Category Archives: Russia

Belarus charges opposition leader with ‘undermining national security’

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Maria Kolesnikova could face up to five years in prison as president cracks down on opposition

Belarusian authorities have charged the opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova with “actions aimed at undermining national security”, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The charge, announced by the country’s investigative committee, is the latest move in a crackdown on opposition leaders by the embattled president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has lost legitimacy among much of the population but retains the support of law enforcement agencies.

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‘Hi, this is Navalny’: poisoned Russian opposition leader posts hospital photo

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Alexei Navalny says he can breathe independently in Instagram post sent from hospital in Berlin

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has said he is nowable to breathe without any external support, in his first public statement since he was poisoned last month.

Navalny, who German authorities said was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok, posted a photograph on Instagram of himself sitting up in a hospital bed surrounded by his wife and their two children.

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Remains of ice age cave bear found preserved in Russian Arctic

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Scientists estimate carcass is up to 39,500 years old and hail find as ‘groundbreaking’

Reindeer herders in a Russian Arctic archipelago have found an immaculately preserved carcass of an ice age cave bear, researchers announced on Monday.

The bear, revealed by the melting permafrost, was discovered on the Lyakhovsky Islands with its teeth and even its nose intact. Previously, scientists only had been able to discover the bones of cave bears, that became extinct 15,000 years ago.

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Russia to loan Belarus $1.5bn as Lukashenko tells Putin: ‘a friend is in trouble’

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Belarusian president flies to Sochi for talks with Russian leader after month of protests

The embattled Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko is holding talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a meeting seen as crucial to determining whether or not Lukashenko can survive a protest movement against him.

The pair met at Putin’s residence in Sochi, the first foreign trip Lukashenko has made since protests began a month ago.

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Alexei Navalny continues to improve, say German doctors

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Russian opposition leader taken off ventilator and can leave his bed, hospital reports

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been taken off a ventilator and is able to leave his bed for short periods of time, German doctors who have been treating him for novichok poisoning have said.

In a significant update, the Charité hospital in Berlin said Navalny’s condition “continues to improve” and hinted that he was able to talk. It said latest news of his health was made public after consultation with Navalny and his wife.

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Belarus protests continue as 100,000 join rally against Lukashenko – video

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An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets of Belarus's capital, Minsk, as protests against the president, Alexander Lukashenko, continued for the fifth weekend. The large demonstrations come as Lukashenko is set to meet with Vladimir Putin for the first time since the presidential election on 9 August. Lukashenko’s claim that he won a landslide victory triggered the growing uprising against his 26-year reign

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Russia local elections: Navalny allies win council seats as Putin’s party claims victory

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Associates of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny celebrate victory in Siberia where he was poisoned

Allies of poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have said they have secured city council seats in Siberia as independent monitors condemned a reported “stream” of voting irregularities in regional polls.

In several dozen of the country’s 85 regions, Russians voted for regional governors and lawmakers in regional and city legislatures as well as in several by-elections for national MPs.

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Trump ‘compromised by the Russians’, says former member of Mueller’s team

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Peter Strzok was removed from Russia investigation and fired by the FBI over text messages critical of Trump

Donald Trump is “compromised by the Russians”, a former member of Robert Mueller’s investigation insisted on Sunday, contending that the president is “incapable of placing the national interest ahead of his own”.

Related: Trump attacks Robert Mueller's 'hit squad' in row over 'wiped' phones

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Belarus: 100,000 join rally against Lukashenko on eve of Putin showdown

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Protesters hold placards criticising Russian support as they march on president’s Minsk residence

Attempts by Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, to crush popular protests against him failed on Sunday when more than 100,000 people marched on his residence in the capital, Minsk, with other demonstrations across the country.

There was no sign that the anti-Lukashenko movement is declining or fading away. Instead protesters took to the streets in huge numbers for the fifth weekend in a row, defying riot police who blocked off the city centre with military vehicles.

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Pompeo: ‘substantial chance’ senior Russian officials behind Alexei Navalny poisoning

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US secretary of state strikes more strident tone after Donald Trump said at the weekend he had not seen any proof of poisoning

The US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said there was a “substantial chance” the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was ordered by senior Russian officials.

“I think people all around the world see this kind of activity for what it is,” Pompeo said in a radio interview with conservative host Ben Shapiro. “And when they see the effort to poison a dissident, and they recognise that there is a substantial chance that this actually came from senior Russian officials, I think this is not good for the Russian people.”

