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Authorities have detained nearly 20,000 people for anti-war activity and opened over 800 criminal cases against anti-war dissidents, according to the OVD-Info rights group. Skochilenko replaced price tags in a supermarket in her native St Petersburg on March 31 2022 with five small pieces of paper urging an end to the war. "Even you, your honour (the judge), even you, the state prosecutor, you also don’t want people to die prematurely, for young soldiers to lie in the fields, for civilians to die." Copies of the imitation price tags produced by Skochilenko are on display on a website maintained by her supporters. Another alleges Russia was sending conscripts to fight in Ukraine, which Russia has also denied.

Persons: Alexandra, Sasha, Skochilenko, Alexandra Skochilenko, Moscow's, Vladimir Putin, Alexander Gladyshev, Putin, Andrew Osborn, Mark Trevelyan, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Authorities, Moscow, Wednesday, Amnesty, NATO, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Russian, St Petersburg, Mariupol, Moscow

☆ Lawyers Seek Release of Russian Artist Who Staged Anti-War Price Tag Protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +4 min

Critics say it is part of a crackdown on anyone who speaks out against Moscow's "special military operation". Authorities have detained nearly 20,000 people for anti-war activity and opened over 800 criminal cases against anti-war dissidents, according to the OVD-Info rights group. The justice ministry has designated the rights group a "foreign agent" and its website is blocked in Russia. Copies of the imitation price tags produced by Skochilenko are on display on a website maintained by her supporters. Another alleges Russia was sending conscripts to fight in Ukraine, which Russia has also denied.

Persons: Andrew Osborn, Alexandra Skochilenko, Sasha, Moscow's, Vladimir Putin, Skochilenko, Alexander Gladyshev, Putin, Mark Trevelyan, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Authorities, Moscow, Wednesday, Amnesty, NATO, Reuters Locations: Russian, Ukraine, St Petersburg, Russia, Mariupol, Moscow

☆ Ordinary Russians Feel Wrath of Putin’s Repression
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Ann M. Simmons | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Authorities in Novosibirsk fined a woman 15,000 rubles around the same time for tearing down a poster exalting Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. In St. Petersburg, a man was briefly detained in September for holding a poster reading, “Wishing for peace is not a crime! In August, the police had briefly detained Belsky after he hoisted a poster in the same location reading, “Russia is tired of corruption, repression and propaganda! “In Russia, people are imprisoned for simply wanting peace,” said Belsky, a 34-year-old specialist in decorative restoration. “I don’t think it’s a crime to want peace.” The police warning has scared Belsky from staging any further protests.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Artyom Belsky, Belsky, ” Organizations: United Nations Locations: Siberia, Novosibirsk, Ukraine, St . Petersburg, Russia, Kazan

☆ Family in ‘Take Care of Maya’ Documentary Is Awarded $261 Million
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Christine Hauser | More About Christine Hauser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A jury in Florida ordered a hospital to pay $261 million in damages to a family after the parents were accused of abusing their daughter and barred from seeing her during months of treatment. Their story was chronicled in the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya.”Jurors in Florida’s 12th Judicial Circuit in Sarasota County found against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, court documents issued Thursday show, ordering $211 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages for false imprisonment, battery, medical negligence and other charges. Damages were awarded for infliction of emotional distress on the daughter in question, Maya Kowalski, and her mother, Beata Kowalski, who died by suicide in 2017. Maya’s father, Jack Kowalski, was named as a plaintiff in the case representing Maya and his wife’s estate, court documents showed. “For the first time, I feel like I got justice,” Maya Kowalski, now 17, said in a statement to reporters outside of the courtroom after the decision.

Persons: Johns, Maya Kowalski, Beata Kowalski, Maya’s, Jack Kowalski, ” Maya Kowalski Organizations: Netflix, Johns Hopkins, Children’s Locations: Florida, Florida’s, Sarasota County, St . Petersburg

☆ Billionaire FBI informant Peter Thiel dished about two Kremlin invites to private Putin meetings
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | Hans-Martin Tillack | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

It was Angermayer who introduced Bisslinger to Thiel at the party, Thiel would later tell the FBI. After some small talk, Bisslinger made a pitch to Thiel: Thiel should travel to Russia to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. If Thiel chose to attend, Bisslinger said, Bisslinger would arrange for him to meet privately with Putin. "Even if Mr. Angermayer did introduce Mr. Thiel and Mr. Bisslinger," the lawyers wrote in another letter, "Mr. Angermayer is not—and cannot be—responsible for whatever Mr. Bisslinger and Mr. Thiel may or may not have discussed." At his 40th birthday, he connected Peter Thiel with a Russian diplomat, Thiel later told the FBI.

