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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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”…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Russia has confirmed 2,791,220 cases of coronavirus and 49,762 deaths. Dec. 19: What you need to know today Russia confirmed 28 209 new coronavirus cases and 585 deaths. The total number of infected people in Russia has reached 2 819 429. The conditional mortality increased to 1.79%, according to the data from the operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus.…
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Moscow political operatives plan to engage apolitical youth in Russia’s 2021 legislative elections through TikTok, the Meduza news website reported Friday, citing unnamed sources close to the Kremlin. The popular short-form video app will presumably help Kremlin-backed candidates fend off challengers promoted by opposition figure Alexei Navalny. In the lead-up to next year’s vote, Navalny…
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Moscow prosecutors have requested a three-year jail sentence for opposition municipal deputy Yulia Galyamina for multiple violations of Russian protest law, Galyamina said Friday. Galyamina was arrested alongside 140 others this summer for rallying against a package of constitutional amendments which among other changes pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to stay in power…
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The Russian National Guard has signed a cooperation agreement with Belarus’ police force to combat “terrorism and extremism,” Interfax reported Friday. The agreement comes amid months of opposition protests in Belarus against the country’s disputed presidential election. Belarus’ Moscow-backed President Alexander Lukashenko has accused the opposition of being backed by the West and has jailed…
DetailsOn December 16, the keel for the fifth (fourth serial) Project 22220 nuclear icebreaker Chukotka was laid at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg. Roman Kopin, the Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Alexey Likhachev, Director General of ROSATOM, Evgeny Elin, Vice Governor of St. Petersburg, Vyacheslav Ruksha, Deputy Director General and Director of the…
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Leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny said German prosecutors interrogated him and his wife at Moscow’s request Thursday despite Russian authorities refusing to launch a criminal investigation into his poisoning. Navalny is undergoing rehabilitation in Berlin after recovering from what European scientists established was poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent in Siberia this summer. Russia…
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A group of children that went missing in the caves near the Moscow region city of Domodedovo were found alive by rescuers late Thursday, Interfax reported. On Thursday morning a group of 10 people, eight of whom were children ages 9 to 12, entered the Syanovskiye cave system. They were supposed to return around 7:00…
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Finland’s Nordea Bank plans to permanently cease its activities in Russia, the bank’s Russian branch announced Thursday. Nordea Bank “will concentrate its activities in the Scandinavian region, therefore it was decided to partially close the international network, including the Russian branch,” its statement said. In the third quarter of 2020 Nordea ranked 95th in the…
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European officials have tipped off the United States that sanctioned Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska continued to pull the strings at companies he had divested from, Bloomberg said in a report that has since been denied by the firms. U.S. lawmakers raised concerns about Deripaska’s influence over aluminum giant Rusal and its parent company En+ early…
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European home improvement stores continued to sell illegally logged wood from the Russian taiga after the alleged smuggler’s arrest back home, the British environmental nonprofit Earthsight said in a report Wednesday. More than 20 European companies were said to have bought 30 million euros ($36.7 million) worth of suspect wood from companies associated with timber…
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A Moscow court fined Google on Thursday for not taking down online content banned by the Russian authorities, the latest in a series of escalating penalties against the U.S. tech giant. Google was found guilty of repeatedly failing to delete search results “containing information prohibited in Russia” and was fined 3 million rubles (around $41,000),…
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