DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, denies the espionage charges. When asked by the judge if he needed translation, Gershkovich said in Russian that he understood everything. The Kremlin has said Gershkovich, the first U.S. journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War, was caught "red-handed". "He is reading a lot in prison - Russian literature in the original Russian," Nozhkina told Reuters, adding that he was reading Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece "War and Peace" about the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Asked about the prison food, Nozhkina said Gershkovich was being given porridge in the mornings and that the food was normal.

CNN —A Moscow court has fined the Wikimedia Foundation for refusing to remove an article on Russian-language Wikipedia called “The Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia region,” according to state media. The foundation — which owns Wikipedia, a site with pages in around 300 languages, including Russian — has been fined 2 million rubles ($24,500), Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported Thursday. The court documents allege that Wikimedia refused to remove “material” about the hostilities “within the framework of the special military operation” in Ukraine and about the country’s Zaporizhzhia region becoming part of Russia, TASS said. Wikimedia had also been fined in Russia last week and in February, TASS reported. Asked about the possibility of shutting down the website in the country, the Kremlin said last week that a Russian alternative needed to be developed first.

☆ Viktor Bout, the 'Merchant of Death' arms dealer exchanged for Brittney Griner, says he fears for Trump's life and urged him to flee to Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed the "Merchant of Death," is asking Trump to flee to Russia. He sent Trump a telegram, warning him to escape charges in New York and that his "life is in peril." Bout said Trump would find "safe haven" in Russia, where he could rebel against "globalists." They would sooner end your life than let you stand in their way," Bout's message read, Russian state media first reported. A photo of Bout's telegram, posted by Russian state media on the messaging app Telegram, shows the message was addressed to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

☆ Russia Could Consider Swap for WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich After Trial Ends
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Ann M. Simmons | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia could consider the possibility of a prisoner exchange for jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich only after a Russian court renders a verdict on an espionage allegation against the 31-year-old American, according to a senior Russian official. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state news agency TASS on Thursday that “the issue of exchanging anyone can be considered after the court issues its verdict specifically on a particular charge,” he said.

☆ In Russian Courts, Secret Trials and Near-Certain Convictions Await Accused Spies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Alan Cullison | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—As Moscow prosecutors prepare an espionage case against jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, lawyers with experience in the Russian judicial process predict a journey through a justice system with the familiar features of Western courts but little of their substance. Like in the U.S. and other Western legal systems, Mr. Gershkovich is guaranteed a defense lawyer in Russia. But in practice, there is no promise of when his lawyer will be allowed to talk to him. When they do talk, their conversations will be closely monitored, say experts who track legal developments in Russia.

☆ Analysis: Russia's arrest of reporter deepens Biden's detainee challenge
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Simon Lewis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/4] Reporter for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, detained on suspicion of espionage, leaves a court building in Moscow, Russia March 30, 2023. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a news briefing on Thursday the Whelan and Gershkovich cases should not be compared. Russia's security service has, without providing evidence, accused Gershkovich of gathering information classified as a state secret about a military factory. Biden on Friday called on Russia to release Gershkovich. The Biden administration has secured the release of at least 25 "wrongfully detained" Americans.

☆ Russian Court Orders Wall Street Journal Reporter to Be Held in Custody
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Daniel Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who has been detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service. Russia’s main security agency said Thursday it had detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich for what it described as espionage. Mr. Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen and member of the Journal’s Moscow bureau, was detained in the city of Yekaterinburg, around 880 miles east of Moscow, on Wednesday while on a reporting trip.

☆ Russian court freezes all Volkswagen assets in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, March 20 (Reuters) - A Russian court on Monday froze all Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) assets in Russia, court documents seen by Reuters showed. Volkswagen was one of a string of foreign carmakers that suspended operations in Russia after western countries imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine. Russian auto manufacturer GAZ, which was contracted to produce Volkswagen vehicles at its factory in Nizhny Novgorod, had sued the German carmaker for breach of contract after Volkswagen terminated the agreement in August. GAZ estimated its losses from the terminated contract at almost 16 billion roubles ($207.79 million). Volkswagen is attempting to sell its flagship Russian factory in Kaluga, south of Moscow.

☆ Wagner’s convicts tell of horrors of Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

They are identified as pardoned former convicts, returned from the front in Ukraine after joining Wagner from prison. Four of the men said they were personally recruited by Yevgeny Prigozhin as he toured Russia’s prison system to bolster his private army. I wish all real men would join Wagner.”The war in Ukraine is straining Russia’s military capacity. One of the convict recruits told Reuters he travelled to a Wagner training camp in the Russian-controlled part of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region. According to the United States, by mid-February Wagner had suffered more than 30,000 casualties in Ukraine, including 9,000 dead, almost all of them convicts.

☆ Russia convicted a soldier who admitted killing a civilian in Ukraine — not for killing anyone but for spreading illegal 'fake news'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian court sentenced a soldier after he confessed to killing a civilian in Ukraine. Daniil Frolkin was tried under Russia's "fake news" law, which outlaws claiming that Russia is committing atrocities. Daniil Frolkin was given a suspended sentence in a military court in Khabarovsk, in eastern Russia, according to the news site Siberia.Realities, an affiliate of Radio Free Europe. In June, Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General announced Frolkin was suspected of killing a civilian there — something that Frolkin initially denied. It outlaws contradicting the Kremlin's official version of events in the war — in which Russia commits no atrocities and stringently avoids harming civilians.

