Russia has fallen four spots in three months in a ranking of countries whose citizens enjoy the most freedom of travel abroad, according to a quarterly rating of passport “strength.” The country had tied for 47th place in the January-March index compiled by the Henley & Partners residence and citizenship planning firm, with 118 destinations available…
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The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the second armed attack on law enforcement in a week in Russia’s republic of Chechnya, the SITE Intelligence Group monitoring website reported Monday. IS has claimed a series of attacks over the past year in Chechnya, a predominately Muslim republic in Russia’s North Caucasus, including…
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Larisa Shepito was an actress, screenwriter and film director who was an integral part of the “new wave” of cinema in the Soviet “Thaw” period in the 1960s. A peer of Andrei Tarkovsky, her films were renowned for their strong naturalism, associative imagery, and their depth of meaning and emotion. She was a woman in…
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Two Japanese energy companies have acquired a 10 percent share in Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 liquefied natural gas project. The deal gives Mitsui&Co and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) a 10 percent stake in the major LNG project being developed on Russia’s Arctic coast. It also provides for the long-term annual…
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The head of a Siberian region hit by major floods has sparked online backlash for comments addressed toward victims that were deemed insulting. Authorities in the Krasnoyarsk region town of Kansk declared a state of emergency and evacuated dozens of residents amid severe flooding last weekend. The neighboring Irkutsk region bore the brunt of the…
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At least three Russian airlines have canceled most of their Tuesday flights to the Czech Republic over what they said was the country’s decision to revoke flight permissions to and from Prague. The flagship carrier Aeroflot and Ural Airlines are the only Russian airlines that perform direct flights to and from Prague. Czech Airlines performs…
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A Moscow court jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny for 10 days on Monday after finding him guilty of breaking the law when he took part in a street demonstration last month. The Kremlin critic was among more than 500 protesters detained by police while rallying in Moscow to call for the punishment of police…
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Fines for violating Russia’s protest laws have increased fivefold in the past six years, an analysis of judicial data said. Almost 6,500 people had cases brought against them for violating the law on organizing public meetings in 2012 and almost 4,500 in 2018, Russia’s police-monitoring OVD-Info website said in research published Monday. Both 2012 and…
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Hundreds of people flocked to southern Siberia in late June to celebrate the ancient rituals and traditions of shamanism in one of Russia’s first shaman festivals. Some researchers consider Siberia to be the heartland of shamanism. Today, this ancient religious practice is still performed in Russia, with spiritual healing techniques and ceremonial rites passed on…
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Protests erupted in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi last month after a Russian deputy gave a speech in the country’s parliament. Many Georgians said they were offended by the act, citing the 2008 war fought between the countries. We spoke with four young Georgians living in Moscow to hear their views about the protests. Click above…
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Release July 1, 2019, 19:05 Rustem Usmanov has been appointed Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Kazan. Rustem Usmanov was born in 1969 in Ufa. He graduated from Ufa Petroleum Institute, majoring in Design, Construction and Operation of Gas & Oil Pipelines and Gas & Oil Storage Facilities, and earned a management degree from the All-Russian Distance-Learning Institute of Finance and Economics. He has a PhD…
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A senior Russian lawmaker has backed an Orthodox Church proposal to teach the Bible in schools, suggesting it be included in curriculums instead of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s seminal “Gulag Archipelago.” A Church spokesman, spurred by President Vladimir Putin’s endorsement of the texts, had offered over the weekend to include the Bible, the Torah and the Quran…
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An errant missile of possible Russian origin struck Cyprus early on Monday in what authorities described as a spillover from strikes between Israel and Syria. The explosion on the ethnically split island occurred some 20 kilometers northeast of the Cypriot capital of Nicosia and did not result in casualties. An Israeli airstrike was underway against…
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Russia called on the United States on Monday to free Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko and proposed a prisoner swap with Washington to win the release of any American national held in Russia, Interfax news agency reported. The comments may fuel speculation that Moscow is seeking a prisoner exchange involving Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine…
DetailsOn June 28, 2019, loading of additional cobalt absorbers into Unit 3 reactor started at Smolensk NPP. This is the final stage of primary loading in Rosenergoatom’s large-scale project envisaging commercial production of cobalt-60 (Co-60) that is highly demanded on the international market. Co-60 isotope manufacturing project at Smolensk NPP was launched in September 2017,…
