Russian President Vladimir Putin has overturned a 2015 decree banning charter flights to Egyptian resorts, ending a six-year hiatus on travel to a popular destination for Russian tourists. Putin also withdrew his previous recommendation against selling tours to Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea. Russia had banned all air travel to Egypt in 2015 after…
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The European Union has approached Russia for talks on recognizing each other’s coronavirus vaccination certificates, EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer said Thursday. The EU launched its own digital vaccination certificate on July 1, allowing vaccinated EU citizens to travel freely within the 27-member bloc. As the certificate only recognizes vaccines authorized by the EU,…
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Belarus authorities on Thursday blocked another independent news organization, Nasha Niva, and dispatched police to its editorial offices, clamping down further on media not yet under tight state control. Authorities in the ex-Soviet country, which is in the throes of a months-long crackdown on dissent, said it had barred access to Nasha Niva over accusations…
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Russia’s Football Union said Thursday it has terminated head coach Stanislav Cherchesov’s contract after the team’s disappointing first-round exit from the Euro 2020 championship. Ahead of the RFU’s statement, Cherchesov himself said he did not plan to resign after Russia ranked last in its group and failed to qualify for the quarter-finals last month. The…
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A signing ceremony was held at the State Tretyakov Gallery on Thursday to launch a new joint master’s program between the Gallery and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). The new program, “Science and Digitalization for the Cultural Heritage,” will work at the intersection of art, culture and the hard sciences. General Director…
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Russia must prepare for major revenue losses brought by a global push toward renewable energy and subsequent fall in demand for fossil fuels, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday. The rising share of renewables in the global energy market and carbon pricing measures could lead to “radical changes in…
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Dressed in heavy protective gear during a record-breaking heatwave, doctors at St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky hospital have struggled in recent weeks to treat an overwhelming influx of coronavirus patients. Like the rest of Russia, the city has been hard hit by a new wave of the pandemic fueled by the highly infectious Delta variant. The country’s…
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Tajikistan has asked a Russia-led alliance for assistance in dealing with security challenges as the United States pulls out of its southern neighbor Afghanistan and Taliban forces advance. Tajikistan is part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a loose military alliance of ex-Soviet states that also includes Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus. Speaking…
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A senior administrator at a western Russian clinic has been detained on suspicion of selling fake coronavirus vaccine certificates, police said Wednesday. The unnamed Kaliningrad region medical worker is the latest and most high-profile suspect in the authorities’ attempt to crack down on the black market sale of falsified Covid-19 jab certificates. Demand for fake…
DetailsRosneft published the Code of Suppliers of Goods, Works, and Services in the Area of Human Rights Observance
A Russian court has banned the distribution of adult cartoon “Happy Tree Friends” and several other animated films within the country, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday. Court-appointed experts determined that “Happy Tree Friends,” which is about three cartoon forest animals that die in graphically violent ways every episode, “contains elements of cruelty”…
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At least eight people have been killed by floods caused by torrential rain that have hit southern Russian resort towns over the past week, Interfax reported Wednesday. Authorities declared a state of emergency in six Krasnodar region towns near the Black Sea roughly 1,300 kilometers south of Moscow. Since heavy rainfall began Sunday, two people in…
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Russia on Wednesday expelled Estonia’s consul in St. Petersburg for allegedly receiving classified documents, the latest in a series of mutual diplomatic expulsions between Russia and the West over espionage claims in recent months. The FSB security service said Tuesday it had detained consul Mart Latte while he was receiving classified documents from a Russian…
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Several well-known figures from Russian entertainment, media and sports are now eyeing a career change by seeking seats in the country’s September parliamentary elections. The high-stakes elections for Russia’s lower-house State Duma will see the ruling, pro-Kremlin United Russia party seek to hold onto its majority despite historically low approval ratings. Here’s a look at…
DetailsIn 2020, Rosneft brought the ratio of recycled and re-used water in its operations to 94%.
