Europe's largest nuclear power plant on fire after Russian attack, says local mayor

BORODYANKA/LVIV, Ukraine—The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the largest of its kind in Europe, was on fire early on Friday after an attack by Russian troops, the mayor of the nearby town of Energodar said.

There has been fierce fighting between local forces and Russian troops, Dmytro Orlov said in an online post, adding that there had been casualties without giving details.

Earlier, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian troops were stepping up efforts to seize the plant and had entered the town with tanks.

"As a result of continuous enemy shelling of buildings and units of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire," Orlov said on his Telegram channel, citing what he called a threat to world security. He did not give details.

Reuters could not immediately verify the information, including the potential seriousness of any fire.

The invasion of Ukraine is entering its ninth day. Thousands are thought to have died or been wounded as the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two unfolds, creating 1 million refugees, hits to Russia's economy, and fears of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.

Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

On Thursday, the United States and Britain announced sanctions on more oligarchs, following on from EU measures, as they ratcheted up the pressure on the Kremlin.

Included was Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov, the founder of mining company Metalloinvest.

Visa restrictions will be imposed on 19 Russian oligarchs, their family members and associates, the White House said.

Sanctions have "had a profound impact already," said US President Joe Biden.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" that is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbor's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists. It denies targeting civilians.

-reuters-

Russia's coronavirus cases surge to 300,000 but WHO says situation is stabilizing

MOSCOW - Russia's coronavirus case tally, the second highest in the world, passed 300,000 on Wednesday, but a representative from the World Health Organization (WHO) said the situation was starting to stabilize.

Russia's 8,764 new novel coronavirus infections took the nationwide total to 308,705. But the daily increase was the lowest since May 1.

Only the United States has reported more cases than Russia, though the Russian death rate remains much lower than many other countries, something that has been queried by some critics and relatives of those who have died.

Russia says the way it counts deaths is more accurate than others however and has defended its approach.

The overall death toll edged up to 2,972 on Wednesday, with 135 new fatalities reported in the past 24 hours, the country's coronavirus response centre said.

Dr. Melita Vujnovich, the WHO's Russia representative, said Wednesday that she believed the situation had entered a stabilization phase, the TASS news agency cited her as saying.

In Moscow, Russia's worst hit-region now in its eighth week of a lockdown, citizens remain largely confined to their homes unless they obtain digital passes to make certain journeys.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday it was too soon to consider letting people out for walks or exercise.

-reuters-

Russia registers more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases

MOSCOW - Russia registered more than 10,000 new coronavirus infections on Friday, as Moscow unveils mass antibody testing and a national lockdown eases.

Health officials reported 10,598 new infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's total to 262,843, the second-highest in the world after the United States.

Russia says its high number of cases is due in part to a massive testing campaign that has seen more than six million tests carried out.

Moscow accounts for roughly half of all infections and the city said it would be launching mass voluntary tests for antibodies from Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week announced that a nationwide lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of the virus would be eased, even as health officials record a steady increase in new cases.

Despite its high number of cases, Russia's official coronavirus fatality rate is low in comparison to countries like the United States, Britain, Italy and Spain.

The country reported 113 new coronavirus deaths Friday, bringing Russia's total to 2,418.

Authorities say this is because Russia was able to learn lessons from the experiences of western Europe, moving quickly to isolate travellers and people at risk, and launch a vast campaign to test and quarantine those infected.

But critics have cast doubt on the figures, accusing the authorities of under-counting by blaming virus-related deaths on other causes.

Agence France-Presse

Russia registers record rise in coronavirus cases

MOSCOW - Russia on Thursday reported another record increase in coronavirus infections with more than 11,000 new cases as Moscow imposes new virus restrictions and ramps up testing.

A daily government tally of virus cases in the country saw 11,231 new infections in 24 hours, bringing Russia's total to 177,160.

Russia now ranks fourth in the overall number of reported virus cases in Europe and fifth in the world, according to an AFP tally.

The number of infections in Russia has been rising by more than 10,000 a day since Sunday, in contrast to countries in western Europe that are taking steps to ease lockdown measures.

Officials attribute the increase to mass testing and detecting asymptomatic cases not always counted in other countries.

Health officials said Thursday they had carried out more than 4.8 million tests.

Russia's mortality rate is low compared to European countries hit badly by the pandemic, with health officials registering 88 new deaths for a total of 1,625.

Moscow cites a series of measures taken early in the pandemic for its low mortality rate, including closing its borders and ordering the elderly and those at risk to self-isolate. But some say the discrepancy is due to how the death count is calculated.

According to official figures on Wednesday, Russia's death rate was just 0.9 percent, compared with Germany, which is lauded for its virus response, with a fatality rate of 4.2 percent.

Coronavirus cases have been registered in all of Russia's 85 regions with Moscow the epicentre of the pandemic where officials have registered 92,676 infections.

The capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Thursday that Muscovites will be required to wear masks and gloves on public transport as restrictions ease and some sectors return to work.

"We understand that the number of people moving on transport will increase, one way or another, the number of people communicating with each other will increase," he said on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

A non-working quarantine period is in place in Russia until May 11, but Sobyanin has said that stay-at-home restrictions would remain in place beyond this deadline.

Moscow residents are allowed out only for brief trips to a shop, to walk dogs or to travel to essential jobs with a permit.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered regional governors to develop plans to gradually lift anti-virus lockdowns regimes which vary from region to region.

He urged caution, however, warning: "The price of even the smallest mistake is the safety, lives and health of our people."

Since the start of the crisis, Putin's approval rating has dropped to a historic low, according to independent pollster Levada, which said this week it fell to 59 percent in April from 63 percent in March.

