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☆ Belarus Prepares Law Against 'LGBT Propaganda', State Media Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

(Reuters) - Belarus has prepared a draft law punishing the "promotion of non-traditional relationships," referring to LGBT relationships, Belarusian state news agency Belta reported on Monday. The draft law is undergoing an approval procedure, he said. An anti-gay propaganda law has been on the books in neighbouring Russia since 2013 and has effectively outlawed any public expression of the behaviour or lifestyle of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals or transgender people. Photos You Should See View All 33 ImagesHomosexuality was decriminalised in Belarus in 1994, but the country does not recognise same-sex marriages and authorities have cracked down on LGBT pride parades. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has publicly mocked LGBT people, calling gay men "perverts" and "the ultimate abomination" in a speech to politicians last year.

Persons: Belta, Andrei Shved, Alexander Lukashenko, Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin's staunchest, Lucy Papachristou, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Reuters, LGBT Locations: Belarus, Russia

Aziz Umerov looks at a portrait of his sister Leniye Umerova, a Ukrainian from Russian-annexed Crimea arrested in Russia, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine August 11, 2023. A Reuters review of Rudenko's social media account on Telegram didn't find any messages critical of the war. Russia's top investigative body, the Investigative Committee, the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor General's Office didn't respond to requests for comment on the phenomenon of carousel arrests or individual cases. A Reuters review of Russian court records identified seven cases of carousel arrests this year, with the suspects involved arrested and jailed between two and five times in succession. Not all "carousel" arrests lead to more serious criminal charges, and for some detainees, time spent behind bars is frightening enough.

Persons: Aziz Umerov, Leniye Umerova, Gleb Garanich, Rudenko's, Yulia Kiselyova, he'd, Kiselyova, Ivan Vtorushin, Valeriya, Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Alexei Navalny, Lauren McCarthy, McCarthy, Gevorg, Dmitry Golovlyov, Aleksanyan, Rudenko, Mike Collett, White Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Russian, Investigative, Interior Ministry, First Department, PUTIN, WHO, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Federal Security Service, of Russia Legion, Russia Legion, Thomson Locations: Russian, Crimea, Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, Moscow, Bucha, Rudenko, Crimean Tatars, Ukrainian

☆ What are Russia's new charges against jailed Putin foe Navalny?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Yulia Morozova/File PhotoAug 4 (Reuters) - Russian state prosecutors have asked a court to sentence jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny to a further 20 years in a penal colony on various criminal charges including extremism, with a verdict expected on Friday. Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's fiercest and most vocal domestic opponent, is already serving sentences totalling 11-1/2 years on fraud and other charges, which he says were trumped up to silence him. Navalny says the charges, like all those before them, have been fabricated to keep him out of public life and politics. It was not clear what the terrorism case could relate to, but Russia's Federal Security Service has said that Ukraine and Russian opposition figures, including Navalny supporters, were involved in the killing of a prominent Russian war blogger. Terrorism carries a sentence in Russia of up to 35 years.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Yulia Morozova, Navalny, Vladimir Putin's, Dmitry Peskov, Filipp Lebedev, Lucy Papachristou, Gareth Jones, Conor Humphries Organizations: REUTERS, Nazism, Federal Security Service, Terrorism, Thomson Locations: Vladimir Region, Basmanny, Moscow, Russia, Russian, Ukraine

☆ Russia's Bolshoi, shunned in West, heads to Beijing for first tour since COVID
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/7] Principal dancers of the Bolshoi Theatre Elizaveta Kokoreva and Dmitry Smilevsky take part in a rehearsal in Moscow, Russia July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File PhotoMOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) - Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, grounded by COVID-19 and then shunned in the West since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, returns to international touring next week for the first time since the pandemic with a trip to Beijing. "I believe that we will perform again (in the West), and others will come to (Russia) to perform. Vladimir Urin, the Bolshoi's director, said in April that he was saddened by the loss of what had been regular creative cooperation with Western theatre companies and artists. Reporting by Reuters Writing by Lucy Papachristou Editing by Andrew Osborn and Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Bolshoi Theatre Elizaveta Kokoreva, Dmitry Smilevsky, Evgenia, Makhar Vaziev, Empress Catherine the Great, Don Quixote, we'll, Elizaveta Kokoreva, Vladimir Urin, Lucy Papachristou, Andrew Osborn, Peter Graff Organizations: Bolshoi Theatre, REUTERS, Bolshoi Ballet, Reuters, London's Royal Opera House, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, MOSCOW, Ukraine, Beijing, China, Western, Italian, Minsk, Oman

