Page 122 - Russia

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft suffers glitch in pre-landing manoeuvre

Russia reported an abnormal situation Saturday on its moon-bound Luna-25 spacecraft, which launched earlier this month. The country's space agency, Roscosmos, said the spacecraft ran into unspecified trouble while trying to enter a pre-landing orbit, and that its specialists were analyzing the situation. During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters, Roscosmos said in a Telegram post. Roscosmos did not specify whether the incident will prevent Luna-25 from making a landing. The spacecraft is scheduled to land on the south pole of the moon on Monday, racing to land on Earth's satellite ahead of an Indian spacecraft. The lunar south pole is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain water. The frozen water in the rocks could be transformed by future explorers into air and rocket fuel. Also on Saturday, the Rus

China, Russia aiming to steal tech from US space firms: US officials

The two-page advisory warned that foreign intelligence organisations have started to increasingly see the expanding US space sector as a critical and profitable target

Zelenskyy visits NATO candidate Sweden for first time since war with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting Sweden on Saturday his first visit to the country since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the Swedish government said. It said Zelenskyy will meet Swedish government officials in Harpsund, about 120 kilometres west of Stockholm. He will also meet Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at a palace in the area. Sweden abandoned its longstanding policy of military nonalignment to support Ukraine with weapons and other aid in the war against Russia. It also applied for NATO membership but is still waiting to join the alliance. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited top military officials in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border. The Kremlin said that Putin listened to reports from Valery Gerasimov, the commander in charge of Moscow's operations in Ukraine, and other top military brass at the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District. The exact timings of his visit

Does Brics exist only because a good acronym cannot be allowed to die?

India says it wants clear criteria established for new Brics memberships. But do even the existing members qualify under any meaningful criteria, asks T N Ninan

Diamond city of Surat faces upheaval as demand declines due to sanctions

The demand for diamonds fell as sanctions were imposed on diamonds mined, processed or produced in Russia; India sourced almost 35 per cent of its rough diamonds from Russia

Russia opens investigation into prominent leader of election watchdog

The Russian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group, his lawyer said Thursday. The case against Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia's leading election watchdog Golos, is the latest step in the months-long crackdown on Kremlin critics and rights activists that the government ratcheted up after sending troops into Ukraine. Melkonyants' lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told The Associated Press that his client is facing charges of organising activities" of an undesirable group, a criminal offense punishable by up to six years in prison. Golos has not been labelled undesirable" a label that under a 2015 law makes involvement with such organisations a criminal offence. But it was once a member of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations, a group that was declared undesirable in Russia in 2021. Police raided the homes of a further 14 Golos members on Thursday in eight different cities, ...

Russia fines Google $32,000 for videos about the conflict in Ukraine

A Russian court on Thursday imposed a 3-million-ruble ($32,000) fine on Google for failing to delete allegedly false information about the conflict in Ukraine. The move by a magistrate's court follows similar actions in early August against Apple and the Wikimedia Foundation that hosts Wikipedia. According to Russian news reports, the court found that the YouTube video service, which is owned by Google, was guilty of not deleting videos with incorrect information about the conflict which Russia characterises as a special military operation. Google was also found guilty of not removing videos that suggested ways of gaining entry to facilities which are not open to minors, news agencies said, without specifying what kind of facilities were involved. In Russia, a magistrate's court typically handles administrative violations and low-level criminal cases. Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has enacted an array of measures to punish any criticism or questioning

Wheat prices rise after Russian attack on Ukrainian Port on Danube river

The escalation of hostilities in the breadbasket region could compound trade disruptions, after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal last month

Russia central bank jacks up key interest rate by 350 basis points to 12%

Russia's central bank on Tuesday made a large interest rate hike of 3.5 percentage points, an emergency move designed to fight inflation and strengthen the ruble after the country's currency reached its lowest value since early in the war with Ukraine. The decision to bring the key rate to 12% was announced after a meeting of the bank's board of directors was called Monday as the ruble declined. The fall comes as Moscow increases military spending and Western sanctions weigh on its energy exports. The Russian currency passed 101 rubles to the dollar on Monday and lingered there Tuesday, losing more than a third of its value since the beginning of the year and hitting the lowest level in almost 17 months. The central bank says demand has exceeded the country's ability to expand economic output, increasing inflation and affecting the ruble's exchange rate dynamics through elevated demand for imports. Consequently, the pass-through of the ruble's depreciation to prices is gaining ...

