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☆ Moscow airport claims to have AI-powered radar system that can jam drones, but developer says it's not true
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Thibault Spirlet | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Moscow's international airport is reportedly setting up an AI-powered radar, according to state media. Sheremetyevo International Airport says the system can spot and jam drones. AdvertisementMoscow is setting up an AI-powered radar system in its international airport that can detect and jam drones, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS. In a Telegram post, Sheremetyevo International Airport said the defense system, dubbed Yenot-SD, can detect low-flying drones, flocks of birds, and ground perimeter violations. AdvertisementRussia's Federal Air Transport Agency and Sheremetyevo International Airport didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comments.

Persons: it's, —, Kaspersky, Mikhail Vasilenko Organizations: Sheremetyevo, Service, TASS, Kaspersky, Sheremetyevo International, Media, Moscow's Sheremetyevo, Business, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Air Transport Agency, CNN, Russia's Ministry of Defence Locations: Moscow, Ukraine

☆ Russia's Aeroflot resumes regular flights to Cuba, suspended since Ukraine invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 1 (Reuters) - Rossiya Airlines, part of Russia's Aeroflot (AFLT.MM) group, on Saturday resumed scheduled flights to Cuba, which had been suspended since Western countries shut Russia out of their airspace in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The first flight of what will begin as a twice-weekly service took off for the Cuban resort of Varadero from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Saturday, Aeroflot said. Russian airlines suspended flights to Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican Republic on Feb. 28 last year, four days after the invasion, which Russia calls a "special military operation". The deputy prime minister for tourism, sport, culture and communications, Dmitry Chernyshenko, announced in May that regular flights to Cuba skirting the airspace of "unfriendly" countries would resume by July. Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin LiffeyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dmitry Chernyshenko, Kevin Liffey Organizations: Rossiya Airlines, Aeroflot, Saturday, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Cuba, Russia, Ukraine, Cuban, Varadero, Moscow's Sheremetyevo, Mexico, Dominican Republic

LOS ANGELES, May 19 (Reuters) - Brittney Griner returned to the WNBA hardwood on Friday night in Los Angeles to cheers from a raucous crowd that included U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. "It felt good, it felt real good. U.S. officials said she was wrongly detained and was being used as a political pawn amid increasingly strained relations with Moscow. The two-time Olympic champion, 32, kicked off her 10th season with the Mercury on Friday after playing in a pre-season game one week ago. Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Griner says she held onto hope in first news conference after Russian detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was detained in Russia, tears up as she holds a news conference ahead of return to court with Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., April 27, 2023. The two-times Olympic gold medallist was released from one of Russia's most notorious penal colonies in a high-profile prisoner exchange with the United States late last year after she was arrested in February 2022. "I'm no stranger to hard times," said Griner, at an emotional news conference. She said she was prescribed medical cannabis in the United States for a chronic injury and never intended to break the law. Griner pledged to dedicate herself to bringing home other Americans detained abroad and announced she and the Phoenix Mercury would partner with Bring Our Families Home to champion the cause.

☆ Russian airliner lands safely in Moscow after declaring emergency, Tass reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 7 (Reuters) - A Russian-operated Boeing 737 airliner that declared an in-flight emergency during a domestic flight on Saturday landed safely at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, Tass news agency cited a civil aviation source as saying. The plane, flying at an altitude of more than 10,000 metres (33,000 feet), sent the alert while en route from the Arctic port of Murmansk to Moscow, 1,500 km (930 miles) to the south. The Tass report did not give any more details or identify the airline. S7, Russia's biggest private airline and the country's second largest carrier overall, offers flights between the two cities. Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, is escorted before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia July 27, 2022. Griner arrived at the medical center last Friday after U.S. officials secured her freedom from Russia in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner, 32, was arrested on Feb. 17 at an airport outside Moscow for carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. U.S. officials pressed for the release of both Griner and Whelan, who is being held on what Washington called "sham" espionage charges, a Biden administration official said. "(I) encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home," said Griner.

☆ Despite GOP criticism of the prisoner swap that freed Brittney Griner, Fiona Hill said Trump was 'not particularly interested' in freeing Paul Whelan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Critics, including Trump, asked why Brittney Griner was freed while Paul Whelan remains jailed. Hill said Trump wasn't "particularly interested in Paul [Whelan]'s case" while in office. "If I made that deal the Dems would chant, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA!" "I also have to say here that President Trump wasn't especially interested in engaging in that swap for Paul Whelan," Hill said. However, she added, Whelan, Griner, and Reed were all caught up in what she called "political games" while doing things that "seemed completely ordinary."

US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on June 27, 2022. Kirill Kudryavtsev | AFP | Getty ImagesWNBA star Brittney Griner is free Thursday after the Biden administration negotiated her release from a Russian penal colony in exchange for an arms dealer, according to a senior administration official. Maxim Shemetov | ReutersGriner will be flown to a medical facility in San Antonio where she will receive care, a senior administration official said. Cherelle Griner, will meet her there, according to a senior administration official. People familiar with the negotiations for his release say the Russians refused to release Whelan without getting a Russian spy in return.

