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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Russia now has "unbelievable military power" after transforming its armed forces over the past 20 years, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen.John Hyten said on Friday.

Ahead of his farewell fight at a Moscow event run by Khabib Nurmagomedov, a revered MMA star has spoken about growing up with the ex-UFC champ and his father, legendary coach Abdulmanap. Read Full Article at RT.com

Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google removed a protest-voting app from their Russian stores on Friday as parliamentary elections got under way, a move that pleased the Kremlin but drew swift anger from Washington and opposition activists.The US technology companies “have caved into the Kremlin’s blackmail,” Leonid Volkov, a top aide to jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, wrote on Telegram. The Putin critic’s supporters denounced the move as “a shameful act of political censorship”…

Racing driver Ira Sidorkova has admitted that the "shocking news" of her selection by lads' mag Maxim in their list of the top 100 of Russia's hottest women was a very welcome surprise. Read Full Article at RT.com

A chess star is suing Netflix for being "grossly sexist" by including a line in a hit series claiming that she "never played men", launching a $5 million lawsuit that also takes issue with being depicted as Russian. Read Full Article at RT.com

The story about Hunter Biden's "laptop from hell" did not initially receive as much media attention as it might have, as Twitter blocked links to related articles, claiming that it believed the story was part of a "Russian disinformation campaign".

A Russian man suspected of murdering three family members and of setting off an explosion at a police station in the small town of Liski was found on Friday with an arsenal of weapons, including guns, grenades, and cartridges. Read Full Article at RT.com

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Michael Sussmann, the lawyer who acted on behalf of the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign to bring allegations of a secret communications channel between Donald Trump and a Russian bank to the FBI, pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to them about his association with the Clinton campaign during an interview.

Construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was completed a week ago. However, the US continues to pressure its European allies to delay the project’s certification. Read Full Article at RT.com

Russians vote in a three-day parliamentary election in which most vocal Kremlin critics have been barred from running following a historic crackdown on the opposition.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia is launching pre-clinical trials of simultaneous administration of vaccines against flu and the coronavirus, based on study results, a decision on further steps will be made, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Friday.

The dollar’s role in both the Russian and global markets is still substantial, but interest in it will gradually decline in favor of other currencies, in particular the euro, the governor of the Bank of Russia predicted on Friday. Read Full Article at RT.com

RT has asked the Russian authorities to put pressure on American tech giant Facebook over what it has described as an act of censorship against its digital content project Redfish, whose Instagram account was suspended this week. Read Full Article at RT.com

Despite the US spending months planning its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the events that unfolded looked more like an escape than a coordinated maneuver, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a forum of Eurasian leaders on Friday. Read Full Article at RT.com

Millions of Russians are expected to head to the polls over a three-day period starting Friday in elections taking place against the backdrop of an unprecedented assault on democracy over the past year.

Russia’s state-run energy giant Gazprom estimates the country’s reserves of natural gas will last 100 years with some deposits capable of delivering the fuel until 2132. Read Full Article at RT.com

China has lobbied Russia, Iran and Pakistan to take a unified stance on Afghanistan, focusing on holding the United States accountable for the chaos in the war-torn nation and stemming security threats to neighbouring countries.In meetings on Friday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), both in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, Chinese President Xi Jinping – joining by video link – called for guidance to push the Afghan…

A Beluga whale, born last month at the Primorsky Aquarium in Vladivostok, has been shown to the public for the first time in its short life, the facility announced on Wednesday, marking a historic event for the tourist attraction. Read Full Article at RT.com

Russia goes to the polls this week to elect the lower house of parliament, the Duma. One thing, however, is already certain: If the pro-Putin United Russia party wins a majority, critics will dismiss the result as fraudulent. Read Full Article at RT.com

The Russian authorities have used a variety of deceitful tactics to try to manufacture a big victory in parliamentary elections this weekend. Here’s how they do it.

One of America's most prominent diplomats, widely cast as the leading foreign force behind calls for regime change in the unrest that hit Ukraine in 2014, is hoping for a summit with officials in Moscow, Russian media reports. Read Full Article at RT.com

The app, from the Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, vanished from online stores as polls opened in the parliamentary election it was designed to sway.

US-led coalition forces left Afghanistan in August 2021 after a two-decade-long military campaign as the Taliban* took over the country.

An online tactical voting initiative backed by jailed campaigner Alexey Navalny has been removed from app stores on the eve of Russia's parliamentary elections, after Moscow hit out at tech firms it says were circumventing a ban. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will vote online during the ongoing elections to the parliament’s lower house, Kremlin spokesman said on Friday.

The Smart Voting app promoted candidates most likely to defeat President Vladimir Putin's party.

Russia’s Central Bank has revealed it is holding talks with the country’s financial institutions to convince them to slow down payments to cryptocurrency exchanges in order to stop citizens from making bad montary decisions. Read Full Article at RT.com

The US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan came amid the Taliban* increasing its military activities, which resulted in the militant group seizing power in the nation on 15 August.