Persons: Peter Thiel, Christian Angermayer, Thiel, Daniil Bisslinger, Bisslinger, Vladimir Putin's, Angermayer, Putin, Maksim Konstantinov, —, Frank Figliuzzi, Vladimir Putin, — Charles Johnson —, Johnathan Buma, Johnson, Welt, Dmitry Peskov, John Lamparski, Donald Trump, — Thiel, Der Spiegel, he'd, Elon Musk, Musk, Thiel —, he's, Palantir, He's, Uma Thurman, Robbie Williams, Queen Latifah, Paul Kagame, Dan McCrum, John Kerry, Richard Grenell, Kerry, Sensei Biotherapeutics, Trump, Dmitry Medvedev, Medvedev, Maureen Dowd, Alexander Schütz, Eva Schütz, Schütz, — Heinz, Christian Strache, Markus Braun, Jan Marsalek, Marsalek, Caroline Haskins, Katherine Long, Jack Newsham, Mattathias Schwartz, Hans, Martin Tillack Organizations: Kremlin, Tech, Pentagon, CIA, Facebook, SpaceX, Kremlin's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Embassy, Thiel, St ., Economic, Getty, FBI, Atlantic, Bisslinger, Germany, Elon, Russia, NSA, US Special Operations Command, National Health Service, Apeiron Investment, Munich Security, intel, Trump, State Department, Angermayer's, PayPal, Nasdaq, Sciences, The New York Times, Deutsche Bank, Welt Locations: Silicon Valley, Schloss Neuwaldegg, Vienna, Silicon, Moscow, Russian, Berlin, Russia, St, St . Petersburg, Petersburg, Ukraine, Europe, Germany, NATO, Crimea, Ukrainian, Sevastopol, Palantir, Washington, Rwanda, Baltic, Belarus, Iran, Angermayer's Malta, Munich, China, China's, Austrian, Austria, Exxpress, Wirecard, schwartz79@protonmail.com

☆ Private jets of Russian oligarchs keep flying but not to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Gleb Stolyarov | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

A view shows the Boeing 737-700 BBJ (plane number RA-73890) private aircraft on the tarmac of the Pulkovo International Airport in Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 14, 2023. The Boeing linked to Yevtushenkov was among at least 50 private jets re-registered under the Russian flag since the February 2022 invasion, according to previously unreported national aircraft registry data up to early August reviewed by Reuters. Several of the repatriated private jets were associated with prominent politicians and business figures, according to two senior Russian aviation industry sources, who were not authorised to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. Because of sanctions, Russian planes are prohibited from entering the 27-country European Union, where Russia's oligarchs previously flew frequently for business and leisure and where many private jets linked to them were registered before the war, tail numbers show. VEB, Uralkali and Mazepin did not respond to requests for comment on the registration of the jets in Russia.

Persons: Luba, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Yevtushenkov, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Mazepin, Putin, Igor Shuvalov, Mazepin, Gleb Stolyarov, Mike Collett, White, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: Boeing, Pulkovo, REUTERS, Soviet, Reuters, Sistema, Ministry, Transport, JETS, Russian, Union, Bombardier Challenger, Uralkali, Bombardier, VEB.RF, VEB, EU, United Arab, Thomson Locations: Saint Petersburg, Russia, Riviera, Belarus, oligarch, Ukraine, Turkey, Dubai, China, Russian, Maldives, Seychelles, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Yevtushenkov, United Kingdom, Aruba, of, Uralkali, UAE, Prague, Bishkek, States, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Latvia, Britain, Oman, Soviet

Democrats won full control of the General Assembly despite losing in key swing districts. In this year’s election, Republican candidates prevailed in three of the four Biden-Youngkin state Senate districts and in at least seven of 11 Biden-Youngkin state House districts. There were 20 Senate districts and 48 House districts carried by both Biden in 2020 and McAuliffe in 2021. Democrats won all of them Tuesday, averaging 67% of the vote in Senate districts and 76% in House districts. In comparison, there were 16 Senate districts and 41 House districts carried by both Trump and Youngkin.

