On December 23, 2020, Rusatom – Additive Technologies (RusAT, an enterprise of TVEL Fuel Company and ROSATOM’s integrator for additive manufacturing business) opened its first Additive Technologies Center (ATC) at the site of the Moscow Polymetal Plant. ROSATOM’ ATC in Moscow has been created as the first model of a facility combining development, engineering and…
Details
2020 was a difficult year for the Russian film industry. Many long-anticipated premieres were postponed when in-theater showings were halted. Other filmы skipped the theater and went straight to online platforms. Another problem, which will have a longer effect on the industry, was filming — or not filming — under various Covid-19 restrictions. Most of…
Details
Russian lawmakers took first steps Wednesday to formally allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036. Current law limits the Russian presidency to two consecutive terms, requiring Putin, 68, to step down in 2024. But a clause within a set of constitutional reforms approved in a nationwide vote this summer allows Putin to…
DetailsRN-Krasnodarneftegaz, a subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, will quadruple the funding for its land remediation programme.
Rosneft Oil Company top executives, HSE executives, the interregional trade union organisation management, directors and HSE managers of the Company’s enterprises have participated in an extended meeting on accident-free production in the Company’s operations.
Rosneft and specialists of the Siberian Federal University have developed the technology of production of environmentally friendly drilling fluids based on seed oils and containing biodegradable components.
With less than a month before Joe Biden moves into the White House, Moscow on Wednesday accused the incoming U.S. administration of “Russophobia” after the president-elect promised to punish Russia for a major cyber attack. Biden is expected to take a tougher stance against Russia than Donald Trump, whose ascent to the U.S. presidency in…
DetailsRuslan Shaveddinov, an associate of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, has returned to Moscow following a year of forced military service in the Arctic, the Mediazona news website reported. Shaveddinov worked for Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) which leads investigations into corrupt individuals among the Kremlin’s ruling elite. In December 2019, men in uniform broke…
Details
The medical journal The Lancet has published Tuesday a case report detailing Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s treatment in Germany following his poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent. Doctors at Berlin’s Charité clinic, where Navalny was flown two days after falling suddenly ill on a flight in Siberia in August, diagnosed him with severe poisoning.…
Details
Encrypted messaging app Telegram will launch pay-for services in 2021, its Russian-born founder Pavel Durov said Wednesday, as the growing company needed “at least a few hundred million dollars per year.” “Telegram will begin to generate revenue, starting next year,” Durov said in a statement. “We will be able to launch countless new features and…
Details
In a year when the coronavirus pandemic dominated news headlines worldwide, Russia also embraced the prospect of Vladimir Putin as president until 2036 and faced fallout from the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Political unrest at home and abroad gathered steam as the first wave of Covid-19 infections abated, while a huge Arctic fuel…
Details
Colombia has expelled two alleged Russian intelligence officers working under diplomatic protection earlier this month, media reported Tuesday. Colombian authorities said the Russian diplomats violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations but would not detail why they left, according to Reuters. The news agency reported that President Ivan Duque declined to reveal additional information, telling…
Details
Russian lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday to ban the public dissemination of data about security and law enforcement members. The move follows leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s viral YouTube video of a phone call with one of his alleged poisoners. That agent and other purported Federal Security Service (FSB) agents’ identities were revealed by the…
Details
Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has sued Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a close ally for defamation, a Moscow court said Tuesday. The lawsuit appeared Tuesday on the website of a Moscow court, which later told the Russian news agency TASS that the claim sought 5 million rubles ($66,000) each from Navalny and his ally…
Details
December 23, 2020, 09:50 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information concerning the impacts of the events of 2020 on the long-term outlook for the global energy market. The most significant development of the year, including in the energy market, has been the new coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the pandemic’s impact on the global gas market has been quite limited. According…
Details