Agence France-Presse

Coronavirus cases in Russia rise by record daily amount, mortality rate slows

MOSCOW - Russia on Sunday recorded its highest daily rise in confirmed coronavirus cases with 10,633 new cases, bringing the total to 134,687, with more than half of cases and deaths in Moscow.

But the mortality rate has slowed in recent days and remains much lower, in relative terms, than many other countries.

Russia has said its lower mortality rate was because the Russian outbreak occurred later than in many other countries which gave the authorities more time to prepare.

Russia's nationwide death toll rose to 1,280 on Sunday after 58 people died in the last 24 hours, Russia's coronavirus crisis response center said on its website.

Russia has been in partial lockdown since the end of March to curb the spread of the virus. People in Moscow can leave home to visit the nearest food shop or chemist, walk their dog or throw out rubbish but need special passes for other activities.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the nationwide lockdown to remain in place until May 11 inclusive, when Russia finishes celebrating its Labour Day and World War Two Victory Day holidays.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin urged residents on Saturday to continue to strictly self-isolate over the long holidays.

Sobyanin said there had been progress in expanding testing, allowing the authorities to treat those in need more quickly.

But he said the number of critically ill patients was rising, albeit not as steeply as worst-case scenario projections. He said he thought 2% of Moscow, with a population of 12.7 million, had been infected, a much higher figure than official statistics show.

"It is obvious that the threat is growing," he said on his website.

He told Rossiya-1 TV station that the Moscow authorities might cut the number of digital permits issued for travel across the city if the situation worsened.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Russia's second-most senior official after Putin, told the president on Thursday he had tested positive for coronavirus and was temporarily stepping down to recover.

First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov is now serving as acting prime minister in his absence.

On Friday, another Russian cabinet member, Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev, announced he had been diagnosed with the virus and would be treated in hospital. Dmitry Volkov, one of his deputies, also tested positive, the ministry said.

(Additional reporting by Gleb Stoyarov; Editing by Edmund Blair)

-reuters-

FSB agent killed, attacker 'neutralized' in Moscow shootout

MOSCOW—An officer in Russia's FSB security service was killed and 5 people were wounded Thursday when a gunman opened fire near its central Moscow headquarters.

The FSB, a successor to the KGB, said the lone attacker was "neutralized" after the attack outside its notorious headquarters on Lubyanka Square close to a busy shopping area in the heart of the Russian capital.

Footage shot by passersby showed people running in panic while armed officers made their way towards the scene after the late evening incident, taking cover behind parked cars.

"An unknown individual opened fire near building... there are casualties. The identity of the criminal is being established. The criminal has been neutralized," the FSB said.

It added later that "one FSB officer has died," and denied some reports of multiple gunmen, insisting there was only one attacker.

AFP correspondents in the area however heard more gunfire in the area 2 hours later, as police cordons remained around the area.

Witness Andrei Molchanov told AFP at the scene he saw one body and had heard rounds of automatic weapons fire. 

'FACED INEVITABLE DESTRUCTION'

Pavel, another witness who was in a cafe near the scene, said he heard solitary automatic gunfire and questioned why anybody would open fire near the heavily guarded FSB headquarters. 

"They knew they faced inevitable destruction: it's the center of Moscow... a person must be desperate for this to happen."

The ominous grey building, known simply as the Lubyanka after the square where it is located, was the headquarters of the KGB in Soviet times with a fearsome reputation as the location for interrogating prisoners.

Several videos shot from different vantage points showed armed men running out of an FSB reception office located close to the headquarters.

Footage posted on Telegram news channel Baza, shot in the square near the FSB headquarters, showed a man running and being apparently shot in the back after which he laid in the middle of the parking lot.

Another video showed gunfire at the windows of the FSB headquarters.

Russia's Investigative Committee launched a probe into the shooting and "attempt on life of a law enforcement employee," without giving the number of casualties.

The health ministry told Russian agencies that 5 people were being treated for injuries due to the shooting, without specifying the nature of the injuries or whether the casualties were civilians.

PUTIN INFORMED

The incident came on the eve of the Day of Security Service in Russia, which is celebrated on Dec. 20.

President Vladimir Putin also Thursday gave a speech marking a concert for the Russian security workers' day, saying that at least 54-terror related crimes had been thwarted in Russia in 2019, including 33 attacks.

The Russian leader had earlier been in central Moscow for his annual marathon news conference with journalists that lasted almost 4 and a half hours. 

Putin had been informed about the incident, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Russia has in the last few years been hit by a spate of attacks blamed on Islamist militants, often hailing from the restive Northern Caucasus region.

A Russian court earlier this month sentenced 11 people to terms including life in prison after finding them guilty of a deadly bomb attack on the Saint Petersburg metro in 2017 that killed 15 people and wounded dozens more.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Russian e-commerce booms despite economic doldrums

MOSCOW -- Photographer Galina Goryushina says that online shopping has changed her life. 

"I've got more time for myself," said the 30-year-old freelancer.

"I don't have to haul heavy shopping bags. And I don't waste money on silly knick-knacks laid out on the store shelves," said Goryushina.

The young woman began shopping online a decade ago when she could not find clothes she liked in Russia and now makes most of her purchases online.

Russia may be a latecomer to the world of online shopping but e-commerce is experiencing explosive growth in the country despite a stagnant economy weighed down by Western sanctions.

Russia's economic growth stood at just 0.7 percent in the first 6 months of 2019.

Over the same period, the Russian e-commerce market has expanded by 26 percent to 725 billion rubles ($11.3 billion), according to a study by Data Insight, a Russian-based research agency.

The sector is developing rapidly despite numerous logistical challenges in the world's largest country including an often unreliable postal service.

Long distances and low population density make e-commerce an appealing -- and sometimes even the only -- option in Russia.

Even in affluent Moscow, where shopping malls offer a huge variety of consumer goods, many prefer to shop online to avoid the ubiquitous traffic jams.

