Our foreign correspondents reflect on the practical and cultural importance of fluency in a country’s native tongue
During the worst of the coronavirus outbreak in China, people described to us deeply personal and traumatic experiences – losing their parents, suffering the death of a child, being harassed and intimidated for trying to speak out. Having these conversations in Mandarin was important not just for capturing nuance and detail but for a sense of empathy.
Continue reading...UK and Russian scientists to explore whether vaccines given together improves efficacy
UK and Russian scientists are to test whether combining shots of the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines could result in better protection than two doses of the same one.
Trials will start by the end of the year, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funded the development of the Sputnik V vaccine by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, said on Friday. AstraZeneca confirmed that it was considering how it could assess combinations of different vaccines, and would soon begin exploring with the Gamaleya Institute whether their two vaccines could be successfully combined.
Continue reading...Radio equipment stolen from Ilyushin-80 aircraft designed to protect Putin and top officials
Thieves have targeted a Russian “doomsday” plane, the military aircraft that would be used by top officials, including Vladimir Putin, in case of a nuclear war.
The robbery of the Ilyushin-80, a mobile command post specially designed to keep officials alive and in command of the military during a nuclear conflict, took place at an airfield in southern Russia, state media reported.
Continue reading...Health workers and teachers have priority in first mass immunisation programme
Moscow’s coronavirus taskforce said on Saturday that it was distributing the Sputnik V vaccine to 70 clinics, marking Russia’s first mass Covid-19 immunisation.
The taskforce said the Russian-made vaccine would be made available first to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk of exposure to the disease.
Continue reading...Irina Antonova, head of Pushkin Museum for 52 years, brought Mona Lisa to Moscow despite cold war
A longtime museum director dubbed the grande dame of the Russian art world has died at 98, prompting an outpouring of grief and admiration for the woman who brought the Mona Lisa to Moscow and returned masterpieces hidden for decades from the Soviet public to her museum’s exhibition halls.
Irina Antonova, whose work at the Pushkin Museum began under Joseph Stalin and ended under Vladimir Putin, died on Monday evening of complications from the coronavirus. Her death was confirmed by the press service of the museum, where she served as director for 52 years from 1961 to 2013.
Continue reading...Radik Tagirov, 38, is said to have confessed to murders after being identified using DNA evidence and shoe prints
Russian investigators claim to have caught the man responsible for more than 25 murders attributed to a perpetrator known for years only as the “Volga maniac”.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said that the suspect, a 38-year-old man named Radik Tagirov, confessed to a string of 26 murders of elderly women that had terrorised central Russia between 2011 and 2012. He had been identified using DNA evidence, shoe prints, and other evidence from crime scenes, investigators said.
Continue reading...Exclusive: documents show links between academic and oligarch placed under US sanctions
Leaked documents show links between an academic serving on a United Nations expert panel on Sudan, and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian oligarch under US sanctions who has led Russia’s recent push into Africa.
According to the US, Prigozhin runs the Wagner group, which has sent mercenaries to countries including Sudan, Libya and the Central African Republic (CAR), and is also behind a notorious internet troll factory that supported Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Russia says Admiral Vinogradov threatened the USS John S McCain in the Pacific for ‘operating illegally’
A Russian warship has allegedly threatened to ram a US destroyer during a rare naval standoff between the two countries in the waters off Russia’s Pacific coast.
Russia said on Tuesday that the Admiral Vinogradov, a destroyer, threatened the USS John S McCain, a US navy guided-missile destroyer, for “operating illegally” in its territorial waters in the Sea of Japan.
Continue reading...NatWest denies accusation made by Bill Browder in thinktank report into practice of ruining reputations
A longstanding critic of Kremlin corruption has accused NatWest of closing his bank account in the UK because it had been influenced by an intense and pervasive “black PR” campaign mounted against him by Russian actors in their home country.
“Black PR” is a term referring to a series of connected practices used by Russian state and non-state actors seeking to discredit individuals as part of political or business disputes, and can involve trying to create or obtain kompromat (compromising material) or generating fake media reports.
Continue reading...Agencies point finger at state-sponsored hackers from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea
State-sponsored hackers from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in concerted attempts to steal coronavirus vaccine secrets in what security experts describe as “an intellectual property war”.
They accuse hostile-state hackers of trying to obtain trial results early and seize sensitive information about mass production of drugs, at a time when a range of vaccines are close to being approved for the public.
