The Dispatch

Photo Story: Christmas atmosphere in full swing in Moscow

Scenes from around the Red Square in the Russian capital as people enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. Photos: EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV Click on photos to enlarge

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Man behind Moscow shooting identified

Russian media have identified the man who opened fire at the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters in Moscow as a 39-year-old loner and gun enthusiast. They named him as Yevgeny…

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual news conference in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin answered questions during his annual life-broadcasted news conference with Russian and foreign media at the World Trade Centre in Moscow, Russia, 19 December 2019. A total…

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Photo Story: The weather in Moscow

Russian men fish on a pond covered in thin ice, as the temperature rose to plus 2 degrees Celsius in Moscow, Russia. Photo: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

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Photo Story: Moscow lights up for the holidays

People walk along a seasonally decorated street with huge light sculptures of polar bears installed at the Gorky Park in Moscow, Russia. Russians are preparing to celebrate New Year's Eve…

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Turkey agrees to cooperation with Russia to end war in Libya

Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu has disclosed that Ankara had agreed to a Russian proposal on joint work to end the war in Libya. The Turkish minister explained during his participation…

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U.S. Senate passes resolution recognizing Armenian genocide, angering Turkey

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution that recognizes as a genocide the mass killings of Armenians a century ago, a historic move that infuriated Turkey and dealt a blow…

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Photo Story: Funeral held in Russia of former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov

Servicemen carry the coffin of former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov after a funeral ceremony in Christ the Saviour cathedral in Moscow, Russia, 12 December 2019. Yuri Luzhkov was…

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Statement by the German Foreign Office on the expulsion from Russia of two German diplomats

The Spokesperson of the Federal Foreign Office issued the following statement on Russia’s announcement today that it will expel two German Embassy staff members: "The German Government has noted…

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Reports of fire on Russia’s only aircraft carrier

Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, caught fire on Thursday during maintenance work in Russia’s Arctic port in Murmansk, with three people wounded. One source told the TASS news…

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Russia expels two German diplomats

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned the German ambassador to announce the expulsion of two diplomats. It comes a week after two Russian officials were told to leave Germany in connection…

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Talks in Paris between Ukraine and Russia aim to end eastern conflict

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine will hold their first face-to-face talks in an attempt to tackle five and a half years of conflict in east Ukraine. More than 13,000…

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Rally in Minsk against Belarus-Russia deeper integration

Belarusian people hold a placard during a rally against the Belarus-Russia integration program in Minsk, Belarus, 07 December 2019. Belarusian and Russian authorities are expected to sign a new agreement…

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Putin speaks by phone with von der Leyen

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday and congratulated her on her new position, according to the Kremlin. The two leaders also…

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Police in Georgia prevent opposition activists from picketing parliament

Georgian police erected steel fences around the parliament and government buildings on Thursday to prevent dozens of opposition activists from picketing the area in a dispute over electoral reform. The…

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Photo Story: Religious service marking the Day of Saint George in Georgia

Georgian people light candles during an Orthodox religious service marking the Day of Saint George at a church in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday 23 November 2019. Every year people flock…

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Russian Watchdog Detects ‘Radiation Incident’ in South China Sea

The Russian government’s consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Friday it has detected a “radiation incident” in the South China Sea. “Based on data received from the Global Environmental Monitoring System,…

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Photo Story: Monument of Mikhail Kalashnikov unveiled in St. Petersburg

A view of the monument of the famous inventor of weapons Mikhail Kalashnikov after an opening ceremony of the monument, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the inventor in Artillery…

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Tanker driven ashore during a heavy storm near Odessa, Ukraine

The tanker ‘Delfi’, was driven ashore during a heavy storm near the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine, on the evening of Friday 22 November 2019. The tanker from Moldova…

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Russia bans sale of smartphones without Russian-made software

Russia has passed a law banning the sale of certain devices that are not pre-installed with Russian software. The law will come into force in July 2020 and cover smartphones,…