India's imports from Russia doubled to $20.45 bn in April-July period

India's imports from Russia doubled to USD 20.45 billion during the April-July period of this fiscal due to increasing inbound shipments of crude oil and fertiliser from that country, according to the commerce ministry data. With this, Russia has become India's second largest import source during the first four months of this fiscal. The imports were USD 10.42 billion during April-July 2022. From a market share of less than 1 per cent in India's import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia's share of India's oil imports rose to over 40 per cent. India, the world's third-largest crude importer after China and the United States, has been buying Russian oil that was available at a discount after some in the West shunned it as a means of punishing Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. The ministry's data showed that imports from China dipped to USD 32.7 billion during the April-July period as against USD 34.55 billion in the same period last year. Similarly, im

Indian diamond industry set to focus on domestic markets, ASEAN countries

The diamond industry is set to focus on domestic markets and emerging markets in ASEAN countries in an attempt to neutralise the impact of reduced demand from the US and the European Union (EU)

Ruble slides past 100 against dollar, Kremlin censures central bank

The rouble fell to 100.4975 per US dollar, its weakest point in almost 17 months

Multiple Ukrainian missiles shot down over Crimea bridge: Russian official

In an update issued later on Saturday, Aksyonov said that another Ukrainian missile had been shot down in the area. Photos and videos circulating on social media platforms showed white smoke

Russia downs 20 drones over Crimea following a spate of attacks on Moscow

Russia thwarted an attack by 20 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow-annexed Crimea overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday. Fourteen drones were shot down by Russian air defenses and a further six were jammed electronically, the ministry said in a Telegram post. No casualties or damage were reported. The overnight attacks followed three consecutive days of drone attacks on the Russian capital, Moscow. Firing drones at Russia, after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflict's consequences. Drone attacks have increased in recent weeks both on Moscow and on Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 a move that most of the world considered illegal. Kyiv officials neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine's possible involvement in the attempted attacks. Elsewhere, Russia claimed Saturday it had regained control of the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine's ..

Isro congratulates Russia on the launch of Luna-25 mission to Moon

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday congratulated the Russian State Space Corporation, Roscosmos, for the successful launch of Luna-25, Russia's moon mission. "Congratulations, Roscosmos on the successful launch of Luna-25 Wonderful to have another meeting point in our space journies Wishes for Chandrayaan-3 & Luna-25 missions to achieve their goals," ISRO tweeted on Friday. Russia on Friday launched Luna 25, the country's first lunar mission in 47 years. Luna-25 took off from the Vostochny launch facility in Russia's Far East, the Russia-based TASS news agency reported. Launched aboard a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket, Luna 25 took flight at 8:10 am (local time) on Friday, CNN reported. The Fregat booster separated from the rocket's third stage approximately 564 seconds after the launch, according to TASS reported. The Luna-25 spacecraft will separate from the booster about an hour after the launch. The flight to the moon will take up to 5.5 days. The spacecraft will

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Russia launches Luna-25 mission to Moon, its first lunar lander in 47 years

The Luna-25 spacecraft will separate from the booster about an hour after the launch. The flight to the moon will take up to 5.5 days

India's Russian crude oil buying spree continues even as prices climb

India's consumption of Russian crude has soared since last year, with the country becoming a leading supplier, ousting Saudi Arabia and Iraq from the top spots

GBA: India reaching out to non-G20 members before September summit

Russia, Saudi Arabia and China not convinced about joining multilateral initiative

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