'TRANSFORMATIVE FOR THE COUNTRY'

One of Russia's biggest online retailers, Ozon, began as an online bookstore -- much like the global giant Amazon -- and later expanded into other types of merchandise.

On a recent tour of Ozon's offices in Moscow's business district, chief executive Alexander Shulgin said the potential for growth in Russia was enormous.

"I am absolutely confident that e-commerce will be absolutely huge in Russia, it's transformative for the country," he said, pointing to Russia's high internet penetration, with 95 million online users.

In the first 6 months of this year, the number of online orders went up by 44 percent reaching 191 million.

Together with Russia's biggest e-commerce site, Wildberries, and the online pharmacy Apteka.ru, the top trio's business has grown by 107 percent compared to the first half of last year.

Shulgin said that online shopping offered Russians living in remote locations access to millions of products at affordable prices.

"It's just phenomenal how e-commerce improves quality of life for people in small villages and towns," he added.

Besides its huge size, Russia's harsh climate is also seen as a boon for the business.

"When there is rain or snow or it's cold outside, people prefer to shop online, so (Russia) is an ideal country," he said.

Shulgin said the e-commerce market was fragmented and accounted for just 6 percent of total retail.

"So the opportunity for growth is huge," he added.

In a logistics center in the town of Tver, located around 180 kilometers (111 miles) northwest of Moscow, Ozon employees are busy pushing carts around aisles as they prepare to ship goods to customers across Russia.

"The center handles over 100,000 packages a day and around 2,000 people work here on a daily basis," said Ivan Popov, deputy logistics manager at Ozon.

In the cities, the company relies on couriers, automated pick-up lockers and drop-off locations.

To ship the packages to remote locations, Ozon has partnered up with the Russian Post.

"They have a branch in every possible location, ideal for smaller villages, they can deliver anywhere," said Shulgin.

SELF-MADE WOMAN BILLIONAIRE

Ozon's competitor Wildberries has also been growing at breakneck speed in recent years, making its founder one of the country's richest women.

This year its founder, Tatyana Bakalchuk, a 44-year-old mother of four, became the second female billionaire in Russia, according to Forbes.

Bakalchuk, a former English teacher, founded the company in 2004, at the age of 28, in her Moscow apartment while on maternity leave.

She came up with an e-commerce business idea after trying to shop at traditional stores with a newborn.

Initially focusing on shoes and clothing, her business has now expanded into food, books, electronics and health products, offering 15,000 brands.

In March, it became the third most visited e-commerce fashion website in the world, trailing behind H&M and Macy's, according to a study by SEMrush marketing analytics firm.

Already present in ex-Soviet Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, Wildberries is now aiming for Central Europe and is building a logistics center in Slovakia.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Russia missile test blast kills 5 nuclear agency staff

MOSCOW - Russia's nuclear agency said Saturday an explosion during missile testing in the Arctic left five workers dead and involved radioactive isotopes after a nearby city recorded a spike in radiation levels.

Rosatom said the force of the explosion on Thursday blew several of its staff from a testing platform into the sea. 

Russia's military did not initially say that the accident involved nuclear equipment, but stressed that radiation levels were normal afterwards.

Officials in the nearby city of Severodvinsk nonetheless reported that radiation levels briefly increased after the accident.

The incident occurred in the far northern Arkhangelsk region during testing of a liquid propellant jet engine when an explosion sparked a fire, killing two, a defense ministry statement said.

It was not known whether those two deaths were among the five that Rosatom reported.

Russian state news agencies quoted a defense ministry source as saying both defense ministry and Rosatom employees had been killed.

Rosatom said its staff were providing engineering and technical support for the "isotope power source" of a missile.

The missile was being tested on a platform at sea when its fuel caught fire and triggered an explosion, Rosatom said in a statement quoted on Russian television.

Several staff were blown into the sea by the blast, the nuclear agency said, adding that it only announced the deaths once there was no more hope that the employees had survived.

The accident left three other people with burns and other injuries, Rosatom said.

Authorities initially released few details of the accident at the Nyonoksa test site on the White Sea, used for testing missiles deployed in nuclear submarines and ships since the Soviet era.

The defense ministry said six defense ministry employees and a developer were injured, while two "specialists" died of their wounds.

Professor Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies said his "working hypothesis" was that the blast "was related to Russia's nuclear-powered cruise missile, the 9M730 Burevestnik (NATO name: SSC-X-9 Skyfall)." 

Radiation spike

Authorities in Severodvinsk, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the test site, said Thursday on their website that automatic radiation detection sensors in the city "recorded a brief rise in radiation levels" around noon that day.

The post was later taken down and the defence ministry said radiation levels were normal after the accident.

A Severodvinsk civil defence official, Valentin Magomedov, told TASS state news agency that radiation levels rose to 2.0 microsieverts per hour for half an hour from 11:50 am (0850 GMT).

This exceeded the permitted limit of 0.6 microsieverts, he added.

Greenpeace Russia published a letter from officials at a Moscow nuclear research center who gave the same figure, but said higher radiation levels lasted for an hour. The officials said this did not present a significant risk to public health.

Ankit Panda of the Federation of American Scientists noted on Twitter that the missile "is suspected to have some sort of a miniaturized reactor in its propulsion unit," and added: "a crash likely resulted in not-insignificant radioisotope dispersion."

Russian online media published an unattributed video which reportedly showed ambulances speeding through Moscow to a centre that specializes in the treatment of radiation victims.

Rosatom said the injured were being treated at a "specialized medical center".

Iodine panic 

An expert from Moscow's Institute for Nuclear Research, Boris Zhuikov, told RBK independent news site that isotope power sources are not normally dangerous for people working with them.

