia Airlines jet,…
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IAEA experts studying the preliminary safety report of the Paks II project (Hungary)
The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority has sent the preliminary safety report of the Paks II project to independent international experts for consideration, through the International Atomic Energy Agency. The implementation license application of the Paks II project is based on the preliminary safety report. Paks II. Zrt, the Hungarian client in the Paks II Nuclear…
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ROSATOM Launches Global Atomic Quiz Celebrating World Science Day on 10 November
The world around us is made of atoms. Everything from the tiniest creatures to entire planets consists of these basic particles. The idea of atom has been around for centuries, and the science behind it has come a long way since. The life as we know it would have been quite different without nuclear technologies.…
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Russians Among Those Detained in Vienna Attack, Ambassador Says
Authorities in Austria have detained suspects from southwestern Russia’s North Caucasus region as part of an investigation into the deadly shooting rampage in Vienna, Russia’s ambassador in Vienna said Tuesday. The only known gunman in Monday evening’s shooting spree across Vienna that killed four people and wounded 22 was an Islamic State group supporter, Austria’s…
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Belarus Launches Nuclear Plant Despite Baltic Outcry
Belarus on Tuesday launched its controversial Russia-built nuclear power station despite safety concerns from neighboring Baltic states three decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The launch comes as Belarus strongman president Alexander Lukashenko faces historic protests against his claim to victory in August presidential polls that Western leaders and his critics say were fraudulent. Ahead of…
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Gazprom obtains record-high gas inflow on Kara Sea shelf
Background The Leningradskoye gas and condensate field is located in the Kara Sea within the Leningradsky licensed block. The field’s current recoverable gas reserves are estimated to total 1.9 trillion cubic meters and are classified as unique. In October, a new gas deposit was discovered at the field as a result of drilling and testing of an exploratory well. Commercial gas inflow was obtained with a flow rate…
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Russia’s Election Panel Criticizes ‘Alarming’ U.S. Mail-in Vote
Large-scale mail-in voting and late results in the 2020 U.S. presidential election could raise concerns over the transparency and legitimacy of the voting process, a senior Russian election official has said. Nearly 100 million Americans have already voted early, both in person and by mail, as the coronavirus pandemic has upended the traditional approach to…
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Russia Blames Turkey for New Spike in Coronavirus Cases
Russia’s healthcare and consumer protection watchdog believes that most of the country’s “imported” coronavirus cases came from Turkey, Interfax has reported. “Our general monitoring showed that out of the total number of detected (imported cases) — more than 10 thousand positive tests for coronavirus, some 90%, are people who returned from Turkey,” Interfax quoted the…
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Muscovites Talk About Coronavirus, Moscow’s QR Code System
As the second wave of the record-breaking coronavirus pandemic tears through Russia, the government has reinstated a national mask mandate as well as a decree requiring establishments to close between 11 pm and 6 am. Moscow, however, has kept its nightlife going past 11 pm, requiring Muscovites only to register their phone number with a…
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Nagorno-Karabakh Briefing | Nov. 3
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan — now in its sixth week — shows little sign of easing after both sides accused the other of breaking an agreement not to target residential and civilian areas with missile strikes. The United Nations warned Monday evening those attacks “may amount to war crimes.” Nagorno-Karabakh and areas under…
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Putin Calls Vienna Attack ‘Cruel and Cynical Crime’
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called the Vienna shooting a “cruel and cynical” crime in a condolences telegram to the Austrian leadership. Four people were killed in multiple shootings in Vienna on Monday evening in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “repulsive terror attack”. In the telegram to Kurz and Austrian President…
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Harrowing Coronavirus Stories Emerge From Russia’s Battered Regions
The second record-breaking wave of coronavirus infections battering Russian regions has been accompanied by distressing stories and images of patients struggling in a strained health system. Cities including St. Petersburg and the western enclave of Kaliningrad have seen their highest caseloads since the spring outbreak, while the Moscow region has doubled Covid-19 hospitalizations over the…
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UEFA Considers Holding Euro 2020 Exclusively in Russia – Le Parisien
Europe’s football governing body UEFA might make Russia the sole host of the Euro 2020 football championship that was postponed by the coronavirus pandemic until 2021, the French daily Le Parisien reported Monday. UEFA’s Euro 2020 is currently scheduled to be staged in 12 cities, including St. Petersburg, between June 11 and July 11, 2021.…
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Moldova’s Pro-EU Presidential Hopeful Wins First Round Vote
Moldova’s pro-European presidential hopeful Maia Sandu won a surprise first-round victory, a major setback for Moscow-backed incumbant Igor Dodon that suggests a tight second round later this month. The small former Soviet country voted under the watchful eye of Russia, which wants polarized Moldova to remain in its sphere of influence as several nearby Kremlin-aligned governments…