☆ Critical for Kazakhstan to pursue oil export options outside of Russia, investor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Kazakhstan's ability to diversify its seaborne crude oil export routes away from Russian territory is critical to the country's economy, the developer of an alternative port told CNBC. Once complete, the port could provide an alternative to Kazakhstan's main seaborne crude oil export route, which currently transports volumes across Russian territory via the 1,511-kilometer (939-mile) Caspian Pipeline Corporation's pipeline, for later shipment from the CPC terminal near Russian port Novorossiysk. Exports from the CPC terminal were intermittently disrupted in 2022, with Russia citing technical and regulatory issues. "Approximately 95% of oil is going through Russian territory, and we have seen some disturbance last year, and actually … it's quite a threat to the Kazakhstan economy, because we are depending on the oil revenues," Marabayev told CNBC on Wednesday. ExxonMobil's after-tax earnings linked to its Kazakh interests were roughly $2.5 billion in 2022.

☆ Russian court fines Wikipedia over military 'misinformation'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 28 (Reuters) - The Wikimedia Foundation was fined 2 million roubles ($27,000) by a Russian court on Tuesday after the authorities accused it of failing to delete "misinformation" about the Russian military from Wikipedia, the courts service said. Wikimedia, which owns Wikipedia, was already fined last year after it failed to delete two articles related to the war, including one on "evaluations of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine". The latest fine was imposed after the authorities accused Wikipedia of "spreading misinformation" in articles about Russian military units, Wikimedia Russia said. "So far, in the history of courts in Russia, Wikipedia has only had one successful experience of appealing court verdicts," the head of the foundation's Russian chapter, Stanislav Kozlovskiy, told Reuters. ($1 = 74.72 roubles)Reporting by Filipp Lebedev; Writing by Caleb Davis; Editing by Kevin LiffeyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russian court orders Glencore unit to pay up in Sberbank row
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company's headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, September 30, 2015. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannSummarySummary Companies This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in UkraineMOSCOW, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A Russian arbitration court said it has ordered a subsidiary of Swiss commodities trader Glencore (GLEN.L) to pay about 118 million euros ($125 million) to Russian state lender Sberbank (SBER.MM) amid a row over unpaid oil supplies. Sberbank took legal action against Glencore Energy UK Ltd last year after it alleged the company did not pay for two oil consignments supplied by a subsidiary of Sberbank in March due to sanctions. Glencore declined to comment on the court's ruling, which was issued on Feb. 21 but made public on Thursday. ($1 = 0.9433 euros)Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russian court hands down first sabotage verdict since start or Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 21 (Reuters) - A Russian court sentenced two defendants to three-and-a-half years in a strict regime colony for plotting to sabotage the railway in a region bordering Ukraine, the first convictions for sabotage since Russia's invasion, media reported on Tuesday. Their convictions were the first based on the "Sabotage" Article 231 of the Russian Criminal Code since the start of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, the news agency said. Ukraine and its allies say Russia's military intervention in its neighbour, launched on Feb. 24 last year, is an imperialistic land-grab. There have been several sabotage incidents against Russian railways and other facilities, especially in regions bordering Ukraine, such as Belgorod and Bryansk, according to the British Ministry of Defence. The ministry said in an October report that with the Russian military primarily relaying on rail transport, which often passes through isolated areas, meaning "the system is extremely challenging to secure against physical threats".

☆ U.S. woman detained in Russia after walking calf on Red Square
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. woman was detained and fined by a Russian court on Wednesday for walking a calf on Moscow's Red Square that she said she had bought to save from slaughter, Russian state media reported. Alicia Day, 34, was fined 20,000 roubles ($285) for obstructing pedestrians in an unauthorised protest and sentenced to 13 days of "administrative arrest" on a separate charge of disobeying police orders. "I bought the calf so that it wouldn't be eaten," TASS news agency quoted her as saying. Video shared by state media showed Day explaining that she had got a driver to bring the calf to Red Square by car. ($1 = 70.15 roubles)Reporting by Caleb Davis Editing by Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russian court fines Amazon's Twitch $57,000 over Ukraine content
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 31 (Reuters) - A Russian court on Tuesday fined streaming service Twitch 4 million roubles ($57,000) for failing to remove what it said were "fakes" about Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported. Twitch, which is owned by Amazon (AMZN.O), did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moscow has long objected to foreign tech platforms' distribution of content that falls foul of its restrictions, with Russian courts regularly imposing penalties. ($1 = 70.3200 roubles)Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A Russian graveyard reveals Wagner’s prisoner army
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +18 min

