Japan Says Russian Prime Minister’s Visit to Disputed Island Is Regrettable

A visit on Friday by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to an island claimed by both Japan and Russia was extremely regrettable, Japan’s foreign ministry said, urging Moscow to take constructive steps to advance ties. In his first visit since 2015, Medvedev traveled to one of four Russian-held islands off Japan’s northern region of Hokkaido, known as Iturup in Russian…

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Russian Defense Chief’s Reported Ex Made $100M From Ministry Deals, Media Reports

A former associate of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has allegedly earned 6.5 billion rubles ($101.9 million) from deals with the ministries of defense and emergency situations, according to an investigation by Russia’s The Insider news website. The Insider’s investigation follows the high-profile sentencing for embezzlement and quick parole in 2015 of Yevgenia Vasilyeva, a Defense…

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Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg helping children’s oncology center in Yekaterinburg

Background Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom. It operates in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area. The company is focused on gas and gas condensate production. Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg holds licenses for the development and production of hydrocarbons from the Yamburgskoye and Zapolyarnoye fields and is preparing for commercial production the Severo-Kamennomyssky, Kamennomysskoye-Sea, Obsky, Chugoryakhinsky, Tazovsko-Zapolyarny and Yuzhno-Parusovy subsurface areas, and, as part of joint ventures, the Parusovy,…

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Russia Tests Encrypted ‘Military Internet,’ Media Reports

Russia has tested its high-speed military internet that can send encrypted data over long distances, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported Thursday. The secure military internet tests come three months before parts of a Russian law tightening state control over the internet come into effect. Lawmakers say “internet sovereignty” will protect the Russian-language segment of the…

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Moscow Authorities Stage Raids, Warnings as City Braces for Weekend Protest Showdown

Moscow authorities have conducted raids on opposition activists and issued warnings to Muscovites in the run-up to this weekend’s planned protest to demand that opposition candidates be allowed to run in the city’s local elections. Activists have rallied for three weekends in a row after authorities barred independent candidates from running because they failed to…

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Passenger Union Eyes BlaBlaCar Ban in Russia – Reports

The popular ride-sharing service BlaBlaCar risks being banned in Russia as a passenger association seeks legislative help in cracking down on illegal buses, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported Tuesday. About one-third of 900,000 bus carriers in Russia are uninsured and operate without undergoing checkups, obtaining the required permits or paying taxes, according to the All-Russian…

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PhosAgro 2Q 2019 Fertilizer and MCP Output up 5.8% y-o-y to 2.4 mln t

Moscow – PhosAgro (MOEX/LSE ticker: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, announces its operating results for 2Q and 1H 2019. Overall output of phosphate-based and nitrogen-based fertilizers in 2Q increased by 6.4% and 3.9% year-on-year respectively, while sales declined by 3.9% year-on-year to 2.2 million tonnes. PhosAgro’s production and sales…

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An Overview of Russian Opposition Figures Sentenced Over Mass Election Rally

All of the opposition candidates running in Moscow’s local elections have been placed under arrest or sentenced to jail over a mass protest that rocked Moscow on Saturday in an unprecedented act.  Nearly 1,400 demonstrators were detained, some violently, during Saturday’s rally to demand that opposition-minded candidates be allowed onto the ballot in Moscow’s city…

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Vladimir Kara-Murza Dies at 59

On Sunday morning July 28, the journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza (senior) passed away after a long illness. His son, Vladimir, who is also a prominent journalist and an opposition politician, announced that his father had died at “8 o’clock in the morning on his name-day.” He was 59 years old. Kara-Murza was a historian who became…

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Siberian Wildfires Swell to Crimea-Sized Area, Authorities Say Extinguishing Them Is ‘Pointless’

Massive wildfires sweeping through Russia have spread to an area the size of annexed Crimea as regional authorities have been slow to declare emergencies and firefighting efforts have been scaled back. Scientists have observed an “unprecedented” number of wildfires in Siberia and the Russian Arctic since June. Russian authorities have said a combination of lightning…

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‘The Political Regime Against the People’: The Reactions to Moscow’s Election Protest and Crackdown

A mass protest that rocked Moscow on Saturday was marked by one of the biggest crackdowns in recent years against an increasingly defiant opposition decrying President Vladimir Putin’s tight grip on power.  The protest, which demanded that the authorities allow opposition-minded candidates onto the ballot in Moscow’s city council elections, has drawn international attention to…

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