Karl Nesselrode (1780-1862) was a staunch conservative and monarchist. In the mid-19th century, he had successfuly transformed Russia into what would later be called “the gendarme of Europe.” And thanks to popular support for the “Russian world” in the Balkans at the time, he achieved the predictable result of Russia’s complete diplomatic isolation on the…
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Russia’s economy will return to growth in 2024, the country’s Central Bank said in its policy outlook for the next three years published Friday. According to the bank’s baseline scenario, Russian gross domestic product (GDP) will record an annual fall of up to 6% this year. But, in the fourth quarter of 2023, the economy…
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Лихач: reckless person; skilled person Friday pop quiz: Name a Russian word that is a noun, an adverb and a short-form adjective all in one and means evil, clever, wicked, smart, rakish, daring, reckless, cool, or wild. I think it could even mean swashbuckling, if anyone is buckling their swashes these days. Any guesses? Лихо.…
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European leaders should be wary of “possible incidents” at nuclear power plants in their countries, Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday. Russia’s ex-leader, who has become increasingly hawkish since the invasion of Ukraine, made the threat in a post on messaging app Telegram about the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian-controlled southern…
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An analysis of archive footage from polling stations in Russia recorded during parliamentary elections last year suggests over 17 million ballots were cast fraudulently, independent media outlet Meduza reported Friday. At the time of the September elections, Russia’s Central Elections Commission said it lacked money to provide online video streaming from all polling stations. But…
DetailsSupported by the Ryazan Oil Refining Company (part of Rosneft’s refining complex), students from the Master of Meshchera children’s public environmental organisation took part in a research expedition to the protected areas of the Oka Biosphere State Reserve.
As part of a project to promote and preserve red-listed species, the corporate museum of RN-Nyaganneftegaz (production enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company) has opened an exhibition dedicated to the flora and fauna of the Kamennoye field.
With the support of Rosneft Oil Company, a building for flow-through aquarium systems has been commissioned at the Moscow State University’s Pertsov Belomorskaya Biological Station.
More than 5,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the invasion, according to a tally of confirmed deaths updated this week by independent Russian media outlet iStories. The figure is over three times higher than the official death toll of 1,351 which was last updated by the Russian Defense Ministry in…
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All along the road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, there are billboards erected by the Russian peacekeeping mission there: “Where there are Russians, there is peace.” “The Russian peacekeeping contingent is guarding the peace.” But after recent escalations in tensions here, many Karabakh Armenians are doubting those promises. An outbreak of violence in early August saw two Armenian…
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A Russian court on Thursday placed former state TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who denounced President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine live on air, under house arrest until October. On Wednesday, investigators detained Ovsyannikova, 44, and charged her with spreading information about the Russian armed forces deemed false by the government. The mother of two faces…
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Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Thursday of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine ahead of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to address global concerns over the facility. Ukrainian forces “once again struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Moscow-installed regional administration, said…
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Latvian MPs on Thursday declared Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism” whose actions in Ukraine constitute “targeted genocide against the Ukrainian people”. The statement MPs adopted said the parliament “recognizes Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, and calls on other like-minded countries to express the same view”. Voting by 67 in favor and none…
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February plunged many liberal-minded Russians into a state of shock and apathy. But for Anna Rivina, the country’s leading expert on domestic and gender-based violence, the path forward amid wartime chaos was clear. “When the entire world seems to be falling apart, it is difficult to decide what to do,…
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Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has filed a lawsuit against the penal colony where he is currently serving a nine-year prison service. Navalny said the IK-6 prison in the Vladimir region hadn’t disclosed information about the purchaser of the products that he manufactures in the colony. The regional court press service claimed the purchaser…
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Moscow’s ally Belarus on Thursday played down reports of overnight explosions at a military airbase near the border with Ukraine that is said to be used by Russian troops. “On Aug. 10, at around 23:00 (20:00 GMT), during a test run, a piece of equipment that had its engine replaced caught fire,” the Belarusian defense…
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The agency that processes immigration of Jews to Israel has started making preparations for its possible closure in Russia, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. In a move that drew swift blowback from Israel, Russia’s Justice Ministry last month requested the “dissolution” of the Jewish Agency, citing unspecified legal violations. “The Jewish Agency will operate all…
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Ukraine on Wednesday accused Russia of carrying out rocket strikes that killed 14 civilians in areas near a nuclear power plant, as the G7 warned that Russian control of the facility “endangers the region.” Overnight strikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine killed 13 people and injured 11, with five reported to be in…
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An apparent Ukrainian attack on a military air base in Russia-controlled Crimea sent people running for cover from a series of powerful blasts, causing shock among locals and tourists at the height of the holiday season. Towering plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the Saki air base in western Crimea on Tuesday afternoon,…
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Russian scientists and human rights activists have called on President Vladimir Putin to extend Russia’s moratorium on the death penalty to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). A DNR court in June sentenced British citizens Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan national Saadun Brahim — who fought alongside Kyiv’s forces — to death on…
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Russian police have detained and raided the house of Marina Ovsyannikova, the former state television producer who protested the war in Ukraine in a live news broadcast, her lawyer said Wednesday. Ovsyannikova, who has two young children, faces 10 years in prison on charges spreading “fakes” about the Russian army and will remain in custody until Thursday,…
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Ukraine on Wednesday accused Russia of rocket strikes that killed 13 civilians in areas near a Russian-held power plant, where renewed fighting has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The overnight strikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine also injured 11 people, with five reported to be in a serious condition. “It was a terrible night,…
DetailsOver the first half of 2022, Samotlorneftegaz, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s production complex, commissioned 174 km of new and upgraded pipelines, four times more year-on-year.