Persons: Republican Glenn Youngkin’s, Terry McAuliffe, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Biden, Youngkin, Donald Trump's, McAuliffe, –, Siobhan Dunnavant, Monty Mason, Matt Fariss, Karen Greenhalgh, Del, Kim Taylor Organizations: WASHINGTON, Democrats, Republicans, Republican, Biden, Associated Press, Hampton Roads, Youngkin, Trump, Democratic, House, AP Locations: Virginia, Youngkin, Petersburg, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Hampton, District, Williamsburg

☆ Russian Artist Who Staged Anti-War Supermarket Protest Faces Eight Years in Jail
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

(Reuters) - State prosecutors in St Petersburg on Wednesday asked a judge to jail a female artist for eight years after she staged a protest against Russia's war in Ukraine by replacing supermarket price tags with calls to stop the conflict. Alexandra Skochilenko, 33, carried out the protest on March 31 last year, replacing price tags with pieces of paper urging an end to the war. She was detained in April 2022 after a shopper complained about her action, which included displaying information about civilians allegedly killed in Russian shelling - something Moscow denied at the time - where supermarket prices would usually be. Skochilenko, who smiled from a courtroom cage on Wednesday, is being tried on the charge of spreading fake information about the Russian army, which is punishable by up to 10 years in jail. She denies her guilt and says her protest was purely a peaceful one.

Persons: Alexandra Skochilenko, Andrew Osborn, Guy Faulconbridge Organizations: Reuters, Wednesday Locations: St Petersburg, Ukraine, Moscow

☆ Finland Says It Has Informed Russia About Its Baltic Sea Gas Pipe Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland has informed Russia about its investigation into the damage on Oct. 7 to the subsea Balticconnector gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland, the Finnish foreign minister said on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told a news conference Russia has not asked for Finland's help in investigating the damage to a Russian telecommunications cable that happened on the same night. The anchor was later found near the pipeline and was retrieved by Finnish investigators. Investigators have yet to establish who was responsible for blowing up Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic last year. (Reporting by Anne Kauranen and Simon Johnson, writing by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik)

Persons: Elina Valtonen, Anne Kauranen, Simon Johnson, Anna Ringstrom, Terje Solsvik Organizations: Rostelecom, Hong Locations: HELSINKI, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Russian, St . Petersburg, Russia's Kaliningrad, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Baltic

A new version of the popular diabetes treatment Mounjaro can be sold as a weight-loss drug, U.S. regulators announced Wednesday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly's drug, named Zepbound. Zepbound is the latest diabetes drug approved for chronic weight management, joining Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, a high-dose version of its diabetes treatment Ozempic. Those with diabetes, who have a harder time losing weight, cut about 12%, or nearly 27 pounds (12 kilograms), the FDA said. Approved for weight loss in 2021, Wegovy helped people lose about 15% of their weight or 34 pounds (15 kilograms), according to study results.

Persons: Eli Lilly's, dieters, Zepbound, Wegovy, Fatima Cody Stanford, tirzepatide, pare, ”, Katherine Saunders, Eli Lilly, Mounjaro, Kelly Burns, Burns Organizations: U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, FDA, Massachusetts General Hospital, New York's Weill Cornell Medicine, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: U.S, Zepbound, Wegovy, Massachusetts, Boston, St . Petersburg , Florida

☆ Russian artist who staged anti-war supermarket protest faces eight years in jail
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Alexandra Skochilenko, 33, carried out the protest on March 31 last year, replacing price tags with pieces of paper urging an end to the war. She was detained in April 2022 after a shopper complained about her action, which included displaying information about civilians allegedly killed in Russian shelling - something Moscow denied at the time - where supermarket prices would usually be. Skochilenko, who smiled from a courtroom cage on Wednesday, is being tried on the charge of spreading fake information about the Russian army, which is punishable by up to 10 years in jail. She denies her guilt and says her protest was purely a peaceful one. Reporting by Andrew Osborn Editing by Guy FaulconbridgeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Alexandra, Sasha, Skochilenko, Alexandra Skochilenko, Andrew Osborn, Guy Faulconbridge Organizations: Wednesday, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Saint ., St Petersburg, Moscow