A search team found the remains of 19 people Wednesday after a passenger plane crashed in Russia’s remote far eastern Kamchatka peninsula and the governor promised relatives “all necessary help.” The An-26 plane flying from Kamchatka’s main city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the coastal town of Palana with 28 people on board disappeared and crashed on Tuesday.…
DetailsOn July 6, 15 Zambian graduates from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) received their BS diplomas. The ceremony took place at the Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering. The graduates in field of nuclear power and thermophysics were: Mabvuto Banda, Richard Vlahakis, Thandiwe Zulu, Chabala Kalenga, Machona Mbahwe, Nchimunya Mwiinga, Bertha Mumba, Morris Mungwalubilo, Mwenya…
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Russian government-linked hackers were behind last week’s cyberattack targeting the U.S. Republican National Committee, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The hack appears to have originated with APT29, also known as Cozy Bear, a hacker group that is widely believed to be linked to Russia’s intelligence agencies and was previously…
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Russia is prepared to activate a military base in ex-Soviet Tajikistan against advancing Taliban forces on its southern border as U.S. troops finalize their pullout from neighboring Afghanistan, its top diplomat said Wednesday. Tajikistan is host to more than 6,000 Russian servicemen deployed to the Russian Ground Forces’ 201st military base, one of Russia’s few…
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A U.S. software firm hit by a major ransomware attack that crippled hundreds of companies worldwide was working to restart its servers late Tuesday to bring customers back online. Kaseya, the Miami-based IT company at the center of the hack, pushed back its forecast for restarting its cloud-based systems, promising hourly updates. It told customers…
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A U.S. passport holder was detained in Moscow alongside a veteran Belarusian opposition leader three months ago and spirited away to Minsk to face charges of attempting a coup, CNN reported Tuesday. Belarusian-American lawyer Yuras Zyankovich was detained by Russia’s FSB security agency in April while having lunch at a Moscow restaurant with Alexander Feduta,…
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Russian security forces said on Tuesday they had detained Estonia’s consul to St. Petersburg for allegedly receiving classified documents, the latest in a series of espionage cases between Moscow and the West. The FSB security service said consul Mart Latte was “caught red-handed while receiving classified documents from a Russian national” and detained for activities…
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Search teams on Tuesday found wreckage of a passenger plane carrying 28 people that had disappeared in Russia’s remote far eastern Kamchatka peninsula, but there was little hope of survivors. Search and rescue operations were suspended after night fell and Russian news agencies quoted local sources as saying it appeared that all the passengers and…
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Russian tech giant Yandex said Tuesday it planned to launch self-driving delivery robots on U.S. college campuses later this year, the company’s latest push into foreign markets. In a statement, the Russian group said it would partner with U.S. delivery giant Grubhub to deploy the self-driving rovers at 250 college campuses across the United States.…
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A Russian delegation led by two Navy officers secretly visited Myanmar ahead of its junta leader’s trip to Russia last month, the independent Myanmar Now news outlet reported Tuesday, citing a document it said it had obtained. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s multiple-day visit to Moscow followed an air force chief’s trip to the capital in May…
DetailsBashneft (an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company) has completed the first-ever repair of an operating pipeline at the Arlanskaya group of fields without stopping oil pumping.