The resting places were adorned with simple wooden crosses and brightly coloured wreaths that bore the insignia of Russia’s Wagner Group - a feared and secretive private army. The news agency matched the names of at least 39 of the dead here and at three other nearby cemeteries to Russian court records, publicly available databases and social media accounts. He said gravediggers told him the bodies had come from the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, close to Russia’s border with Donetsk region. According to Russian court documents, Kochas and another man burst into the apartment of an acquaintance while drunk in an attempted robbery. But he refused, so he’s a fool.”A Russian graveyard reveals Wagner’s prisoner army By Felix Light and Filipp Lebedev in Tbilisi and Reade Levinson in London Photo editing: Simon Newman Graphics: Fielding Cage Art direction: Eve Watling Edited by Janet McBride

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday stepped up sanctions against the Wagner Group, labeling the Russian mercenary company fighting in Ukraine as a transnational criminal organization responsible for widespread human rights abuses. The U.S. Treasury Department, as part of action targeting dozens of people and entities in an effort to degrade Russia's ability to wage the war, said it designated Wagner Group as a "significant transnational criminal organization" on Thursday. It had previously designated Wagner under its Russia and Ukraine sanctions programs. "These images were gathered in order to enable Wagner combat operations in Ukraine," Treasury said. He said the United States assesses Wagner has about 50,000 personnel deployed to Ukraine, including 40,000 convicts recruited from Russian prisons.

LONDON/WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A Russian hacking team known as Cold River targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the United States this past summer, according to internet records reviewed by Reuters and five cyber security experts. Cold River has escalated its hacking campaign against Kyiv's allies since the invasion of Ukraine, according to cybersecurity researchers and western government officials. 'INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION'In May, Cold River broke into and leaked emails belonging to the former head of Britain's MI6 spy service. Reuters was unable independently to confirm why Cold River targeted the NGOs. "Google has tied this individual to the Russian hacking group Cold River and their early operations," he said.

☆ Why Linde shares dropped so much this week but why we still like it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's been a tough start to 2023 for shareholders of Linde (LIN). Russia freezing Linde assets First off, while U.S. markets were closed to observe the New Year holiday, Reuters reported Monday that a Russian court froze about $488 million of Linde assets. The legal action was at the request of a Russian joint venture that Linde stopped working on. Long story short, Linde was prepaid $1.8 billion for work on a project, and Russian energy giant Gazprom is suing Linde to get that money back. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Linde suspended business in Russia and announced plans to scale back operations.

☆ Russia freezes Linde assets worth $488 mln
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

RusKhimAlyans, the joint venture which is 50% owned by Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM), asked the Court of Arbitration of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region to freeze Linde assets worth 35 billion roubles ($488 million) as a preventative measure. In 2021, Linde and Renaissance Heavy Industries signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Gazprom and its partners for the Ust-Luga gas complex. Linde notified the customer in May and June 2022 that it had suspended work under the contract due to European Union sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. RusKhimAlyans intends to apply to the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre to recover advance payment and losses worth around 972 million euros ($1 billion) and 7.6 billion roubles, according to the court filings. ($1 = 71.7830 roubles)($1 = 0.9360 euros)Reporting by Reuters Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ California woman deported from Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Sarah Krivanek, a U.S. citizen ordered deported by a Russian court over a domestic dispute, has left Russia. While aboard a plane about to leave Moscow’s airport late on Thursday, she said she was flying to Los Angeles via Dubai. Her departure occurred on the same day as the release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap with Russia. Unlike Griner, Krivanek was not part of a prisoner swap. A court in the city of Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, ruled on Nov. 10 that Krivanek was to be deported.

WNBA star Brittney Griner arrived back in the United States early Friday after being freed from Russian custody, bringing a nearly yearlong ordeal to an end. Eric Gay / APIn earlier video, Russian media had showed Griner crossing paths with Bout after walking off a Russian plane in Abu Dhabi, where she was met by a U.S. official during the exchange. President Joe Biden, who said he approved the deal that saw Griner freed, said Thursday that she had been "held under intolerable circumstances." In a written statement Thursday night, the Griner family thanked Biden, his administration and others for their efforts. Whelan’s family said they had been told by the Biden administration in advance that he would not be part of the prisoner swap Thursday that freed Griner.

☆ U.S. citizen Sarah Krivanek deported from Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Sarah Krivanek, a U.S. citizen ordered deported by a Russian court over a domestic dispute, has left Russia, Krivanek said while aboard a plane about to leave Moscow's Domodedovo airport late on Thursday. Krivanek said she was flying to Los Angeles via Dubai. The airport's website showed the aircraft had departed. (This story has been corrected to change the name in the headline to Krivanek instead of "Kirvanek")Reporting by Ronald Popeski; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Paul Whelan, ex-U.S. Marine jailed in Russia on spying charges
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Here are some facts about Whelan:- Whelan was detained by agents from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in a room in Moscow's Metropol Hotel, near the Kremlin, on Dec. 28, 2018. - Whelan said he had been in Russia for a friend's wedding and had been given the drive in a sting by a Russian friend. - Whelan served with the Marine Corps Reserve from 2003-2008, much of the time as an administrative clerk in Iraq. - At the time of his arrest, Whelan was head of global security for BorgWarner, a Michigan car parts supplier. - Last November, a Russian court rejected his request to be allowed to serve his sentence in the United States.

Search resuls for: "Russian Court"

25 mentions found