☆ Sberbank CEO expects 'serious cooling' in Russian mortgage market
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Elena Fabrichnaya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsMOSCOW, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Russia's biggest bank Sberbank (SBER.MM) expects a sharp cooling of the mortgage market following an expected 80% rise in mortgage lending this year, CEO German Gref said on Wednesday. Gref said the bank's mortgage issuance for the whole of 2023 was expected to reach 4.6 trillion roubles ($50.1 billion). VTB, Russia's number two bank, expects mortgage loans across the entire sector to total 7.2 trillion roubles this year, falling to between 5 and 5.5 trillion roubles in 2024. Vyacheslav Dusaleyev, head of retail business at Rosbank, gave corresponding forecasts of 7.3 trillion roubles this year and 5 trillion next year. Mortgage demand has remained buoyant in part because of the wide range of preferential offers available, according to the central bank.

Persons: Maxim, Gref, Sberbank, Vyacheslav Dusaleyev, Olga Polyakova, Elena Fabrichnaya, Mark Trevelyan, Christina Fincher Organizations: St ., Economic, REUTERS, Rights, Mortgage, Thomson Locations: St, St . Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Moscow, Rosbank

☆ Putin looks set to run for president in 2024 — and there's no one who can oppose him right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - SEPTEMBER 9: (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the concert marking the City Day on September 9, 2023 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images) Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly decided to run in the March 2024 presidential election and he's likely to win another six-year term in office, essentially because there's no one that can oppose him. Analysts say that the bitter truth in modern Russia is that there is no one who can oppose Putin, for now. In this pool image distributed by Sputnik agency, Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the regional head of Inigushetia in Moscow's Kremlin, on August 15, 2023. MOSCOW, RUSSIA - SEPTEMBER 9: (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the concert marking the City Day on September 9, 2023 in Moscow, Russia.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Sobyanin, he's, —, Vladimir Milov, Alexander Kazakov, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Alexei Navalny, Yulia Morozova, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Sergei Medvedev, Mikhail Svetlov, Medvedev, deigning, Prigozhin's Wagner, Wagner, Kirill Shamiev, Milov Organizations: Moscow's, Getty, Kremlin, Reuters, CNBC, Sputnik, AFP, Kremlin's, Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party, Russia, IK, Wagner Group, Analysts, Saint Petersburg, Economic, Prigozhin's Wagner Group, Anadolu Agency, European Council, Foreign Relations, Putin Locations: MOSCOW, RUSSIA, Moscow, Russia, Russian, Moscow's Kremlin, Ukraine, Vladimir, Iran, North Korea, SAINT PETERSBURG, Concord, Saint Petersburg, Belarus, Prigozhin, Russia's, Tver

☆ Mel Sembler, Developer and G.O.P. Fund-Raiser, Is Dead at 93
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Trip Gabriel | More About Trip Gabriel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mel Sembler, a gregarious developer and major Republican fund-raiser whose largess was repaid with prize ambassadorships by two presidents, and who founded a controversy-courting “tough love” drug rehabilitation program, died on Oct. 31 at his home in St. Petersburg, Fla. Mr. Sembler, who developed more than 350 shopping centers and other retail projects in the Southeast, was a sought-after fund-raiser for Republicans, capable of shaking the money tree for $11 million at a single dinner. establishment who had an open lane to power in the era before the rise of Donald J. Trump. Mr. Sembler was candid about the role of money in politics. “Money gives you a voice,” he told The Tampa Bay Times in 2019.

Persons: Mel Sembler, Brent, Sembler, Donald J, Trump, Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Bush, “, ” Organizations: Republican, Tampa Bay Times, “, acme, Supreme, Citizens Locations: St . Petersburg, Fla

Two other Baltic telecoms cables were damaged on the same night of Oct. 7 along the route that the ship was travelling, according to shipping data reviewed by Reuters. NewNew Shipping, the owner and operator of the NewNew Polar Bear, has previously declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. TRAIL OF DAMAGEIn total, three Baltic telecoms cables and one pipeline were damaged in the space of less than nine hours. Data from shipping intelligence firm MarineTraffic, reviewed by Reuters, showed that the NewNew Polar Bear passed over a Swedish-Estonian telecoms cable at 1513 GMT, then over the Russian cable at around 2020 GMT, the Balticconnector at 2220 GMT and a Finland-Estonia telecoms line at 2349 GMT. Finnish police announced on Oct. 24 that they had found a ship's anchor near the broken gas pipeline.