December 23, 2020, 09:40 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about the ongoing implementation of the Company’s programs aimed at expanding gas supplies and gas infrastructure in Russian constituent entities, synchronization with regional programs for converting housing and utilities, industries and other entities to gas, as well as extension of gas grid coverage in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. It was highlighted that the creation of gas supply infrastructure…
Details
December 23, 2020, 09:30 The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about the ongoing implementation of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and supply projects. It was highlighted that the new coronavirus pandemic has had a negative impact on the long-term outlook for the global LNG industry, and the forecast for the commissioning of LNG production capacities worldwide has been revised downwards. Nevertheless,…
Details
Moscow said Tuesday it had dispatched 300 Russian military instructors to the Central African Republic at the CAR’s request after an alleged attempted coup ahead of upcoming elections. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said Russia had “promptly responded” to a request and sent “an additional 300 instructors to train the military personnel of the national army”…
Details
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed into law a bill granting lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution to Russian presidents and their family members. The law comes amid swirling questions over Putin’s future after his current term limit expires in 2024 and is part of sweeping constitutional reforms allowing Putin to ignore current limits and run for…
Details
By using project financing methods, Gazprom diversifies its loan sources and improves the efficiency and transparency of its key investment projects further. We plan to expand our project financing activities. It should be pointed out that our project financing transactions are very advanced: for instance, the project financing deal for the construction of the Amur Gas Processing Plant (GPP) has received recognition…
Details
December 22, 2020, 18:00 Gazprom’s overall amount of investments for 2021: RUB 902.413 billion. This budget will provide for a full coverage of Gazprom’s liabilities without a deficit. The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the Company’s preliminary operating results for 2020 and the projected investment program and budget (financial plan) for 2022–2023. In addition, the Board of Directors approved the investment program and budget (financial…
DetailsOn December 22, 2020 the pilot operation stage started at Belarus NPP power unit 1 of III+Gen with VVER-1200 reactor (ROSATOM’s Engineering Division is the General Designer and the General Contractor), as specialists started a gradual reactor power increase up to the rated power. A permit to proceed to this stage was issued by the…
Details
Famed Russian documentary film director Vitaly Mansky has been detained outside the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters in central Moscow for staging a single-person picket with a pair of blue boxers, reports said Tuesday. Mansky, 57, staged the protest after leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny published a viral video of his phone talks with whom…
Details
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) has named the Russian movie “Beanpole” as the best foreign language film. “Beanpole,” which was directed by Kantemir Balagov, also won second place for best production design. The film is set in the Soviet city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) right after WWII. The narration focuses on the tragic relationship between two young women veterans, Iya…
Details
Hardly ever before has a ship with such a peculiar shape been rolled out of St. Petersburg’s Admiralty Shipyard. On Dec. 18, the stout, 83-meter-long vessel Severny Polyus, or North Pole, made it onto the waters of the Neva River. The launch is met with great expectation by Russia’s Arctic research community. Once completed, the…
Details
In a year dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, some of the largest and most protracted protests in post-Soviet history also grabbed headlines. People took to the streets to protest issues including electoral fraud, corruption and territorial disputes. Gathering despite government-imposed public assembly restrictions, protesters across the region faced off against police — with thousands being injured…
Details
As the year 2020 comes to an end, many expats are staying in Moscow, some for the first time, as the coronavirus makes travel abroad impossible or impractical. Without the usual holiday fairs, parties and activities — and without widespread celebrations on Dec. 25 — it’s easy to put off planning. And now Christmas is…
DetailsRosneft Deutschland GmbH, a Rosneft subsidiary, started deliveries of two new grades of the company’s proprietary polymer-modified bitumen product (PMB), Alfabit, to Switzerland
Russia’s leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny has delusions of grandeur and persecution, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday after Navalny said he tricked an intelligence officer into admitting an attempt to poison him. Peskov said he allowed himself to “indulge a personal point of view” after Navalny’s video of a phone call with an alleged…
Details
