Gazprom Management Committee endorses drafts of investment program and budget for 2021

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November 26, 2020, 13:50 Gazprom’s overall amount of investments for 2021: RUB 902.413 billion. Gazprom’s borrowings for 2021: RUB 511.626 billion. Final investment program and budget to be approved by the Gazprom Board of Directors. The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the Company’s preliminary operating results for 2020 and the projected investment program and budget (financial plan) for 2022–2023. The Management Committee also endorsed the…

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Russia sets up National Quantum Lab

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Moscow, November 25, 2020 – The establishment of a new national project – the National Quantum Laboratory (NQL) – has been announced. The consortium created under the auspices of ROSATOM is going to adopt the international best practices and unite efforts and resources of key universities, research centers, technological companies, financial organizations, start-ups, and development…

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China-Bound Flight From Moscow Canceled Over 200 Identical Coronavirus Tests

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A Russian airline has canceled a China-bound flight from Moscow after nearly 200 passengers provided identical negative coronavirus test results, the Chinese Embassy in Moscow said Thursday. Pegas Fly grounded the Moscow-Zhengzhou flight Wednesday when the embassy uncovered more than 190 “completely identical” serology tests, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted the embassy as…

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Russia to Upgrade Flamethrower Systems – Izvestia

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Russia plans dramatic upgrades of its TOS-1 heavy flamethrower systems with longer-range “scorching” rockets and real-time targeting capabilities, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported Wednesday. Up to 100 TOS-1 “Buratino” and TOS-1A “Solntsepyok” models of the Russian Armed Forces’ Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops will reportedly receive the upgrades “due to the growing range and…

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Deputy Director General of ROSATOM Nikolai Spasskiy had a meeting with Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Russian Federation A. A. Al Saati

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On November 25, 2020, Deputy Director General for International Activity of ROSATOM Nikolai Spasskiy had a meeting with Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Russian Federation A. A. Al Saati at the request of the Bahrain party.  During the meeting, the parties discussed prospects of closer cooperation between ROSATOM and…

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Investigation Claims to Uncover Putin’s Extramarital Daughter

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Russian President Vladimir Putin may be the father of a secretive St. Petersburg millionaire’s 17-year-old daughter, the Proekt investigative website reported Wednesday. Yelizaveta Vladimirovna Krivonogikh “bears a phenomenal resemblance to the Russian president,” Proekt reported, citing photographs it said it had obtained.  Her mother Svetlana Krivonogikh is the beneficiary of a company that owns a…

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Digital technologies prove to be important tool in achieving Gazprom’s strategic goals

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November 25, 2020, 10:10 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information on the projects being designed and implemented for the widespread adoption of digital technologies and other technological solutions. It was highlighted that the introduction of digital technologies is an important tool to improve the effectiveness of corporate governance and achieve the strategic goals of the Gazprom Group. Today, the Company is at the final stage of automating its core…

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Gazprom planning to bring gas to some 3,500 rural communities by 2026

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November 25, 2020, 10:00 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information on the Company’s efforts to expand gas infrastructure in rural areas. It was highlighted that gas infrastructure expansion in Russian regions is an essential social project on a national scale. The project aims to facilitate the development of Russian constituent entities and improve the quality of life for the population. The top priority in this line of work is gas expansion…

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Board of Directors discusses impacts of 2020’s events on prospects of shale gas and LNG sectors

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November 25, 2020, 09:50 Decline in gas production growth rates expected in the U.S. shale industry. Slowdown in the LNG sector may have negative implications for its long-term development prospects. LNG produced in Russia could be useful for entering new gas sales markets. The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about the growth prospects of the shale gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) industries across…

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Key Belarus Opposition Figure Charged With Graft and Fraud

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Belarus authorities said Tuesday that opposition politician Viktor Babaryko — who until his arrest had intended to run against President Alexander Lukashenko in the August election — was charged with corruption and money laundering. For over three months Belarus has been gripped by historic protests against the re-election of strongman leader Lukashenko, 66, who secured a sixth term…

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Ozon Shares Jump 40% on U.S. IPO

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Shares in Russian online retail giant Ozon surged by more than 40% in the first minutes of trading after the most eagerly anticipated Russian initial public offering (IPO) in years. Ozon is the country’s second-largest e-commerce player and is placing itself to become Russia’s answer to Amazon with a plan to consolidate and dominate the…

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Is the WHO Too Soft on Russia?