Griner arrived in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi by private plane from Moscow as Bout was flown in on a private plane from Washington. Bout, nicknamed the "merchant of death," embraced a Russian official who greeted him and smiled broadly as he was led away. A joint UAE-Saudi statement said the UAE president and Saudi crown prince led mediation efforts that secured Griner's release. Griner was exchanged for Bout, a onetime Russian weapons dealer who had been convicted in the United States and imprisoned for 10 years. During the prisoner swap, Griner was met on the tarmac in UAE by chief U.S. hostage negotiator Roger Carstens.

☆ Factbox: Brittney Griner, U.S. basketball star caught up in Russia crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, stands inside a defendants' cage before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/File PhotoDec 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. official said on Thursday that U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who had been jailed in Russia in charges of possessing and smuggling illegal drugs, was now in U.S. custody. Russia said she had been traded for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer jailed in the United States. Brittney Griner, 32, is a double Olympic champion and seven-times All-Star player in the U.S. Women's National Basketball Association (WBNA). Known as "BG" to basketball fans, she has played for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia during the WNBA winter off-season since 2014.

REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool//File PhotoWASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner has been released in a prisoner swap with Russia and is on her way back to the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday, ending what he called months of "hell." The Russian foreign ministry said it traded Griner for Russian citizen Viktor Bout, a former arms dealer. The swap took place at the Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates, Russian news agencies said. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Griner from the Oval Office, along with Griner's wife, Cherelle. For experts on the Russian security services, Moscow's lasting interest in Bout hint strongly at Russian intelligence ties.

☆ Russia, U.S. have ways to manage nuclear risks -RIA cites U.S. diplomat
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 28 (Reuters) - Russia and the United States have ways to manage nuclear risks at the level of intelligence agencies, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Moscow Elizabeth Rood told Russia's state news agency, adding that for now there are no meetings scheduled. Earlier this month, CIA director William Burns met Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russian foreign intelligence, and warned him about the consequences of any Russian use of nuclear weapons, the White House said. Russia has said the issues discussed were "sensitive" and declined to comment on them. read more"The United States has channels for managing risk with the Russian Federation, particularly nuclear risks and that was the purpose of CIA director Burns' meeting with his Russian counterpart," Rood said in a video on RIA's Telegram channel. read moreReporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. and Russia continue discussing release of Griner and Whelan - RIA quotes U.S. diplomat
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

☆ EXCLUSIVE Brittney Griner taken to penal colony in Russia's Mordovia region - source
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Filipp Lebedev | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/File PhotoNov 17 (Reuters) - U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner has been taken to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia, a source familiar with the case told Reuters on Thursday. In August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony on drugs charges following her arrest at a Moscow airport in February with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. She was moved from a detention centre near Moscow on Nov. 4 to be taken to an undisclosed prison location. Russian authorities have given no information on her whereabouts for nearly two weeks, but the source said she had been taken to Female Penal Colony IK-2 in Yavas, about 500 km (300 miles) southeast of Moscow. Inmates of Russian penal colonies are required to work long hours for meagre pay on tedious manual tasks such as sewing.

☆ Russian court will hear Brittney Griner's appeal Tuesday as WNBA star tries to trim 9-year sentence
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — A Russian court will hear WNBA star Brittney Griner's appeal on Tuesday after the American athlete was convicted on drug charges earlier this year. "She hopes there will be some reduction in her sentence," Maria Blagovolina, Griner's lawyer, told Andrea Mitchell of NBC News, adding the 32-year-old athlete will appear in court via video conference. Griner, who plays professional basketball in Russia during the WNBA offseason, was arrested in February after Russian authorities found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. Her lawyers said Griner only uses cannabis medically and unintentionally packed the cannabis canisters in her suitcase because the professional athlete was in a hurry. Under Russian law, the charge carried a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/File PhotoMOSCOW, Oct 24 (Reuters) - U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner "does not expect miracles" at her appeal hearing on Tuesday against a nine-year Russian jail term for having cannabis oil in her luggage, her lawyers said in a statement. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"She is very nervous waiting for the appeal hearing. Brittney does not expect any miracles to happen but hopes that the appeal court will hear the arguments of the defense and reduce the term," they said. Griner pleaded guilty at her trial but said she had made an "honest mistake" and not meant to break the law. Washington says Griner was wrongfully detained and has offered to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States.

Biden sat down in the Oval Office with Cherelle Griner, wife of women's basketball star Brittney Griner, and Elizabeth Whelan, sister of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. Biden conducted the separate meetings to assure the families that the detainees "are at front of mind," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. The United States in late July said it has put forward a "substantial offer" to secure the release of the two Americans. Last month, Russia's foreign ministry said it was engaged in "quiet diplomacy" with the United States about a potential prisoner swap that could include Griner and Whelan. Washington has offered to exchange Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout for Griner and Whelan, sources familiar with the situation have told Reuters.

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