South China Morning Post - Russia & Central Asia

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny plans to return to Russia on Sunday after poisoning attack

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 10:03:33 GMT

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday he planned to return to the country on Sunday from Germany, where was recovering from a poisoning attack, despite facing a threat of jail.The 44-year-old Kremlin critic wrote on Instagram that he had booked a flight that will arrive in Russia on January 17.“There was never any question of ‘returning or not’ for me. Simply because I didn’t leave. I ended up in Germany … for one reason: they tried to kill me,” the anti-corruption…

Kyrgyz nationalist Sadyr Japarov wins landslide victory in presidential poll

Sun, 10 Jan 2021 15:43:32 GMT

Nationalist politician Sadyr Japarov won a landslide victory on Sunday in Kyrgyzstan’s snap presidential election, which was triggered by the collapse of the previous government.Japarov has won almost 80 per cent of the vote in the Central Asian nation which is closely allied with Russia, preliminary results cited by Kyrgyzstan’s Central Election Commission showed, meaning there will be no run-off.More than 80 per cent of voters have also supported a proposal to reform the constitution to give…

Young woolly rhino found almost perfectly preserved in the Siberia permafrost

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 19:17:56 GMT

Alexei Savvin, a local resident, stumbled upon an unprecedented find walking near the Tirekhtyakh River in Yakutia, Siberia last August: an almost perfectly preserved woolly rhino carcass.Most of the rhino's hooves, teeth and internal organs were still intact. The animal still had some of its thick, fur coat, and researchers even found its horn, which had broken off but lay nearby.After analysing the carcass, Siberian scientists announced on Tuesday that the rhino likely lived between 20,000…

China blasts Nato with British aircraft carrier ‘heading to South China Sea’

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 13:26:09 GMT

China said it would take necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty as it warned against the British navy dispatching warships to the disputed South China Sea.The remarks were made in response to expectations that Britain’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, will be deployed to the Pacific region, including the contentious sea, for its first operational mission.“The Chinese side believes that the South China Sea should not become a sea of great power rivalry dominated by weapons…

US intel on China bounties called ‘less’ credible than Russia payments

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 02:26:45 GMT

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Lara Seligman on politico.com on December 30, 2020.Allegations that China secretly offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill US troops are “less” credible than previous intelligence reports indicating that Russia embarked on a similar operation, according to a senior US official.National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien briefed President Donald Trump on the unconfirmed allegations on December 17,…

Russian rebel monk charged with inciting suicidal acts

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 04:07:00 GMT

Russian riot police stormed into a monastery Tuesday to detain a rebel monk who has castigated the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church leadership and denied the existence of the coronavirus.In the overnight showdown, police clashed with the priest’s supporters at the Sredneuralsk monastery outside Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.The monk, Father Sergiy, was quickly flown to Moscow, where a court approved his arrest. Authorities charged him with inciting suicidal actions through sermons…

China and Russia don’t need a military alliance, says Moscow’s ambassador

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 19:00:15 GMT

China and Russia do not need to establish a military alliance because their relationship is strong enough already, the Russian ambassador to Beijing has said.“Russian-Chinese cooperation has gone beyond a traditional alliance in many areas,” Russian ambassador Andrey Denisov told reporters at the embassy on Tuesday.In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin, when asked about a possible alliance, replied: “We have not set that goal for ourselves. But, in principle, we are not going to rule it…

Coronavirus: Russia admits to world’s third-worst death toll, saying fatalities are three ...

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 18:51:48 GMT

Russia on Monday said its coronavirus death toll was more than three times higher than it had previously reported, making it the country with the third-largest number of fatalities.For months President Vladimir Putin has boasted about Russia’s low fatality rate from the virus, saying earlier this month that it had done a “better” job at managing the pandemic than Western countries.But since early in the pandemic, some Russian experts have said the government was playing down the country’s…

‘Coronavirus-free’ Turkmenistan’s president claims licorice can cure Covid-19

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 13:00:14 GMT

Well-known for his baffling botanical pronouncements, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov claimed on Saturday that licorice could cure coronavirus, the latest supposed miracle treatment in a country still claiming zero cases.“Scientists from every country are looking for effective cures, running various studies, and one of them could be licorice root,” the leader of the authoritarian ex-Soviet country told ministers.Without citing any scientific evidence, former dentist…

Notorious British-Soviet double agent George Blake dies in Russia at 98

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 12:18:02 GMT

George Blake, who died in Russia on Saturday at the age of 98, was the last in a line of British spies whose secret work for the Soviet Union humiliated the intelligence establishment when it was discovered at the height of the Cold War.Britain says he exposed the identities of hundreds of Western agents across eastern Europe in the 1950s, some of whom were executed as a result of his treason.His case was among the most notorious of the Cold War, alongside those of a separate ring of British…

Coronavirus: Russia tops 3 million infections, approves Sputnik V vaccine for elderly use

