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On US request Russian arms dealer held in Lithuania
Lithuanian security services have arrested a Russian national at the request of the US Justice Department, which suspects him of smuggling export-restricted military equipment. Dmitry Ustinov, 46, was detained over a month ago at Vilnius airport in Lithuania, after he arrived from the US to allegedly negotiate a sales deal for night vision equipment used by the US military, the Delfi news ...
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Russian rocket wreckage threatens Ecuador satellite
The Ecuadorian Civil Space Agency issued an alert Wednesday about a possible collision of its Pegaso satellite, launched last month, with the wreckage of a Russian rocket. "ALERT: Possible collision of NEE-01 PEGASO and remains of Russian rocket," appeared Wednesday on the Twitter account of the space agency known as EXA. EXA's director, astronaut Ronnie Nader, published a notice from the ...
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Hollywood star Steven Seagal visits Chechnya
Hollywood star Steven Seagal spent some time with Ramzan Kadyrov, the former militant fighter who now heads Chechnya, in the latest in a series of visits by Western celebrities to the volatile Russian republic. "The famous American actor, film producer, writer, director and martial arts expert (seventh dan aikido) Steven Seagal visited our republic today (Wednesday)," Kadyrov wrote on ...
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Farmer chains employee scalds him with boiling water
A farmer in south Russia allegedly chained up an employee and scalded him with boiling water, police said. The alleged victim in Krasnodar territory told investigators that he had worked for the farmer for a certain period of time, but when he decided to leave, unsatisfied with his working conditions, his former employer caught him. "The victim says the farmer hunted him down and put him on a ...
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Man found hanging at St. Petersburg theatre
A workman who disappeared from St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre in December was found hanging in the theatre's attic, investigators said. The body of the 22-year-old man was found hanging from a rope. Investigators believe he hanged himself. The legendary Mariinsky Theatre opened a new $700-million stage earlier this month in a gala ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin. --IANS/RIA ...
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Russian Premier Urges Industry to Supply Superior Weapons
(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called on the country's defence industry on Wednesday to provide the military with state-of-the-art weapons superior to their Western analogs. "It is essential to offer weapons which are superior to our world counterparts, and pay special attention to strengthening cooperation, primarily with our partners in the ...
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‘No chance of surviving’ Russia to evacuate drifting polar research station
Science An evacuation of the North Pole 40 (SP-40) research station drifting on an ice floe near Canada has been ordered by the Russian Natural Resources Ministry. There are fears the situation could become an emergency amid rapidly declining Arctic ice coverage. Not only does the break-up of ice pose a threat to the SP-40 station, it could also cause environmental pollution in the area, ...
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US Religious Freedom Report ‘Politicized’ - Russia
Religious Freedom Report recently published by the US Department of State and said that such documents incite religious conflicts. The annual report, released on Monday, mentions Russia among several countries around the world including Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran and China that it says imposed restrictions on freedom of religion last year. Konstantin Dolgov, the Foreign ...
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Violence in Russias North Caucasus kills four
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Police killed two suspected Islamic militants on Thursday after one of them threw a grenade at a group of officers and two others died in a separate shootout in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, Interfax ...
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Russia leads Europe in bank card fraud
Russia Russia was top among European countries in the rate of growth of bank card fraud in 2012. Damage evaluations increased by 35%, according to a study by FICO. Back in 2006, the volume of Russia's part in total European losses was no more than 2% which accounted for 12.6 million euros. Today the situation has changed and according to Euromonitor International statistics, Russia now ...
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Russian Spacecraft Manufacturer to Make 4 Launches in 2014
MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Energia Rocket and Space Corporation will make four launches next year from the Pacific Ocean-based Odyssey platform under the Sea Launch program, corporation president Vitaly Lopota said on Thursday. After 2014, Energia will be able to make five or more launches a year, he said, adding that "a great deal here will depend on our ...
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Russia-Backed Software Company Files for $80 Million US IPO
WASHINGTON, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – Luxoft Holding, Inc., a subsidiary of Moscow-based information technology services provider, IBS Group Holding Limited, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange. The regulatory filing with the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows the company is preparing for an $80 million IPO. The number of shares to be ...
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Russia Skeptical of Any Deeper Nuclear Cuts
Russia's top military officer on Thursday voiced skepticism about deeper nuclear arms cuts, saying they should require parallel reductions in non-nuclear precision weapons. The statement by chief of Russia's military General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, appeared to signal the Kremlin's reluctance to negotiate a new nuclear arms deal with Washington. President Barack Obama, who ...