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Russia’s leading independent media have coordinated to publish journalist Ivan Golunov’s investigation into Moscow’s funeral mafia that his colleagues say was tied to his shock arrest last month. Golunov had reported receiving threats after beginning the investigation into the funeral business in February 2018. He reportedly filed a draft of the piece to Alexey Kovalev,…
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Russia has labeled a U.S.-based NGO an “undesirable” organization a month after it published a report on life in Russia after President Vladimir Putin. A Russian law passed in 2015 allows prosecutors to limit or halt the work of foreign organizations deemed “undesirable,” punishing those breaking these limits with fines or prison terms up to…
DetailsOn June 24-28, a delegation comprising representatives of TENEX participated in the international conference “Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors – 2019” (Vienna, Austria), held under the slogan “Learning from the past, enabling the future” organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Company’s specialists presented reports on various aspects of the back-end…
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Russians are significantly more likely to spend their free time watching television than reading books, according to a survey by the independent Levada Center pollster. The number of Russians who name television as a source of their happiness has increased in recent years. While television remains the biggest news source for Russians, it has become…
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Sweden’s military said on Monday it would deploy an updated ground-to-air missile defense system on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland in another sign of tension in the region with Russia. The new system, developed and built by defense firm Saab, replaces the mobile anti-aircraft guns the military on Gotland have previously been equipped with.…
DetailsTVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM and Czech research center Řež (Centrum výzkumu Řež s.r.o.; CVŘ) have signed an agreement on cooperation in materials science studies and research. On the grounds of the agreement, Czech scientists will provide experiments on irradiation of nuclear construction materials in the CVŘ research reactor and also accomplish pre-irradiation and…
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Russia’s state-controlled gas giant Gazprom has said it will pay out record dividends to its shareholders on its 2018 results next month. Russia’s Finance Ministry has been pushing for state-owned enterprises to pay out at least 50 percent of their profits as dividends, meeting stiff resistance from businesses for more than two years. Gazprom is…
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On Tuesday, NATO kicks off its annual anti-submarine exercise Dynamic Mongoose in the Norwegian Sea west of Andøya, northern Norway. Six frigates, 10 aircraft and several submarines from Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom, as well as host nation Norway, will participate in the drill that will last…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Elton John was “mistaken” about LGBT rights in Russia, while praising the British singer as a musical genius. Elton John said on Friday he was deeply upset by Putin’s comment that liberal values were “obsolete” and had been rejected by the majority of people in Western nations. He…
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Each summer, Muscovites head to the city’s many parks to bask in the sun and enjoy the good weather with friends. The highlight of many of these outings is the cooking of shashlik, or meat kebab. Shashlik can be made with any kind of meat — or even tofu — either by itself or with…
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Animal rights groups have raised the alarm over the release of the first group of whales from the so-called “whale prison” in Russia’s Far East, calling it “extremely unprofessional and dangerous.” Russia released two orcas and six beluga whales back into the wild on Thursday, the first group of almost 100 whales whose detention since…
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Russia has tested a new radar system that can evade detection by enemy drones or aircraft, its developer told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Friday. Passive radars operate without a transmitter, instead receiving signals from other objects to track targets. Russia’s new passive radar, called Tropa (Russian for “path”), uses communication towers to…
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Olha Kyselova wasn’t born when the Chernobyl power plant exploded in 1986, yet the disaster has always been in her life. Her parents were “liquidators,” sent in to brave the radiation and help clear the area of deadly materials. Then they charted hotspots for more than a decade. But it wasn’t until she sat with…
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Vladimir Bogdanov, who at 68 has run the Soviet and then Russian oil major Surgutneftegaz for 35 years, said on Friday that only God knows when his career will end at the company, whose ownership is a closely guarded secret. The firm, headquartered in the West Siberian city of Surgut, is considered one of the…
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Release June 28, 2019, 17:00 Photos The Gazprom Board of Directors formed the Audit Committee. The Committee is made up of Mikhail Sereda and two independent directors Viktor Martynov and Vladimir Mau, with Viktor Martynov as Chairman. The Board of Directors also formed the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Mikhail Sereda was appointed as Chairman, with Viktor Martynov and Vladimir Mau as members. Information Directorate, Gazprom Related news
