Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Dec. 21

Russia has confirmed 2,848,377 cases of coronavirus and 50,858 deaths. Dec. 20: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 28 948 new coronavirus cases and 511 deaths Sunday. The conditional mortality rates increased to 1.79%, according to the data from the operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus. Dec.18 — St. Petersburg-based Greenpeace energy campaigner Rashid Alimov, 40,…

Details

Moscow to Target Apolitical Youth on TikTok in 2021 Race – Meduza

Moscow political operatives plan to engage apolitical youth in Russia’s 2021 legislative elections through TikTok, the Meduza news website reported Friday, citing unnamed sources close to the Kremlin. The popular short-form video app will presumably help Kremlin-backed candidates fend off challengers promoted by opposition figure Alexei Navalny. In the lead-up to next year’s vote, Navalny…

Details

Moscow Seeks to Jail Lawmaker Under ‘Multiple Protest’ Law

Moscow prosecutors have requested a three-year jail sentence for opposition municipal deputy Yulia Galyamina for multiple violations of Russian protest law, Galyamina said Friday. Galyamina was arrested alongside 140 others this summer for rallying against a package of constitutional amendments which among other changes pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to stay in power…

Details

Russian National Guard to Partner With Belarus Police Amid Protests

The Russian National Guard has signed a cooperation agreement with Belarus’ police force to combat “terrorism and extremism,” Interfax reported Friday.  The agreement comes amid months of opposition protests in Belarus against the country’s disputed presidential election. Belarus’ Moscow-backed President Alexander Lukashenko has accused the opposition of being backed by the West and has jailed…

Details

Navalny Interrogated in Germany Despite ‘Nonexistent’ Russian Criminal Probe

Leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny said German prosecutors interrogated him and his wife at Moscow’s request Thursday despite Russian authorities refusing to launch a criminal investigation into his poisoning. Navalny is undergoing rehabilitation in Berlin after recovering from what European scientists established was poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent in Siberia this summer. Russia…

Details

Finland’s Nordea Bank Pulls Out of Russia

Finland’s Nordea Bank plans to permanently cease its activities in Russia, the bank’s Russian branch announced Thursday.   Nordea Bank “will concentrate its activities in the Scandinavian region, therefore it was decided to partially close the international network, including the Russian branch,” its statement said. In the third quarter of 2020 Nordea ranked 95th in the…

Details

NGO Accuses Europe’s Home Improvement Stores of Buying Illegal Russian Lumber

European home improvement stores continued to sell illegally logged wood from the Russian taiga after the alleged smuggler’s arrest back home, the British environmental nonprofit Earthsight said in a report Wednesday. More than 20 European companies were said to have bought 30 million euros ($36.7 million) worth of suspect wood from companies associated with timber…

Details

Progress of Amur GPP construction project reaches 70.5 per cent

December 17, 2020, 20:00 The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the information about the progress of the Amur Gas Processing Plant (GPP) construction project. It was noted that the active phase of construction and installation operations is in full swing at the site of the future enterprise, with over 30,000 workers and engineers engaged in the operations. As of today, the project’s readiness is at 70.5 per cent. The recruitment process for…

Details

Putin Talks Coronavirus, Navalny Poisoning at Annual Marathon Press Conference

President Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference on Thursday focused heavily on the coronavirus pandemic that has hit Russia hard. The event follows a tumultuous 12 months for the Kremlin that also included unrest across the post-Soviet world, ongoing protests in the Far East and the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Speaking to journalists via…

Details

Putin Says Will Get Vaccine When Possible for Age Range

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will receive the Russian-developed Sputnik V coronavirus jab once it is approved for people his age, praising the vaccine as safe and effective.  The 68-year-old Russian president said at his annual end-of-year press conference that he had not been vaccinated yet, but “will definitely do so as soon as it becomes possible” according to expert…

Details

Russian Minister Gifted 300-Year-Old Ukrainian Icon in Bosnia — Reports

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov received a 300-year-old gilded icon from eastern Ukraine on his trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina, European media reported Wednesday. Bosnia’s Serb President Milorad Dodik gifted the Ukrainian Orthodox icon thought to be from the war-torn pro-Russian region of Luhansk, according to Ukraine’s Euromaidan Press news website. The Ukrainian Embassy in Sarajevo requested…

Details

Russian Nuclear-Powered Ship Turns Back After Emergency Repairs

A Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship bound for Antarctica has been forced to turn back after sustaining damage, and will bypass Europe before undergoing repairs, state nuclear agency Rosatom said Wednesday. Green activists have expressed concern that the vessel will be sailing past several European countries on its way home during the winter storm season. The Sevmorput vessel…

Details

‘Funny to Read’: Russia Reacts to Navalny Poisoning Investigation

Senior Russian diplomats and state television pundits have dismissed media investigations into leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s poisoning and accused their authors of illegal invasion of privacy. A joint investigation published by several media outlets this week claimed Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical weapons experts had tailed Navalny for years, including on the day he was…

