(Moscow Times – Dec. 4, 2023) Moscow broke a daily snowfall record on Sunday when nearly 11 millimeters of precipitation fell over just 12 hours, meteorologists in the Russian capital said. Sunday’s snowfall, powered by a strong cyclone that formed over southern Europe last week, marked the absolute daily record in Moscow since observations began in 1878, according to meteorologist […]
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(Moscow Times – Anastasia Tenisheva – Oct. 21, 2023) MOSCOW — Loud music, people dancing and faces covered with glitter — today, parties in Russia’s capital look like parties anywhere. “As long as there is an opportunity to enjoy life, then you need to do it,” Daria, a Russian in her 20s, told The Moscow Times at a techno music […]
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“Muscovites go about their daily lives with little major disruption. But the war’s effects are evident — in the stores, at the movies and in the increasingly repressive environment.” “… Muscovites are experiencing dual realities: The war has faded into background noise … yet … remains ever-present in … daily lives. … Advertisements to join the military are … on […]
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Street fairs, ice skating, curling, and lots and lots of Christmas trees. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Dec. 13, 2021) Despite concerns about coronavirus, the Moscow city government decided to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with its annual festival. Called “The Journey to Christmas,” the festival began this past weekend and will go until Jan. 9. Russia celebrates Christmas […]
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On Tuesday Moscow opened ten new metro stations on the Big Circle Line (BCL) — the ring of stations that surrounds the original Circle Line in the city center […]
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The U.S. embassy in Moscow could stop performing most functions next year unless there is progress with Russia on increasing the number of visas for diplomats […]
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Nationwide statisticians have estimated that half of the official votes received by United Russia in the election could have been falsified [. ..]
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Independent data scientists and analysts said that half of all the votes attributed to United Russia in the official results were probably fake — a level of falsification previously unseen in Russian parliamentary elections [. ..]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, July 1, 2021) In the course of his Direct Line television show, Vladimir Putin said he was against moving the capital of the Russian Federation from Moscow but does favor having Russian companies which operate there have their headquarters in Siberian cities and pay taxes there rather than as now in Moscow. […]
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(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, June 25, 2021) Russia’s autocratic government is modern not just because it has reversed the democratization wave of three decades ago but because it is willing to make use of modern techniques in some spheres of life under its control for its direct benefit, according to Gulnaz Sharaftudinova. The Kremlin uses various […]
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The spike was announced 24 hours after the Kremlin denied … report[s] that Russia is in the midst of a Covid-19 third wave […]
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Latest figures continue to show the slow pace of Russia’s vaccination rollout. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 15, 2021) Around 820,000 Muscovites have received both doses of a coronavirus vaccine, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said yesterday, with the number who have received at least one dose of Russia’s three homemade jabs having surpassed 1 million in the capital. In a […]
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“The Yeliseyevsky Food Emporium … is due to close its doors on April 11 after 120 years […]
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“In its 874-year history, Moscow has grown from an obscure twelfth-century military outpost into a world-class capital city of over 20 million inhabitants. Along the way, the city has been reinvented over and over to suit the needs of its rulers. Ivan the Great made Moscow “The Third Rome” after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, raising stone cathedrals inside […]
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… Russia’s two largest cities experienced the warmest autumn temperatures of their recorded histories in 2020 …. And it’s only the beginning, experts say […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, Oct. 21, 2020) This month marks the tenth anniversary of Sergey Sobyanin’s time as mayor of the Russian capital; and over the past ten years, both his actions and broader changes have made Muscovites feel a greater attachment to and even love for their city than they had felt earlier. This change […]
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Across the world, a growing ‘pandemic fatigue’ appears to be exacerbating the spread of the coronavirus …. Many governments have brought back restrictions they had lifted …. But while many European countries have imposed stringent measures again … Russia has in many ways carried on as normal […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 27, 2020) Coronavirus infections are rising rapidly in Moscow and other major Russian cities, with the number of cases in the capital jumping from 1050 three days ago to more than 2,000 today, the result, experts say, of the start of flu season and declining caution among Russians (svpressa.ru/economy/article/276981/, kp.ru/daily/217187.5/4293934/, regnum.ru/news/3074643.html, […]