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Release June 28, 2019, 16:45 Photos The annual General Shareholders Meeting of Gazprom made decisions on the following agenda items. The Meeting approved the Company’s 2018 Annual Report and Accounting (Financial) Statements. It was resolved to allocate the Company’s profit based on the results of 2018. The Meeting approved the dividend amount: RUB 16.61 per share based on Gazprom’s operating results in 2018 (more than double the amount for 2017). The dividend…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin invited his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on Friday to attend the May 9 Victory Day commemorative events in Moscow next year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov told reporters Trump reacted positively and the two leaders who met at the G20 summit in Osaka discussed arms controls, the situation in Syria,…
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You know him as Anton on “Killing Eve.” Or the Russian officer in “Red 2.” Or the murderous bodyguard in “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.” A tall, bald Russian actor who specializes in mean and threatening. Wrong. The actor is actually Andrew Byron. He was born in Bath, England to a French mother and an English…
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President Vladimir Putin on Thursday gave an exclusive interview to the Financial Times newspaper, a rarity for a president who seldom sits down with foreign journalists. The Russian president spoke candidly on a wide range of topics, from Russia’s domestic and foreign policy issues to his thoughts on the global trend of national populism and…
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The bill has already been submitted to the State Duma and the Defense Ministry says it expects members of parliament to support the proposed legislation. Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke at a conference devoted to “questions of information resistance” in Moscow this week. The event took place as part of the Army 2019 Forum, an exhibition…
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Nearly one in six Russian mayors have faced criminal prosecution over the past decade, according to a new study critical of Russia’s move to phase out direct mayoral elections in recent years. Local government reforms in 2014 led cities to abolish direct elections in favor of local lawmakers approving appointees. Only a handful of Russian…
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Release June 28, 2019, 13:40 Photos The annual General Shareholders Meeting of Gazprom was followed today by a meeting of the Company’s newly elected Board of Directors. The meeting resolved to elect Viktor Zubkov as Chairman of the Gazprom Board of Directors. Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, was named as Deputy Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors. Information Directorate, Gazprom Related news
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The Russian Culture Festival sponsored by Rosneft Oil Company is taking place in the cities of Japan. The Festival in Tokyo has already featured the opening ceremony for the First Museum of Russian Contemporary Realistic Art. Also during the Festival, which will last until December 15, 2019, people will see performances by the Mariinsky Theatre…
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Russian authorities accused the founder of a major car dealer and former member of parliament with illegally taking 4 billion rubles ($63 million) out of the country in what the businessman said could be retribution for his opposition to the Kremlin. “This wasn’t a surprise for me — this is Russia,” Sergei Petrov told Forbes in…
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June 28, 2019 Annual General Shareholders Meeting Strategy for excellence Dear shareholders, The in-depth materials on Gazprom’s performance in 2018, which have been prepared for the annual General Shareholders Meeting, include the Annual Report, the Accounting (Financial) Statements, the Audit Commission’s Report, and other documents. [embedded content] It is proposed that the Shareholders Meeting approve: the 2018 Annual Report of Gazprom; the 2018…
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U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and Vladimir Putin clashed over the poisoning of a former spy with nerve agent in western England, ahead of a rare face-to-face meeting today with the Russian president. May said she will tell Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, that he must stop destroying international conventions…
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Background The Gazprom Group implemented the Grozny TPP construction project in the framework of the capacity supply agreement system, as stipulated in the Russian Government’s Order No. 238-r dated February 16, 2015, and Order No. 2636-r dated November 28, 2017. The Group’s CSA-based program envisages, inter alia, the construction and upgrading of generating facilities with the aggregate capacity of about 9 GW,…
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Rosenergoatom JSC (part of the Power Division of ROSATOM) has obtained a license to operate nuclear installation of the floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) The Akademik Lomonosov for 10 years, until 2929. The license was issued by the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service (Rostechnadzor). General Director of Rosenergoatom Concern JSC Andey Petrov noted:…