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Nagorno-Karabakh Briefing | Nov. 2
Armenia and Azerbaijan failed to strike another ceasefire in talks brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as Baku pledged to “fight to the end” to recapture territory which has been controlled by Armenia-backed separatists since 1994. Meanwhile, Yerevan formally opened consultations with Moscow over when Russia would come to the…
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Belarus Rights Abuses Under Fire at UN
Belarus faced harsh criticism at the UN on Monday, with diplomats slamming arbitrary detentions and torture allegations in the response to months of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko. During a review of Belarus’s rights record at the United Nations in Geneva, many diplomats urged Belarus authorities to halt the crackdown on demonstrators, who since August have…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Nov. 2
Russia has confirmed 1,655,038 cases of coronavirus and 28,473 deaths. Nov. 2: What you need to know today Russia has confirmed 18,257 new coronavirus cases and 238 additional deaths. Only 36% of Russians are ready to vaccinate against Covid-19, according to the results of an independent Levada Center poll published by Russia’s Open Media news Monday. The share of Russians unwilling to…
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Coronavirus Cases Spike in 40% of Russian Regions
New coronavirus cases are spiking in 40% of Russian regions, Russia’s top public health official said Monday amid reports of hospital bed, staff and drug shortages hitting far-flung areas outside Moscow. Infections are on the decline in only two regions, Anna Popova, who heads Russia’s consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said during a Covid-19 government task…
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Russia Battles Four-Year Doping Ban
Russia’s attempt to overturn its four-year ban from international sport got underway in Lausanne Monday, the latest chapter of a long-running and controversial saga over state-sanctioned doping. Global anti-doping body WADA in December last year declared the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to be non-compliant after being accused of manipulating testing data. The ban meant the…
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Russian Arctic Sea Fails to Freeze
Russia’s Arctic Laptev Sea has not yet frozen for the first time since records began, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Centre. The sea, which is known as the “birthplace of ice,” thawed much earlier in 2020 than in any previous year since 1979, and has not yet re-frozen as of late…
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Russia’s ‘Sausage King’ Murdered With Crossbow
Masked assailants murdered Russian meat magnate Vladimir Marugov with a crossbow at his countryside estate outside Moscow in the early hours of Monday morning, Russia’s Investigative Committee reported. Marugov and his partner were in an outdoor sauna hut on the estate about 25 miles west of the capital when the attack happened. The woman managed…
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Samotlorneftegaz Launches Unique Technology for Cleaning the Bottom of Water Bodies
Samotlorneftegaz, an enterprise of Rosneft’s oil production complex, together with the Institute for Biology of the Tomsk State University, has successfully launched the Air Probe (Aeroshchup) technology for cleaning hydrocarbons off the bottom of reservoirs through flotation and airlifting.
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Ryazan Oil Refining Company Celebrates 60 Years of Operation
Ryazan Oil Refining Company, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s refining complex, has celebrated 60 years of its operation. In October 1960, the first batch of motor gasoline was produced at the crude distillation unit
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Mistrust Grows for Russia’s Coronavirus Vaccine – Poll
More Russians distrust their homegrown coronavirus vaccine now than they did in the summer, a new independent poll cited by Russia’s Open Media news website said Monday as authorities raise hopes of mass vaccination in the coming months. The share of Russians unwilling to vaccinate against Covid-19 has risen to 59% in October from nearly…
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Encounters On and Off the Trans-Siberian Train
Можно? How do you approach a stranger on the streets? How do you ask to take a photograph without speaking the language? What seem to be barriers at first make it easier in the end. You just ask. It’s easier to speak a few words, but it works just as well without. You show the…
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Edward Snowden Aims to Become Dual U.S.-Russian Citizen
Fugitive U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden said Monday he had applied for Russian citizenship but would keep his U.S. nationality. The former American intelligence contractor, who revealed in 2013 that the U.S. government was spying on its citizens, has been living in exile in Russia since the revelations. Snowden’s tweet comes weeks after he was granted…
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Severstal supplies large-diameter pipes to the USA for the first time
November 2, 2020 PAO Severstal, one of the world’s largest vertically integrated steel and mining companies, has completed its first ever delivery of large-diameter pipes (LDP) to the USA, an order of 2,350 tonnes. Severstal’s high-quality LDP products are produced at the IzhoraPipe Mill, which is part of Severstal’s Russian Steel Division, to ASTM A252,…
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Moldova Elects President Under Moscow’s Gaze
