Новости за 21.11.2016

A view shows the main building of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (back) and a tower of the Kremlin (front) during sunset in Moscow, Russia.

A monument to Maya Plisetskaya has been unveiled on Moscow’s Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street, not far from the Bolshoi Theater, on the day the great Russian ballerina would have turned 91.

A high-ranking and well-informed source has told online Russian news publication Gazeta.ru that in their search for channels of communication with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Kremlin representatives have used members of Russia’s Jewish business circles who have contacts with the family of his daughter Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner, an Orthodox Jew.

It looks like NATO needs an external enemy to make its member states fall into line, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Oliver Stone’s Ukraine on Fire documentary to be shown on Russia’s Ren TV channel on Nov. 21.

An exhibition featuring installations by the Belgian artist and theater director Jan Fabre at the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg has provoked an outcry from both human rights activists and art lovers. The exhibition, entitled “Jan Fabre: Knight of Despair, Warrior of Beauty,” feature effigies of dead animals in installations with names such as “Carnival of Dead Mongrels” and “Protest of Dead Homeless Cats.”

The Russian air force has once again involved strategic aviation in its Syria campaign: On Nov. 17, Tu-95MS missile-carrying bombers took off from the Engels airfield (520 miles east of Moscow) and launched Kh-101 cruise missiles against militant targets on the outskirts of the cities of Idlib and Homs.

Russian Helicopters holding (part of Rostec) manufactured two multi-purpose Mil Mi-171 helicopters for China General Aviation Service Co Ltd, the holding’s press service said on Nov. 21.

The launch of the Russian Proton-M carrier rocket due to deliver the U.S. EchoStar-21 satellite into orbit, has been rescheduled from November to December, International Launch Services, which operates Proton international launches, announced on its official website on Nov. 21.

Russia's first emperor Peter the Great was famous not only for his wars, radical reforms and the construction of the new capital, St. Petersburg, but also for his temper. He worked tirelessly, demanding the same from his comrades, and he was terrifying when he was angry: Not only was he capable of beating anyone who irritated him, he could also have them executed. Everyone was afraid of falling out of favor with him, including his family.

Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election has sent everyone into a stupor. Russia, on the contrary, is in a state of joyful excitement. Which is understandable, given the nature of the campaign in America – the Democrats themselves kept saying that a Trump victory would be a victory for Putin.

In mid-December, the leaders of Russia and Japan will hold an informal summit that is bound to discuss the 70-year old Southern Kuril Island territorial dispute and a related package of economic cooperation. While the meeting has been hailed by the Russian and Japanese media as historical chance and, indeed, a lot is at stake for both sides in this “tug-of-peace,” the key challenge will be to maintain a long-term commitment and motivation after the summit, should the actual territorial negotiations gain traction. Читать дальше...

Russian military claims it have proved the use of chemical agents by Syrian militants, Gen Igor Konashenkov, the official spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said on Nov. 21.

The Kievsky district court in Simferopol has arrested for two months two Ukrainians suspected of espionage, a source in the court told TASS on Nov. 21.