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Release June 28, 2019, 10:20 Photos Gazprom’s annual General Shareholders Meeting opened today in St. Petersburg. Shareholders from Russia and a number of foreign countries are taking part in the Meeting in person, via their representatives, and in absentia. As of June 3, 2019, the list of persons eligible to take part in the Shareholders Meeting included 472,162 accounts with a total of 23,468,757,524 shares. The Gazprom Board of Directors resolved…
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President Donald Trump on Friday sardonically asked his Russian counterpart to please not meddle in U.S. elections, appearing to make light of a scandal that led to an investigation of his campaign’s contact with the Kremlin during 2016 elections. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were speaking to reporters in Osaka, Japan, ahead of their first formal…
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Looking for a new destination for your next night out? St. Petersburg might be what you’re looking for. The country’s second-largest city after Moscow is known for its cultural and historical richness as well as its vibrant nightlife. Research published earlier this month said that the city has become less expensive for expats over the…
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To keep our newsroom in Moscow running, we need your support. With your help, we can continue with our mission to keep you informed with breaking news, business analysis, thought-provoking opinions, the best of culture and insights into everyday life.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a published interview he believed his meeting with Britain’s Theresa May at the G20 summit this week could help repair relations after the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil. He said that the incident was an issue between intelligence agencies and should not be allowed to damage…
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Hackers working for Western intelligence agencies broke into Russian internet search company Yandex in late 2018 deploying a rare type of malware in an attempt to spy on user accounts, four people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The malware, called Regin, is known to be used by the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance of…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Thursday that liberal values were obsolete because they had been rejected by the majority of the people in Western nations. Putin told the Financial Times newspaper that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had made a cardinal mistake by adopting a liberal policy towards immigration from the Middle East. “The…
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Two pro-Russian separatist republics in eastern Ukraine have agreed to release four Ukrainian prisoners as a “goodwill gesture” later this week, news agencies reported Thursday. Rebels in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics have for the past five years been at war with government forces in eastern Ukraine. Prisoner exchanges are stipulated in an…
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In a dingy parking lot hidden behind three of Moscow’s biggest train stations a crowd gathers around a fold-out table laden with vats of boiled buckwheat, fish soup, baked potatoes and hot tea, with cookies and bananas for dessert. For many of the city’s homeless, this is the only chance they have to eat a…
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Approximately 550 people living in an outpost on Russia’s Kara Sea coast could soon face big changes after the federal government earlier this month decided to give the local seaport international status. Behind the decision lies a plan to boost shipments on the Northern Sea Route, the government said. Foreign vessels will now be allowed to…
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Facial recognition cameras have helped police catch scores of suspects on the streets of Moscow and up to 10 criminals a month on the metro in the past two years, Russia’s Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday. Moscow claims the world’s largest network of 160,000 surveillance cameras, some equipped with facial recognition technology. Supporters of the technology say…
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A Russian blogger has been fined for dancing to reggaeton music in front of a World War II monument under a new law banning “disrespect” of the authorities. The blogger, identified as “A. Chervyakova,” posted an Instagram video showing her dance at the Burial Mound of Immortality in April, court documents in the western Russian city…
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Russia released two killer whales and six beluga whales back into the wild on Thursday, the first group of almost 100 whales whose detention in the Far East since last year caused an international outcry. The whales, caught last summer in order to be sold to marine parks or aquariums in China, were released in the…
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Half of Russians are unable to tell the difference between real news and fake news, the head of a state-funded polling agency said on Wednesday. Almost one-third of Russians said they have encountered fake news online and one-fifths on television in recent years, the VTsIOM pollster said in April. MIT research has shown that fake…
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Moscow – Andrey Guryev, the CEO of PhosAgro and Head of the Russian Fertilizer Producers Association (RFPA), has been unanimously elected as Chairman of the Russia-Brazil Business Council. He replaces VEB.RF Deputy Chairman Sergey Vasiliev, who had headed up the Council since 2009. Established in 2004, the Council’s main objectives are the development of business…
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