Persons: Anton Vaganov, Rostelecom, Vladimir Putin, Gasgrid, Mark Trevelyan, Nerijus Adomaitis, Anne Kauranen, Terje Solsvik, Bill Berkrot, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Rostelecom, St ., Economic, REUTERS, Reuters, NewNew Shipping, Kremlin, Communications Ministry, St, Thomson Locations: St, St . Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Baltic, Beijing, Ukraine, China, Swedish, Estonian, St Petersburg, Kaliningrad, London

☆ Russia's armored trains are a valuable tool with some big vulnerabilities
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Hope Seck | Sandboxx News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Russia has used armored trains for military purposes for more than a century. Russia's use of armored trains for transport, mine-clearing, and resupply, however, has drawn particular scrutiny and criticism. Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesHowever, as details have emerged about these new armored transport trains used in Ukraine, observers have expressed bemusement. A video by the YouTube channel EngineerReact summarizes the primary problems with train warfare in the 21st century, calling Russia's armored trains "a terrible idea." "That was probably the best use of [military trains] in an offensive operation, in combat, in the recent wars," he said.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, luxuriously, trainspotter, Maksim Konstantinov, Richard Killblane, Scott Sturkol Killblane, Killblane, Taji, Jerome Bishop The, it's, there's Organizations: Service, Red Army, Russo, Museum of Russian Railways, Getty, YouTube, Ukraine's Territorial Defence Force, Army Special Forces, Army Transportation School, Army, US Army, Jerome Bishop The US Army, 757th Expeditionary Railway Center Locations: Russia, Ukraine, United States, Japanese, Germany, Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Russian, St . Petersburg, McCoy, Wisconsin, Iraq, Mosul, Taji, Sadr

☆ Anti-Semitic riot in Russia's Dagestan leaves some local Jews shaken
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] A view of gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in the ancient city of Derbent on the Caspian Sea coast in the Caucasus region of Dagestan, Russia, November 2, 2023. With row after row of gravestones engraved with the Star of David or portraits and pictures of the dead, Derbent's Jewish cemetery gives an indication of how large this coastal city's Jewish population once was. One of a string of enclaves of so-called Mountain Jews that pepper both Russia's Caucasus and neighbouring Azerbaijan, Derbent's Jews still speak a dialect of Persian that evokes their hometown's rich history. Today there are barely 2,000 Jews still living in Dagestan, once home to 10 times that." Alexander Fedotov, who was visiting Derbent's Jewish cemetery with Zoya Solomonova, said he thought the airport riot had been planned by someone intent on spoiling ties between Russia and Israel.

Persons: Kazbek Basayev, Zoya Solomonova, Vladimir Putin, David, Derbent's, Derbent, Shneor Segal, Alexander Fedotov, Eduard Ilgiyaev, I've, I'm, Andrew Osborn, Felix Light, Daniel Wallis Organizations: REUTERS, West, Star, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Derbent, Caucasus, Dagestan, Russia, St Petersburg, Makhachkala, Tel Aviv, Gaza, Ukraine, Soviet Union, Israel, Moscow, Chechnya, Azerbaijan

☆ Ukraine has taken 17,000 Russians off the battlefield without firing a shot, US Army special-ops general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Russia has taken hundreds of thousands of casualties since attacking Ukraine last year. Thanks to its information operations, Kyiv has helped take 17,000 Russians off the battlefield without even firing a shot, according to the head of US Army Special Operations Command. "Messaging has played a huge role just in the tactical and operational sense" in Ukraine, Braga said at the Association of the US Army's annual conference in October. During the Cold War, the KGB used information operations as part of a larger "active measures" campaign to subvert the West and undermine NATO. In the US special-operations community, the Army's Psychological Operations Groups and the Civil Affairs Brigade do most of the work when it comes to information operations and shaping the narrative.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, Valya, Jonathan Braga, Braga, We've, You've, Arkady Budnitsky, " Braga, it's, Kyiv's Organizations: Service, Russian, US Army Special Operations Command, Navy, Getty, Association of, Anadolu Agency, Kremlin, NATO, Keyboard, US Army, Psychological, Groups, Civil Affairs Brigade, Army Special Forces Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Europe, Kyiv, St . Petersburg, Rostov, Mackall, North Carolina, China