Details

Negotiations continue on gas supply conditions for Belarus from January 1, 2021

December 16, 2020, 16:30 A working meeting of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, with Vladimir Semashko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation, and Viktor Karankevich, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus, took place today in St. Petersburg. The parties discussed the conditions of Russian gas supplies to and gas transportation across Belarus starting from January…

Details

Thailand Resumes Visa-Free Access for Russian Tourists

Thailand has restored visa-free access to Russian tourists months after it first imposed coronavirus border restrictions, Interfax cited the royal kingdom’s tourism ministry as saying Wednesday. Thailand, a popular tourist destination that has escaped relatively unscathed from the Covid-19 pandemic, began reopening its borders in October to kick-start its battered tourism industry. All new arrivals…

Details

Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Dec. 17

Russia has confirmed 2,734,454 cases of coronavirus and 48,564 deaths. Dec. 17: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 26,509 coronavirus cases and 596 deaths Wednesday. Aeroflot will allocate special seating for passengers who refuse to wear face masks on flights, a spokeswoman for Russia’s flagship carrier said Tuesday. Moscow-based foreign nationals including doctors and educators with valid passports, certificates of…

Details

U.S. Investigated Kara-Murza Poisoning as ‘Intentional’ Act – RFE/RL

United States investigators probed Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr.’s suspected poisonings as “intentional” acts, the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty news outlet reported Tuesday, citing newly obtained records.  Kara-Murza, 39, says he was deliberately poisoned in Moscow in 2015 and 2017 as retaliation for his lobbying efforts to impose U.S. and EU sanctions against…

Details

Putin’s Cousin Forms New ‘Russia Without Corruption’ Party

President Vladimir Putin’s cousin has formed a new political party called “Russia Without Corruption,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.  Roman Putin is an entrepreneur, politician, former FSB officer and Putin’s first cousin, once removed. He previously headed the “People Against Corruption” party, which was dissolved last month by the Russian Supreme Court for…

Details

Russian Activist Convicted Under ‘Repeat Protest’ Law Walks Free From Prison

Russian activist Konstantin Kotov was released from prison Wednesday after serving 18 months for “multiple breaches” of Russia’s protest law. Kotov, who was arrested during the summer 2019 Moscow election protests, was the second person ever to be prosecuted under the controversial law criminalizing “repeated” participation in unauthorized rallies. A Moscow court cut the 35-year-old…

Details

Smog-Choked Russian City Appeals to Biden for Aid

Residents of Russia’s heavily polluted industrial city of Chelyabinsk are calling on U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to help them avoid “ecological genocide.” In a video appeal, residents said Russian authorities routinely ignore their complaints that industrial emissions are getting worse every year, causing rising cases of cancer and suffocating the city in smoke. “They’re taking…

Details

U.S. Accuses Russia of Sowing ‘Chaos’ in Mediterranean

America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused Russia of continuing to “threaten Mediterranean stability” and sowing “chaos, conflict and division” in countries around the region. In a statement on “Russian Influence in the Mediterranean,” the outgoing Secretary of State responded to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who he said “accused the United States of…

Details

Foreigners in Moscow Eligible for Russia’s Coronavirus Vaccine

Eligible Moscow-based foreigners can get vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine as part of the mass rollout currently underway, a representative from the Moscow Health Department told The Moscow Times. Russia kicked off its nationwide vaccination campaign among medics, teachers and other high-risk workers in recent days.  Foreign nationals including doctors and educators with…

Details

Russia’s MC-21 Passenger Aircraft Completes First Flight With Domestic-Made Engine

Russia’s MC-21 medium-range passenger aircraft has made its first flight with a domestically made engine, state industrial conglomerate Rostec announced Tuesday. “Through the efforts of scientists, designers, engineers and workers, a next-generation airliner is being created that returns our country to the top league of world aviation,” Rostec head Sergei Chemezov said in a statement.…

Details

Putin Congratulates U.S. President-Elect Biden After Electoral College Confirmation

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory telegram to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden after the Electoral College confirmed his win, the Kremlin announced Tuesday.   Putin is one of the last world leaders to congratulate the president-elect, with his message coming six weeks after the Nov. 3 vote in which Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump.…

Details

U.S. Slaps Sanctions on Turkey Over Russian Arms Purchase

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Turkey’s military procurement agency after the NATO ally defiantly bought Russia’s S-400 air defense system. “Today’s action sends a clear signal that the United States will fully implement (U.S. law) and will not tolerate significant transactions with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo…

Details

St. Petersburg Restaurants Spar With Authorities Over New Year Virus Restrictions

Restaurants and bars in Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg are at odds with authorities over New Year’s restrictions aimed at combating one of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, saying the measures threaten their survival. Dozens of establishments have said they intend to remain open for Russia’s most festive holiday, while city authorities have clamped…

Details