Gazprom Management Committee reviews progress of Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream projects

Release June 19, 2019, 17:10 The Gazprom Management Committee reviewed the progress of the construction projects for the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream export gas pipelines. It was noted that both projects are going according to schedule. To date, about 1,450 kilometers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, i.e. over 59 per cent of its total length, have been laid in the Baltic Sea. Pipelaying is currently underway in Finnish…

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Athletics Culture at Odds With Reinstatement Push, Russian Anti-Doping Chief Says

Russian anti-doping chief Yuri Ganus said on Wednesday that the country’s suspended athletics federation was not doing enough to stamp out doping culture and was falling short in its bid to be reinstated by global athletics governing body IAAF. Russia’s athletics federation has been suspended since a 2015 report commissioned by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)…

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Top Russian Official Predicts Protest ‘Explosion’ if Economy Doesn’t Improve

Russia is at risk of nationwide social upheaval if the country’s economy does not improve, the head of Russia’s auditing agency has said. During a Monday interview on state-run television, Audit Chamber head Alexei Kudrin described an upcoming “explosion” of protests caused by falling living standards and widespread poverty. The only way to prevent this…

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Gazprom and Uniper review current issues of cooperation

Background Uniper SE is an energy company focused on natural gas, power generation, and global energy trading. Gazprom and Uniper cooperate in gas supplies and transportation and implement joint scientific & technical and social & cultural programs. Nord Stream 2 is the construction project for a gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea.…

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‘They Didn’t Find Anything,’ Navalny Says of Israeli Dirt-Gathering Operation

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has reacted to media reports that a private Israeli intelligence firm had attempted to gather incriminating information against him by saying there’s nothing to uncover. The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that Black Cube, often called “the private Mossad,” had tried to dig up dirt on Navalny, an outspoken…

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Gazprom and OMV enhancing sci-tech cooperation

Release June 19, 2019, 10:00 The Joint Coordinating Committee for scientific & technical cooperation and partnership between Gazprom and OMV held a meeting in Vienna, Austria. The meeting was run by Oleg Aksyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Head of Department at Gazprom, and Johann Pleininger, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of OMV. The meeting participants reviewed issues related to the integrity…

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78-Year-Old Jehovah’s Witness Prosecuted in Russia Over ‘Extremism’

Authorities in northern Russia have opened a criminal case against a 78-year-old woman for being a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the religious organization has said. Russia labeled the Jehovah’s Witnesses an “extremist” group in 2017, exposing Russia’s estimated 175,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses to mass raids and forcing at least 5,000 to flee the country. The…

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Russian Authorities Cannot Prohibit Rallies Over Security, Top Court Rules

Russia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the authorities cannot refuse authorization for rallies over their inability to provide security, the state-run TASS news agency has reported. Authorities in the Siberian city of Irkutsk rejected activist Valery Teterin’s request to hold a rally last fall, citing Teterin’s inability to define how organizers would ensure public order…

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On This Day: Ivan Goncharov

On June 18, 1812 Russian writer Ivan Goncharov was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk). Born into a wealthy merchant family, Goncharov went to boarding school and university in Moscow before relocating to St. Petersburg where he worked as a government translator and private tutor. He served for nearly 30 years as an official: first in…

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Gazprom saves RUB 12 billion on fuel and energy resources in 2018

Release June 18, 2019, 16:00 Gazprom’s Coordinating Committee for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency held a meeting today. The meeting was moderated by Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Head of the Coordinating Committee. Taking part in the meeting were Gennady Sukhov, Member of the Company’s Management Committee, Head of Department, and heads of the structural units and subsidiaries of Gazprom. The meeting participants reviewed the…

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Western Sanctions Will Remain Until Ukraine’s Sovereignty Restored – Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that Western sanctions against Russia would not be lifted unless Ukraine’s sovereignty was restored. Merkel said she and visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had discussed the Minsk peace agreement, adding: “As long as there is no progress on this front, the sanctions cannot be lifted and the sanctions…

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Russian Deputy Warns About Mosques Replacing Churches, ‘Like in Switzerland’

A Russian local deputy has warned about the threat of mosques replacing Orthodox cathedrals, weeks after thousands protested against the building of a new cathedral in central Russia. Mass protests rocked Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg last month as citizens clashed with vigilantes over the planned construction of a new cathedral in a popular central…

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Scientists of Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of RAS Expand Black Sea Dolphins Research Programme with Rosneft’s Support

The Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has started vast field studies of the Black Sea dolphins, with support of Rosneft Oil Company. The marine expedition took off from Sochi. Following a shipboard phase, scientists of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology are to take on special research of a part of…

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Scientists of Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of RAS Expand Black Sea Dolphins Research Programme with Rosneft’s Support

The Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has started vast field studies of the Black Sea dolphins, with support of Rosneft Oil Company. The marine expedition took off from Sochi. Following a shipboard phase, scientists of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology are to take on special research of a part of…

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German Student Expelled and Told to Leave Russia After Writing Article About Protests

A German exchange student has reportedly been expelled from a Russian university and ordered to leave the country after writing an article about environmental protests. Lukas Latz, a Freie University student studying abroad at St. Petersburg State University, published an article in April on a German news website about an ongoing protest movement against copper…

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Russia’s Energy Ministry Says Grid Is Safe, Despite Report on U.S. Cyberattacks

Russian officials have said that the country’s energy infrastructure is safe, days after a New York Times article detailed U.S. cyberattacks on Russia’s electric grid. Citing anonymous sources, the report published Saturday details escalating efforts by the U.S. to hack Russia’s power grid. The article said the U.S. strategy was enacted in response to reports…

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Russia Dismisses Accusations of Meddling in EU elections

 An official from Russia‘s security council described as absurd accusations that Moscow used disinformation to sway voters towards right-wing parties in last month’s European Union elections, Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reported on Sunday. An EU review into elections to its parliament, published on Friday, said there was evidence both Russian and European online sources had sought to promote…

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Russian Runner Suspended for Working With Banned Coach – Reports

Russian runner Artyom Denmukhametov has been provisionally suspended for working with banned coach Vladimir Kazarin, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Friday. Athletes are not allowed to receive training, strategy, nutritional or medical advice from coaches or medical staff serving doping bans, according to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules — and they face sanctions if…

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Rosneft Awarded for Participation in Green Spring Environmental Campaign

Rosneft has been awarded for its active involvement in the Green Spring—the Russia-wide environmental volunteer clean-up—and badged “For Initiative and Significant Contribution to Protection of the Environment.” Over 15,000 employees from over 80 subsidiaries of Rosneft Oil Company took part in the environmental campaign. Throughout the month, the Company’s employees were cleaning the area of…

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The flagship project of the Russian VVER-TOI NPP was found to comply with the EUR requirements

European power generation companies agreed that the most advanced Russian project of the VVER-TOI NPP complies with the European Utility Requirement (EUR). The ceremony of handing of the corresponding certificate was held in St. Petersburg on June 13.  Atomenergoproekt JSC (a company of Rosatom engineering division) is the general designer of VVER-TOI, Hydropress Design Bureau…

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