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“Moscow is experiencing a sharp increase in new coronavirus cases[,] [a]s of Friday, September 25, …record[ing] 1,560 new cases in the last day – 510 more than the day before … nearly twice as many as last week. … the highest daily increase … since June 12. … Also on September 25, Russia recorded more than 7,000 new coronavirus cases […]
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Over the last month, regions including Moscow are reporting figures that reflect what their leaders have promised but that are improbable when subjected to mathematical analysis […]
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A survey of 5,000 Russians … finds the level of pessimism about the future is greater in Moscow and other major cities than elsewhere … [T]hese cities were hit harder by the pandemic than anywhere else […]
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“The group started out as an online discussion of hobbies, schoolwork and sometimes politics. But then it was infiltrated by an informer for Russia’s all-powerful security services.” “… [T]he chat group … was joined by a new member who promoted unusually strident views … and pushed to turn the online chatter into a political movement …. [He] gave his name […]
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Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced Thursday that wearing masks will no longer be required outdoors from July 13 […]
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The Moscow Meshchansky District Court has found stage director Kirill Serebrennikov and other defendants in the Studio Seven case [except] Sofia Apfelbaum guilty of fraud […]
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The majority of Russians have stopped working from home and almost immediately returned to offices and workplaces across the country following the relaxation of quarantine measures […]
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… In almost every museum, visitors will only be able to buy electronic tickets, and everyone, including guests and exhibition staffers, are required to wear masks and practice social distancing. […]
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“… [C]iting … coronavirus, … around 350 [Russian polling station officials] across the country say taking part [in a nationwide vote on reforms that could extend … Putin’s rule until 2036] is too dangerous … [with] authorities … reporting thousands of new infections each day despite a drop … in … Moscow. The officials have started a petition … to […]
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“Infections remain high as city authorities begin reopening and Putin prepares for parade, referendum” “… Moscow has been at the center of Russia’s novel coronavirus pandemic, with 40% of the country’s nearly half million infections. … Russia is recording about 9,000 new cases a day. On Tuesday, Moscow reported just over 1,500 new cases … [down] from … nearly 2,000 […]
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“… [Its] mayor surprised [Moscow] … lifting the vast majority of coronavirus curbs …. even as the city registered more than 3,500 new cases and 110 deaths in the past 48 hours. … Since … suspected patient zero arrived in Moscow from Milan in February, the health ministry has recorded over 485,000 confirmed cases … third highest in the world […]
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Although coronavirus cases are still growing by the thousands, Moscow announced Monday it would lift lockdown restrictions […]
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Around a third of Russians are unhappy with the state of the environment where they live, according to a survey conducted by state-run pollster VTsIOM […]
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Moscow officials announced plans to lift coronavirus restrictions starting Tuesday despite the Russian capital continuing to see about 2,000 new infections each day. […]
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“… Moscow … issued a revised version of its coronavirus death toll for April after criticism of its initial figures, more than doubling the original tally by using what it said was an alternative counting method. … Russia has reported the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the world after the United States and Brazil. … Data published this […]
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Starting Monday, Muscovites will be allowed to walk outside for the first time in two months – with a number of restrictions still in place […]
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MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) – The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, also known as ELISA, will increase the daily number of coronavirus tests carried out in Moscow to 100,000, or even 200,000, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Thursday. “We have a new objective today: we need to achieve a new level of quality and quantity of testing using ELISA systems. Moscow […]
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MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax) – Moscow has detected 1,370 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours; this is the first decline in the number of Covid-19 cases seen in the city since April 11, the Moscow coronavirus response headquarters said in a statement on Thursday. “Moscow has identified 1,370 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 13, 2020) Moscow is tightening its lockdown with digital passes this week as the Russian capital’s coronavirus count surpassed 10,000 cases and officials warned of a continued influx of patients. Here’s an overview of what the citywide pass system means for Muscovites’ everyday life: When does it start? Digital passes will become mandatory this […]