Steven Seagal, a Hollywood actor turned vocal Kremlin supporter, is visiting eastern Ukraine to film a documentary aimed at “changing the perception” of the war there, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) announced Tuesday. “Steven said that 98% of people who are talking about the conflict in media have never been here [in…
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Multiple explosions near a Russian naval air base on the western coast of annexed Crimea killed one person and injured several more Tuesday, according to eyewitness accounts and local pro-Kremlin officials. Videos filmed by eyewitnesses show a huge plume of black smoke rising from the direction of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Saki air base…
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Since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February, it has seized tens of thousands of square kilometers of Ukrainian territory including major cities like Kherson, Melitopol and Mariupol. While many civilians have fled, those who remain in Russian occupied territory are trying to continue with their lives despite the ongoing conflict. The Kremlin appears…
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France said Tuesday that a ban on Russian nationals entering military installations had been applied too rigidly when two Russian visitors were turned away at the Chateau de Vincennes, a medieval fortress and tourist attraction on the edge of Paris. Once the residence of French kings and among Europe’s best-preserved monuments of its kind, the…
DetailsRosneft will support the concert of the Academic Symphony Orchestra at the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia as part of the unique history and music project “Seventh Symphony.
Last month, Vsevolod Osipov was unmasked as an informant for Russia’s security services. He had been sent to Tbilisi to monitor the many Russian dissidents who have flooded the Georgian capital recently. But he says his new notoriety hasn’t much affected his life here, and done little to scare away patrons – primarily Russians themselves…
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Russia has slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal to ban all Russian travelers from going to the West, saying the measure would be unfeasible and counterproductive. In a Washington Post interview published Monday, Zelensky called on Western countries to shut their borders to all Russian nationals — regardless of their stance on their country’s invasion of Ukraine…
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Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot has started stripping its passenger aircraft for parts after Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine it off from foreign equipment and servicing it heavily relies on, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing four unnamed aviation industry sources. Russia’s 2030 aviation industry strategy envisions the “partial dismantling” of a portion of foreign-made aircraft…
DetailsRosneft celebrates the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
An Iranian satellite launched by Russia blasted off from Kazakhstan early Tuesday and went into orbit amid controversy that Moscow might use it to improve its surveillance of military targets in Ukraine. A live feed from Russian space agency Roscosmos showed the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the Khayyam satellite from the Russia-controlled Baikonur…
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Russia said Monday it was suspending U.S. on-site inspections under a strategic arms reduction treaty with Washington, pointing to Western sanctions and coronavirus infections. The Russian foreign ministry said facilities that are subject to inspections under the New START treaty will be “temporarily” exempt from such inspections. The announcement comes as ties between Russia and…
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The Kremlin accused Ukrainian forces Monday of firing on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in occupied Ukraine and warned the alleged attacks could have “catastrophic consequences.” Kyiv said Moscow was responsible and called for the area to be demilitarized, adding that two employees had been wounded in recent attacks. Fighting continued meanwhile along battle lines…
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Russian authorities have blocked or deleted some 138,000 websites since Moscow launched its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February, the country’s prosecutor general said Monday. Following over 300 requests from prosecutors, Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has censored thousands of websites in a bid to combat “fake news,” according to prosecutor general Igor Krasnov. “After the…
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The Kremlin’s war against Ukraine is one many Russians don’t want to fight. And some are so vehemently opposed that they are apparently prepared to take up arms against their country and fight alongside the Ukrainian army. The Freedom of Russia Legion claims it was formed in March, when over 100 Russian soldiers gave themselves up to…
DetailsIn July 2022, Bashneft (part of Rosneft) released over 570,000 fry of valuable fish species into water bodies of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District.
