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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The Board Recommeds Q1 2020 Divided Paymet, chages the form of the AGM ad approves the Ageda for the AGM

April 23, 2020 The Board of Directors of Severstal (“Severstal”, “the Company”) (LSE: SVST; MICEX-RTS: CHMF), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and steel-related mining companies, is recommending a dividendof 27.35 roubles per share for the three months ended 31 March 2020. Approval of the dividend is expected at the Company’s AGM which…

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Leading Russian Paper Vedomosti’s New Editor Bans Putin Criticism

The new chief editor of Russia’s leading business newspaper Vedomosti has banned employees from publishing articles that criticize President Vladimir Putin’s proposed constitutional changes, the paper’s media editor said Wednesday in the latest report of recent censorship at the publication. Andrei Shmarov, who was named acting editor-in-chief by Vedomosti’s new owners in March, made news…

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Watch ‘Amerikanki’ Online Tonight

This Wednesday evening at 8:30 p.m. Moscow time (1:30 p.m. in New York, 5:30 p.m. in London) the Vozenesensky Cultural Center is hosting an online performance based on the book “Amerikanki” by Zoya Boguslavskaya. The book, which came out in 1991, was a compendium of Boguslavskaya’s essays and descriptions of meetings with a wide variety…

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Russia’s Coronavirus Outbreak Jeopardizes Care for Patients With Rare Diseases

The lives of thousands of Russian patients with rare diseases are in danger because the country’s hospitals are being repurposed to address the coronavirus outbreak, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday. The government ordered health officials to allocate up to 100,000 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients, the newspaper reported earlier this month. Officials were ordered…

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Coronavirus Hits Hard in Russia’s Volatile Republic of Ingushetia

In late March, as Russia’s coronavirus outbreak fanned out from Moscow to the country’s provinces, Abdurakhman Martazanov, chief mufti of Russia’s autonomous North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, started to worry. Before many Russians had grasped the reality of the pandemic facing their country, Martazanov put together a set of guidelines allowing Ingushetia’s mostly Muslim population…

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Russia’s Hermitage Museum Calls for State Support as Coronavirus Craters Earnings

The head of Russia’s renowned Hermitage Museum said on Tuesday the government should ensure the survival of museums which are struggling during a coronavirus lockdown. Since the introduction of a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people in mid-March, museums across Russia have gradually closed their doors to the public. President Vladimir Putin then declared April a…

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Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan helps new hospital

Background Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan is a subsidiary of Gazprom focused on prospecting, exploration and development of hydrocarbon fields. The Levoberezhnaya part of the Astrakhanskoye gas and condensate field with an area of 1,360 square kilometers has been in operation since 1986. The field produces formation fluid with a high content of sulfur (25 per cent) and carbon dioxide (15 per cent). The company has around 300 wells of various use, hundreds…

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Exclusive: First Russian Doctor Treating Coronavirus Patients Dies From Virus, Medical Workers Say

A Russian urologist has died from coronavirus complications after he picked up the virus treating patients in a hospital for veterans, two of his colleagues told The Moscow Times on Tuesday. He is the first doctor in Russia known to have died after treating coronavirus patients. Maxim Starinsky, 56, died on Monday at Kommunarka hospital, Moscow’s…

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Russian Businesses Ask for Environmental Regulation Reprieve Amid Pandemic – Kommersant

Russian businesses have asked the government to suspend its enforcement of environmental regulations during the coronavirus pandemic, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) warned that existing regulations would lead to an “uncontrolled spread of the disease,” according to RSPP chief Alexander Shokhin’s April 15 letter to Prime…

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FSB Stops Refugees in Barents Sea

Today marks what is likely the first-ever attempt by individuals to enter Schengen Europe via the Barents Sea. The attempt occurred on Oct. 8, 2019, but first became known to the public today as the verdict from the Pechenga District Court was announced by the Murmansk region prosecutor’s office. Three Syrian citizens boarded a small motorboat in…

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Moscow Court Cuts Jail Term for Activist Kotov

The Moscow City Court has ruled to reduce activist Konstantin Kotov’s four-year jail sentence for “multiple beaches” of  Russia’s protest law to 18 months, while also ruling that the guilty verdict was lawful, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing the court’s press-service. The hearing was reportedly conducted without visitors and journalists because of coronavirus…

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Russia to Quarantine Troops Rehearsing for Postponed WWII Parade on Coronavirus Concerns

The Russian military will quarantine everyone involved in rehearsals for Russia’s postponed Victory Day Parade, the Defense Ministry said Monday following reports that some participants have tested positive for the coronavirus. President Vladimir Putin postponed the landmark parade to mark the 75th anniversary of Soviet victory in World War II until later in 2020 as…

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