FRANCE 24 (France), ITAR-TASS (Russia), BBC NEWS (UK), RT (Russia), LE MONDE (France) Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – European Union members decided not to renew the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition early Tuesday, in one of the strongest actions taken to date by the West against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. “Tonight EU nations agreed to […]
Tag: russia
AFP, AL JAZEERA (Qatar), BBC (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch MOSCOW– Russia announced Friday that the Syrian government has agreed in principle to attend an international peace conference. The summit was proposed by Russia and the U.S. and could take place in Geneva, reports the AFP. “We note with satisfaction that we have received an agreement in […]
MOSCOW – The 9,265-kilometer trip across Russia, from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok, via the Transiberian Railroad, the world’s longest railroad, is the most popular product for the British tour operator Russia Experience. The trip is 16 days long, with a full week spent on the train. Tourists can decide how to spend the rest – […]
MOSCOW – Only a couple of years ago, government jobs were lucrative and only for the highest-ranking executives in Russia. But that is changing, and now the public sector is aggressively competing in the job market, offering competitive salaries and poaching talented employees from private companies. In Russia, unlike in Europe or the United States, […]
Moscow allowed for observer status for additional countries that don’t border the Arctic, but will grant them virtually no voice whatsoever on policy.
Patriarch Kirill is trying to expand Russian Church’s influence in West and East. But Beijing is tricky terrain for religious head.
New bill would require artists and others in the “creative” fields to prove they are competent, and active in their roles.
MOSCOW – Natasha writes “Frank, 11:20 a.m.” on a slip of white paper and hangs it on the pin board behind the counter next to “Nina and Katya, 10.55 a.m.,” “Sergei, 11 a.m.” and other names. Then she opens an antique cabinet filled with dozens of old alarm clocks and watches, all different, but with […]
PUTIN REFERENDUM REQUEST IGNOREDPro-Russian activists in the region of Donetsk announced that a referendum on the region’s status would go ahead as planned on Sunday, despite yesterday’s call from Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone it, RT reports. Earlier Ukraine officials had said that the military operation in Eastern Ukrainewould continue regardless of whether the […]
ROME – Italy is a place of culture, beauty, and a well-oiled style of life — crisis or not. Foreigners always return for more. But in order to make sure that the tourists keep coming back — and telling their friends — some guidelines are needed. According to data from the federation of hotels “Fedalberghi”, […]
Worldcrunch El Financiero reported this week that child labor abuses affect at least three million kids in Mexico: long workdays, minimal or no payment, informal jobs, and more blatent abuse are constant factors in their daily lives. The last official numbers on underage workers were released in 2011 and indicated that about 870,000 boys and […]
MOSCOW – In December, the Kazakh space agency announced that it was going to be reevaluating the terms under which Russia leases the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the world’s largest facility for space launches — and the only cosmodrome that Russia uses to launch manned space flights. The announcement sent a wave of panic through the Russian […]
RIA NOVOSTI, KOMMERSANT, THE MOSCOW TIMES (Russia) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – At least 38 people have died in a fire that broke out early Friday at a psychiatric hospital outside of Moscow. The death toll may rise further as many are still believed to be in the one-story facility in Ramenye, 120 kilometers north of Moscow. […]
As France becomes the 14th country to allow same-sex marriage, Le Monde looks at one of the bleaker corners for gay rights in 2013.
MOSCOW – There’s a novelty for the spring in two of the capital’s parks that has the air of democracy: Muscovites can now submit applications to hold public events on the official websites of Gorky Park and Sokolniki Park without having to get authorization from the authorities. This is part of a new program instituted […]
MOSCOW – As the U.S. woke up to discover that the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing had been identified and one had been killed, the news also came out that the two young men were Russian citizens, Chechen brothers who appear to have grown up in Dagestan. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a […]
There are signs of historical insecurity in Russia’s move away from Europe and the U.S. But at the end of the day, China looms as the real threat for Moscow’s future.