"If they are damaged, people who are nearby could be hurt. Isotope sources use various types of fuel: plutonium, promethium or cerium," Zhuikov said.

The radioactivity levels involved are "absolutely not comparable with those during serious accidents at reactors," he added.

But news of the accident prompted Severodvinsk residents to rush to pharmacies for iodine, which can help prevent the thyroid gland from absorbing radiation.

"People started to panic. Within a matter of an hour all the iodine and iodine-containing drugs were sold out," pharmacist Yelena Varinskaya told AFP.

In 1986, the Soviet Union suffered the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl, a disaster that authorities initially tried hard to cover up.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Thousands join Moscow opposition rally after crackdown

MOSCOW - Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Moscow on Saturday after mass police detentions at recent protests that have been among the largest since President Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin in 2012.

On a rainy afternoon, protesters huddled under umbrellas on the central Prospekt Andreya Sakharova street, where city authorities had given permission for the rally to take place.

The White Counter, an NGO that tracks participants in rallies, counted 7,200 people, while the massive police presence included officers in riot gear.

In recent weeks, thousands have attended street protests calling for free and fair elections after the exclusion of several opposition figures, including allies of top Putin critic Alexei Navalny, from local Moscow polls next month.

Riot police and the national guard detained more than 2,000 at the previous two rallies, which were not authorized by city officials.

On Saturday, some protesters carried placards with slogans such as "Give us the right to vote!" and "You've lied to us enough" while others held up pictures of activists arrested at earlier demonstrations. 

Most opposition candidates who have been banned from participating in the vote have been jailed for violating protest laws. 

A dozen protesters including university students face criminal charges of "mass disorder" that risk lengthy prison terms, despite their supporters insisting protests were peaceful.

Saturday's rally was authorized, meaning participants should not face detention. But Navalny, who is currently in jail, urged supporters to walk peacefully through the city afterwards when they will risk detention for illegal protests.

"After the demonstration, we're going for a walk round Moscow," his team wrote on social media on Saturday.

Moscow police and the powerful Investigative Committee issued a warning against participating in unsanctioned protests which it said would be "immediately halted."

"They need blood," pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote of the opposition Saturday, quoting several celebrities warning against taking part in unauthorized protests. 

Showing the movement's appeal to young Russians, popular electronic and rap musicians were set to play at the rally and mainstream celebrities attended.

One of Russia's most famous rappers, Oxxxymiron, posed at the rally wearing a T-shirt with a photo of one of jailed students, Yegor Zhukov.

'Attempt to gag us'

The latest demonstration came as the authorities this week mounted their harshest attack yet on Navalny's team, focusing on his anti-corruption foundation which publishes investigations of officials close to Putin.

On Thursday investigators raided the foundation's office as part of a probe into alleged acceptance of donations of laundered money and a court froze the foundation's accounts.

"This is the most aggressive attempt yet to gag us," Navalny wrote in a blog entry he issued through lawyers while serving a 30-day sentence.

One of the foundation's lawyers, Lyubov Sobol, has been on hunger strike for weeks after being refused as a candidate in Moscow. 

"These are all acts of political intimidation, political repression," she told journalists on Friday, condemning the criminal cases launched against activists as "fabricated and politically motivated".

As he enters his third decade in power, Putin's approval ratings have dropped significantly in recent months and critics say the authorities fear any outlet calling for wider political change.

"The repressive scenario that the authorities are relying on can probably dampen down open discontent but is hardly likely to reach the root of the problem," Vedomosti daily wrote in an editorial.

"A large section of society is not represented in power."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Police detain hundreds at Moscow opposition protest

Police detained hundreds of protesters at an unauthorized opposition gathering in Moscow on Saturday, as authorities upped the pressure on top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny by launching a criminal probe into his anti-graft group.

Crowds of people marched in the capital's central boulevards for a protest "stroll" over the refusal by officials to let a number of opposition candidates run in September polls for city parliament seats.

Most of those candidates and opposition leaders, including Navalny, are being held by police following a protest rally last weekend, in which 1,400 demonstrators were detained -- one of the biggest crackdowns in years.

On Saturday, riot police were deployed in large numbers in central Moscow, some shops and cafes were shut, metal barriers were erected and the mobile internet was down for several hours.

At least 300 people were detained by police about two hours into the rally, according to OVD-Info, a non-governmental organisation that operates a hotline for detainees.

AFP correspondents also observed dozens of arrests along the route of the protest, as lines of police attempted to break up the flow of the crowd by blocking it with a human chain and grabbing people indiscriminately.

Lyubov Sobol, currently three weeks into a hunger strike after being barred from taking part in the local polls and an ally of key opposition leader Navalny, was dragged from a taxi and detained Saturday as she set off for the rally.

Many opposition leaders who attempted to run in the polls next month argue that the authorities have arbitrarily declared signatures they gathered to qualify invalid.

People in the crowd on Saturday said they just want the opposition to have a chance to run.

"I want there to be big changes... now there is an atmosphere of total control," Varvara, a 22-year-old artist, told AFP.

"I believe everyone should have a right to take part" in the polls," 39-year-old Robert said.

Riot police appeared to outnumber small groups of protesters who were walking along stretches of the leafy Boulevard Ring.

Authorities have launched investigations into last weekend's "mass riots" and "violence against police", echoing similar probes into protests against President Vladimir Putin in 2012 which saw several people jailed.

- New 'laundering' probe -

In the polls in September, the opposition hopes to end the monopoly of Kremlin loyalists in Moscow's parliament.

The body decides the city's multi-billion-dollar budget but lacks political independence from mayor Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of Putin.

Sobyanin has warned the opposition against "new provocations".

Navalny and other protest leaders argue corruption is rife in the capital. His anti-corruption foundation FBK this week published a new investigation into Sobyanin's deputy, accusing her of selling prime Moscow property to family members at rock-bottom prices.