Moldovans went to polls on Sunday to elect a president under the watchful eye of Moscow which wants the polarised country to remain in its orbit amid political and security crises on Russia’s borders. Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT and will close 14 hours later. Despite its small size, politics in tiny Moldova, which is…
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Thousands Demand New Vote in Georgia After Ruling Party Claims Victory
Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi on Sunday to demand snap polls after the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a parliamentary vote. The ex-Soviet nation’s opposition rejected the results of Saturday’s vote, which showed Georgian Dream with a narrow lead in the tightly contested election. The demand…
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Azerbaijan Says No Reason for Russia to Intervene Over Karabakh
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday there was no reason for Russia to intervene in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh because Baku is not threatening Armenian territory. Fighting has been raging over Karabakh — an ethnic Armenian region of Azerbaijan — for more than a month and on Saturday Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asked Moscow for “urgent…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Nov. 1
Russia has confirmed 1,636,781 cases of coronavirus and 28,235 deaths. Nov. 1: What you need to know today Russia has confirmed 18,665 new cases and 245 new deaths. Over 150 patients were evacuated from a coronavirus hospital on Saturday in the Ural city of Chelyabinsk following an oxygen explosion and fire. All of Russia’s regions are currently experiencing shortages of doctors to…
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How U.S. Elections Could Impact EU-Russia Relations
For several long years now, the European Union has been waging onerous trench warfare on two fronts. On the eastern front, Brussels has been in conflict with a malign Moscow since 2014: refusing to repeal sanctions against Russia, deflecting all the Kremlin’s new information attacks, and attempting to maintain a unified position among its disorderly…
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Practical Magic: How Russia’s Ancient Witchcraft Traditions Continue to Thrive
For millions of people around the world who dabble in the occult, Halloween is one of the most important — and fun — holidays of the year. But while younger Russians might wear costumes and go to Halloween parties today, it’s not a traditional or widespread holiday for much of the country. Despite the lack…
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Russia Pledges Help to Yerevan if Fighting Reaches Armenia
Russia said Saturday it would provide “necessary” assistance to Yerevan in its conflict with Azerbaijan if fighting reached Armenian territory after its ally requested help. Earlier Saturday Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan formally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin “urgent” consultations on security assistance in its conflict with Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.…
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Launch Squash Boats Under the Blue Moon
Halloween as we think of it — jack-o’-lanterns, children dressed up trick-or-treating, scary decor — is a relatively recent import to Russia. Apart from the expatriate enclaves where they take trick-or-treating very seriously indeed, the holiday has found its most fertile soil in the grown-up playgrounds of nightclubs and bars. And this makes sense, since…
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Anti-Macron Protesters Gather Outside French Embassy in Moscow
Protesters gathered outside the French Embassy in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to picket against French President Emmanuel Macron. In comments that angered many Muslims this week, Macron defended the right to publish controversial cartoons as part of France’s secular tradition following the beheading of a French teacher who had shown a Charlie Hebdo cartoon…
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Russians Stock Up on Food, Essentials Amid Fears of Second Virus Lockdown – Survey
At least one-third of Russians are actively preparing for a second coronavirus lockdown despite officials’ continued assurances that there are no plans to enact stricter measures, the RBC news website cited a survey as saying Friday. Russia has seen record-breaking surges in new coronavirus infections over the past two months as the outbreak gradually shifts from…
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Russian Loses UK Libel Case Against Trump Dossier Author
A Russian technology entrepreneur on Friday lost a UK libel case against a former MI6 intelligence officer whose dossier on Donald Trump’s alleged links to Moscow played into attempts to impeach the U.S. president. Aleksej Gubarev had sued Christopher Steele for defamation for claiming he had “knowing involvement” in the hacking of Democratic party emails…
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Lukashenko Warns Belarus Protesters He Will ‘Take No Prisoners’
Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko ordered his security chiefs Friday to crack down on protesters and “take no prisoners” in his grimmest warning yet after months of demonstrations. The ex-Soviet nation has witnessed mass protests since the 66-year-old authoritarian leader claimed a landslide victory in August presidential elections that critics and Western leaders say was rigged.…
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Navalny Returns to Popular YouTube Show After Novichok Poisoning
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny returned to his popular YouTube show for the first time after his poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent, accusing President Vladimir Putin of his attempted murder and vowing to return to Russia as soon as he recovers. Navalny, 44, appeared to his show’s 2 million subscribers on a video call from…
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Belarus Briefing | Oct. 30