REUTERS/Alexander Demianchuk/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCOPENHAGEN, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Carlsberg has cut all ties with its Russian business and refuses to enter a deal with Russia's government that would make its seizure of the assets look legitimate, the brewer's new CEO said on Tuesday. The Danish group had since last year attempted to sell its Baltika subsidiary in Russia, following in the footsteps of many other Western companies exiting Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. "There is no way around the fact that they have stolen our business in Russia, and we are not going to help them make that look legitimate," said Jacob Aarup-Andersen, who took over as CEO in September. Carlsberg had eight breweries and about 8,400 employees in Russia, and took a 9.9 billion Danish crown ($1.41 billion) write-down on Baltika last year. Earlier this month, Carlsberg retaliated by ending license agreements for its brands in Russia that have enabled Baltika to produce, market and sell all Carlsberg products in the country.

Persons: Alexander Demianchuk, Vladimir Putin, Jacob Aarup, Andersen, Aarup, We're, they're, Jacob Gronholt, Pedersen, Jan Harvey Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Carlsberg, Thomson Locations: St . Petersburg, Rights COPENHAGEN, Danish, Russia, Ukraine, Russian

☆ At Ballet Theater, a Thrilling Puck and a Moment to Take Stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Brian Seibert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Where “The Dream,” a Ballet Theater staple in recent decades, is a reliable showcase for the company’s theatricality, George Balanchine’s “Ballet Imperial,” on the same program, is good for displaying the troupe’s classical chops across its ranks. Unlike New York City Ballet, which has called the work “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2” since the 1970s, Ballet Theater doesn’t downplay the imperial Russian associations, using a backdrop of St. Petersburg. That’s a choice that might disturb some viewers, but Ballet Theater’s rendition also had aesthetic problems. De la Nuez goes for it, too.

Persons: George Balanchine’s, ”, That’s, Skylar Brandt, Isabella Boylston, James Whiteside, Alonzo King’s, Alexei Ratmansky’s “, Jason Moran, Robert Rosenwasser, Jim French, Brandt, Calvin Royal III, King, Michael de la, De la Nuez Organizations: Ballet, New York City Ballet, Dnipro ” Locations: St . Petersburg

☆ Russians struggle to keep alive memory of Stalin's victims
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

She was expelled to Uglich (about 740km from St Petersburg). "He was shot in Moscow, but as we all live in St. Petersburg, we have made this memorial plaque here. Yet for many Russians, Stalin's name still evokes the savage repression that culminated in the Great Terror of 1936-1938. The Big House is the nickname of the St Petersburg headquarters of Stalin's NKVD secret police, which later became that of the Soviet KGB and now the Russian FSB. It was to help people like Gerchikova that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial International was founded as the Soviet Union collapsed - to document Soviet political repression and help to rehabilitate its victims.

Persons: Anton Vaganov, Joseph Stalin's, Natalia Anafonova, Stalin, Vladimir Putin, Zinaida Gerchikova, I've, Gerchikova, Sergei Gorshvo, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, PETERSBURG, Big, St, Soviet KGB, Thomson Locations: Levashovo, Saint Petersburg, Russia, dribs, Soviet, Petersburg's, St Petersburg, Moscow, St . Petersburg, Russian, Soviet Union, Nazi, Ukraine, Sverdlovsk region

☆ A pro-Russian former Ukrainian lawmaker who was lined up to be Putin's puppet leader in Kyiv was shot in Crimea
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Tsaryov, 53, was shot in Crimea. He was thought to be in line to lead a puppet government for Vladimir Putin in Kyiv. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementA former Ukrainian lawmaker who was tipped to be in line to lead a puppet government in Ukraine for Russian President Vladimir Putin was shot in Crimea.

