Businessman Anisimov 7th Billionaire to Renounce Russian Citizenship Since Invasion – Forbes

Kazakh-born businessman Vasily Anisimov is at least the seventh billionaire to renounce his Russian citizenship after the invasion of Ukraine, Forbes Russia reported Thursday, citing documents provided by the exiled oligarch. Anisimov, the former owner of the license for the “Putinka” vodka brand and the real estate holding Coalco, is reportedly listed as a citizen…

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Clean area for controlled reactor assembly arranged at Akkuyu NPP Unıt 1

It means completion of general construction works in Unit 1 containment and transition to the equipment start-up-and-adjustment phase. February 08, 2024, Büyükeceli, Mersin Province, Türkiye. – A “clean area” has been arranged in the reactor compartment of Akkuyu NPP Unit No. 1. This term means a prepared working space for controlled assembly of a reactor,…

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Russian Election Authority Rejects Pro-Peace Hopeful Nadezhdin’s Presidential Bid

Russian election authorities on Thursday disqualified pro-peace presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin from the March election over alleged errors in his endorsement signatures. The veteran politician’s campaign has presented a rare challenge to a tightly controlled election in which President Vladimir Putin is likely to win a fifth term, with thousands of Russians lining up to…

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In Russia’s Dagestan, a Landfill Upends Villagers’ Livelihoods as National Garbage Crisis Spirals

Amid the plains of Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan lies Novaya Urada, a village of 1,000 residents.  This community, some 30 kilometers northwest of the regional capital Makhachkala, has deep roots in livestock farming and each year draws tourists hoping to photograph a vibrant poppy field nearby.  Yet Novaya Urada was thrown into upheaval…

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Head of Russia’s Bashkortostan Slams Proposal to Honor Man Who Died After Mass Protests

The Kremlin-appointed head of the republic of Bashkortostan slammed a proposal to honor the memory of a local man who died in police custody after being arrested last month during mass protests.  Prominent Bashkir dancer Rif Gabitov asked to hold a moment of silence for the deceased Rifat Dautov at a meeting on Tuesday with Bashkortostan head Radiy…

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Russia Seeks to Ban ‘Movement’ Supporting Jailed Ex-Khabarovsk Governor

Prosecutors in Far East Russia’s Khabarovsk region are seeking to ban the so-called “Ya/My Furgal movement,” according to a statement published on the Russian Justice Ministry’s website.  The phrase “Ya/My Furgal” (Russian for “I’m/We’re Furgal”) has been used by supporters of jailed ex-Khabarovsk region Governor Sergei Furgal since his detention in 2020, which sparked some of…

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Major Chinese Bank Halts All Settlements With Russia – Vedomosti

A key Chinese bank used by Russian importers has stopped all settlements with Russia, setting the stage for a “logistics collapse” in the coming weeks, the business daily Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing anonymous businesspeople and financial consultants familiar with the matter. Chouzhou Commercial Bank, which became the main transaction channel for Russian importers after the…

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Russia, Belarus Developing Shared Register of ‘Extremists’

Allies Russia and Belarus are working to create a shared database of “extremists,” the Belarusian ambassador in Moscow said Tuesday. Ambassador Dmitry Krutoy said it was “perplexing” that some websites blacklisted in Russia remained accessible in Belarus and vice versa.   “Let’s say these entities or people flee to Russia and face no criminal proceedings there,” Krutoy told…

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Russian Election Authority Gives Presidential Hopeful Nadezhdin Extra Day to Dispute Signature Flaws

Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on Tuesday agreed to give pro-peace presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin an extra day to resolve thousands of errors in endorsement signatures before it decides whether to officially register him as a candidate in the March presidential election.  Just hours earlier, Nadezhdin said he had asked the CEC to give him…

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Putin’s State of the Nation Address to Coincide With War Anniversary – Kommersant

President Vladimir Putin’s annual address to the Russian parliament will coincide with the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, the business daily Kommersant reported Tuesday, citing four anonymous Kremlin sources. Putin could give his State of the Nation speech to both houses of parliament sometime after Feb. 23 or before March 8, according to…

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Child Killed in Russian Strike Against Ukraine’s Kharkiv Region

A two-month-old baby was killed and three others were injured Tuesday in a Russian strike on northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, officials said. “Around 2:30 am, a three-story hotel was destroyed in Zolochiv… following two S-300 missile strikes,” Kharkiv region Governor Oleg Sinegubov said, adding that the child’s mother was among the injured and was hospitalized. …

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Russia Lists U.S. Journalists, Ex-Ukraine Army Spokesperson as ‘Extremists and Terrorists’

Russia’s state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring has added several U.S. journalists, as well as the former spokesperson for Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, to its list of “extremists and terrorists.”  Ashton-Cirillo, a trans woman, responded to Rosfinmonitoring’s designation on X (formerly Twitter) by saying “I know the FSB and Kremlin were thinking about it.” Being…

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Russia Will Block VPN Services in March, Says Safe Internet League Chief Mizulina

Russian authorities will “most likely” start blocking major VPN services in March, the head of the Kremlin-aligned Safe Internet League said Monday.  Downloads of VPNs, which help users access blocked websites, surged in Russia after authorities started blocking Western social media platforms and scores of Russian independent news outlets amid the invasion of Ukraine.  “VPNs, especially…

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Georgia Says Intercepted Ukrainian Explosives Sent to Russia

Georgian security officials said Monday that they intercepted several explosives claimed to be from Ukraine and intended to be transported to the southwestern Russian city of Voronezh. Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) said the explosive devices, which were allegedly sent from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, arrived by minivan at the Georgian-Turkish border crossing on Jan. 19…

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Russian Election Authority Says Found Flaws in 15% of Pro-Peace Nadezhdin’s Signatures

Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has found flaws in more than 15% of the signatures of endorsement collected by pro-peace presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin, his campaign team said Monday. Nadezhdin, who has emerged as the leading pro-peace voice ahead of the March presidential election, submitted some 105,000 signatures to CEC for review last week. But…

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Russia’s Deputy FM Visits Seoul After Diplomatic Row Over N. Korea Comments

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko visited South Korea to discuss the Ukrainian war and bilateral ties, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Sunday, as the two countries trade increasingly heated rhetoric over the nuclear-armed North. Rudenko, Russia’s deputy foreign minister handling Asia-Pacific affairs, met his South Korean counterpart Chung Byung-won on Friday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said…

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Russia Labels Veteran Rights Campaigner Orlov ‘Foreign Agent’

Russia on Friday named veteran human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov, head of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial group, a “foreign agent.” Moscow has labeled hundreds of activists and independent journalists “foreign agents” in recent years as part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Russia’s Justice Ministry said Orlov “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine, disseminated…

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Top UN Court Sets Jurisdiction Over Ukraine’s Genocide Lawsuit

The United Nations’ top court said Friday it has jurisdiction over Ukraine’s lawsuit against Russia on allegations of falsely using the Genocide Convention to justify its invasion. Kyiv has accused President Vladimir Putin of misapplying the United Nations’ 1948 Genocide Convention to launch the “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022. Putin said part of…

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Burst a Pipe and Bust a Gut

Теплоснабжение: central heating A couple of weeks ago there was a major accident in Siberia that left hundreds of homes in Russia without heat for weeks. It happened in particularly cold weather — of course it did, because закон подлости (Murphy’s law) is the only law that still works perfectly in Russia today. As a…

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