Russia has confirmed 5,658,672 cases of coronavirus and 139,316 deaths, according to the national coronavirus information center. Russia’s total excess fatality count since the start of the coronavirus pandemic is around 475,000. July 6: What you need to know today Russia on Tuesday reported 23,378 new coronavirus cases and a new record of 737 deaths as the country battles the…
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The 6th CIOFF World Folkloriada (Folklore Festival) is well underway in Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan. World Folkloriada is an international event organized every four years by the International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts (CIOFF), an official partner of UNESCO. This year, 2,000 performers from more than 60 countries are expected to…
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Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko has threatened to limit the transit of German goods to Russia and China in response to sanctions punishing his regime for cracking down on dissenters and intercepting a Ryanair plane, state media reported Tuesday. Citing this year’s ban on Nivea, Skoda and Liqui Moly products in response to previous economic penalties,…
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It’s an overcast Sunday morning in July, and on the fortieth floor of a plush Moscow skyscraper Russia’s last liberal party is gathering for its annual congress. Beside the stage, a string quartet is playing, but the Yabloko party delegates — some ageing and well-heeled, some younger and edgier — have one thing on their…
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This past Sunday, some decidedly atypical guests convened in a congress hall in the center of Moscow more used to hosting gala weddings or birthdays. But on this day, it was the venue for a new political party called, appripriately enough, New People. New People promises voters income growth, equal rights, health care and many…
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Russia on Tuesday recorded 737 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, a new pandemic record and a 13% increase from the previous record of 697 set on Saturday as the country continues to battle a surge fueled by the more-contagious Delta variant. Moscow, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic within Russia, recorded 114 deaths,…
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Russian doctors are refusing to vaccinate people living with HIV against the coronavirus despite data showing them to be safe for immunocompromised people, a Russian AIDS NGO said Tuesday. Thirty out of 700 people with HIV at a Moscow AIDS prevention and control center were refused Covid-19 vaccination by a single doctor in June, according…
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Valentina Andreeva graduated in 2018 with degrees in economics and music, one from St. Petersburg State University and one from Bard College in the U.S., which co-founded the Russian institution’s liberal arts faculty. “You can travel, you can study and you can make friends from all over the world, not only from the U.S.,” she…
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One of Belarus’s leading opposition figures was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Tuesday, the latest move in a months-long crackdown on critics of strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko. Former banker Viktor Babaryko — considered one of Lukashenko’s strongest opponents — was handed the sentence by the Supreme Court in Minsk. His Twitter account, which…
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Record heat and a historic drought in the Siberian republic of Sakha are furthering the spread of extensive wildfires across the region, regional officials have said. The republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, is especially vulnerable to wildfires as more than 80% of the region is covered by boreal forest known as taiga. So…
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LGBTQ activists in Georgia said Monday they had been forced to cancel a planned Pride march after opponents clashed with activists and police and the prime minister spoke out against the event. Pride events are still controversial in Georgia, a conservative country where the powerful Orthodox Church has previously clashed with Western-leaning governments over progressive…
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Champagne houses in France on Monday issued a plea for diplomatic help over a new Russian law reserving the term “champagne” for Russian-produced sparkling wines, which interrupted supplies from the local market leader Moet Hennessy. French producers are fiercely jealous of the AOC, or Controlled Appellation of Origin, that is supposed to give them exclusive…
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Russians who refuse to get vaccinated against the coronavirus are taking a sin upon themselves that they will repent for until the end of their days, a top Russian Orthodox Church official said Monday. “I now constantly face such situations when people come to a priest in order to repent that they did not vaccinate…
DetailsThe office and laboratory complex of Research and Development Center (part of the Rosneft Group) has again been assigned the status of a Green Office, confirmed by the BREEAM In-Use certificate.
A Russian warship equipped with long-range cruise missiles plans to return to annexed Crimea to reinforce its military amid tensions over an ongoing U.S.-led NATO exercise in the Black Sea, Interfax reported Monday. The Navy’s Black Sea Fleet said the Kalibr cruise missile-equipped frigate Admiral Essen and the Moskva missile cruiser are en route to…
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A majority of Russian (54%) are still not ready to get vaccinated against the coronavirus despite a mounting surge driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, according to an independent poll published Monday. Russia set new records for coronavirus deaths for five consecutive days from June 29-July 3 as infections reached levels not seen since…
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Soviet director and actor Vladimir Menshov passed away on Sunday at age 82 from coronavirus, according to a press release released by Mosfilm. “We have lost a dear friend at Mosfilm, a man who used all his creative powers and rich talent in his work at the film studio,” they wrote. He is best known…
