Contents tagged with Moscow
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European Union calls on Russia to release illegally held Ukrainians
The European Union called on Russia to release the Ukrainian sailors captured in the Kerch Strait and other Ukrainian citizens, that Brussels says, are also held illegally, DW reports.
“The European Union reiterates that all illegally detained Ukrainian citizens in the Crimean peninsula and in Russia and the crew of the vessels captured by Russia on 25 November must be immediately released. International human rights observers must be granted full, free and unhindered access to the Crimean …
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World Anti-Doping Agency will make another attempt to obtain doping tests from Russian laboratory
On January 9, experts of the World Anti-Doping Agency or WADA will arrive in Russia again on January 9 to obtain data from the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, the WADA website reported on January 7.
A three-person expert team will attempt to access and extract data from the Laboratory Information Management System and the underlying analytical data generated by the former Moscow Laboratory.
The Statement of the WADA stresses that "Access to and subsequent authentication and analysis of the …
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France extradites former Russian regional finance minister
France has extradited Alexey Kuznetsov, former finance minister of Russia’s Moscow Oblast, to Russia. In Russia, the former official faces charges of fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering. Moscow has been pushing for his extradition since 2013, the BBC Russian service reports.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Thursday that the extradition had taken place.
“Today, accompanied by personnel from the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Russian bureau of Interpol, …
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Russian media: detained US citizen was caught in possession of classified information in Moscow
US citizen Paul Whelan was arrested by police shortly after receiving a storage device with information about a Russian state secret – a classified list of persons that American intelligence has been interested in for some time.
A source in Russia’s intelligence agency told Rosbalt that the operation to arrest Whelan was carried out in his room at the Metropol hotel. The American reportedly received an electronic medium with a list of all the staff of one of the classified Russian departments. …
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Protesters in Moscow oppose Kuril islands handover to Japan
In Moscow there has been a series of solitary protests against the possibility of Russia handing over the Kuril islands to Japan, Radio Liberty reports.
Activists reportedly took to the streets with banners outside the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Duma, and the Border Guard Academy.
According to Sergey Ponomarev, a member of the “Russian Kurils” movement, the protesters are “concerned about Russia’s territorial integrity”. They do not approve of Russia beginning the peace …
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Russia warns US not to interfere in Saudi royal succession
Russia has warned the US not to attempt to interfere in the order of succession in Saudi Arabia, and has expressed its support for crown prince Mohammad bin Salman despite the accusations that he had the government critic Khashoggi killed.
President Putin’s special representative for the Near East said that Prince Mohammed has the full right to the throne after 82 year-old King Salman dies.
“Of course we are opposed to interference. The Saudi nation and leaders must deal with such issues …
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15 Ukrainian sailors imprisoned in Russia declare themselves prisoners of war
According to lawyer Sergey Badamshin, 15 of the 24 captured Ukrainian sailors being held in a Moscow jail have identified themselves as prisoners of war and demanded that they be treated as such in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention.
Badamshin added that the Crimean court hearing their case has been deliberating for two days now on the Ukrainian military’s appeal against illegal arrests. “The ‘Court’ rejects all complaints. But we must understand that the ‘court’ shows no …
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Kremlin: Moscow hopes that Israel and Turkey will recognize Crimea’s annexation by Russia
Moscow hopes that Israel and Turkey will eventually recognize the "legitimacy of the reunification of the Crimea and the Russian Federation", said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“There are several issues where our positions diverge. In the context of Crimea, neither Ankara nor Tel Aviv are yet ready to agree to our reasons that the process of Crimea’s reunification with Russia was fully compliant with the international law, and that no other term can be applied here,” Peskov …
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Captain of ship captured by Russia tells investigators he is a prisoner of war
Bohdan Nebylytsya, captain of the Ukrainian armored boat the Nikopol, which was captured several weeks ago near the Kerch Strait, told Russia’s FSB that he considers himself a prisoner of war, reported attorney Mykola Polozov.
“As with the other sailors, Nebylytsya was investigated, we have been informed of several orders to set up expert assessments. They have also interrogated him. During the interrogation, he said that he is a prisoner of war,” Polozov noted.
“Emil Kurbedinov, the defense …
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Ukrainian Security Service: Moscow Patriarchate helped Girkin prepare for annexation of Crimea
Russia used the opportunities available to members of the Moscow Patriarchate for reconnaissance ahead of the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claims in an information booklet it published.
“On March 30, 2014, the armed group of the terrorist Igor Girkin (Strelkov) conducts reconnaissance in Simferopol disguised as guards for the "Gifts of the Magi" church sanctuaries,” the handbook states.
The authors of the booklet view this incident as one of several …