Tag Archives: Moscow

Russia’s ambassador to the United States said Washington had asked 24 Russian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 3 after their visas expired. Anatoly Antonov did not say whether the U.S. request was prompted by any particular dispute, and there was no immediate comment from Washington. “Almost all of …

Russian electoral authorities on Saturday barred a well-known Communist Party candidate from running in September’s parliamentary election, the latest high-profile opposition figure to be disqualified from the vote. Pavel Grudinin, who won 12 percent of votes when he challenged Vladimir Putin in a 2018 presidential election, was excluded from a …

The Russian Defense Ministry’s website has come under a cyberattack from outside of Russia that paralyzed the portal for an hour, the ministry has announced. The Defense Ministry said it had been hit by a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Friday. “The source of the attack on the… Defense Ministry’s website …

Russia’s meteorological service said Tuesday the country could see its hottest summer on record, driven by climate change, after a record-breaking heatwave in June. Moscow was hit by a historic heatwave at the end of June, with temperatures reaching a 120-year record. “We estimate that temperatures will be high in …

A Taliban delegation in Moscow said on Friday that the group controlled over 85% of the territory in Afghanistan and reassured Russia it would not allow the country to be used as a platform to attack others. Foreign forces, including the United States, are withdrawing after almost 20 years of …

Russia’s air force has conducted drills involving its nuclear-capable strategic bombers, the military said on Thursday. The Defense Ministry said that Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers took off from their base in the Saratov region on the Volga River and flew more than 4,000 kilometers (about 2,500 miles) to launch …

Russia’s Federal Security Service detained an Estonian diplomat based in St Petersburg, Mart Latte, on Tuesday as he was receiving confidential information from a Russian citizen, Interfax news agency reported. “Measures in line with the norms of international law will be applied to the foreign diplomat,” Interfax quoted the Federal …

Russian military helicopters based in Tajikistan fired air-to-surface missiles during a training exercise on Tuesday as Moscow said its forces in the Central Asian nation were fully equipped to help secure the border with Afghanistan. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon on Monday ordered the mobilisation of 20,000 military reservists to bolster …

Russia’s Orthodox Church admonished people refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, calling them sinners who would have to atone for the rest of their lives, as the country reported another jump in new infections and deaths. The church urged all its faithful to be inoculated as another 24,353 new COVID-19 …

Thousands of Russian tourists began arriving in Turkey on Tuesday, boosting hopes for its tourism sector after a two-month suspension in flights imposed by Moscow due to concerns about a surge in COVID-19 cases in April.

Russian forces have blocked an American military convoy, comprising four armored vehicles, in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province.

Myanmar’s junta leader has flown out of the country to attend a conference in Moscow, state media reported on Sunday, his second trip abroad since seizing power in February.

Russia has notified its partners under the Open Skies arms control treaty that it will leave the group on December 18, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday. The Kremlin said this month that the US decision to withdraw from the treaty — which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member …

A new kit for Ukraine’s football team, showing a map including Russian-annexed Crimea, has provoked anger in Moscow. Ukraine unveiled its shirt for Euro 2020, emblazoned with its borders including Crimea, and the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and considers it a …

Russian president says he wants to improve strained ties with the US but sets a tough tone ahead of the Geneva summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he wants to improve Moscow’s ties with Washington when he holds his first summit with US counterpart Joe Biden later this month, …

A Russian court on Thursday fined Twitter 19 million roubles ($259,000) for failing to delete content considered illegal by Moscow, in the latest episode of a long-running dispute between Russia and the social network operator. Twitter has been subjected to a punitive slowdown in Russia since March, part of a …

An annual military parade was held on Moscow’s iconic Red Square as Russia celebrates victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. World War II is often called the Great Patriotic War in Russia, and May 9 is one of the country’s most revered holidays. More than 12,000 uniformed soldiers, …

Authorities in Belarus have announced the arrest of more than 30 Russian mercenaries accused of trying “to destabilize” the country ahead of August’s presidential election, the state-run news agency Belta reported. The detentions come as tensions grow between the neighboring countries and as a rift emerges between their two strongmen …

Russia plans to resume international flights from some airports on Aug. 1, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin as saying on Friday. Flights will restart from Moscow, St Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don, Mishustin said.

Russia’s novel coronavirus vaccine trials were successfully completed on Monday and the results indicated long-term immunity could be established, Russia’s ministry of defense said. “The Russian Defence Ministry together with the Gamaleya [Gamalei] Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology has successfully completed clinical trials of the vaccine against COVID-19 …