Special Counsel John Durham on Thursday secured an indictment against a prominent Democrat lawyer alleging he developed and fed information to the FBI during the 2016 campaign suggesting Donald Trump was colluding with Russia without disclosing he was being paid by Hillary Clinton's campaign.

There has been no change of the approval status of the Russian-developed Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, which is still waiting for additional paperwork, a World Health Organization spokesperson told TASS. Read Full Article at RT.com

Special counsel John Durham has charged a partner at Perkins Coie, a law firm representing the Democrats and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, for allegedly lying to the FBI in the Trump-Russia probe. Read Full Article at RT.com

Racing to beat NASA, an actress and a film director will blast off next month for the International Space Station, where they will film “The Challenge.”

Russians in the Far East began voting in a three-day parliamentary election in which vocal Kremlin critics have been barred from running following a historic crackdown on the opposition.Parliamentary and local polls in the world’s largest country spread over 11 time zones begin at 8am on Friday. So as Muscovites prepared to go to bed, residents of the Far Eastern Chukotka and Kamchatka regions were gearing up to cast their ballots.“Let’s go!” Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election…

Special Counsel John Durham, who has been looking into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe since April 2019, is reportedly targeting a lawyer from a firm linked to the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The defendant, Michael Sussmann, is accused of lying to the F.B.I. in a meeting about Trump and Russia. He denies wrongdoing.

Many in Russia say they are fed up with corruption, stagnant wages and rising prices. But they worry, as one man said, that “if things start to change, there will be blood.”

The ruling United Russia party is expected to comfortably hold its majority in the State Duma after a lacklustre campaign season marked by a crackdown on serious opposition groups.

An upgrade of the country's nuclear weapons arsenal was initially ordered by President Donald Trump. Both Russia and China have unveiled new types of strategic weapons, including hypersonic ones, in recent years, while the American nuclear deterrent triad has aged significantly.

The creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), also known as the Shanghai Pact, was announced in 2001. Led by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance.

Moscow’s Ministry of Defense has released a spectacular video from the active phase of the Zapad 2021 joint strategic exercise, which finished on Thursday after being hosted at nine military training ranges in Russia and Belarus. Read Full Article at RT.com

The UK is not alone in experiencing troubles in the energy sphere, with Europe facing an increase in energy bills due to rising gas prices. The latter were caused by the fact that gas reservoirs in the EU remain underfilled due to falling supplies from Norway and Russia, and Asian nations buying up most of the available LNG shipments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday morning that "not just one or two but several dozen people" from his inner circle had contracted coronavirus.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Despite the grim anticipation of an enlargement of the hole in the ozone layer above the southern hemisphere in 2021, a recovery forecast predicts noticeable improvement after 2024, a leading researcher at the Russian Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory, Andrei Kiselev, told Sputnik, commenting on a recent EU study.

The World Health Organization has suspended its approval process for Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, after the UN agency found one of the production facilities for the shots had followed the wrong manufacturing practices. Read Full Article at RT.com

The head of the Doctors’ Alliance, an activist group linked to Alexey Navalny, has publicly revealed that she has cut all ties with the Russian opposition figure’s organization, accusing its leaders of exploiting her and her team. Read Full Article at RT.com

A baby killer whale that had been stranded in Russia's Far East, was rescued, footage from Russian State TV RU-RTR showed. The rescue took place in the Magadan region, after the killer whale was left stranded when a low tide occurred in the Gertner Bay.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian government has allocated more than 4.4 billion rubles ($60.6 million) to space company Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of the Roscosmos state corporation, for the production of a rocket and spaceship for tourist flights by 2024.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) head Ilham Ehmed raised the issue of Turkish attacks in northern Syria during a visit to Russia, as well as asked Moscow to facilitate a meeting with the Syrian leadership, SDC representative in the US, Bassam Saker, told Sputnik.

Russia has distributed over 600,000 passports in pro-separatist eastern Ukraine in recent months to encourage residents to vote.

An advanced new anti-aircraft rocket system hailed as the first ever capable of taking out incoming missiles from low-space orbit could be snapped up by Indian defense chiefs in a move likely to anger the US, Moscow has said. Read Full Article at RT.com

From September 17-19, Russians will vote to elect the 450 MPs who will represent them for the next five years. Ahead of the election, RT will preview the parties most likely to win seats, this time focusing on United Russia. Read Full Article at RT.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing. Putin would be banned from the event unless invited by Xi. Read Full Article at RT.com

One thing that Russia and Ukraine have in common is a rich tradition of irony. The kind of irony that, unfortunately for Kiev, can quickly turn what should be a reputation-boosting PR exercise into a bitter and self-defeating row. Read Full Article at RT.com

The heads of six former Soviet republics, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, have agreed to modernize and upgrade their forces patrolling the fractious border with Afghanistan in Central Asia amid fears of instability. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Kremlin regrets the European Parliament's report on Russia which contains no plans for a dialogue with Moscow, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 16 September, mentioning that the document is only a recommendation.