On Saturday, FBK, which previously made other high-profile investigations into the questionable wealth of top officials, became a target of a new probe into "laundering" a billion rubles ($15.3 million).

Employees of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption (FBK) "received a large sum of money from third parties which they knew was procured illegally," investigators said.

"Accomplices" of FBK "gave a legal appearance" to the funds by transferring them to bank accounts and ultimately to the accounts of the FBK, they said.

The popular FBK collects money through donations, and Navalny's ally Leonid Volkov dismissed allegations of money laundering as an attempt to stamp out Navalny's national network of volunteers.

Navalny, currently in jail, was rushed to hospital last weekend in an incident his personal doctor blamed on possible poisoning with an unknown chemical substance.

A state toxicology lab said no traces were found.

President Vladimir Putin has yet to comment on the situation in Moscow.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Russia detains more than 1,000 people in opposition crackdown

MOSCOW -- Russian police rounded up more than 1,000 people in Moscow on Saturday in one of the biggest crackdowns of recent years against an increasingly defiant opposition decrying President Vladimir Putin's tight grip on power.

The detentions came around a protest to demand that opposition members be allowed to run in a local election. Authorities had declared it illegal and sought to block participation, but thousands of people turned up anyway in one of the longest and most determined protests of recent times.

Chants of "Russia without Putin" and "Putin resign" echoed through central Moscow as guardsmen clad in riot gear beat back protesters with batons and roughly detained people.

At least one woman and a man appeared to have suffered serious head wounds. Activists said the crackdown was the harshest since a wave of anti-Kremlin protests in 2011-12.

Saturday's events showed how Kremlin critics and especially younger people remain intent on pressing to open Russia's tightly choreographed political system to competition.

Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny had called the protest to persuade officials to allow opposition-minded candidates to run in a Sept. 8 vote.

Authorities say they were barred because they failed to collect sufficient genuine signatures in their support.

Navalny and his allies have no seats in parliament and are starved of air time on state TV where many Russians still get their news.

Opinion polls in the past have shown support for Navalny, a lawyer and anti-corruption activist, only in the single digits. But backers note he won almost a third of the vote in a 2013 Moscow mayoral race and say his movement could build momentum in the Russian capital if allowed to compete fairly.

Though Putin's approval rating is still high at well over 60 percent, it is lower than it used to be due to discontent over years of falling incomes. Last year, the 66-year-old former KGB intelligence officer won a landslide re-election and a new six-year term until 2024.

Burnishing his man of action image, Putin spent Saturday diving to the bottom of the Gulf of Finland in a mini-submarine to honor a Soviet submarine that sunk there in World War II.

ARRESTED 'SITTING ON A BENCH'

OVD-Info, an independent monitoring group, said police detained at least 1,373 people before or at Saturday's protest. As in past sweeps, many were only held for a matter of hours.

Police put participation at more than 3,500 people, of whom it said around 700 people were journalists and bloggers. Activists said the number attending was likely to have been much higher.

Some activists were arrested twice after being released and then returning to protest in a different place. Reuters witnesses said some of those detained appeared to be ordinary passersby in the wrong place at the wrong time.

One of those detained, Alexander Latyshev, 45, said he had come from the nearby Vladimir region to discuss business with an associate and been randomly detained. "I was just sitting on a bench (when they took me)," he told Reuters inside a police bus.

Police also raided an office being used by Navalny's supporters to live-stream the protest.

TV Rain, an independent station covering the protests, said its editor-in-chief had been called in for questioning after police visited its offices.

Under Russian law, the location and timing of such protests need to be agreed with authorities beforehand, something that was not done for Saturday's event.

Kremlin critic Navalny was jailed for 30 days on Wednesday and other members of the opposition have had their homes searched. Ilya Yashin, a Navalny ally, said police had searched his Moscow flat overnight before detaining him and driving him out of the capital. He called for another protest next Saturday.

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's spokeswoman, said on Twitter she had been detained on Saturday morning. Other prominent activists Dmitry Gudkov and Lyubov Sobol were also held.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, a Putin ally, had warned beforehand that authorities would act decisively against the risk of "serious provocations."

The police's investigative arm has already opened a criminal investigation into an opposition rally in June which it said may have obstructed the work of Moscow's electoral commission.

An authorized protest in Moscow last weekend, also calling for the disbarred candidates to be registered, was attended by more than 20,000 people, according to the White Counter monitoring group. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

TIMELINE: Big moments in Mueller investigation of Russian meddling in 2016 US poll

Here is a timeline of significant developments in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 US presidential election and whether President Donald Trump's campaign conspired with Moscow.

2017

May 17 - US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoints former FBI Director Mueller as a special counsel to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election and to look into any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and people associated with Republican Trump's campaign.

The appointment follows President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey on May 9 and days later Trump attributed the dismissal to "this Russia thing."

June 15 - Mueller is investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, the Washington Post reports.

Oct. 30 - Veteran Republican political operative and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who worked for the campaign for 5 pivotal months in 2016, is indicted on charges of conspiracy against the United States and money laundering as is his business partner Rick Gates, who also worked for Trump's campaign.

- Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos pleads guilty to a charge of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials.

Dec. 1 - Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser for less than a month who also had a prominent campaign role, pleads guilty to the charge of lying to the FBI about his discussions in 2016 with the Russian ambassador to Washington.

2018

Feb. 16 - Federal grand jury indicts 13 Russians and 3 firms, including a Russian government propaganda arm called the Internet Research Agency, accusing them of tampering to support Trump and disparage Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The accused "had a strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system, including the 2016 US presidential election" according to the court document filed by Mueller.