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Photo Story: Christmas decoration set up in front of the Kremlin

Workers install decoration on a Christmas tree in front of the Kremlin in Moscow. Muscovites are preparing to celebrate New Year's Eve on 31 December and Christmas which is observed…

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Ukrainians mark the anniversary of the Euromaidan Revolution in Kiev

Ukrainians lay flowers at the memorial for Maidan activists or 'Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred', who were killed on the Maidan during anti-government protests in 2014, not far from Independence…

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Ukrainian ships captured by Russia back in the Ukraine

The Ukrainian naval boats 'Berdyansk' and 'Nikopol' stand in the port of Ochakiv near Odesa, Ukraine, on the night of the 20 November 2019. On the morning on 25 November…

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Bloggers, journalists may now be labelled ‘foreign agents’ in Russia

Rights activists warned of greater curbs on media and online freedom in Russia as MPs backed a controversial bill that could lead bloggers and independent journalists to be labelled "foreign…

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Photo Story: Christmas decoration set up in Minsk

Belarussian communal workers over the weekend set up a framework for a Christmas Tree in downtown Minsk, Belarus. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

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Belarus holds parliamentary polls

Belarusians head to the polls Sunday to elect members to the ex-Soviet republic's rubber-stamp parliament. The elections are being closely watched by the West to see how much President Alexander…

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Deadly shooting at a college in Russia

A handout photo made available by the Investigative Committee of Russia shows an exterior view of a Amur College of Construction and Public Utilities building in Blagoveshchensk, Amur Region, Russia,…

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UN court says it has jurisdiction in Ukraine-Russia case

In a legal victory for Kiev, the United Nations’ highest court ruled Friday that it has jurisdiction in a case brought by Ukraine alleging that Russia breached treaties on terrorist…

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Troop withdrawals in eastern Ukraine to start today

Troop withdrawals in a village in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine will begin on Saturday at 1000 GMT, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said in…

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Russian helicopters patrolling Syrian-Turkish border

Russia has deployed military helicopters to patrol an area near Syria’s border with Turkey in order to help protect Russia military police working on the ground, the Interfax news agency…

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Photo Story: Preparations for historical Battle of Moscow parade

Russian soldiers in historical uniforms pose during the re-enactment of a scene as they take part in a rehearsal of the 78th historical parade marking the anniversary of the Battle…

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High-ranking police chief gunned down in Moscow

A gunman killed two men in Moscow on Saturday, with Russian authorities confirming one of them was high-ranking police officer from the southern state of Ingushetia, Ibragim Eldzharkiev. The second…

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Bulgaria and Ukraine issue formal protest over Macron’s migration remarks

Bulgaria and Ukraine issued diplomatic protests over remarks by Emmanuel Macron about migrants coming to France from those countries. In an interview published Thursday in conservative weekly magazine Valeurs Actuelles the…

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Russia says it’s already too late to replace new START treaty

Russia said on Friday there was no longer enough time left for Moscow and Washington to negotiate a full-fledged replacement for the New START nuclear arms control treaty before it…

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Turkey, Russia start joint patrols in northern Syria

Turkish and Russian troops are jointly patrolling a Syrian region under a deal that halted a Turkish incursion against Kurdish fighters. The patrols aim to check that all fighters have…

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New Russian controls on the internet

A law introducing new controls on the internet has come into force in Russia amid concerns it may be used by the government to silence its critics. The so-called "sovereign…

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Ukraine and separatist troops begin withdrawal from Luhansk town

The Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists on Tuesday said they had begun withdrawing troops from a key area of war-scarred Luhansk in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region. Large parts of the eastern…

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Russian agent Maria Butina arrives in Moscow

Maria Butina (R) smiles after her arrival at Sheremetievo Airport in Moscow, Russia, 26 October 2019. According to media reports, Russian Maria Butina was released from US prison on 25…

