Contents tagged with Russia
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Sweden withdraws from Russian lunar mission and joins Chinese one
The Swedish XSAN device for measurement of neutrals and ions, which was developed for the Russian Luna-25 program, will instead travel to the Earth’s satellite on the Chinese station Chang'e-4, RIA Novosti reports, referencing a letter from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF).
“In 2017, our Chinese colleagues suggested sending the manufactured XSAN flight module on the Chinese Chang'e-4 rover in 2018, an opportunity that we could not miss,” letter reads.
On May 11, IRF reported that …
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Russia to exclude American drugs from the sanctions list
Interfax reports that the State Duma of Russia is amending the draft bill on counter sanctions to avoid prohibiting the import of drugs from the U.S. that are similar to those which exist in Russia, Ivan Melnikov, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, stated.
“It is planned to exclude from the draft bill the mention of specific industries and specific goods and services and leave only the measures that can be applied,” Melnikov said.
In the first reading of the draft bill, it was …
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German journalist who reported on doping in Russia denied visa to FIFA 2018 World Cup
Hajo Seppelt, a journalist of the German television company ARD, was denied the Russian visa needed to travel to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Deutsche Welle reports.
On Friday, May 11, ARD’s press service reported that Seppelt was included in Russia’s list of “undesirable persons.” Details of the decision made by Russia have not been reported yet.
The German media company called Seppelt’s visa refusal “a unique event in the history of ARD sports journalism, and from the point of view of coverage …
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Kremlin: Russia does not recognize Hague arbitration court decision on compensating Ukraine for property lost in Crimea
The Russian Ministry of Justice does not recognize the decision of the International Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, which on May 9 ordered Russia to compensate Ukrainian companies for lost assets after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
"Russia does not recognize the above-mentioned decision due to the lack of arbitration jurisdiction to consider the aforementioned claim", the Ministry's press service stated.
On May 9, the representative office of the President of Ukraine in the …
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Kyiv: Russia may charge the crew of detained Ukrainian shipping vessel with terrorism
The members of the crew of the Ukrainian fishing vessel YAMK-0041 that Russian border guards detained near Russian-annexed Crimea could be accused of terrorism. This assumption on Radio Krym.Realii was expressed by Deputy Head of State Border Service of Ukraine Oleh Slobodyan.
Slobodyan explained that the Russian government is now trying to make the crew criminally responsible for anything from terrorism to arms smuggling. He said the objective is to paint the crew as not simply offenders but …
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American sanctions force Russian tycoon Deripaska to give up 3 private planes
After the introduction of the U.S. package of sanctions, Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska had to give up three private Gulfstream G550 aircraft, which he had rented from Credit Suisse and Raiffeisen, Reuters reported.
According to Alireza Ittihadieh, director of the company Freestream, which the owners of the planes contracted to sell them, the oligarch had leased them from a private company.
“He’s sanctioned, his companies are sanctioned, he has to return the aircraft. He has to terminate …
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Kremlin confirms Russia does not intend to supply S-300 missile systems to Syria
Russia’s refusal to supply S-300 missile systems to Syria is not connected with the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow, as stated by the press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, while commenting on the statement of Putin’s aide on Military and Technical Cooperation ,Vladimir Kozhin in an interview with the newspaper Izvestia.
"Technically, it is absolutely wrong to link this [Kozhin's words] with Netanyahu's visit, because the interview was given …
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Ukraine expels two Russian journalists
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) expelled two special correspondents of Russian TV channels who had been sent to Kyiv for the production of propaganda plots featuring the Victory Day. The SBU’s press-service reports that Valentina Solovyova and Olga Yurieva, correspondents of “Channel One Russia” and the “Russia” Channels, were sent back to Russian Federation and Kazakhstan respectively.
Special Services Operatives documented that the Russian propagandists intended to use video footage to …
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Latvian embassy attacked in Moscow
On May 9, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs stated on Twitter that the Latvian embassy in Moscow had been attacked.
In his post, he wrote: “Embassy of Latvia in Russia was attacked this evening, two persons have been detained, Latvia strongly condemns such provocations and demands Russia to fully ensure security of Latvia’s diplomatic missions in accordance with international law.”
According to RIA Novosti, an unregistered party calling itself “The Other Russia” reported that its …
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Russia's Gazprom gives $1.2 billion contract to Putin's friend without considering other bids
Stroytransneftegaz (STNG) has been chosen as the general contractor for the construction of certain sections of the North Stream gas pipeline totaling a length of 538 km, RBC news agency reports. The contract’s value is estimated at 74.6 billion rubles ($1.18 billion USD), and the customer is PJSC Gazprom, represented by Nikolai Shendelev, Deputy Director of Gazprom invest.
RBC news agency reports that there is no information on the contractor included in the contract published on the public …