☆ World's biggest permafrost crater in Russia’s Far East thaws as planet warms
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BATAGAI, Russia, July 21 (Reuters) - Stunning drone footage has revealed details of the Batagaika crater, a one kilometre long gash in Russia's Far East that forms the world's biggest permafrost crater. "We locals call it 'the cave-in,'" local resident and crater explorer Erel Struchkov told Reuters as he stood on the crater's rim. The "gateway to the underworld," as some locals in Russia's Sakha Republic also call it, has a scientific name: a mega-slump. "In future, with increasing temperatures and with higher anthropogenic pressure, we will see more and more of those mega-slumps forming, until all the permafrost is gone," Tananayev told Reuters. "With an increasing air temperature we can expect (the crater) will be expanding at a higher rate," he said.

Persons: Erel Struchkov, Nikita Tananayev, Tananayev, Struchkov, aren't, Lucy Papachristou, Andrew Osborn, David Holmes Organizations: Reuters, Thomson Locations: BATAGAI, Russia, Russia's Sakha Republic, Yakutsk, Sakha

☆ Chief of Russia’s Yandex faces court case for ‘LGBT propaganda'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Lucy Papachristou | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The logo of Russian technology giant Yandex is on display at the company's headquarters in Moscow, Russia December 9, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File PhotoJuly 5 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Nasdaq-listed internet company Yandex faces prosecution in a Russian court for alleged offences under the country’s so-called “LGBT propaganda” law, a notice on the court's website said on Wednesday. When contacted by Reuters, Yandex said it would appeal any court finding against its CEO. The court website gave no specific details of what alleged offences Savinovsky was being prosecuted for beyond that they relate to "LGBT propaganda". Last month a court fined the company 2 million roubles ($24,242) for repeatedly refusing to provide Russia’s security services with information about its users.

Persons: Evgenia, Artem Savinovsky, Yandex, Savinovsky, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Yandex's, Bridget Jones ’, ” Kinopoisk, Russia’s, Elena Bunina, Lucy Papachristou, David Holmes Organizations: REUTERS, Nasdaq, Yandex, Reuters, State Duma, Novaya Gazeta, Kommersant, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, British, Ukraine

☆ Insight: Young Russian lawyers step up to defend anti-war protesters
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Lucy Papachristou | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

"I have always had a keen sense of justice," Gominova told a Reuters reporter based in Poland. "Defending protesters in court is my version of protest," said Gominova, who began representing anti-war activists in court almost immediately after the invasion. With numerous civil society groups disbanded by the state, many other lawyers also defend anti-war activists independently, but it is hard to determine how many. Several Russian lawyers have attracted the attention – and condemnation – of authorities, not only for defending critics of the invasion but also for expressing their own opposition. Before the Ukraine conflict, Gominova, in St Petersburg, worked mainly on civil cases ranging from family disputes to consumer rights.