- An American, Richard Pinedo, pleads guilty to identity fraud for selling bank account numbers after being accused by prosecutors of helping Russians launder money, buy Facebook ads and pay for campaign rally supplies. Pinedo was not associated with the Trump campaign.

Feb. 22 - Manafort and Gates are charged with financial crimes, including bank fraud, in Virginia.

Feb. 23 - Gates pleads guilty to conspiracy against the United States and lying to investigators. He agrees to cooperate and testify against Manafort at trial.

April 3 - Alex van der Zwaan, the Dutch son-in-law of one of Russia's richest men, is sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $20,000 for lying to Mueller's investigators, becoming the first person sentenced in the probe.

April 9 - FBI agents raid home, hotel room and office of Trump's personal lawyer and self-described "fixer" Michael Cohen.

April 12 - Rosenstein tells Trump that he is not a target in Mueller's probe.

April 19 - Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump supporter in the election campaign, joins Trump's personal legal team.

June 8 - Mueller charges a Russian-Ukrainian man, Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort business partner whom prosecutors say had ties to Russian intelligence, with witness tampering.

July 13 - Federal grand jury indicts 12 Russian military intelligence officers on charges of hacking Democratic Party computer networks in 2016 and staged releases of documents. Russia, which denies interfering in the election, says there is no evidence that the 12 are linked to spying or hacking.

July 16 - In Helsinki after the first summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump publicly contradicts US intelligence agencies that concluded Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election with a campaign of hacking and propaganda. Trump touts Putin's "extremely strong and powerful" denial of meddling. He calls the Mueller inquiry a "rigged witch hunt" on Twitter.

Aug. 21 - A trial jury in Virginia finds Manafort guilty of 5 counts of tax fraud, 2 counts of bank fraud and 1 count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account.

- Cohen, in a case brought by US prosecutors in New York, pleads guilty to tax fraud and campaign finance law violations. Cohen is subsequently interviewed by Mueller's team.

Aug. 31 - Samuel Patten, an American business partner of Kilimnik, pleads guilty to unregistered lobbying for pro-Kremlin political party in Ukraine.

Sept. 14 - Manafort pleads guilty to 2 conspiracy counts and signs a cooperation agreement with Mueller's prosecutors.

Nov. 8 - US Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigns at Trump's request. He had recused himself from overseeing the Mueller inquiry because of his contacts with the Russian ambassador as a Trump campaign official. Trump appoints Sessions' chief of staff Matthew Whitaker, a critic of the Mueller probe, as acting attorney general.

Nov. 20 - Giuliani says Trump submitted written answers to questions from Mueller, as the president avoids a face-to-face interview with the special counsel.

Nov. 27-28 - Prosecutors say Manafort breached his plea deal by lying to investigators, which Manafort denies. Trump says he has not ruled out granting Manafort a presidential pardon.

Nov. 28 - Giuliani says Trump told investigators he was not aware ahead of time of a meeting in Trump Tower in New York between several campaign officials and Russians in June 2016.

Nov. 29 - Cohen pleads guilty in the Mueller investigation to lying to Congress about the length of discussions in 2016 on plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. "I made these misstatements to be consistent with individual 1's political messaging and out of loyalty to individual 1," says Cohen, who previously identified "individual 1" as Trump.

- The president criticizes Cohen as a liar and "weak person."

Dec. 12 - Two developments highlight growing political and legal risks for Trump: Cohen sentenced to 3 years in prison for crimes including orchestrating hush payments to women in violation of campaign laws before the election; American Media Inc, publisher of National Enquirer tabloid, strikes deal to avoid charges over its role in one of two hush payments. Publisher admits payment was aimed at influencing the 2016 election, contradicting Trump's statements.

2019

Jan. 25 - Longtime Trump associate and self-proclaimed political "dirty trickster" Roger Stone charged and arrested at his home in Florida. Stone is accused of lying to Congress about statements suggesting he may have had advance knowledge of plans by Wikileaks to release Democratic Party campaign emails that US officials say were stolen by Russia.

Feb. 21 - US judge tightens gag order on Stone, whose Instagram account posted a photo of the judge and the image of crosshairs next to it.

Feb. 22 - Manhattan district attorney's office is pursuing New York state criminal charges against Manafort whether or not he receives a pardon from Trump on federal crimes, a person familiar with the matter says. Trump cannot issue pardons for state convictions.

Feb. 24 - Senior Democratic US Representative Adam Schiff says Democrats will subpoena Mueller's final report on his investigation if it is not given to Congress by the Justice Department, and will sue the Trump administration and call on Mueller to testify to Congress if necessary.

Feb. 27 - Cohen tells US House Oversight Committee Trump is a "racist," a "con man" and a "cheat" who knew in advance about a release of emails by WikiLeaks in 2016 aimed at hurting rival Clinton. Trump directed negotiations for a real estate project in Moscow during the campaign even as he publicly said he had no business interests in Russia, Cohen testifies.

March 7 - Manafort is sentenced in the Virginia case to almost 4 years in prison. The judge also ordered Manafort to pay a fine of $50,000 and restitution of just over $24 million.

March 13 - Manafort is sentenced to about 3-1/2 more years in prison in the Washington case, bringing his total prison sentence in the 2 special counsel cases to 7-1/2 years.

- On the same day, the Manhattan district attorney announces a separate indictment charging Manafort with residential mortgage fraud and other New York state crimes, which unlike the federal charges cannot be erased by a presidential pardon.

March 22 - Mueller submits his confidential report on the findings of his investigation to US Attorney General William Barr.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump's ex-fixer Cohen to offer new Russia details to Congress -source

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen will tell lawmakers on Wednesday that Trump asked him several times about a proposed skyscraper project in Moscow long after he secured the Republican presidential nomination, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears to near the end of his probe into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election in collusion with Trump's campaign, Cohen's assertion that Trump was inquiring about the skyscraper project as late as June 2016, if true, would show Trump remained personally engaged in the venture well into his candidacy.

