Russian agencies are scrambling to save 100 beluga whales – an endangered species – trapped among large chunks of polar ice floating in the frigid Bering Sea. Russia‘s nature protection watchdog believes the whales might perish. Authorities say the ice is 10cm-15cm thick and is preventing the whales from reaching the open sea where they [...]
Tag: Ministry
December 16, 2011
December 16, 2011
Russian convoy with aid for Kosovo resumes its way
A Russian Emergencies Ministry convoy carrying humanitarian aid, blocked earlier on the border between Serbia and Kosovo, has resumed its way, a spokesman for the ministry said on Friday. A total of 25 trucks carrying electric generators, blankets, clothes, food and cooking gear were blocked by the European Union Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) after rejecting [...]
December 16, 2011
Senior Russian Defense Ministry official demoted after badminton hype
The head of the Russian Defense Ministry sports directorate, Alexander Shchepelev, was demoted, apparently over an interview that was published saying the ministry planned to buy badminton equipment in a hype after President Dmitry Medvedev said he enjoyed the sport, an officer in the ministry’s central apparatus said. The officer told RIA Novosti the decision [...]
December 14, 2011
Aid delayed: Russian convoy blocked at Kosovo ‘border’
A Russian truck convoy carrying humanitarian aid for Kosovo’s Serbian population is now heading back to Russia after daylong negotiations between Russia and EULEX proved fruitless. The nearly five-month stand-off in the majority Serb-populated northern Kosovo has taken a new twist. A Russian humanitarian convoy was stopped by EULEX at one of the troubled border [...]
December 12, 2011
Syrian news fog getting denser
Despite daily amateur video accounts of the Syrian government’s harsh crackdown on the opposition, many are still able to say, only, that there is violence in Syria – but this is all we know. With most foreign journalists still not allowed into the country, independent reports on Syria remain scarce. However, this could change if [...]
December 12, 2011
One injured in Moscow fire
One person was injured in a fire in a northeast Moscow hotel, a spokesman for the Russian capital’s Emergencies Ministry department said on Monday. “Four people were rescued, one person was injured and hospitalized,” spokesman Yevgeny Bobylyov said. The fire, which occurred on Yaroslavskaya Street late on Sunday, has been extinguished, he said.
December 12, 2011
Russia’s economics ministry cuts ’11 inflation forecast to 6.2-6.5 pct
Russia’s Economic Development Ministry has downgraded its forecast on inflation in 2011 to 6.2-6.5 percent from 6.5-7 percent, Deputy Minister Andrei Klepach said on Monday. “We have an inflation range at 6.2-6.5 percent. It is most likely to be near the lower boundary,” Klepach told reporters. Russia’s State Statistics Office has reported that inflation stood [...]
December 11, 2011
Russia may skip 2012 NATO summit – Foreign Ministry
Russia may skip the 2012 Russia-NATO Council summit in Chicago if U.S-Russian talks on the European missile defense shield fail, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday. “If we agree on the missile defense issue, it would be much easier for us to make a positive decision about the summit. We do not know [...]
December 11, 2011
Russian regions say vote protests largely peaceful
Authorized and unauthorized protests in dozens of Russian cities, in which at least 60,000 people across the country are estimated to take part, were largely peaceful. “According to the Interior Ministry’s emergency response center, unauthorized protests were held in a number of Russian regions. During most of them, protestors left the area after warnings by [...]
December 8, 2011
December 8, 2011
U.S. says will continue support for peaceful protests, including in Russia
The United States will continue to support the rights of citizens for peaceful protests everywhere in the world, including Russia, a Department of State deputy spokesperson said. “And again, I think as we’ve said before, we would obviously support the rights of anyone to peaceful protest – emphasis on peaceful – anywhere in the world. [...]
December 8, 2011
More Russian election protests planned despite government crackdown
Thousands of security forces have been patrolling Moscow while helicopters roam the sky amid protests over scandal-hit elections that saw Vladimir Putin‘s party struggle to keep a majority. The demonstrations on Monday and Tuesday were an unusually sustained show of support for the Russian opposition. The thousands who rallied in the capital and St Petersburg [...]
December 7, 2011
Russia sends humanitarian aid to Kosovo Serbs
Russia is sending on Wednesday a second shipment of humanitarian aid to Kosovo Serbs, totaling 284 tons, the emergencies ministry said. A 40-truck convoy will deliver blankets, power generators, furniture and food supplies, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The convoy will leave the city of Noginsk near Moscow at 5.45 [...]
December 7, 2011
Russian police and troops clash with protesters in Moscow
Police clash with protesters in Moscow. Link to this video Police and interior ministry troops have clashed with protesters in Moscow during a second day of protests against the rule of Vladimir Putin. Around 600 protesters were reported to have gathered near Triumphal Square in central Moscow, but they included many pro-Kremlin youths in blue [...]