Prague Mayor Confirms He Is Under Police Protection Following Russian Poisoning Plot Report

The mayor of Prague has said he is under heightened police protection the day after Czech media reported on an alleged Russian plot to poison him. Zdenek Hrib confirmed the news in a Monday interview with the independent Ekho Moskvy radio station. On Sunday, the Czech news website Respekt, citing anonymous intelligence sources, reported that an individual…

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Gas in perspective. Oleg Aksyutin talks to Gazprom Magazine

Let us proceed from reality. Considering the current state of the art in engineering and technology, a complete phase-out of hydrocarbon fuel seems more like a matter of imagination in the foreseeable future. A shift to zero-carbon technologies implies a large-scale electrification (in some scenarios, 100-per cent electrification) with the use of renewable energy sources (RES). The development of RES is not possible without large power storage capacities, nor is it possible…

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Putin’s Business Tsar Attacks Economic Lockdown

President Vladimir Putin’s “business tsar” has called for the government to end the economic lockdown and reopen the economy. Boris Titov, the president’s business ombudsman, announced Monday he will organize an online protest Friday calling for businesses to be reopened, as frustration at the government’s economic response to the coronavirus grows throughout Russia’s business community.…

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Russia Returns to Top 5 Defense Spending Countries Worldwide – Think Tank

Russia re-entered the world’s top five defense spending nations in 2019 after briefly falling to sixth place the previous year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)’s latest annual report published Monday. Global defense spending saw its highest one-year increase since 2010 last year, rising by 3.6% to  $1.917 trillion, the Swedish think…

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Russian Doctor in Critical Condition After Falling From Hospital for Coronavirus Patients

The head of a Siberian hospital repurposed for coronavirus patients is in critical condition after she fell from the hospital building following a conference call with health officials, local media reported Saturday. Yelena Nepomnyashchaya, 47, fell from a fifth-floor window of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Hospital for War Veterans after talks with the head of the…

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Don’t Nag Your Husbands During Coronavirus Lockdown, Church Official Tells Russian Women

A Russian Orthodox Church official has urged women not to reprimand their husbands during coronavirus lockdown in order to avoid domestic conflict — and to punish themselves if they do. Bishop Panteleimon’s remarks come three years after Russia scrapped criminal punishments for first-time domestic abuse offenses and as the coronavirus pandemic has stalled efforts to…

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Russia Seeks to Revive Coronavirus-Hit Tourism Industry By Cutting Visa Red Tape

Russia’s Federal Tourist Agency (Rostourism) wants to help the industry recover from the coronavirus crisis by relaxing visa rules after the country reopens its borders, the RBC news website reported Friday. Russia grounded international flights, except those that return its nationals from abroad; closed border crossings; and suspended issuing visas and e-visas last month as…

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Putin’s Rumored Confessor Denies Contracting Coronavirus

President Vladimir Putin’s rumored spiritual adviser, Father Tikhon Shevkunov, has denied testing positive for coronavirus, the MBKh Media news website reported Friday. Earlier in the day, the outlet cited religious scholar Sergei Chapnin as saying that Father Tikhon, 61, had allegedly been suffering from Covid-19 for several days. Father Tikhon’s association with Putin has been…

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Libya Blames Chemical Attack on Kremlin-Linked Wagner Mercenary Group

Libya’s UN-backed government has accused Kremlin-linked private military contractors for an alleged chemical attack in southern Tripoli, according to Arab and Turkish media. Interior minister Fathi Bashaga’s charges turn the spotlight back on Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, who are reported to be unofficially helping eastern commander Khalifa Haftar’s year-long offensive to seize the Libyan capital. The…

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Severstal reports Q1 2020 fiacial results

April 24, 2020 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST), one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, today announces its Q1 2020 financial results for the period ended 31 March 2020. CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER ENDED 31 MARCH 2020 Notes: EBITDA represents profit from operations plus depreciation and amortisation of…

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Leader project: Аtomflot and shipbuilder Zvezda sign nuclear icebreaker construction contract

Murmansk/Vladivostok, 23 April 2020 – On April 23, Rosatom subsidiary FSUE Atomflot and shipbuilder Zvezda LLC remotely signed a contract on the construction of the nuclear icebreaker Leader (project 10510); the parties were respectively located in Murmansk and Vladivostok. The document was signed by FSUE Atomflot general director Mustafa Kashka and Zvezda LLC general director…

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Moscow Halts Abortions During Coronavirus Outbreak: Activists

More than 100,000 pregnant women will be unable to undergo medical abortions in Moscow because of restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak, the women’s rights organization Nasiliyu.net (“No to Violence”) Center has said. Only three out of the Russian capital’s 44 clinics have said they would continue to provide abortions through the national compulsory medical insurance…

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Russian Prisoner in U.S. Yaroshenko Tested After Cellmate’s Coronavirus Death

U.S. prison officials have sent Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko into observation after his cellmate allegedly died from coronavirus, Russia’s Consulate in New York said Thursday. Yaroshenko is serving a 20-year sentence at the Danbury federal prison in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States. Russia’s consulate said it filed a health request…

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