Cohen was set to offer lawmakers new information about Trump's private affairs over three consecutive days of in-depth discussion with congressional committees that began on Tuesday with a closed hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The focus of the session, which lasted for roughly 9 hours, was mainly on what Cohen knows about Trump's dealings with Russia, as well as about Cohen's previous lies, two congressional sources said. Cohen apologized to the committee for lying to it in 2017, according to CNN.

In brief comments to the media after the Senate session ended, Cohen said he was looking forward to Wednesday's open hearing in the House where he plans to make his case for why people should believe him over Trump.

"I'm going to let the American people decide exactly who is telling the truth," Cohen said.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate committee, suggested Cohen's testimony was important to its probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

"Two years ago when this investigation started, I said it may be the most important thing I'm involved in in my public life in the Senate and nothing I have heard today dissuades me from that view," Warner told reporters outside the hearing room.

As Cohen testified, Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, a Trump ally, suggested in a tweet that there was compromising information about Cohen's private life.

Gaetz later told the Daily Beast that he was not engaging in witness intimidation. "It is challenging the veracity and character of a witness. We do it everyday," he said.

The lawmaker does not sit on the House Oversight Committee, which will be conducting Wednesday's hearing with Cohen, and therefore will not be allowed to ask him questions.

Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen, said: "We will not respond to Mr. Gaetz's despicable lies and personal smears, except to say we trust that his colleagues in the House, both Republicans and Democrats, will repudiate his words and his conduct."

Cohen was one of Trump's closest aides and once said he would "take a bullet" for him. But he turned against his former boss last year and is cooperating with prosecutors after pleading guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

Cohen has said Trump directed him to make hush-money payments to two women who said they had sexual relationships with Trump, in violation of campaign finance laws before the 2016 election.

Trump called Cohen a "rat" after he turned on him, and the White House again attacked Cohen's credibility on Tuesday.

"It's laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Moscow. Russia denies U.S. intelligence agencies' assertions that it interfered in the election.

Cohen has been disbarred, according to a decision by a New York state appeals court in Manhattan made public on Tuesday. Disbarment is automatic in New York for lawyers convicted of felonies.

Michael Monico, a lawyer for Cohen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

'GRANULAR DETAILS'

On Wednesday, in a public session before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen intends to give lawmakers "granular details" about a hush-money payment to adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, and information about a "money trail" after Trump became president, said the person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified.

Cohen will also offer new information on Trump's financial statements that "have never been produced before" relating to how Trump represented the values of his assets in financial transactions and other matters, that person said.

Cohen will also offer first-hand anecdotes to illustrate Trump's "lies, racism and cheating" during the decade Cohen worked for the real estate mogul and provide "evidence of criminal conduct" since he became president, the source said.

Like Tuesday's hearing, his testimony on Thursday with the House Intelligence Committee will also be behind closed doors.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee plan to question Cohen publicly about Trump's personal finances, including the payments to women, as well as alleged efforts by Trump and his lawyers to intimidate Cohen to try to keep him from testifying.

Last November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress by telling lawmakers in 2017 that all efforts relating to the Moscow project had ceased by January 2016. In fact, Cohen said, those efforts continued until June 2016.

(Reporting by By Nathan Layne, Ginger Gibson and Mark Hosenball; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Eric Beech and Timonthy Ahmann in Washington and Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Alistair Bell, Peter Cooney and Richard Chang)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Putin, faced with ratings slump, offers Russians financial sweeteners

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin offered a raft of financial sweeteners on Wednesday to hard-pressed Russians after opinion polls showed trust in him has fallen to a 13-year low and almost half the population believe the country is on the wrong track.

In his annual speech to the Russian political elite, Putin set out how he planned to raise people's living standards and boost healthcare and education, promising he would find extra money to back the pledges.

Among his promises: More money for pensioners, mortgage and tax relief for families, and financial incentives for women to have more children.

Putin also laid out deadlines to close huge and sometimes apparently spontaneous landfill sites that have become a political sore for the Kremlin and angered many Russians who have seen them spring up near their homes, polluting the air.

"You can't deceive people. They keenly feel hypocrisy, disrespect and any injustice. Bureaucratic red tape is of little interest to them," Putin told lawmakers and regional leaders.

"For people what's important is what has actually been done and how it improves their lives and their families' lives. We need to change the situation for the better now."

Putin also spoke of a new arms race with the United States, something that could potentially reduce funds available for social spending if it continues to escalate.

But for now, Putin said Russia was well able to afford to spend heavily on lifting people's quality of life. He said the country's foreign currency reserves covered the entirety of its external debt obligations for the first time and forecast the economy would be growing by over 3 percent by 2021.

"...We can now invest and focus colossal, at least for our country, colossal financial resources on (Russia's) development. Nobody handed them to us, we did not borrow them - these funds were created by millions of our citizens. They (the funds) should be used to increase Russia's wealth and the well-being of Russian families."

Oil revenues mean Russia is not short of money. Its budget surplus this year is projected to be 1.932 trillion roubles ($29.3 billion) or 1.8 percent of gross domestic product. Russia's foreign exchange reserves stand at $478 billion, the fifth largest in the world.

But if Putin had to scale back social spending plans to fund a wider arms race, that could further dent his ratings.

In power as either president or prime minister since 1999, Putin was re-elected last year by a landslide to another 6-year presidential term. He is not under immediate political pressure and enjoys an approval rating of around 60 percent.

But his rating used to be nearly 90 percent and an opinion poll in January showed public trust in him had fallen to its lowest level in 13 years, while another survey showed this month that the number of Russians viewing the country as moving in the wrong direction was at its highest since 2006.