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law Tuesday that allows former presidents to become senators for life when they leave office. The law is the latest legislative change regarding Russia’s ex-presidents amid continuing questions over Putin’s future after his current term limit expires in 2024. The law is also part of sweeping constitutional…
Details
Russia said Tuesday it was hitting several EU representatives with tit-for-tat sanctions in response to penalties imposed by the bloc over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Foreign Ministry said that in response to “confrontational” EU actions, it had “decided to expand the list of representatives of EU member states and institutions who will…
Details
Russia’s federal media watchdog has accused YouTube of circulating more fake news than any other foreign platform on the Russian internet, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited the agency as saying Monday. “About 60% of fakes are related to the Covid-19 virus,” said Roskomnadzor, the federal agency responsible for regulating communications, information technology and…
Details
The U.S. Commerce Department has added 45 Russian and 58 Chinese companies it claims have ties to those countries’ militaries Monday, restricting exports of certain goods and technology to the designated entities. The number of Russian aviation, rocket and nuclear companies with alleged military ties is nearly double that of the initial draft list reported…
Details
The prestigious French gastronomic guide Michelin said Monday that next year it would launch its first selection of Moscow restaurants, which have recently experienced a renaissance. “The Russian culinary scene has seen new trends appear over the past 30 years, embodied by talented chefs who are committed to enhancing the quality of local products,” Michelin…
Details
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s associate Lyubov Sobol has been detained outside the home of an alleged chemical weapons expert implicated in his poisoning, media reported late Monday. Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) lawyer Sobol said she wanted to speak with alleged Federal Security Service (FSB) agent Konstantin Kudryavtsev, whom Navalny said he had tricked into admitting…
Details
December 22, 2020 PAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and mining companies, has published a presentation on its outlook for LDP demand in key markets and its strengthened offer for Energy customers. Severstal’s energy sector focus is a core pillar of the Group’s growth strategy, representing 9% of sales in 2019,…
Details
December 22, 2020 PAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and mining companies, announces that MSCI has revised its ESG rating upwards from ‘CCC’ to ‘B’ in its latest assessment. The upgrade comes as a result of marked improvements in the ‘Ecology’ section of MSCI’s assessment, and the Company’s progress was also…
Details
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Monday said Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s phone call with a suspected FSB agent discussing his poisoning was a “provocation” carried out with help from foreign security services. In a statement to Russian news agencies, the FSB described the call “about the alleged actions against” Navalny as a “planned provocation…
Details
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Monday rejected a claim that the country had sent troops to the Central African Republic after an alleged attempted coup. “We are not sending troops, we are complying with all UN resolutions,” the Interfax news agency cited Bogdanov as saying. The CAR government said earlier Monday that Russia,…
Details
A Russian scientist who was said to have worked on a coronavirus vaccine was found dead with a stab wound outside a St. Petersburg high-rise, authorities and local media said over the weekend. The body of geneticist and molecular and cellular biologist Alexander Kagansky, 45, was found in the courtyard of a 16-story apartment block…
Details
On Jan. 1, the Russian government is set to significantly reel back important environmental regulations protecting Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake that is home to creatures found nowhere else on earth. It’s a move that could lead to the biggest environmental crisis in Baikal’s history, environmental experts and activists say. With the clock…
Details
Leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny said Monday that he tricked one of the several security officers linked to his poisoning into outlining the details of the operation in a phone call. A media investigation said last week that Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) chemical weapons experts shadowed Navalny on dozens of his trips since…
Details
As the year of the coronavirus draws to a close and Russia’s total number of cases approaches 3 million, it’s time to look back at how the world’s largest country handled the pandemic. From the step-by-step closure of its borders at the beginning of the year to the mass roll-out of its domestically developed Sputnik…
Details
December 21, 2020, 15:45 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Vagit Alekperov, President of LUKOIL, signed the Master Agreement on the terms of the development of the Vaneyvisskoye and Layavozhskoye subsurface areas in the Nenets Autonomous Area. The signing ceremony was also attended by Yury Bezdudny, Governor of the Nenets Autonomous Area. The document, which builds on the Agreement signed at the…