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In May, as Russia was tentatively emerging from a nationwide lockdown and clocking up near-record numbers of new infections, Russian officials began mounting an aggressive public campaign to present Moscow’s handling of the coronavirus as faultless.  Central to that was boasting about the country’s low number of fatalities compared with Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere. …

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Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses Targeted in Fresh Raids

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Russian authorities have arrested Jehovah’s Witnesses in Moscow and across 20 other regions as part of their latest investigation into the religious group that is officially banned as “extremist,” investigators said Tuesday. Video released by the Moscow branch of the federal Investigative Committee, which investigates major crimes, showed masked men prying open an apartment door…

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Putin Still Won’t Congratulate Biden Despite Start of Formal Transition

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Russian President Vladimir Putin will not congratulate U.S. President-elect Joe Biden despite news that the Trump administration has approved the formal presidential transition process, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Trump eased some lingering post-election uncertainty by tweeting late Monday that the agency that works with incoming administrations would begin work to assist Biden’s team. While the…

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Yevgeny Lebedev Named ‘Baron of Hampton and Siberia’ in Britain

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Queen Elizabeth II has granted Russian-British media mogul Yevgeny Lebedev the title of “Baron of Hampton and Siberia,” according to the British government’s official journal of record The Gazette. The British monarch conferred a lifetime peerage to Lebedev, 40, after his longtime friend Prime Minister Boris Johnson nominated him in July. Reports suggested that Lebedev’s…

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Russian WWII Vet Given Presidential Medal for Raising Coronavirus Funds

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President Vladimir Putin has awarded a Russian World War II veteran for raising funds to support the families of doctors who died from coronavirus, according to a government decree published Monday. Zinaida Korneva, 98, received the Decoration “For Beneficence” for her “great contribution to charitable and public activities,” the decree said. The medal recognizes charity…

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Russian Peacekeeper Wounded in Deadly Nagorno-Karabakh Mine Blast

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A Russian peacekeeper has been wounded and an Azerbaijani soldier killed in a mine explosion in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday. Four emergency workers from the unrecognized ethnic Armenian republic of Nagorno-Karabakh were also wounded in the region’s Tartar district, the Defense Ministry was cited as saying by Interfax.…

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Russian New Music Gets a Reboot

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A man dressed in all black mimes scrambled Brodsky verses while a cellist rakes her instrument with plastic wedges…thundering drum beats are inspired by the latest protests in Belarus… musicians in virtual reality goggles clatter on mechanical typewriters. These are just some of the images and sounds that the audience at “Russian Music 2.0” was…

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Siberian Schoolkids Charged With Terror Over Minecraft Plot – Reports

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Three Siberian schoolchildren have been charged with terrorism over an alleged plot to blow up a virtual security building in the popular block-building game Minecraft, according to reports. Investigators in the Krasnoyarsk region announced the arrest of three 14-year-old “anarchists” over the summer on suspicion of training at abandoned sites to commit acts of terrorism.…

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NYT’s Russia Job Posting ‘Russophobic,’ Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Says

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has slammed The New York Times’ job posting for a Russia correspondent, criticizing it for “political bias” and “Russophobia.” In its description for the job posted early last week, The New York Times lists its requirements for an ideal candidate along with a description of the job’s location, “Vladimir Putin’s Russia.” …

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Russia Plans Biometric Database for Citizens, Foreigners – TASS

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Russia plans to create a national biometric database to identify both citizens and foreign nationals via face recognition and fingerprints, state media reported Sunday. Russia’s Interior Ministry told the state-run TASS news agency it plans to develop the centralized biometric database in 2021-23. The database will allow the authorities to identify individuals or bodies through…

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Thousands March in Belarus Opposition Rally in Minsk

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Tens of thousands of Belarus opposition protesters took to the streets on Sunday, the latest large-scale rally against President Alexander Lukashenko’s contested re-election. For more than three months Belarus has been gripped by historic weekly opposition rallies following Lukashenko’s reelection to a sixth term in August, which Western governments have refused to recognise. Tens of…

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Armenia PM Urges Stronger Military Links With Russia

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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Saturday for greater military cooperation with Russia, a day after Azerbaijani troops began moving into disputed territory previously held by Armenian separatist forces. “We hope we can reinforce cooperation with Russia not only in the security sector but also military and technical cooperation,” he said, according to his press service. “Of course,…

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ROSATOM and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will devel workforce capacity and make efforts to create a positive public opinion on nuclear energy

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On November 19, 2020, in Moscow, the Ministry of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and ROSATOM signed 2 memorandums: a memorandum on cooperation in the education and training of the nuclear personnel of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a memorandum on cooperation in the creation of…

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Swiss Prosecutors to Close Magnitsky Probe – Reports

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Swiss prosecutors plan to close a nearly decade-old money laundering investigation into allegations made by the late lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Swiss prosecutors opened the money-laundering probe in 2011 after Hermitage Capital, once the largest foreign investor in Russia, claimed that a former Russian tax official moved fraudulent tax refunds through Swiss bank…

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Moscow Prepares for Pandemic New Year’s

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Muscovites are bracing for an unconventional holiday season after the cancellation of the city’s annual Christmas and New Year’s festivities, the closure of late-night entertainment and new restrictions on cinemas and theaters. Despite the restrictions, Moscow is already putting up extravagant lighting displays across the city, inviting residents to enjoy a festive stroll through the…

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