Pollsters attribute the souring mood to people fed up with 6 consecutive years of falling real incomes and unpopular government moves to raise the retirement age and hike value added tax.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Flagrant violations' of safety norms cited in Siberia inferno

MOSCOW - Russian authorities on Monday denounced what they called "flagrant violations" of safety norms that led to the deaths of 64 people, many of them children, in a fire at a busy shopping mall in an industrial city in Siberia.

Investigators and witnesses said emergency exits were locked shut -- notably at a multiplex cinema where children were watching cartoons -- and alarm systems were not working at the Winter Cherry shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo.

"Investigators have already obtained proof of the flagrant violations that led to such serious consequences," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement.

It said a criminal probe has been opened and that five people were arrested including an official of the mall's security firm who is suspected of deactivating the public address system when the fire broke out.

The local office of Russia's emergency services ministry said the fire broke out on the top floor of the four-storey mall, causing floors and the roof to collapse.

Russian television showed images of thick black smoke pouring out of the roof of the mall, which was packed with people on Sunday afternoon when the blaze broke out.

"Whole classes of children from nearby villages were there, they were locked in (the cinema)," a witness who gave his name as Konstantin told Business Radio FM. 

Alexander Lillevyali, who lost 11-year-old twin daughters and a five-year-old daughter in the fire, told Meduza news site that the girls called him to say they could not open the cinema's door.

"My daughter kept calling me. I just shouted to her to try to and get out of the cinema but I couldn't do anything, there were already flames in front of me," he said.

Locals told RBK newspaper that the cinema often locked its doors to stop people going in without tickets because it was understaffed.

The Investigative Committee said the roof collapsed in two theatres of the cinema in the blaze, which erupted at around four pm (0900 GMT) Sunday.

Witnesses told Russian television that some people did not hear alarms or did not take them seriously and that the fire took hold very quickly, leaving many children separated from their parents.

One witness, Anastasia Klepova, told Rossiya 24 television: "The evacuation signal only went off twice. We didn't believe in the evacuation at first."

Another witness told Rossia 24 news channel: "There was no announcement. People just started running towards the exit. Then there was a smell of burning and we began to realise that it wasn't a drill."

In CCTV images shown by the Life TV channel, black smoke is seen quickly engulfing a fleeing crowd. 

- 'Children without parents' -
"People started running around, it was just awful. There were a lot of children, children without parents," said witness Klepova.

Emergency Services Minister Vladimir Puchkov said the death toll of 64 was final and included six victims still buried under the rubble. 

The local spokesman of the emergency situations ministry, Boris Dediukhin, told the Ria Novosti news agency that at least nine children were among the dead.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said the most seriously injured survivor was an 11-year-old boy who jumped from the top floor to escape the fire, which killed all his family, but there were hopes for his survival.

She said an 18-year-old boy was also seriously injured after jumping from the top floor, while nine other people were suffering from smoke inhalation.

Crowds of people came to the scene to lay flowers in tribute to the victims of the deadliest blaze in Russia in recent years.

President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences as well as Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May, EU President Donald Tusk and the US State Department.

Local authorities have announced three days of mourning in the Siberian region starting Tuesday. 

The prosecutor general's office said that all of the country's shopping malls with entertainment areas will be checked for fire safety.

bur-mp-pop/gd/bp

source: news.abs-cbn.com

At least 53 dead, many missing in Siberia shopping mall fire

MOSCOW - At least 53 people were killed when a fire ravaged a busy shopping centre in an industrial city in Siberia, with many more reported still missing on Monday, including children.

Images on Russian television showed thick black smoke pouring out of the Winter Cherry shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo, which also houses a sauna, a bowling alley and a multiplex cinema and was packed with people on Sunday afternoon.

"The deaths of 53 people have been confirmed," a spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative Committee, Svetlana Petrenko, said in a statement.

A previous toll put the number of dead at 37 with 69 missing, including 40 children.

The preliminary findings of an inquiry said the fire started around 1100 GMT in one of the cinema halls and destroyed more than 1,000 square metres (1,200 square yards) of the centre, news agencies reported.

"The roof collapsed in two theatres in the cinema," the Investigative Committee said.

The local office of Russia's emergency services ministry said the fire broke out on the third and top floor of the mall, where firefighters were struggling on Monday to clear the rubble.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal inquiry and four people, including the tenant renting the premises where the fire broke out and the head of the company that manages the mall, had been arrested.

- 'Where to look for people?' -

Around 120 people had been evacuated from the burning centre, rescuers said on Sunday.

"This shopping centre on several floors was packed with people midday Sunday. No one knows exactly how many people there were inside when the fire broke out," Alexandre Eremeyev, an official with the local Russian emergency services ministry, said in a statement.

"Where to look for people? How many are there? That has greatly complicated the work of the firefighters," he said, adding that the thick smoke was also hindering their task.

Some 300 firefighters and rescue personnel were rushed to the scene and the fire was brought under control around 1730 GMT, local emergency officials said.

Russia's minister of emergency services, Vladimir Putchkov has gone to Kemerovo, RIA Novosti said.

It was the deadliest blaze in Russia in recent years.

A shopping mall fire in March 2015 killed 11 people in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan some 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of Moscow.

In April 2013, a fire ravaged a psychiatric hospital in the Moscow region, killing 38 people, most of them patients who were engulfed by flames as they slept behind barred windows.

Just months later, in September 2013, 37 people were killed when a fire swept through a psychiatric hospital in the village of Luka in northwest Russia.

In 2009, 156 were killed in a nightclub fire in the city of Perm, 1,200 kilometres east of Moscow in one of the deadliest accidents in Russia's modern history.

bur-mp-pop/lch/wdb/dl

source: news.abs-cbn.com