Persons: Oleg Tsaryov, Vladimir Putin, —, Oleg Tsaryov's, Oleg, Tsaryov, Stanislav Rzhitsky, Vladlen Tatarsky, I'm Organizations: The Security Service, Service, Kyiv, Putin, Financial Times, Reuters, CIA, Washington Post Locations: Crimea, Kyiv, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Russia, Russian, Krasnodar, St . Petersburg, Yalta

Last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision rescinding a five-decade-old right to abortion has reshaped American abortion policy, shifting power to states. Sales of abortion pills in 2022 were up 60%, according to Nikolay Bespalov, development director of the RNC Pharma analytical company. A recent Health Ministry decree restricted circulation of abortion pills, used to terminate pregnancies in the first trimester. Regional authorities have tried to get private clinics to stop offering abortions, with varying success. In Tatarstan, about a third of all private clinics no longer provide them, officials said.

Persons: heartened Dasha, Vladimir Putin, Yakovleva, ”, Michele Rivkin, rescinding, Putin, Mikhail Murashko, Nikolay Bespalov, Yekaterina Hivrich, Irina Fainman, Fainman, Pyotr Tolstoy, Irina Volynets, Lina Zharin, ” Natalya Moskvitina, Moskvitina, Olga Mindolina, Mindolina, Anastasia, “, Lyubov Organizations: Associated Press, Nationwide, Health Ministry, University of North, Supreme, Russian Orthodox Church, Health, AP, Authorities, Lahta Clinic, Conservative, Women Locations: TALLINN, Estonia, Kaliningrad, Russia, U.S, University of North Carolina, Last, Soviet Union, ” State, Ukraine, St . Petersburg, Karelia, Tatarstan, mulling, Chelyabinsk, Mordovia, Voronezh

☆ Russian court grants unspecified 'interim measures' as Baltika sues Carlsberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Barrels are seen at the museum of the Baltika brewery in St. Petersburg, October 12, 2014. REUTERS/Alexander Demianchuk/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMOSCOW, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A court in St Petersburg has imposed unspecified "interim measures" against Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) in favour of Baltika Breweries, court filings showed, after the Danish brewer stopped licensing its brands in Russia this month. The court filings provided no information other than that interim measures had been granted in a lawsuit filed on Oct. 17 by Baltika against Carlsberg. In another lawsuit filed on Sept. 25, before Carlsberg terminated the licence agreements, Baltika had asked a Russian court to prohibit Carlsberg from initiating legal proceedings in Denmark, citing the risk that Carlsberg could seek to remove Baltika's right to use certain trademarks. The court did not grant interim measures, but a hearing in that case is scheduled for Nov. 15.

Persons: Alexander Demianchuk, Vladimir Putin, Baltika, Alexander Marrow, Kevin Liffey Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Carlsberg, Baltika Breweries, Carlsberg Group, Baltika, Reuters, Thomson Locations: St . Petersburg, St Petersburg, Danish, Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Denmark

☆ Chinese, Russian vessels in vicinity of Baltic Sea links damage -vessel tracking data
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Nerijus Adomaitis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Early on Oct. 8, a gas pipeline and a telecoms cable connecting Finland and Estonia were broken, in what Finnish investigators say may have been deliberate sabotage. The ships are: the NewNew Polar Bear, a Chinese container ship travelling between China and Europe via the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic, and the Sevmorput, a nuclear-powered cargo vessel transiting between Murmansk and St. Petersburg. Based on vessel tracking data, Reuters matched the ships' path with the locations where the damage occurred at all three sites. The time the NewNew Polar Bear crossed the pipeline matches the time when Norwegian seismologists registered a small seismic event in the pipeline's vicinity. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed as "rubbish" the idea that Russia damaged the Finnish-Estonia gas pipeline.

Persons: Elisa, Vladimir Putin, Nerijus Adomaitis, Marie, Gwladys Fouche, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, NATO, Reuters, Estonian Navy, NewNew Shipping, Marie Mannes, Thomson Locations: Paldiski, Estonia, Handout, Rights OSLO, Russian, Gulf, Finland, Sweden, Stockholm, Tallinn, Baltic, Helsinki, Moscow, Beijing, MarineTraffic, China, Europe, Murmansk, St . Petersburg, Gulf of Finland, Swedish, Estonian, Russia, Finnish, Oslo

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