Tag: Russia

The US is expected to formally withdraw from a nuclear missile treaty with Russia on Friday, sparking fears of a new arms race. Moscow and Washington signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987 but have in recent years increasingly accused each other of violating its terms — the agreement prohibits both countries from owning missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kms. US President Donald Trump warned in February that the country would pull out on August 2 unless...

Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers of Rammstein kiss onstage in Moscow (photo: Jens Koch) Two members of the German heavy metal band Rammstein shared an onstage kiss in defiance of Russia’s anti-LGBTQ policies during their concert at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow Tuesday night. While performing their song “Aüslander,” which means “foreigner” in German, guitarists Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers slowly walked towards each other. After briefly catching each other’s eyes, they leaned in for a quick kiss. And the crowd goes...

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian army to take part in fire-fighting efforts in Siberia as environmentalists describe the blazes raging across the region as an ecological catastrophe. The government claims the fires pose no danger to communities, but people are starting to suffer from the effects of smoke. A series of enormous wildfires have spread across Russia's eastern region of Siberia, prompting states of emergency to be declared and sparking outrage from locals who say authorities aren't responding...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate committee passed a bill on Wednesday to slap sanctions on companies and individuals involved in building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that the Trump administration says would strengthen Moscow’s economic grip on Europe. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the “Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act,” by a vote of 20 to 2. The bill, which reflects some lawmakers’ concerns over Russian influence in Europe, would still need to...

The rock music band Rammstein gave a big middle finger to Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law by kissing onstage during their concert at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow last night. The German band’s guitarists, Paul Landers and Richard Kruspe, kissed onstage and the band then posted an image of their smooch on Instagram along with the message “Russia, we love you,” written in Russian. Though the kiss itself was just a small peck at the end of a song, it’s a bold...

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday dismissed a Democratic Party lawsuit arguing that the Russian government, President Donald Trump’s campaign and WikiLeaks carried out a conspiracy to influence the 2016 U.S. election. U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan said he could not hear the claims against Russia, which were the focus of the case, because of a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity that shields foreign governments from litigation in the United States. “The remedies for hostile...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony will feature in a television ad advocating for impeaching President Donald Trump, set to run before and after the Democratic presidential debates this week. Backed by the Need to Impeach group founded by billionaire Democratic candidate Tom Steyer, the “What Mueller Said” ad will run on CNN and MSNBC, days after Mueller told two congressional panels about his investigation of Trump and Russia. Excerpts from the testimony will...

(stock photo via Depositphotos) After two dads in Russia took one of their adopted children to a Moscow hospital for treatment, doctors notified Russian authorities and the children have now been taken from the couple. Gay Star News reports that the men took the child to the emergency room on June 19 for a suspected case of appendicitis.  But when hospital staff realized the boy had two dads, they were reported to the Investigative Committee of Russia. Adoption by gay couples isn’t...

After a gay male couple brought their adopted children to a Moscow hospital for appendicitis, Russian authorities hunted the couple down and took their kids away because of the country’s law forbidding the exposure of minors to “gay propaganda.” So much for Putin’s assertion that Russia has “no problem with LGBT persons.” Doctors contacted the Investigative Committee of Russia, and The Committee sued the adoption agency for “negligently” giving the kids to the couple back in 2010. Then, as Gay Star...

Leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was discharged from a Moscow hospital on Monday and returned to prison after being treated for suspected poisoning from a chemical agent. Navalny, currently serving a jail stint for calling for unauthorised protests, was hospitalised after suffering an acute allergic reaction on Sunday, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said. The Moscow hospital treating him said on Monday it had discharged him after his condition had improved but refused to disclose further information due to patient confidentiality. Navalny's...

“It seems like maybe that’s a sensible law. As you know, I’ve been very rebel all my life. Still am. And I have to tell you, I’m shocked by some of the behaviors and the thinking of the new generation. It takes so much for granted. And so much of the argument, so much of the thinking, so much of the newspaper, television commentaries about gender, people identify themselves, and social media, this and that, I’m male, I’m female,...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian police said on Thursday they had detained a man over the fatal stabbing of an LGBT activist near her home in St Petersburg and were not treating the murder as a hate crime. Elena Grigoryeva, 41, was stabbed eight times in the face and back on Saturday night by an assailant whom she knew following an argument between them, the Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, said in a statement. It did not name...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican who strongly defended him at a recent congressional hearing, to replace Dan Coats as the U.S. spy chief. Coats, the current U.S. director of national intelligence who has clashed with Trump over assessments involving Russia, Iran and North Korea, will step down on Aug. 15, the president said as he announced his decision on Twitter. “John will lead and inspire...

Yelena Grigoryeva (image via YouTube screenshot)This week, international headlines recounted the murder of Yelena Grigoryeva, a Russian LGBTQ activist who was stabbed eight times and strangled after her address was posted on a website encouraging people to torture her and other queer activists. But despite her inclusion on that website and her receiving multiple death threats before her murder, Russian authorities say that Grigoryeva’s murder was committed by a man that she was “previously familiar” with. A statement by Russian authorities...