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In June, as western Siberia recovered from its worst forest fires in a decade, Russian President Vladimir Putin toasted his country’s contribution to the struggle against climate change at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the premier get-together for the country’s business elite. “Our country accounts for one fifth of the world’s forests. They absorb…
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Russian organic grocer VkusVill has pulled its promotional material featuring an LGBT family and replaced it with an apology less than a week after posting it. Social media users reportedly swarmed VkusVill’s and the same-sex family’s accounts with death threats after their story ran Wednesday as part of a series spotlighting the retail chain’s regular…
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Exiled former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has said he plans to relocate the employees of his media projects out of Russia or close them altogether over state pressure on dissent. Khodorkovsky launched the Open Media and MBKh Media outlets in 2017 after Russian authorities blacklisted as “undesirable” his pro-democracy NGO Open Russia, banning its activities within…
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Russia on Sunday reported more than 25,000 new coronavirus cases, the highest number of daily infections since early January as the country battles the surging Delta variant. The coronavirus figures have soared since mid-June against a background of reluctance among many to get vaccinated and suspicion of home-grown shots. Russia on Sunday announced 25,142 new…
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Russian elites could soon find themselves without their favorite French bubbles if Moet Hennessy makes good on a threat to halt champagne supplies following a new law signed by President Vladimir Putin. Moet Hennessy’s Russia office warned local partners it was suspending supplies after Russian lawmakers adopted legislation stipulating that the word “champagne” can only…
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Former French prime minister Francois Fillon has been named to the board of Russian state oil company Zarubezhneft, a list published by a website specialising in business information disclosure showed. Zarubezhneft did not respond Friday to a request for comment on the list posted to the e-disclosure.ru website run by the Interfax news agency, which…
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Russia on Saturday reported 697 Covid-19 deaths in the previous 24 hours, the fifth straight day the country has set a new record as it battles the surging Delta variant. It also recorded 24,439 new coronavirus infections, the highest figure since the middle of January when Russia was emerging from its second wave of the…
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I like to think of myself as an egalitarian, but when it comes to tomatoes, I am the worst kind of elitist: an unapologetic raging tomato snob. I don’t care who I offend — I will pick a hapless, pulpy, under-ripe, hothouse forced tomato out of every single dish I encounter with a curled lip…
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The oldest, thickest Arctic sea ice known as the “Last Ice Area” is melting faster than anticipated as the earth warms, scientists from the Polar Science Center wrote in a new study. Located north of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Last Ice Area’s ice cover is particularly thick, staying frozen for 4-5 years…
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Russians’ approval of every government institution except for President Vladimir Putin has dropped in the past month, an independent poll published Friday revealed as the Kremlin distanced itself from regional authorities’ unpopular coronavirus measures amid a deadly third wave. Putin’s approval rating only saw a 1% dip from 67% in May to 66% in June,…
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Tilda Food & Bar, a tiny gastropub in central Moscow that’s usually bursting at the seams, has been empty almost every day this week since the Russian capital introduced strict new rules for diners in an attempt to halt the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus. “Usually at this time we…
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Russian organic food retailer VkusVill has featured an LGBT family in its new promotional material this week, defying the country’s law against “gay propaganda toward minors.” As part of a series of health-conscious families, VkusVill spotlights a “matriarch” Yuma, her partner Zhenya and two daughters Mila and Alina, who practice ethical veganism, support fair trade…
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Red Garden on Red Square After decades of being a vast empty space during the Soviet period, Red Square is beginning to reassume its historical appearance and function as a busy space filled with people, trade, celebrations, official proclamations, activities, food, and drink. Two weeks ago it was covered with books, authors, readings, music, and…
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Russia on Friday said it would not impose a new lockdown despite reporting a record number of coronavirus deaths for the fourth day in a row. A government tally showed 679 pandemic-related deaths in the previous 24 hours, as Russia battles a surging outbreak driven by the highly infectious Delta variant and worsened by a…
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Russia’s Embassy in the United States pointed the finger back at the U.S. Friday after its cybersecurity agencies blamed Kremlin-backed hackers for a massive hacking campaign on Western private and government entities. U.S. and U.K. national security agencies on Thursday said a cyber-unit within Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency has conducted “brute force” attacks on predominantly…
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Six hundred Russian security instructors have recently been sent to the Central African Republic, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, bringing the total number in the country to 1,135. The announcement came after the UN’s envoy to the Central African Republic (CAR) accused the nation’s security forces and their Russian allies of multiple human rights…
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An enormous exhibition called “Andy Warhol and Russian Art” opened last week at the expo center Sevkabel Port in St. Petersburg. The show, organized by the Artsolus Foundation, displays 100 works by Andy Warhol, one of the founders of pop art, along with works by such important Russian artists Alexander Melamid, Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe, Pavel Pepershtein,…
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