Details
Russia will halt all flights with Britain from midnight Tuesday, joining the growing list of countries to suspend air travel with the country amid concerns of a more-infectious coronavirus strain found there. Nearly 30 other countries have banned travel to and from Britain due to the mutation. Russia’s travel ban will last for one week,…
Details
December 21, 2020, 14:30 The sports complex was inaugurated in Svetogorsk. The complex was built in less than a year to the highest standards. The ninth sports and health center, which is located in Tikhvin, is 95 per cent complete. Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of the Leningrad Region, today took part in the opening ceremony for a sports and…
Details
The Kremlin on Monday denied any role in recent cyber attacks on the United States, saying American accusations that Russia was behind a major security breach lacked evidence. U.S. lawmakers over the weekend urged a tough response to a huge cyber attack on government agencies and criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s unwillingness to point the…
Details
Alexander Kurlyandsky, creator of the “Nu, Pogodi!” (“Just You Wait!”) cartoon series and dozen of other popular animated films, died on Dec. 20 at the age of 82. There was no information about cause of death. Kurlyandsky created the cartoon series about the Wolf chasing after the much more clever Hare in 1969. The cartoons…
Details
At just 6 years old, Anastasia Radzinskaya has made the Forbes list of high-earning YouTubers once again. Hailing from southern Russia, Radzinskaya broke the internet with her videos of unboxing toys, visiting amusement parks and having playdates. She ranks in 7th place on this year’s Forbes ranking with estimated earnings of $18.5 million, a four-spot…
Details
Public schools across Moscow have received a survey that measures their teachers’ political activity and loyalty to the authorities, the independent Dozhd broadcaster reported Sunday. The survey asks teachers whether they participated in pro-Kremlin or opposition rallies in recent years, as well as whether they backed coups to achieve political change, Dozhd reported. The teachers…
DetailsDecember 18, 2020 – Reactor pit construction from the top of the cantilever-truss till the bottom of floor at elevation +26.300 meters at Rooppur NPP power unit No. 1 in Bangladesh is completed. “We left no stone unturned in order to complete the milestones of 2020. Construction personnel of TrestRosSEM LLC completed the reactor pit…
DetailsDecember 21, 2020, Helsinki. – RAOS Project Oy (part of ROSATOM), the plant supplier of Hanhikivi-1 NPP, has submitted the Basic Design Stage 1 documentation package containing technical solutions description to Fennovoima Oy, the NPP Customer. The package has been reviewed by Fennovoima’s specialists and conditionally accepted for further work. The Basic Design Stage 1…
Details80 Russian IT companies have taken part in Rosneft Pitch Day, an online exhibition of domestic IT solutions for digitalisation and automation experts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday hailed the country’s “courageous” spies as he visited the headquarters of the Foreign Intelligence Service to mark its 100th birthday. Putin, who has spent most of the coronavirus epidemic at his residences outside the Russian capital and on the Black Sea, visited the SVR headquarters in southern Moscow amid…
Details
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
Donald Trump’s outgoing administration is planning to close the two remaining US consulates in Russia, the State Department confirmed Saturday, as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office amid high tensions with Moscow. The US will close its consulate in the far eastern city of Vladivostok and suspend operations at its post in Yekaterinburg, a department…
Details
The aim was to transfer this information to Russian military intelligence, prosecutors said, adding that the diplomat also paid a Bulgarian official with access to classified information to provide him with the sensitive data. The spying row has soured relations between the two former allies, which have maintained their close cultural, historical and economic ties…
Details
Maxim D. Shrayer was born in Moscow in the family of a writer and medical scientist, David Shrayer-Petrov, and a translator, Emilia Shrayer. His family applied to emigrate, and after more than eight years as refuseniks, they left for the U.S. in 1987 when Shrayer was 20 years old. In the U.S. Shrayer attended Brown…
Details
Russia was “pretty clearly” behind a devastating cyberattack on several U.S. government agencies that also hit targets worldwide, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Microsoft said late Thursday that it had notified more than 40 customers hit by the malware, which security experts say could allow attackers unfettered network access to key government systems and electric…
Details
HOLLYWOOD–Theaters in the U.S. are closed. Studios are on hiatus. The film industry is in freefall. But in Russia, movie fans will be the beneficiaries of Hollywood’s troubles. Theatrical blockbusters like the James Bond franchise, Disney-branded films and “Star Wars” remakes will skip the movie houses and will be available on streaming platforms in Russia…
Details