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 10:07:28 GMT

Russia on Saturday passed three million confirmed coronavirus infections, as authorities hold out against reimposing a national lockdown while the country is battered by a second wave.Official figures showed that a total of 3,021,964 cases have been detected, with 54,226 deaths.In the past 24 hours, 29,258 new infections and 567 deaths were registered in Russia, fourth on the list of hardest-hit countries worldwide.Since winter began, each week has brought records for new cases and deaths, with…

Russia launches criminal case against ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 20:48:40 GMT

Russia launched a criminal case on Friday against Lyubov Sobol, an ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, over accusations she had violently entered a flat that her supporters said was linked to a secret agent involved in plot to kill Navalny.The move against Sobol is the latest in a clampdown on the Kremlin’s opponents before next year’s parliamentary election. Sobol aims to run for office, although outspoken critics of the Kremlin are often prevented from standing.Sobol was detained for 48…

Russian historian Oleg Sokolov gets 12.5 years in jail for dismembering student lover

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 14:22:15 GMT

A Russian court sentenced a distinguished historian known for re-enacting Napoleonic battle scenes to 12.5 years in jail on Friday after convicting him of the murder of his young student lover, whom he dismembered.Oleg Sokolov, 64, a former history professor at St Petersburg State University, was found in a river in November last year with a bag containing the severed arms of Anastasia Yeshchenko, a 24-year-old postgraduate.Sokolov pleaded guilty to her murder, but told the court it had not…

Russia to launch own TikTok developed with Vladimir Putin’s alleged daughter

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 18:54:52 GMT

Russia’s leading media holding, which is controlled by state energy giant Gazprom, will launch an app similar to the video-sharing social network TikTok, the group’s CEO said Wednesday.The Kommersant business daily cited Gazprom-Media CEO Alexander Zharov as saying the holding had bought a service called “Ya Molodets” (“I am great”).Zharov said the app was developed with the support of the Innopraktika foundation, an organisation run by Katerina Tikhonova – one of President Vladimir Putin’s…

Russia expecting ‘nothing good’ from US under Joe Biden administration

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 13:50:22 GMT

With less than a month before Joe Biden moves into the White House, Moscow on Wednesday accused the incoming US administration of “Russophobia” after the president-elect promised to punish Russia for a major cyberattack.Biden is expected to take a tougher stance against Russia than Donald Trump, whose ascent to the US presidency in 2016 was plagued by accusations of Russian interference to boost his campaign.Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the last leaders to congratulate Biden on…

Alexei Navalny says Russian agent put poison in his underwear in murder plot

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 17:12:16 GMT

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny claimed on Monday he had tricked a security agent into admitting the FSB domestic intelligence agency sought to kill him this summer and placed poison into his underwear.In a bombshell blog post the Kremlin critic said he called a man called Konstantin Kudryavtsev, claiming he was a chemical weapons expert with the Federal Security Service (FSB).“I called my killer. He confessed everything,” Navalny said on Twitter.Navalny said he disguised his phone…

Global impact of suspected Russian cyberattack revealed

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 05:03:15 GMT

At least 200 organisations, including government agencies and companies around the world, have been hacked as part of a suspected Russian cyberattack that implanted malicious code in widely used software, said a cybersecurity firm and three people familiar with ongoing investigations.The number of actual hacking victims has been one of many unanswered questions surrounding the cyberattack, which used a back door in SolarWinds’ Orion network management software as a staging ground for further…

Edward Snowden: biography, spy career, life in exile from Hong Kong to Russia

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 00:26:05 GMT

Edward Snowden, an American contract employee at the National Security Agency, is the whistle-blower behind significant revelations that surfaced in June 2013 about the US government’s top secret, extensive domestic surveillance programmes. Snowden flew to Hong Kong from Hawaii in May 2013, and supplied confidential US government information to media outlets including South China Morning Post, before fleeing to Russia. Here’s what we know about him. Biography Edward Joseph Snowden was born on…

Joe Biden’s chief of staff says response to Russia hacking will go beyond ‘just sanctions’

Sun, 20 Dec 2020 23:22:49 GMT

The incoming White House chief of staff said on Sunday that President-elect Joe Biden’s response to the massive hacking campaign uncovered last week would go beyond sanctions.Ron Klain said Biden was mapping out ways to retaliate against the suspected Russian hackers who have penetrated half a dozen US government agencies and left thousands of American companies exposed.“It’s not just sanctions. It’s steps and things we could do to degrade the capacity of foreign actors to engage in this sort…

Nine killed and a dozen wounded in Kabul car bomb attack targeting Afghan MP

Sun, 20 Dec 2020 17:29:08 GMT

A car bomb targeting an Afghan politician killed nine people and wounded more than a dozen in Kabul on Sunday, officials said, the latest attack to rock the capital.Kabul has been hit by a wave of deadly violence in recent months despite the Taliban and government engaging in peace talks to end the country’s long conflict.Sunday’s bombing targeted parliamentarian Khan Mohammad Wardak who was injured in the attack, officials said.“Nine people were killed and 20 others were wounded in the car…