Moscow, Russia | AFP | Seven candidates are lined up against Vladimir Putin in a Russian presidential election next month that he is all but guaranteed to win, extending his Kremlin term to 2024 with a fourth term in office. His competitors include a former reality TV star and a …
Read More »No programme, no debate but Putin cruising to poll win
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Running with a lacklustre slogan, no programme and refusing to debate his opponents, it sometimes seems like Russian President Vladimir Putin is not campaigning for re-election at all. But it is unlikely to matter for the 65-year-old strongman who is cruising towards victory and a …
Read More »71 dead, no survivors in Russian passenger plane crash
Moscow, Russia | AFP | A Russian passenger plane carrying 71 people crashed outside Moscow on Sunday after taking off from the capital’s Domodedovo airport, killing everyone on board. The Antonov An-148 plane operated by the domestic Saratov Airlines was flying to Orsk, a city in the Urals, and crashed …
Read More »Tillerson: China, Russia roles in Americas ‘alarming’
Austin, United States | AFP | Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Thursday that China and Russia are assuming “alarming” roles in Latin America and urged regional powers to work with the United States instead. “Latin America doesn’t need new imperial powers that seek only to benefit their own people,” Tillerson …
Read More »Kremlin ‘very glad’ at lifting of ban on 28 Russian athletes
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia on Thursday welcomed a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to lift bans on 28 of its athletes accused of doping, and said that its efforts to defend its rights were paying off. “We are very glad for our athletes,” President Vladimir …
Read More »Putin laughs off Washington’s ‘Kremlin list’
Moscow, Russia | AFP | President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday laughed off a US list of Russians tapped for possible sanctions, joking that he was offended his name was not on it, but nevertheless branded it an “unfriendly act”. The 65-year-old Russian leader — who spoke before the US Treasury said …
Read More »Kremlin says will analyse US ‘Putin list’ without ‘giving into emotions’
Moscow, Russia | AFP | The Kremlin on Tuesday said it would take its time to study a new US Treasury list of Russian officials and business leaders eligible for sanctions, while refraining from giving into “emotions”. “We have to analyse this publication, analyse specifically this list that includes members …
Read More »‘Trump ordered Mueller’s firing but reversed course’
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump ordered the firing of Russia investigation special prosecutor Robert Mueller last year but the White House counsel’s threatened resignation pushed him to reverse course, US media reported Thursday. Mueller is leading the probe into allegations of collusion between the US …
Read More »Twitter says Russia-linked accounts more widespread
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Twitter on Friday said the number of Russia-linked accounts firing off tweets evidently aimed at the US election in 2016 was more widespread than initially determined. The social media company found, and shuttered, an additional 1,062 accounts associated with the Internet Research Agency, …
Read More »Siberian teen wounds six in school axe attack
Moscow, Russia | AFP | A teenage boy injured six people, five of them minors, in an axe attack in a Siberian classroom on Friday, local authorities said, days after 15 were injured in a knife fight at another Russian school. Investigators said the boy, thought to be 15 or …
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