Belarus has seen weekly mass protests against the disputed presidential re-election of Alexander Lukashenko for nearly three months. On Monday, exiled Belarusian opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called for a national strike after the deadline she set for Lukashenko to resign and free all political prisoners expired the previous day. Here’s more of the latest news…
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Weekend Culinary Trips Return With Two Virtual Destinations
Our friends and neighbors at the Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park have brought back the gastronomic stay-at-home travel experiences that kept many of us happy and well-fed during the spring lockdown. Now they’ve doubled their culinary geography. Instead of one, now there are two sets of delicious food available for order every weekend. The new offerings,…
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‘May God Disfigure the Face of This Creature’: Russian MMA Star Nurmagomedov Joins Anti-Macron Chorus
Russian MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov has joined a growing chorus of protests by prominent Muslims against French President Emmanuel Macron’s defense of secular values in the wake of two deadly terrorist attacks with a withering Instagram post. Macron became the target of widespread anger in the Islamic world for defending the display of cartoons of…
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Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Oct. 30
Russia has confirmed 1,599,976 cases of coronavirus and 27,656 deaths. Oct. 30: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 18,283 Covid-19 cases Friday, bringing its official number of cases to 1,599,976 and setting a new one-day record for infections. In the past 24 hours, 355 people have died. All of Russia’s regions are currently experiencing shortages of doctors to…
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Police Kill Russian Teen After Molotov, Knife Attack
Police in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan have shot and killed a teenager after he attacked a police station with Molotov cocktails and injured one officer with a knife while calling the officers “enemies of Allah,” authorities said Friday. Police said officers chased after the suspect who threw at least two Molotov cocktails at the station’s…
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Nagorno-Karabakh Briefing | Oct. 30
Azerbaijani forces were closing in on the key town of Shusha on Thursday evening — the capture of which could transform the conflict at a time when analysts fear a “war of attrition” could be about to set in as winter approaches the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region. Meanwhile talks in Geneva will attempt to move towards…
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Angarsk Petrochemical Company Becomes Laureate of Russian ‘Reliable Partner in Ecology’ Contest
Angarsk Petrochemical Company, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s refining complex, has become a laureate of the 2nd Russian Contest ‘Reliable Partner in Ecology’.
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Turbine Idle Run at Unit 1 of Belarusian NPP
On October 30, 2020 at the Belarusian NPP (General Designer and General Contractor: Engineering Division of ROSATOM), specialists brought the turbo aggregate rotors to the nominal idle speed (without grid connection), which is one of the most important and crucial operations at the stage of the unit preparation for electricity generation. The rotation start is…
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Sergei Medvedev’s “The Return of the Russian Leviathan” Wins 2020 Pushkin House Book Prize
On Thursday evening Pushkin House announced that Sergei Medvedev is this year’s winner of the 2020 Pushkin House Book Prize for his collection of essays called in English “The Return of the Russian Leviathan.” The book was translated by Stephen Dalziel. The prize, which carries a monetary award of £10,000, is given every year for…
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Russia’s Coronavirus Vaccine Faces Production Problems, Putin Says
Russia’s coronavirus vaccine faces equipment shortages that could delay it from entering mass production, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday as reports suggested that developers have paused clinical trials due to the shortages. Staff at eight of the 25 trial clinics in Moscow said that they temporarily halted the vaccination of new volunteers with Sputnik V,…
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Russia’s Daily Coronavirus Cases Cross 18K in New Record
Russia confirmed a record daily increase in coronavirus infections for the second consecutive day Friday, reporting more than 18,000 new cases for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 18,283 new coronavirus cases pushes the overall number of Covid-19 cases in Russia to 1,599,976, the world’s fourth-highest number. The new milestone…
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Russia ‘Open’ to Return of Armenia-Held Land to Azerbaijan – Putin
Russia is open to Azerbaijan reclaiming seven areas surrounding the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh that Armenia has controlled for 26 years, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Azerbaijani forces have been making gains against Armenian separatist fighters since the heaviest fighting since a 1994 ceasefire over the South Caucasus region erupted last month. The Armenia-controlled districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh,…
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Nagorno-Karabakh Briefing | Oct. 29
Fighting continued Thursday in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region after the third attempt at a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan — a U.S. brokered deal — fell apart within minutes of coming into effect earlier in the week. Oct. 29: What you need to know today The leader of Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh said Azerbaijani forces…
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