At least two dozen Russian regions have formed 40 volunteer units made up of thousands of their residents in efforts to ease Moscow’s manpower shortage in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday. The Kremlin’s recruitment drive aims to generate a battalion of about 400 contract soldiers in each of Russia’s 85 regions for a…
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Ukrainian forces bombed a strategic bridge over the Dnipro river overnight in the Russian-held city of Kherson, the army announced Monday. “What a night for the occupiers in the Kherson region. Strikes in the area of the Antonovskiy bridge,” regional deputy Sergei Khlan wrote on Facebook. Southern army command spokeswoman Natalia Gumeniuk confirmed the attack.…
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Four more ships loaded with grain set off from Ukrainian ports on Sunday, as Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for a new strike at a Russian-occupied nuclear plant. Amnesty International, meanwhile, said it deeply regretted the “distress and anger” caused after it alleged Ukrainian forces were flouting international law by exposing civilians to Russian…
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The reelection of a Russian former deputy premier as head of the international chess federation was a “victory” for Moscow, the Kremlin said on Sunday. The reelection of Arkady Dvorkovich as FIDE president was “clearly very good news and a very significant victory,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the TASS news agency as…
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday accused Russia of using the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “for terror” after the operator of the facility reported major damage at the site. Energoatom, the operator of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the south of the country, said Saturday that parts of the facility had been “seriously damaged” by military…
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What’s the difference between vareniki and pelmeni? Both are dumplings. Is it a question of who invented them? Even that is hard to decide. It’s amazing that passions are not raging over vareniki the way they are over borscht. Almost every nation has its own kind of dumplings: Italian ravioli, Japanese gyoza, Georgian khinkali, Asian…
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A Russian court sentenced U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison and fined her 1 million rubles ($16,590) on drug charges on Thursday. Griner, 31, was arrested on Feb. 17 after officers at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport found cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage. The two-time Olympic champion was on her way to…
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Асап: (ASAP, aka as soon as possible) Languages change. We know this. Of course, we do. We are reminded of it every time we pick up a Jane Austen novel and marvel at the quaint phrases. And certainly when we see a Shakespeare play and chuckle over every “forsooth.” And definitely when we pick up…
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Crimean Tatar art has a long and rich history dating back to ancient times, and it is a pride and glory of the indigenous people of the Crimean peninsula. While much of Crimean Tatar art and culture was lost following the 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars from their homeland, traditional art has entered a hopeful…
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President Vladimir Putin told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday he was hoping to sign an agreement to boost trade and economic ties, as Russia’s isolation grows following its intervention in Ukraine. Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine and the possible launch of a new operation in Syria were expected to dominate the talks in the…
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Russia has reacted with praise and vindication over Amnesty International’s controversial report accusing Ukraine’s military of endangering civilians during Moscow’s invasion. The U.K.-based rights body drew swift outrage from Ukrainian and Western observers with its report Thursday, which asserted that Kyiv was violating the laws of war by setting up military bases in and carrying…
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Russia said Friday it was expelling 14 Bulgarian consular and embassy staff in response to Sofia’s “unmotivated” decision to expel Russian diplomatic personnel as tensions rage over Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. Multiple European countries have expelled Russian diplomats after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24, with Russia responding in kind. Bulgaria in June…
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Alexander Vinnik, a Russian citizen accused of supervising a cryptocurrency exchange that allegedly helped criminals launder billions of dollars, has been extradited to the United States following a years-long extradition battle between Russia, the U.S. and France. He now faces up to 50 years in American prison. Vinnik was in December 2020 sentenced to five…
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Russia said Friday it was ready to discuss a prisoner swap with Washington at the presidential level, a day after the drug conviction of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner. Despite tensions soaring between Russia and the U.S. since the launch of Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, the former Cold War rivals appeared to be edging closer to a…
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Finland’s Foreign Minister on Thursday presented a plan for limiting tourist visas issued to Russians after increasing tourism from its eastern neighbor spurred discontent due to the war in Ukraine. As flights from Russia to the EU have been halted, Finland has become a transit country for many Russians seeking to travel further into Europe. “Many saw…
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A Russian court on Thursday found U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner guilty of smuggling and storing drugs and sentenced her to nine years in prison. Griner will spend a “total of nine years in a Russian penal colony,” judge Anna Sotnikova told the court, adding that the 31-year-old athlete will also have to pay a…
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It was just two lines on an otherwise minor bureaucratic document. But President Vladimir Putin’s designation of the leader of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov last month as “head” of the region in an executive order was a symbolic moment for the erosion of regional autonomy. It was the first time the leader of…
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Moscow on Thursday called for “restraint” following a new escalation in fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that has left three people dead. Earlier in the day Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan voiced rare criticism of ally Moscow, questioning the work of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. “We express our extreme concern…
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Russia will revive the Soviet-era practice of duty-free shops for foreign diplomats, allowing them to buy goods no longer imported to Russia due to Western sanctions, according to a government order issued last week. The stores could open in the capital Moscow and St. Petersburg shortly after the order takes effect on Aug. 27. “The…
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Moscow said on Thursday that a Norwegian consul can no longer stay in Russia after she was filmed declaring “I hate Russians” during an angry outburst at a hotel reception. “After what happened, Elisabeth Ellingsen’s presence in Russia is impossible,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Earlier in the day the Foreign Ministry summoned Norwegian…
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Italian doctors have confirmed the rare neurological disorder that debilitated President Vladimir Putin’s former senior aide as authorities continue to await in-depth test results to rule out poisoning, according to a family friend and Italian media. Veteran reformer and former Kremlin climate envoy Anatoly Chubais, 67, was hospitalized with what he said was Guillain-Barré syndrome…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Thursday recognizing border guards who repel cross-border attacks from Ukraine as war veterans. The legislation confers war veteran status to active and retired members of the security forces who “repel an armed invasion and provocations on the border and in territories adjacent to war areas in Ukraine since…
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