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“The mayor of Moscow warned the coronavirus outbreak was only in the ‘foothills’ of its development in the Russian capital … that a serious test lay ahead as new infections nationwide shot up …. even as Moscow and many other regions … [were in] their second week … of lockdown …. In the bustling capital of more than 12.5 million […]
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MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax) – There are no plans to create a system that will track tourists in Moscow, the press service for the Moscow information technologies department said on Thursday. “The Moscow information technologies department currently has no plans to create a system for tracking tourists in Moscow,” the department told Interfax. The Kommersant newspaper reported on Thursday, citing […]
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“… The news website RBC estimates that shutting down for a single day costs the average shopping and entertainment center in Moscow and the surrounding region roughly 60-155 million rubles (between $775,800 and $2 million). Fitness clubs … will lose as much as 300,000 rubles ($3,900) a day, while coffee shops in the city center will lose 100,000-200,000 rubles ($1,290-$2,585) […]
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Subject: COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Update Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2020 From: Josh Wilson <jwilson@sras.org> COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Update SRAS.org SRAS Updates on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update as of March 10, 2020 Russia, including the city Moscow where elevated precautions are being taken, has not yet applied any restrictions to US citizens traveling to Russia. US citizens arriving to Moscow or any […]
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(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov – Dec. 9, 2019) Maxim Trudolyubov is a Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Vedomosti, an independent Russian daily. Mr. Trudolyubov was the editorial page editor of Vedomosti between 2003 and 2015. He has been a contributing opinion writer for The International New York Times since the fall of […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, Nov. 15, 2019) By the end of November, the new M-11 superhighway between Moscow and St. Petersburg is scheduled to be opened for traffic, a move that will significantly shorten the time for travel between the two capitals. But both its construction and its finished form reflect many problems that plague Russian […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Anastasia Kuzina, Robert Coalson – MOSCOW – Oct. 27, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/russia-homeless-moscow-neighborhood-not-in-my-backyard/30238628.html) “If you want to do good deeds, do them – but don’t make those around you uncomfortable,” said Kira Gorchakova, a resident of Moscow’s Begovoi district when asked about a shelter […]
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(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Todd Prince – Sept. 12, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/russian-police-stand-idly-by-as-election-observer-sucker-punched/30160427.html) [click here to jump down to video] Based on the reaction of police and election officials inside St. Petersburg polling station 1619, the event that unfolded before them on election day last week was nothing […]
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“A state-owned organization responsible for maintaining Moscow’s roads is seeking compensation from protest leaders for grass trampled during a recent unsanctioned protest, part of a multi-pronged assault on the opposition …. [A]uthorities raided at least 39 offices in Navalny’s political network [across the country], seeking evidence for a money laundering investigation … against his Anti-Corruption Foundation, his ally Leonid Volkov […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, Sept. 7, 2019) Moscow opposition groups regularly give lip service to the idea of federalism, but when push comes to shove, they take positions so similar to the powers that be that people in the regions beyond the ring road find it difficult if not impossible to tell them apart, the Region.Expert […]
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“Alexei Navalny, Lyubov Sobol, Ivan Zhdanov, Yulia Galyamina, Ilya Yashin, Alexander Solovyov, Oleg Stepanov, and Vladimir Milov must jointly pay Moscow City Transport (Mosgortrans) 1.2 million rubles [approx. $18,000] for … traffic stoppages during the ‘unauthorized’ protest rally on July 27 in Moscow. … [according to a] ruling … by the Koptevo District Court on [a] lawsuit brought by Moscow […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) – The Central Election Commission (CEC) is looking into how blank election monitoring referrals, signed by a senior Communist Party member, ended up at the campaign office of the opposition politician Alexei Navalny, CEC deputy chair Nikolai Bulayev said. “Electronic mass media have been actively reporting that Mr. Rashkin [first secretary at the Communist Party’s Moscow […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) – CPRF candidates used all opportunities in order to win in the Moscow City Duma elections, including opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s “smart voting” tactic, First Secretary of the CPRF Moscow city committee Valery Rashkin said. “At this stage, we used everything as a party that has its own strategy, its own program for its candidates to […]
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