Contents tagged with Russia

  • European ambassadors urge US to lift sanctions from Deripaska’s companies

    European diplomats in the US have called for En+ and Rusal, two companies belonging to the Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, to be removed from the sanctions list, according to a letter to Chuck Schumer, leader of the democratic minority in the US Senate. 

    The document, which was published by the European foreign policy service on Friday, January 11, was authored by ambassadors from Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the UK, France and Sweden, Deutsche Welle reports. 

    The authors believe that …

  • Russian astronomers lose control of Russia's only orbital telescope

    Russian scientists cannot regain control over the Spektr-R, also known as RadioAstron, the only space telescope in the country. According to RIA Novosti, the device stopped receiving commanвы. There are no кreports regarding the reason for the accident. However, Spektr-R’s projected lifespan, which is part of the RadioAstron project, expired three years ago.

    Specialists of the Astro-space center have been unsuccessfully trying to restore the connections. According to the head of the scientific …

  • Syrian opposition forces capture two Russians suspected of terrorism

    Representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that they detained four terrorist suspects in northern Syria, two of whom are Russian citizens, Radio Liberty reports.

    The names of the two Russian detainees are Usmat Attayev and Mohammed Jawad Khan. The SDF did not specify which militant group they belonged. According to the SDF representatives, they were captured after "long and thorough tracking".

    The Russians are suspected of committing terrorist attacks in the city of Raqqa …

  • Russia sends a battalion of military police to Syria

    The head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov reported on his VKontakte page that Russia sent a battalion of military police to Syria.

    “It’s not for the first time that our guys are honorably fulfilling their duty, demonstrating the same high level of combat training and professional skills. Each time, of course, we hope that it is the last one and that terrorism as a problem in Syria will end,” said the head of Ingushetia.

    Yevkurov said that the battalion was sent to Syria to carry out “special …

  • OSCE drone shot down in the Donbas

    The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), reports on their website, that an unmanned aerial vehicle that belonged to the monitoring mission was shot down in the area of Popasna village in the Donbas.

    It is noted that the village is controlled by the Ukrainian government and is located 69 kilometers west of Luhansk. The mission team was using the drone to watch snow removal work on the T-0504 highway. At this time, the OSCE staff heard the sound of six shots. According to …

  • Kyiv: More than 80 Ukrainians held in Russian prisons for political views

    More than 80 Ukrainian citizens are being held in Russian prisons due to their political views, Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Facebook. 

    “Every year on January 12, Ukraine observes the Day of the Ukrainian Political Prisoner. Unfortunately, the matter of political prisoners is extremely relevant today. Among the modern political prisoners are Oleh Sentsov, Stanislav Klykh, Pavlo Hryb, Roman Sushchenko, Kazim Ametov, Asan Chapukh, Bekir Degermendzhi, Remzi …

  • Russia developed a plan to rescue Venezuela’s economy

    Russian authorities developed a plan to pull its strategic partner Venezuela out of the deep crisis. Venezuela’s economy is in collapse and inflation reached about 1,300,000% last year, Russian publication the Bell reported, citing sources in Russian government.

    There are four main points in the proposed package of measures.

    First, Russian economists offer to introduce a basic income for Venezuelan households. They claim a basic income is a more effective measure to combat poverty than fuel …

  • Company of Putin's friend Rotenberg receives funding for 'anti-corruption activities'

    According to the documents published on Russian government’s procurements website, Moscow-based company Granat has won the tender of the Russian Civic Chamber, a consultative civil society to analyze draft legislation and monitor the activities of the parliament.

    Funds in the amount of more than 46 million rubles or nearly $700,000 dollars were allocated to provide "preparation and assistance services" for the Civic Chamber’s activities in the field of developing civil society institutions, …

  • Russia to continue gas transit to Kaliningrad through Lithuania

    The governor of the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov said on TV channel Vesti 24 that despite the launch of a terminal for receiving liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Kaliningrad region would not refuse to transit gas through the territory of Belarus and Lithuania.

    "The Kaliningrad Region does not plan to abandon gas supplies through the Minsk-Vilnius-Kaunas-Kaliningrad trunk pipeline system due to the commissioning of a gas receiving terminal and a floating regasification platform. The …

  • Kyiv refuses to extradite to Moscow Russian citizen who fought for Ukraine

    The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine refused to extradite to Russia a member of Right Sector, whom Kremlin wants to prosecute for participating in hostilities in Ukraine, stated the Press Secretary of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Larysa Sarhan.

    Sarhan said the Russia's request was denied by Yevhenii Yenin, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine. "Today, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevhenii Yenin decided to refuse Russia's request to extradite a member of Right …