MINSK – At the age of nine he has already met a pope and a few presidents. He likes guns and carries around a gold-plated pistol he was given by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Wearing his mini-uniform, he attends military parades and takes part in high-level meetings. Meet Kolya, the youngest son of Belarusian […]
MOSCOW – On Friday, the United States made public its list of Russian officials who are barred to enter the U.S. under the Magnitsky Act. The law imposes visa and banking sanctions on Russians officials accused of human rights violations. It is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a corruption lawyer and whistleblower who was accused of […]
MOSCOW – Last week President Vladimir Putin put into place the mechanisms to audit all of Russia’s government employees, who have until July 1 to rid themselves of any overseas property, stocks or bank accounts. Based on an Executive Order he signed last week, Putin’s administration – not an independent auditor or other part of […]
MOSCOW – The past month has brought record-breaking snowfall and cold snaps throughout central Russia. But the bad weather has done much more than spoil people’s moods and clog roads — it has raised new alarms about global climate change. First the data: March was one of the coldest in the past 50 years in […]
KOMMERSANT (Russia) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – It’s a thorny question that has plagued governments for years: What exactly constitutes a bribe? It is particularly relevant in Russia, where corruption is so rampant that even well-meaning business people must grease the wheels in such a way that their counterparts in the West would scoff at. Russia’s Supreme […]
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Art Forgery Is A Family Affair In Russia
KOMMERSANT (Russia)

 Worldcrunch MOSCOW – It was a very particular family enterprise. Twin brothers, both professional artists, painted more than 800 paintings and then sold them, with the help of one of the brother’s daughter, claiming that they were the work of well-known 20th century Russian artists such as Kazimir Malevich. Painting by Kazimir Malevich. […]
MOSCOW – Since February, Russian authorities have been investigating all of the NGOs operating in the country in an attempt to root out any organizations with foreign ties or foreign funding sources. The entire operation risks further alienating Moscow from Europe – particularly from Germany, after Russian authorities cracked down on two German NGOs operating […]
Vladimir Putin is genuinely convinced that protests against his rule are fomented abroad
The two world powers and BRICS nations enjoy friendly relations, and both have an interest in expanding economic and political links. Still, there is another big player always looming.
NICOSIA – Cyprus is in a state of shock. The banks have been closed for days and somehow, the country has to raise 5.8 billion euros to qualify for the bailout package proposed by euro zone finance ministers. The initial rejection by the Cypriot parliament to the controversial bank account levy plan, has left this […]
MOSCOW – Catholics aren’t the only ones who have noted the significance of Pope Francis’ name choice. Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and head of the Russian Orthodox Church“s Department of External Relations, says the Argentine pontiff’s decision to honor Saint Francis of Assisi puts “service to the poor” at the top of the […]
CRIMEA OFFICIALLY PART OF RUSSIA Russian President Vladimir Putin officially asked the Russian Parliament for Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to become new members of the Russian Federation and introduced a bill that he urged them to sign following his address. CHINA BEGINS LAND SEARCHES FOR PLANE China has begun land searches for Malaysian […]
MOSCOW – Berel Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, was born in Milan and went to college in the United States. A U.S. citizen, Lazar is a controversial figure, but not because of his unusual pedigree. He arrived in Russia in 1990, and quickly attracted several Jewish oligarchs to his congregation. Their money lent his […]
MOSCOW – When word first came out in 2011 that Hugo Chavez was suffering from a serious illness, a Russian military source predicted the consequences of the end of the Chavez era: not only could Moscow lose contracts already signed, but it might also never get paid for weapons it has already delivered to Caracas. […]
KOMMERSANT (Russia) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – There are fresh grumblings in the Russian government suggesting that Vladimir Lenin has finally overstayed his welcome in Red Square. Lenin’s body has been displayed in a specially-designed mausoleum in the central Moscow square since his death in 1924 — the kind of treatment that apparently is destined for Venezuelan’s […]
BBC (UK), EFE, EL TIEMPO, EL NACIONAL, INFOBAE, INTORNO INTELIGENTE (Venezuela), LA VANGUARDIA (Spain) Worldcrunch CARACAS– Though not unexpected, the death of Hugo Chavez after 14 years in power and a nearly two-year battle with cancer, has left Venezeula without a leader. The government announced Wednesday that the funeral for the 58-year-old President was set […]
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Bolshoi Dancer Confesses To Acid Attack
CHANNEL ONE, KOMMERSANT (Russia), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – One of Moscow’s Bolshoi ballet leading soloists has confessed to being the mastermind behind an acid attack that nearly blinded the company’s director, Sergei Filin in January. According to a statement released by the Moscow police, Pavel Dmitrichenko, 28, was arrested together with two accomplices: […]
KOMMERSANT (Russia) Worldcrunch IRKUTSK – The Russian government has unexpectedly decided to close down the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, which had been the center of one of the biggest environmental battles in recent Russian history, Kommersant reports. The paper mill, which is located on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, had been struggling […]
Would-be parents in the US are more likely than any other nationality to adopt children with disabilities. The issue is heating up again after the death of a Russian boy in Texas.
It’s more about secret oil reserves than Cold War nostalgia.
Most foreigners in Finland hail from the former Soviet Union, many hoping to find more greater (and cleaner) economic opportunities than back home.