Continue reading...Exclusive: widow seeks damages for 2006 murder and payment of lost income
The widow of Alexander Litvinenko has submitted a claim against Russia to the European court of human rights (ECHR), seeking €3.5m (£3.1m) in compensation for his murder by radiation poisoning in London.
Marina Litvinenko is requesting punitive damages and payment for accumulated lost income. A public inquiry concluded that her husband’s murder in 2006 was probably ordered by Vladimir Putin.
Continue reading...Residents of Kalbajar district raze properties before deadline for disputed territory is returned to Azerbaijan
Villagers outside Nagorno-Karabakh set their homes on fire Saturday before fleeing to Armenia ahead of a weekend deadline that will see some disputed territory handed over to Azerbaijan as part of a peace agreement.
Residents of the Kalbajar district in Azerbaijan, which has been controlled by Armenian separatists for decades, began a mass exodus this week after it was announced that Azerbaijan would regain control on Sunday.
Continue reading...Record daily infections in Germany; Naples hospitals at risk of being overwhelmed; France reports slowdown in rate of new cases
Germany’s partial lockdown could be extended beyond the end of the month and hospitals in parts of Italy are near breaking point as Covid-19 cases continued to surge in both countries, despite positive signs elsewhere in Europe.
New daily coronavirus cases in Germany hit a record of 23,542 on Friday, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported, prompting government spokesman Stefan Seibert to say measures “were not expected to be relaxed” by next week.
Continue reading...Government says it will not give in to protesters’ call to resign after ceasefire agreement seen as capitulation
The office of Armenia’s prime minister has said that it will not allow the opposition to seize power by force, as heated protests have continued for a second day after the signing of a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh seen as a capitulation.
Several thousand protesters defied martial law on Wednesday to gather in downtown Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, and call for the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation. On Monday evening, he signed a Russian-brokered ceasefire that ceded territory to Azerbaijan that had been won in a bloody war in the 1990s. “Nikol is a traitor,” the protesters chanted.
Continue reading...Western powers sidelined as Russia and Turkey use sway on local players to boost influence
The Russian-brokered ceasefire deal in Nagorno-Karabakh will empower both Moscow and Ankara as the new kingmakers in the South Caucasus, analysts said, redrawing security guarantees between Armenia and Azerbaijan with the conspicuous absence of the west.
As in the conflicts in Libya and Syria, Russia and Turkey have once again found themselves backing opposing sides, and used their sway on local players to negotiate for peace deals that guarantee their own influence.
Continue reading...Crowds claim agreement with Azerbaijan to withdraw is a betrayal after fierce fighting over disputed enclave
Russian peacekeepers have deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after Moscow brokered a peace deal that sparked celebrations in Azerbaijan and protests in Armenia, where demonstrators briefly occupied government buildings.
The truce, announced late on Monday night, calls for the deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to the disputed enclave, where Azerbaijan will receive significant territorial concessions from an Armenian-backed local government.
Continue reading...Incident threatens to draw Moscow further into conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
A Russian military helicopter has been shot down over Armenia, threatening to draw Moscow further into an escalating conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan that has left thousands dead.
The Russian Mi-24 military helicopter was shot down on Monday by a surface-to-air missile while escorting a convoy from a Russian military base in the country. Two Russian servicemen were killed in the attack, Moscow said, and another was injured. The Russian defence ministry said it was investigating who was behind the attack.
Continue reading...Portugal imposes state of emergency; global cases pass 50m; infections in Germany ‘levelling off’
Hungary and Portugal have become the latest countries in Europe to impose tough new restrictions to stem the second wave of the coronavirus, as the first signs of light at the end of the tunnel emerged in France, Germany and Belgium.
As the US pharmaceuticals company Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, said their experimental Covid-19 vaccine appeared safe and more than 90% effective, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, announced a partial lockdown.
Continue reading...Director wrote to Boris Pasternak in late 1950s, previously unpublished material reveals
It is one of the greatest British films of all time, directed in 1965 by David Lean with an A-list cast that included Julie Christie, Omar Sharif and Alec Guinness. But the epic adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak’s classic love story set against the Russian revolution, might never have happened if a planned US production had got there first.
James Fenwick, a British film historian, has discovered that two of cinema’s most revered film-makers – Hollywood star Kirk Douglas and director Stanley Kubrick – had tried in vain to acquire the movie rights earlier, in the late 1950s.
Continue reading...US close to 10m cases, with India second on 8.5m cases, followed by Brazil and Russia
The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 50 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, which showed that the US, India and Brazil have the highest figures.
A total of 50,052,204 infections had been reported around the world by Sunday evening.
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