Persons: Young, acquittals, Sofia Gominova, Gominova, Violetta Fitsner, Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Russia's, Evgenia Kara, Vladimir, Vadim Prokhorov –, Putin –, Prokhorov, Dmitry Talantov, Ivan Safronov, Maria Bontsler, Anastasia Rudenko, George Orwell's, Yuri Mikhailov, Mikhailov, Filipp Lebedev, Gabrielle Tetrault, Farber, Mike Collett, White, Mark Trevelyan, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: Russia, Ukraine Lawyers, Petersburg Bar Association, Moscow Bar, Russia's, Ministry, Russian Federation, Reuters, U.S, of America, Facebook, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, acquittals Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, Poland, St . Petersburg, St, Petersburg, Moscow, Ivanovo, Russian, St Petersburg, Tbilisi, Geneva

☆ Russia says there are 'certain contacts' with U.S. on detained U.S. reporter Gershkovich
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, July 4 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday that there were "certain contacts" with the United States over the case of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but that it did not want to make them public. As for the legal right to consular contacts, this right, of course, must be ensured on both sides," Peskov said. Russia accuses Gershkovich of espionage, something he denies. Russia has said there could be no exchange involving Gershkovich until a verdict is reached in his case. Washington has said it is committed to bringing home Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine who is serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Lynne Tracy, Vladimir Dunaev, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Gershkovich, Brittney Griner, Viktor Bout, Washington, Paul Whelan, Lucy Papachristou, Mark Trevelyan Organizations: Street, Kremlin, Gershkovich, Reuters, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, United States, Moscow, Russian, Ohio, U.S, Washington

☆ Russian army deserter sentenced to seven years in prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 3 (Reuters) - A Russian soldier has been sentenced to seven years in prison for twice escaping from his army unit, a military court in the Siberian city of Tomsk said on Monday. Siberia.Realities, a local project of U.S. government-funded news outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, identified the soldier as Ivan Klester. Last month a military court in Russia’s Far East sentenced a soldier to nine years for deserting three times. The man pleaded guilty, saying that he had to care for his sick wife, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported. President Vladimir Putin signed a law last September to toughen punishments for a host of crimes such as desertion, damage to military property and insubordination if they are committed during military mobilisation or combat situations.

Persons: Ivan Klester, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, General Andrei Kartapolov, Lucy Papachristou, Mark Trevelyan Organizations: Radio Free, Radio Liberty, Russia’s Far, Kommersant, Ukrainian, TASS, Thomson Locations: Siberian, Tomsk, Siberia.Realities, U.S, Radio Free Europe, Russia’s, Russian

☆ Some people in flooded Russian-controlled Ukraine still need rescuing, say relatives
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Lucy Papachristou | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

June 9 (Reuters) - Some relatives of people stranded in flooded villages following the collapse of the giant Nova Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine said on Friday that their loved ones were still stuck on roofs with dwindling food supplies and urgently needed rescuing. Volunteers and workers from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry have been evacuating people from flooded Russian-controlled areas since Tuesday's disaster - which Moscow and Kyiv blame on each other. The Kremlin has praised the rescue efforts, as have some of the people who have been evacuated to safety. Several people told Reuters they had repeatedly called hotlines for Russian emergency services to rescue their relatives, but to no avail. Some people said they couldn’t persuade their relatives to evacuate, with some preferring to wait until the floodwaters retreated.

Persons: Vladimir Saldo, Olya, “, Natalya, ”, ” Pavel Stebo, Stebo, Lucy Papachristou, Andrew Osborn, William Maclean Organizations: Volunteers, Ministry, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Nova, Ukraine, Russian, Moscow, Dnipro, Ukraine’s Kherson, Oleshky, Nova Kakhovka, Black, Zhelezniy

☆ Transfer of holy icon shows Russian Orthodoxy's new sway under Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Emphasising its importance to the faithful, Putin last month ordered Andrei Rublev's "Trinity" be transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church from Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery for a year. For some, though, there is unease at the sway of the Church - and concern about possible damage to the fragile icon. She quipped that Russian leaders over the centuries have turned to icons in tough situations with the hope of victory. "Masterpieces of Russian icon painting and national shrines should not be exposed to unjustified risk," members of a cultural council within the Russian Academy of Sciences wrote in an open letter to Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova. "The only space suitable for placing the icon 'Trinity' by Andrei Rublev is in the halls of the Tretyakov Gallery, which is confirmed by almost a century of practice."

