(Interfax – St. Petersburg, May 30, 2013) UAV operators are a legitimate enemy target in wartime, Russian Constitutional Court Chairman Valeriy Zorkin believes. “A drone operator should have no illusions about his own security and impunity while controlling a UAV from a suburb of the US capital via satellite. He is a legitimate enemy target according to the legal views of his own commander-in-chief, who calls the armed fight against
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – April 15, 2013) One of the most famous and secretive features of the Soviet Union, closed cities – known today in Russian as ZATOs – still dot the country, though in far fewer numbers than during the Cold War. The cities, which numbered upward of 100 throughout the different republics in the Soviet period, were either declared closed because of existing sensitive
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov – April 12, 2013) Russia’s building a system to neutralize space weapons as it prepares to send a man to Mars and build a permanent moon base, President Vladimir Putin and members of his government said. Russia will have the technical means by 2030 to counteract threats from space by other countries, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at a government meeting near the
(RIA Novosti, MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) Angels and demons do really exist, but are often mistaken for “so-called aliens” by those who encounter them, a senior Russian Orthodox Church clergyman said. “They are real creatures, humans come into contact with them as they sometimes reveal themselves,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who oversees the Church’s public relations, told RIA Novosti in an interview when asked about Christianity’s attitude to ufology. When
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexander Panov, Combined report, RBTH – March 19, 2013) A month after the meteorite crash near the city of Chelyabinsk created a stir both literally and figuratively Russian scientists have calculated its weight and age and determined its main components and origin. The initial weight of the celestial object that crashed to Earth in the vicinity of Chelyabinsk on February 15,
MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will complete a plan for a program to protect itself against threats from space by the end of this year, Civil Defense and Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said on Tuesday. That comes a month after a meteorite entered the Earth’s atmosphere undetected by existing space-monitoring systems and slammed into Russia’s Urals on February 15, accompanied by a massive sonic boom that blew out
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – February 19, 2013) The meteor that struck outside Chelyabinsk on Friday with such suddenness and explosive force has prompted a question among some spooked observers: If Russian defense officials were unable to track an object 17 meters in diameter rocketing down to earth, how could they detect a much smaller but equally lethal missile? The answer is: If it were coming from
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – Februray 18, 2013) In light of the meteorite blast that sent shock waves through the Ural Mountains city of Chelyabinsk on Friday, leaving more than a thousand people injured, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev tasked his deputy, Dmitry Rogozin, with proposing ways to predict and prevent disasters from space. Rogozin plans to give Medvedev an “objective picture” of Friday’s blast, which caused an
MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti) – The meteorite which fell in Russia’s Urals on Friday is likely to be named Chebarkul after a lake where it fell in and the eponymous city on the lake’s shores, a leading scientist said on Monday. The fragments of the meteorite have been found by scientists in Lake Chebarkul, in the Chelyabinsk Region, late on Sunday. The meteorite broke into approximately seven large fragments,
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – February 11, 2013) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, said Friday that they had agreed to end their dispute over the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia rents from the Central Asian nation. Putin, who received Nazarbayev in the Kremlin, said that amid increasing cooperation between the two countries, there are “a lot of issues” that need to be discussed,
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Gryaznova, M.S. – February 5, 2013) Space is a dark and mysterious thing. In the case of Russia’s exploration plans, this may be doubly so. The government adopted the Russian Space Program in December and published it a few weeks ago. But apart from the ambitious plans, the program might also contain a defense-oriented classified section. The Federal Space Agency, known in Russian as
(A revolution in space but calmer streets at home; Pundits predict a loss of momentum for the protest movement at home and see little scope for improvement in relations with the West – Russia Beyond the Headlines – Artem Zagorodnov – January 4, 2013 – click here for google cache version of article) Russia Beyond the Headlines takes a look at predictions for 2013: A cool relationship between Russia and
[Kazakhstan seeking to withdraw the Baikonur cosmodrome from Russian jurisdiction - ITAR-TASS - RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW - Dec. 11, 2012 - http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/596443.html] Itar-Tass covers plans by Kazakhstan to end its lease to Russia of the the Baikonur space port: The legendary Baikonur complex which Moscow is operating on lease from Kazakhstan, may be withdrawn from Russian jurisdiction. The resounding statement was made by head of Kazakhstan’s national aerospace agency /Kazkosmos/
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – November 19, 2012) What would you do with a billion dollars? You could buy Twitter. You could purchase a flight to space for 11 of your closest friends. Or, if you’re Russia, you could waste a sum equal to the GDP of Western Sahara on satellite malfunction and that’s not even counting lost labor hours. Roskosmos, the Federal Space Agency, announced
Russia reveals shiny state secret: It’s awash in diamonds; Trillions of carats’ lie below a 35-million-year-old, 62-mile diameter asteroid crater in eastern Siberia known as Popigai Astroblem. The Russians have known about the site since the 1970s. – Christian Science Monitor – September 17, 2012 – By Fred Weir, Correspondent – JRL 2012-165 click here to read orginal article Russia is claiming that a vast diamond field containing “trillions of
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