Contents tagged with Russia

  • Vatican officially announces its Secretary of State’s visit to Russia

    The Vatican has officially announced that Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Patrolin will visit Russia, the press service of the Holy See reported.

    “From August 21 to 24, 2017, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, will visit Russia at the government’s invitation. The goal of the visit will be to meet with the country’s leadership as well as the high clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church,” the document states.

    As the announcement indicates, on August 21, Cardinal Parolin will meet …

  • Russian court refuses to seize turbines at Siemens’ request

    The Moscow Arbitration Court refused to seize the Siemens-produced turbines which were shipped to annexed Crimea in circumvention of sanctions, the Dozhd TV channel reported with reference to a court file.

    Furthermore, the court refused to prohibit the mounting of these turbines. Their seizure was specified as a security measure in the lawsuit.

    The consideration of Siemens’ case against the corporate structures of Rostec, who relocated the turbines to the peninsula, has been scheduled for …

  • Putin wants to reduce the number of audits and prosecutions of businessmen in Russia

    President Vladimir Putin signed a list of orders "on measures to reduce the administrative burden on business entities in the Russian Federation,” as indicated in a statement by the press service of the Kremlin.

    The orders are divided into two main parts. The first concerns planned and unscheduled inspections of businesses by the government controlling bodies and the second is regarding the detention of "suspects and those accused of committing crimes in the field of entrepreneurial activity." …

  • Russia's Foreign Ministry speaker Zakharova accuses Israel of ‘historical betrayal’ over reconstruction of Sobibor museum

    The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, considers the position of the Jewish state "to be close to betrayal", because it didn’t object to Russia not being allowed to participate in the reconstruction project of a museum at the site of the former Sobibor extermination camp (Poland).

    While appearing on Russia 1, Zakharova "expressing her personal opinion" stated that she "categorically refuses to understand" Israel.

    "The position of this state regarding …

  • Candidate for German Chancellor: Crimea needs to be recognized as part of the Russian Federation

    Die Welt reports that Alexander Gauland, federal spokesman for the German ultra-right party Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany), has said that the Crimea will never return to Ukraine and therefore should be recognized as part of Russia.

    “The Crimea will never return to Ukraine. Sanctions do not do anything," said Gauland, who is a candidate for Chancellor of Germany from the Alternative für Deutschland party.

    In addition, he is confident that the European Union should …

  • Another blackout hits Crimea affecting 11,000 people

    In the Crimea, almost 11,000 people were left without electricity due to bad weather, the Russian Energy Ministry reported. It was noted since of 16.30 Kyiv time on August 18th, massive emergency outages have occurred in the Crimean energy networks due to the rain and thunderstorms. Households remain without electricity in 27 areas and impact about 10,700 people. Eight teams of 20 people are involved in emergency recovery work. Earlier it was reported that the Russian Ministry of Energy, due …

  • Russian propaganda TV channel Life stops broadcasting

    The TV channel Life (formerly known as LifeNews), which is part of the news media holdings of Russian media tycoon Aram Gabrelyanov,  stops its broadcasting, TASS reported citing a source in the holding company.

    Earlier, the news agency RBC reported that the media project planned to reduce news broadcasting, which would lead to a reduction in staff.

    "Only the site and our projects remain, of course. TV broadcasting will be completely discontinued. There will be a message to TV viewers on the …

  • Navalny’s Anti-corruption fund publishes report on wealth of the son of Putin’s press secretary Peskov

    The Anti-corruption Foundation, headed by Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, published an investigation into Nikolai Choles, the son of Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president.

    Choles is Peskov’s son from his first marriage. He lived in the UK but arrived in Russia in 2011-2012. Since then, this son of an influential father has led the life of a millionaire. He goes horse riding, drives expensive cars and travels by private planes.

    The press secretary’s heir …

  • Kremlin gives Russian Ministry of Defense the right to seize land for its own needs

    The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation obtained the right to make decisions on reserving and seizing lands for the construction and reconstruction of military facilities. The bill authorizing these activities was published on the state website for legislative information.

    The bill took effect the moment it was signed on August 17, 2017 and amends the Regulations on the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, as approved by the Russian President on August 16, 2004.

    “The …

  • Security Service of Ukraine: three groups of Russian saboteurs were neutralized in the last month

    Vasyl Hrytsak, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced at a briefing in Kyiv that in the last month the Ukrainian intelligence agency has detained three groups of Russian saboteurs.

    “In Kharkiv on July 17 we arrested the leader and main perpetrator of such a group which was created by the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff. They received the mission of assassinating several Ukrainian public and state figures,” he announced. A quadcopter was supposed to be used for …