Russia

Read recent news stories and current events about Russia on Newser.com

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US, Russian Defense Chiefs Have Rare Direct Talks

They discuss Syria, the first time they've spoken in more than a year

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Ash Carter called his Russian counterpart today, the first step in direct military talks proposed by Russia about Moscow's military buildup to support the Syrian government against ISIS. The 50-minute conversation marked the first time that American and Russian defense chiefs have spoken in more than a...

Russia: We Have No Troops in Syria—Yet

Moscow urges US to 'partner' with Assad regime

(Newser) - A spokesman for Vladimir Putin says Russia doesn't have combat troops in Syria right now but Moscow will consider sending troops if Damascus were to ask. Amid concerns over an ongoing Russian military buildup in Syria, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem denied reports yesterday that Russian combat troops are...

Sorry, Elton, Putin Didn't Invite You to Gay Parade

Phone call between singer, Russian president was a prank

(Newser) - "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" will probably be set to "Repeat" on Elton John's playlist after he gets word he won't be going to Moscow at Vladimir Putin's invite after all. The singer has publicly said in the past he wants to engage...

Ex-CEO of Texas Tech Firm Admits He Was Russian Agent

Alexander Fishenko pleads guilty to illegal shipping of high-tech product to Russia

(Newser) - The ex-CEO and owner of a now-defunct Houston microelectronics company could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison after pleading guilty yesterday to being an unregistered Russian agent, accused of illegally exporting high-tech product worth millions to his home country over a 10-year period, the Wall Street Journal ...

Russian Military May Be Joining Fight in Syria

The US and its allies are concerned

(Newser) - If reports from a number of anonymous sources are to be believed, Russia is increasing its military presence in Syria, where a four-year civil war has resulted in 250,000 deaths, and that's worrying to the United States and its allies. The Guardian reports increased sightings of Russian jets,...

Polar Bears Lay Siege to Russian Weather Station

3 trapped workers have no weapons, and flares have proved ineffective

(Newser) - Like a combination of The Grey and The Thing that we would definitely watch, a group of polar bears has trapped three Russian scientists inside a remote weather station with no weapons and no clear idea of when help will arrive, CBS News reports. The Russians—two meteorologists and an...

World's Oldest Wooden Statue Twice as Old as Pyramids

New dating puts Shigir Idol at 11K years old, 1.5K years older than thought

(Newser) - When scientists first tried in 1997 to date the famous Shigir Idol wooden sculpture —originally found in a Siberian peat bog in 1890—radiocarbon dating suggested the art was so old the findings were widely disputed. Now, armed with better tech, scientists turned to one of the world's...

China, Russia Comparing Hacks to Flush Out US Spies

Foreign governments can use compromised info to blackmail US intelligence agents

(Newser) - The "high-level snooping" foreign spy agencies have been carrying out on US computer networks isn't simply a matter of trolling for state secrets. It's also a way to expose US spies—as well as contractors who provide tech support—who can then be blackmailed and even recruited,...

Thieves Nab Diamonds From Russia's 'Fort Knox'

A 23-carat diamond among those to vanish in apparent bait-and-switch

(Newser) - Rough diamonds worth millions have vanished from the repository that holds Russia's supply of gold, silver, diamonds, and gems even though it is "supposedly impenetrable," in the words of NBC News . State-owned diamond mining company Severalmaz says it gave 150,000 carats, or 66 pounds, of diamonds...

World Leader's Face Seen in Weird Bird Swarm Video

YouTube video is a hit in Russia

(Newser) - Is Russia's leader glowering over America? A YouTube video purporting to show Vladimir Putin's face forming in a flock of birds above New York City has gotten a lot of online attention—especially in Russia, UPI reports. Posted under the name Sheryl Gilbert, it was aired last week...

Russia-NATO War Games Run Risk of Actual War

Military exercises between Cold War rivals could spur real conflict: report

(Newser) - Like a game of Risk, Russia and NATO have not only been suspiciously eying each other in recent months, but also conducting military exercises in border areas that the Washington Post says are making Europe "a region of high military drama." Now a UK-based think tank is warning...

Russian Hackers Suspected in Cyberattack on Pentagon

Emails of 4K Joint Chiefs of Staff employees affected

(Newser) - Officials believe Russian hackers are behind a cyberattack on the Pentagon's unclassified email system that has left approximately 4,000 employees of the Joint Chiefs of Staff without email for nearly two weeks, NBC News reports. The attack happened sometime in the last week of July, and while officials...

Russia Has Just Claimed a Chunk of the Arctic

Including the North Pole

(Newser) - Russia, the US, Canada, Denmark, and Norway all want to grab a part of the Arctic, and Russia in 2001 became the first to submit its claim to the UN—a claim that was sent back due to lack of evidence. The country now says it has that evidence, reports...

1K Shipwrecks Haunt a Sea With Brutal History

16th-century Mars warship is among the wrecks

(Newser) - The Baltic Sea's trove of shipwrecks has preserved all kinds of history—much of it about war—and recently sparked fears of a fresh conflict in Europe. Bordered by Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltics, the North European Plain, and accessible by Russia, one sliver of the sea contains about 1,...

How a Neurosurgeon Brought Down Napoleon

Russian general's remarkable brain surgery saved his life, resulted in visionary strategy

(Newser) - As Napoleon Bonaparte's forces moved toward Moscow in the autumn of 1812, Russian General Mikhail Kutuzov burned his own city, fled east, and left Moscow open to invaders. But what some supposed were the actions of a madman instead proved visionary, as Napoleon's troops couldn't handle the...

In Hunt for Russia Sub, Sweden May Have Finally Found One

But it may be a WWI submarine, not one of Putin's

(Newser) - Last year, Sweden authorities kept insisting a Russian submarine was lurking in the Stockholm archipelago. Now it appears they may have been right—but it isn't the sub they thought. The country's military is checking out video (see part of it here ) by exploration company Ocean X,...

ISS Astronauts Flee Flying Russian Space Debris

It was too late to do 'evasive maneuver' by the time they got word from NASA

(Newser) - American astronaut Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts shacked up at the International Space Station had to scurry out of the way of flying space debris after a chunk of a Russian weather satellite sped by earlier today, AFP reports. The men hurried into the Soyuz spacecraft, which ferries them...

Russia: Sorry, Srebrenica Was Not a Genocide

UN resolution fails in 10-1 vote with Russian veto

(Newser) - Russia has vetoed a UN resolution that would have condemned the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war as a "crime of genocide." The Security Council put the resolution to a vote today despite appeals from Russia and China not to vote because of divisions in the...

Iraqi Jet Accidentally Bombs Baghdad, Kills 12

Russian-made aircraft suffered technical failure, military says

(Newser) - An Iraqi Russian-made fighter jet accidentally dropped a bomb over a Baghdad neighborhood today, killing at least 12 people on the ground, Iraqi officials said. The plane—one of several Sukhois used by Iraq in the fight against ISIS—was returning to base when the accident happened. A military spokesman...

After US Move, Putin Vows to Ramp Up Nukes

NATO slams him for 'nuclear sabre-rattling'

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin is being accused of "sabre-rattling," which isn't all that unusual, except in this case it involves nuclear weapons. The Russian leader said today that Moscow would add at least 40 ICBMs to its nuclear arsenal this year, reports Reuters . The announcement comes after the US...

Stories 1861 - 1880 | << Prev   Next >>