Persons: Vladimir Putin's, Putin, Andrei Rublev's, Moscow's Tretyakov, the, Josef Stalin, Abraham, Regina Elsner, Sergius –, Bolsheviks, Kirill of Moscow, Kirill, Putin's, Ksenia, Leonardo da Vinci's, Mona Lisa, Tretyakov, Korobeynikova, Olga Lyubimova, Andrei Rublev, Lucy Papachristou, Guy Faulconbridge, Mark Potter Organizations: Trinity Sunday, Soviet Union, Church, Eastern European, International Studies, Kremlin, Putin, Reuters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Moscow, Ukraine, Moscow's, Soviet, Mamre, Russian, Berlin, Russia, Trinity, St, Moscow –, Gdansk

☆ State treason trial of Russian physicist begins in St. Petersburg
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 1 (Reuters) - The criminal trial of a prominent Russian physicist accused of state treason opened in St Petersburg on Thursday amid tight secrecy and concerns over the health of the elderly defendant. The case, marked as "top secret", is closed to the media and public, the St Petersburg court has said. Maslov was a professor and researcher at the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, one of Russia's top scientific centres. Soon afterwards, Maslov was sent to Lefortovo prison in Moscow, a former KGB interrogation site, before being transferred to St. Petersburg to stand trial. Russia's parliament voted in April to increase the maximum penalty for treason to life imprisonment from 20 years.

Persons: Anatoly Maslov, Maslov, Lucy Papachristou, Gareth Jones Organizations: Kremlin, Reuters, Khristianovich, of Theoretical, Mechanics, Thomson Locations: Russian, St Petersburg, Siberian, Novosibirsk, Petersburg, Maslov, Moscow, St, hypersonics, China

☆ Factbox: Who are the three Russian scientists accused of state treason?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Lucy Papachristou | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

May 18 (Reuters) - Three Russian scientists who have worked on hypersonic missile technology face "very serious accusations" of state treason, the Kremlin says. Maslov was detained early in the morning of June 28 last year in Novosibirsk, according to an interview that his sons Nikolai and Alexei gave to local media. He declined to tell them anything about the possible reasons for his arrest, and they learned from his lawyer that he was being charged with state treason. Kommersant newspaper reported that Maslov was accused of divulging state secrets related to hypersonics, but provided no further details. Born in Siberia, he studied in the aircraft engineering department at Novosibirsk State Technical University.

In 2012, Maslov and Shiplyuk presented the results of an experiment on hypersonic missile design at a seminar in Tours, France. In 2016, all three were among the authors of a book chapter entitled "Hypersonic Short-Duration Facilities for Aerodynamic Research at ITAM, Russia". The cases showed that "any article or report can lead to accusations of high treason", the open letter said. It said such cases were having a chilling effect on young Russian scientists. Asked about the letter, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said: "We have indeed seen this appeal, but Russian special services are working on this.

☆ 5 „soluții” destul de disperate la problemele de locuințe ale europenilor — Moldova.org
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-04 | by ( Autor Invitat | ) www.moldova.org time to read: +3 min

Poate la noi nu-i chiar atât de rău?…„Patodeweloperka”Lumina soarelui, transportul public, teren de joacă – cine are nevoie de acestea? În acest fel, moștenirea „simțului cartierului” a orașului poate fi păstrată parțial. „Poetul sărac” de Carl Spitzweg (1839)„Kádár-kocka”Aceste case cubice construite în anii 1960 sunt numite informal după liderul comunist János Kádár. Costul scăzut al locuințelor accesibile a avut totuși un altfel de preț: estetică și ineficiența energetică – ioc. Deși nu sunt la fel de faimoasele ca și cuburile Rubik, „Cuburile Kádár” au un loc aparte în Ungaria.

Persons: Andrzej, Van Bo, Harry Potter, Lorenz, Carl Spitzweg, Kádár, János Kádár, Rubik, Lucy Papachristou, Christian - Zsolt Varga Organizations: CC Locations: Polonia, Berlin, Ottakring, Vienei, CC BY, NC, SA, Paris, Ungaria, ost

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