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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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Irans n-power plant to be launched shortly Russian agency
Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr could start working "shortly", Xinhua reported Wednesday, quoting Russia's state atomic energy agency Rosatom. "I have never announced the exact timing because our absolute priority is safety and the final decision will be made by the customer," Rosatom chief Sergei Kirienko told reporters. He added that Rosatom completely understands Iran's concerns ...
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Russia wary of deeper nuclear arms cuts
Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian military's General Staff, speaks during a security conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 23, 2013. The top Russian military officer has warned the West that Moscow reserves the right to take steps in response to the U.S.-led NATO missile defense plans for Europe if it sees it as a threat. (AP Photo/Mikhail ...
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Paul McCartney Supports Pussy Riot in Letters to Russian Authorities
Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, asking Russian officials to consider parole for the incarcerated women. "My personal belief is that further incarceration for Maria will be harmful for her and the situation as a whole, which, of course, is being watched by people all over the world," McCartney wrote, according to a portion of the letter posted on ...
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Russian court denies Pussy Riots Alekhina parole
MOSCOW -- A Russian court has denied parole to a member of the Pussy Riot punk group.In its ruling Thursday, the court accepted a claim by prosecutors that Maria Alekhina had systematically disobeyed prison authorities and failed to repent for her crime, Russian media reported.Alekhina went on a hunger strike Wednesday after being barred from the court hearing in Perm province, and she ordered ...
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No grounds to revise Russian int’l ratings - 1st deputy prime minister
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Exclusive Bubka McQuaid Schormann and Wu to stand for three ASOIF Council spots in St Petersburg
Frank Kugler won four Olympics medals in freestyle wrestling, weightlifting and tug of war at St Louis in 1904, making him the only competitor to win a medal in three different sports at the same Games. He claimed a silver medal in the heavyweight category in wrestling, bronze in the two hand lift and all-around dumbbell events in weightlifting and another bronze in the tug of war competition as ...
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Russia to urgently evacuate Arctic post as ice melts
Russia has ordered the urgent evacuation of the 16-strong crew of a drifting Arctic research station after ice floe that hosts the floating laboratory began to disintegrate, officials said ...
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Russia hears parole bid from Pussy Riot hunger striker
A court in Russia's Urals on Thursday heard a request for parole by jailed Pussy Riot punk rocker Maria Alyokhina after she announced a hunger strike and received new support from music luminaries including Paul ...
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Russia to Launch South Korean Satellite in August
TOKYO, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian rocket will launch South Korea’s latest multipurpose Arirang-5 satellite on August 22, Seoul's science ministry said on Thursday. The rocket will blast off from the Yasny launch center in the Orenburg Region in the south Urals. A backup launch date has been set for August 23, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said, ...
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Turkcell Spat Could See Government Intervention
ISTANBUL- A Turkish official said on Thursday that the government might intervene to resolve an impasse at Turkcell between its Russian and Turkish shareholders that has paralyzed the mobile operator and left it unable to agree on the makeup of its management board or pay dividends. In an interview with Turkish broadcaster Bloomberg HT, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said that the government ...
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VTB Completes New Offering That Reduces State Stake By 15
VTB says it has completed its 102.5 billion ruble ($3.3 billion) offering of new shares at 4.1 kopecks each. The stake held by the government, which did not participate in the offering, was diluted to 60.9 percent from 75.5 percent. The sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Norway and Azerbaijan and China Construction Bank have bought about 55 percent of the new shares on offer from VTB, according ...
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Gas Tax Tweaks to Ease Burden on Extractors
Russia plans to switch to a variable tax rate on natural gas producers to lessen the burden on companies willing to develop deep and remote fields and to claw back money from exporters who enjoy benefits. The Finance Ministry, which is trying to find ways of replenishing state coffers as the country's economy slides, said on its website that the rates would be based on oil prices, the ...
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Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia exceeds USD 904m
In January-April this year, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to USD 904.315m. The State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan reports that during the reporting period, Russia received products worth USD 426.696m, which corresponds to 5.07% of the total export of Azerbaijan. During the same period, imports were in the amount of USD 477.618m, representing 15.17% of total ...
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Obama Putin exchange letters amid troubled US-Russia relations
USA US President Barack Obama has received a personal response to his letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin: Moscow and Washington must work to overcome antagonism and deal with global political issues as partners, not foes. The response was delivered by Russian National Security Council head Nikolay Patrushev, who has been on a two-day visit to Washington, DC. Patrushev delivered the ...
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Lithuania Detains Alleged Russian Arms Dealer on US Request
VILNIUS, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – The 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, the Delfi news portal reported on Thursday. Dmitry Ustinov, 46, was detained over a month ago at Vilnius airport in Lithuania, after he arrived from the United States to ...
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UC RusAl Could Lose Director Cheung
RusAl lose its independent director, Barry Cheung. Sual Partners, who own 15,8 percent of aluminum giant UC RusAl, believe that Cheung should be asked to disclose the level of his involvement in a number of financial transactions. Cheung took an abrupt leave of absence from his role as chairman of the Mercantile Exchange, which lost its license on May 18 and stopped trading over the weekend ...
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Russias commitment to new budget rule already in doubt
By Maya DyakinaMOSCOW (Reuters) - Just last year Russia's government reimposed a rule meant to restrain spending and borrowing and channel substantial amounts of the country's energy revenues into its wealth fund.But the economy is weakening and budget discipline is already slipping.Finance Minister Anton Siluanov's inability to hold the line, in contrast to his predecessor Alexei ...
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Russia Serbia may sign military-technical cooperation agreements this year - Shoigu
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$1 Billion Spent on Gazprom Anniversary Party
In February, the Kremlin hosted a gala concert to celebrate the company's anniversary at a cost of $1.78 million, but company financial statements show that 600 times that amount was spent on one-off payouts to personnel. Staff at Gazprom received a month's bonus in honor of the anniversary, costing the company a further $61 million, the report said. Additional costs could mean that ...
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UPDATE 1-Russias VTB in talks to sell Rosbank stake
Thu May 23, 2013 7:23am EDT * Stake could be worth around $300 million-analysts * Likely to be sold at below book value price- analysts * VTB bought in 2010, has previously tried to sell (Recasts with VTB confirmation, adds analysts' comments, background) MOSCOW, May 23 (Reuters) - Russia's second-largest bank VTB said it was in talks to sell its stake of around 10 percent in Societe ...
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Russia tweaks taxes to stimulate hard-to-recover gas output
Thu May 23, 2013 7:21am EDT * Russia faces state budget deficit in coming years * Novatek to benefit more from the new regime - analysts MOSCOW May 23 (Reuters) - Russia plans to switch to a variable tax rate on natural gas producers to lessen the burden on companies willing to develop deep and remote fields, and to claw back money from exporters which enjoy benefits. The Finance Ministry, which ...
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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