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Pussy Riot member denied parole by Russian judge
A Russian court has refused to grant parole to a jailed member of the Pussy Riot punk band. According to supporters, the judge ruled against Maria Alyokhina because she had broken prison rules. The breaches included not making her bed and writing letters during meal times. She was jailed after performing a so-called punk prayer in a Moscow cathedral against Vladimir Putin, during his ...
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Commercial banks overstating current risks in Russia’s economy
VORONEZH, May 23 (Itar-Tass) - Commercial banks are apparently overstating the risks that exist in Russia’s economy today, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at a conference with businessmen in the city of ...
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Russian Intelligence Agency Warns of Rise in Terror Threat
MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, expects the Taliban influence in Afghanistan to grow after international coalition forces are pulled out, while rising radicalism in Syria could lead to the country's disintegration, the GRU chief said on Thursday. Lt. Gen. Igor Sergun said the situation in Afghanistan poses a "serious challenge to ...
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Russia US Perceptions Hit 4-Year Low – Poll
MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russian and US perceptions of each other’s role in the world have deteriorated over the past year, hitting their lowest point since 2009, according to a new survey commissioned by the BBC World Service. According to the 2013 Country Ratings poll conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA, 23 percent of those surveyed in America have a "mainly positive" view ...
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No foreign movies to be shown on Russia’s Public Television - says PRT chief Lysenko
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Ecuador satellite collides with Russian space junk
A small Ecuadoran satellite collided in orbit with the remains of a Russian rocket, but it is too soon to know how much damage it might have sustained, Quito's space agency said ...
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Crimean Tatars Rally to Expel Russian Consul
SIMFEROPOL, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – About 300 people, mostly Crimean Tatars, are rallying outside the Russian Consulate in the Ukrainian city of Simferopol, demanding that the Russian Consul there be stripped of diplomatic status and declared persona non grata. The protests broke out after Russian Consul Vladimir Andreyev criticized a movie about the 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars to ...
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Russia Will Avoid Recession This Year – Shuvalov
MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is demonstrating "insufficient" economic growth rates but the country will be able to avoid even a technical recession this year, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Thursday. "We consider GDP growth of 2 to 3 percent to be insufficient for us," Shuvalov said, but added that "there will be no recession this ...
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Russian court denies parole for punk group
In this Oct. 1, 2012 file photo, feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Maria Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia. Alekhina went on hunger strike May 22, 2013, in protest at not being allowed to attend her own parole hearing in Perm ...
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Tanzania Makes $206 Million Atomic Tax Claim
Tanzania is demanding almost $206 million in taxes from Russian state uranium company ARMZ, which has won a license to build the East African country's first uranium mine, the energy minister said on Thursday. Atomredmetzoloto, or ARMZ is the mining arm of Rosatom, which also builds nuclear reactors. Tanzania's tax claim relates to the Mkuju River project in southern Tanzania, which ...
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Luxoft Files for IPO in New York
Russian software developer Luxoft has filed for an initial public offering in New York under the ticker LXFT. According to a regulatory filing, the company is hoping to raise as much as $80 million. The amount, however, may change in the future. Luxoft's parent company, IBS Group, chose UBS, Credit Suisse Group, JPMorgan Chase & ...
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Audi Launch Shows Promise of Premium Segment
Daniel Kolodin / For MT Audi executives presenting a new entrant on the growing premium car market in Russia on Thursday. Audi on Thursday presented a new premium model in the country as sales of this class of cars are bucking the downward trend on the domestic auto market. Sales of the new A3 sedan will begin toward the end of September in a bid to win over clients that might be ...
St Petersburg Focus
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New business centre in St Petersburg remains contraversial
Okhta Centre has become one of the most contentious development projects in all of Russia. It is a project that offers St Petersburg two options that can’t be matched, either to embrace the modern world and allow a world-class business centre to be built, or maintain the city’s historic skyline, architecture and reputation as a major tourist destination with huge historical significance.
Before 2007, Okhta Centre was called Gazprom City and was promoted as such in Russian and St Petersburg news media, but from the start the project was a contentious issue, due primarily to the fact that the development calls for a massive tower to be built in its centre, a tower that will be the tallest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Read more
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