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Trump loyalists interfered to downplay Russia election threat – whistleblower

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Brian Murphy claims he was demoted for refusing to accept fabrication of intelligence to match Donald Trump’s rhetoric

Trump loyalists running the Department of Homeland Security manipulated intelligence reports to play down the threat of Russian election interference and white supremacists and exaggerate the threat of antifa and anarchist groups, according to the department’s former top intelligence official.

The official, Brian Murphy, said he was demoted in August from his position running the department’s office of intelligence and analysis because of his refusal to go along with the fabrication of intelligence to match Donald Trump’s rhetoric, and for making formal complaints about the political pressure. He filed a whistleblower reprisal complaint on Tuesday.

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Belarus: Lukashenko vows to stay in first interview since protests

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President tells Russian journalists that if he resigned the opposition would destroy Belarus

The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has used his first interview since mass protests erupted against his rule to say he does not plan to step down soon.

Lukashenko spoke to a group of pro-Kremlin Russian journalists including the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, and made it clear he plans to fight to cling on to power.

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Alexei Navalny out of induced coma and is responsive, says Berlin hospital

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Condition of Russian opposition leader who was poisoned with novichok is improving

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been taken out of an induced coma and is responding to speech, the Germany hospital treating him has said.

The Charité hospital in Berlin, which has been treating Navalny since 22 August, said his condition was improving and that he was also being weaned off mechanical ventilation.

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Donald Trump claims US has not seen any proof of Alexei Navalny poisoning – video

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The US president declined to accept the German government's assessment that the Russian opposition leader was attacked with a nerve agent. This week the chancellor, Angela Merkel, revealed that tests at a military laboratory had identified unequivocally that the Kremlin critic had been poisoned with novichok

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Donald Trump says US ‘hasn’t had any proof’ of Navalny poisoning

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President says US must look seriously at case but suggests media should be looking into China

President Donald Trump said the United States must look “very seriously” into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but that his administration had not yet seen any proof.

“I think we have to look at it very seriously, if it’s the case,” he said, before talking at length about his diplomatic efforts in North Korea and nuclear non-proliferation in Russia. “I don’t know exactly what happened. It’s tragic. It’s terrible, it shouldn’t happen. We haven’t had any proof yet, but I will take a look.

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Russia must answer ‘serious questions’ on Alexei Navalny novichok poisoning, says Nato – video

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Nato has condemned the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with the nerve agent novichok as a 'disrespect for human life' and 'breach of international norms'. 

Russia had serious questions to answer about the case, the secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said after reaching a unanimous agreement with Nato ambassadors

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‘This gentleman’: Alexei Navalny, the name Putin dares not speak

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Russian president has used various tactics over the years to avoid voicing his critic’s name

Over the past two decades, Vladimir Putin has referred to Alexei Navalny as “a poor excuse for a politician” and “a certain political force”. He has called him “the character you mentioned” and “this gentleman”.

He has never in public called him Navalny.

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Alexei Navalny faces long and uncertain road to recovery

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It is hard to gauge the chances of the Russian opposition leader regaining his former health

Alexei Navalny is likely to survive his poisoning with novichok but his long-term prospects and chances of making a full recovery are unknown, the hospital treating him in Berlin said on Thursday.

The Russian opposition leader “continues to improve”, doctors at the Charité hospital said. But they stressed: “Recovery is likely to be lengthy. It is still too early to gauge the long-term effects which may arise in relation to this severe poisoning.”

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Merkel pressured to end Nord Stream 2 support after Navalny poisoning

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German opposition calls on chancellor to use gas pipeline project to pressurise Kremlin

Angela Merkel is under growing domestic pressure to end her support for the joint German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project over the confirmed poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The German Green party called on the chancellor to use the nearly completed infrastructure project to pressure the Kremlin into answering allegations over what Merkel called the “silencing” of Navalny with a novichok nerve reagent.

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Alexei Navalny novichok finding prompts calls for answers from Moscow

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Angela Merkel says poisoning was attempted murder and White House calls it ‘reprehensible’

World leaders are demanding answers from the Kremlin after toxicological examinations indicated that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the novichok family.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, revealed that tests carried out at a military laboratory had “identified unequivocally” the Soviet era nerve agent. She referred to the case as an “attempted murder” and said the findings raised “very difficult questions that only the Russian government can answer, and has to answer.”

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