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Russia sends state-of-the-art air defence system to Serbia

Russia's defence ministry announced that it has sent its advanced air-defence S-400 missile system to Serbia for a joint exercise. The S-400 and a Pantsir anti-aircraft gun and missile system will be deployed at Batajnica base outside…

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Russian soldier shoots dead eight fellow soldiers

Russian serviceman shot dead eight fellow soldiers and injures two more on base in Siberia, officials say. The Russia news agency Interfax said that the soldier, a conscript, was detained.…

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Turkey, Russia broker deal on further withdrawal of Kurdish YPG

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a joint news conference with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the two leaders had agreed to a further withdrawal of Syrian…

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Photo Story: The mining dam tragedy in Russia

Handout photos made available by Russian Emergencies Ministry shows Russian rescue workers on site after a mining dam of the gold mining technological reservoir burst on the Seiba River near…

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Three US diplomats held near Russian test site where mystery blast killed five

Three American diplomats were briefly detained in Russia near the military test site where a mysterious explosion released radiation in August, several Russia state news agencies have reported. The US…

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Possible Putin-Trump meeting in Chile in November

The Kremlin said on Friday that it would look into the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit…

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Alexei Leonov, the first man to conduct a spacewalk, has died

Alexei Leonov, a Soviet-era cosmonaut, who was the first man to conduct a spacewalk in 1965, died in Moscow on Friday aged 85 after a long illness. The Russian…

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Ukraine president says ‘no blackmail’ in phone call with Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters Thursday his controversial July call with President Trump involved no bribe, blackmail or quid pro quo, as impeachment-minded Democrats claim. Zelensky spoke at a daylong…

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Photo Story: Autumn in St Petersburg

People walk on a sunny day in the seasonal colored Lower Park in Peterhof Palace, near St. Petersburg, Russia. The Peterhof Palace is a group of buildings and gardens commissioned…

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Five dead in military aircraft crash-landing in the Ukraine

A handout photo made available by Ukraine's State Emergency Service shows the damaged Antonov An-12 military aircraft after its emergency landing in Lviv region, western Ukraine. On Friday morning, the…

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Photo Story: Federica Mogherini visits Moldova

Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission (L) shake hands with President of Moldova Igor Dodon (R)…

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Soyuz MS-12 space capsule lands in Kazakhstan

The Russian Soyuz MS-12 space capsule lands about 150 km (90 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. A Soyuz space capsule with U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, Russian…

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Ukraine signs key agreement with pro-Russia separatists

Ukraine has signed an agreement with pro-Russia separatists allowing for local elections to be held in separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. It could pave the way for further peace talks.…

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Unable to accept its decline, West subverts international law to suit its needs, Russia’s Lavrov tells UN

While crediting the United Nations for preventing ‘World War III’, the Foreign Minister of Russia lamented to the General Assembly on Friday that the number of conflicts on the planet…

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Russia bans smoking on apartment balconies

The Russian emergencies ministry announced that smoking on the balconies of apartment blocks would be banned under new fire regulations. Under the new rules, "open fire" is prohibited on apartment…

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Installation of Soyuz rocket booster in Kazakhstan

The Soyuz booster rocket FG with Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft attached, is rolled out to the launch pad by train at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, 23 September 2019. The launch…

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Several arrested in child abuse network crackdown in Georgia

Law enforcement and judicial authorities from Australia, Georgia and the USA, supported by Europol, dismantled an organised criminal network involved in the production and distribution of child sexual exploitation material.…

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Photo Story: Amazing interactive model of Moscow

People observe the interactive model of the metropole at the pavilion 'Model of Moscow' in the 'Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy', commonly known as VDNH (or VDNkH) park,…

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Photo Story: Ukrainian animal rights activists rally in Kiev

Dogs hold placards reading 'You need to respect their life rights!' and 'I'm not a fur coat!' during a rally advocating for animal rights, in downtown Kiev, Ukraine on Sunday.…

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