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Thursday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available. 6:42 a.m.: Phil Van Daalen was an industrial mechanic for air compressor company Comairco when the COVID-19 pandemic began. He was laid off in March 2020 along with other colleagues in London, Ont., as well as others at branches across the country. His employer gave him his record of employment and told him to file for employment insurance. In the early weeks of the pandemic, Van Daalen had no way of knowing that his layoff would last more than a year. His temporary layoff would morph into an unpaid infectious disease emergency leave (IDEL), a measure enacted by the Ontario government in response to COVID-19. Similar to a temporary layoff, the IDEL allows workers to collect EI and other pandemic supports while guaranteeing a job to return to. Under normal circumstances, temporary layoffs require businesses to

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - As a sovereign country, Russia uses the kind of internet regulation that suits it best, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 16 September, commenting on China's internet regulation practices.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Actions of Apple and Google during Russian parliamentary elections are considered as interference in domestic affairs of the country, Andrei Klimov, the head of the Russian upper chamber's commission for the protection of state sovereignty, said on Thursday.

Five of the opposition leader’s exiled allies are engineering an election campaign that they hope will put dozens of Kremlin opponents into Parliament.

“If you’re liberal, vote Communist.” That’s the message of Alexey Navalny’s team after they unveiled a list of preferred candidates in this week’s Russian parliamentary election. It’s doubtful many will find the logic convincing. Read Full Article at RT.com

The coronavirus outbreak that has forced Vladimir Putin into self-isolation is far worse than previously reported, the Russian president has explained, with the disease apparently spreading like wildfire throughout the Kremlin. Read Full Article at RT.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that dozens of people in his entourage tested positive for the coronavirus before he went into self-isolation earlier this week.The Russian leader, who announced in March he had been vaccinated, started self-isolating on Tuesday after being identified as a coronavirus contact. Putin said isolation could last “a few days”.“You know that unfortunately I had to cancel my visit to Dushanbe at the last moment,” Putin said during remarks to a meeting of…

Russia's State Duma has threatened to increase penalties for IT companies if they continue to ignore the injunctions of the country's media watchdog Roskomnadzor. In recent weeks, Google, Facebook and Twitter have all been fined. Read Full Article at RT.com

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

A Chinese firm has been given a contract to help build a Russian floating nuclear power plant in the first commission of its kind as the two countries step up their cooperation in the sector.China’s Wison (Nantong) Heavy Industries Co won a bid to build the hulls for two floating nuclear power plants for Rosatom, a Russian state nuclear energy corporation, at a price of US$226 million, the newspaper Kommersant reported.The two floating nuclear power plants will be used to supply power to the…

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia needs a strong authoritative parliament so that new State Duma members act in the interests of the country and its people, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group (banned in Russia) shelled Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone 27 times over the past 24 hours, Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit, deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said at a briefing.

The lawyer, Michael Sussmann, is accused of lying to the F.B.I. in a 2016 meeting about Trump and Russia. He denies wrongdoing.

Andy Murray loses 6-2 4-6 6-1 to Russia's Roman Safiullin in last 16 at the Rennes Open

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The lawyer of the Russian citizen Aleksandr Grichishkin, charged in the US for cybercrimes, expressed anticipation on Wednesday that the court will schedule sentencing in October.

The man had sold confidential information about the Swedish truckmaker Scania to a Russian diplomat.

When Sochi won the battle to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, many claimed that investment in a dilapidated Soviet resort, partially on swampland, was just for show, and that the city would quickly turn into a Potemkin village. Read Full Article at RT.com

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying 34 satellites owned by the British firm OneWeb has successfully blasted off from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country's Far East. Its payload is poised to help expand global internet coverage. Read Full Article at RT.com

Supplies of natural gas to Europe via the completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline will not start on October 1, according to the CEO of Russian energy major Gazprom, Alexey Miller. Read Full Article at RT.com

Ahead of a virtual leaders meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Thursday, Russia and India appear poised to set aside their differences and cooperate on the future of Afghanistan, signalling a potential realignment of alliances involving two of the group’s eight members.China has for 20 years sought to promote its strategic objectives via the SCO but Beijing is unlikely to welcome Moscow and New Delhi closing ranks to safeguard the region’s stability and security – as well…

Politicians in Kiev won't stop asking Western nations for money, and this continuous begging is unworthy of the Ukrainian people they are supposed to be representing. That's according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Read Full Article at RT.com

From September 17-19, Russians will vote to elect the 450 MPs who will represent them for the next five years. Ahead of the election, RT will preview the parties most likely to win seats, this time focusing on Fair Russia. Read Full Article at RT.com

Football has nothing to do with the death of George Floyd and players should stop taking a knee, former FIFA vice-president Vyacheslav Koloskov has said after several Zenit stars performed the action before their game at Chelsea. Read Full Article at RT.com

Russia's representatives at the United Nations have refused to endorse an extension of the international organization's special political mission in the troubled North African nation of Libya, diplomatic sources have claimed. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iran authorized Russia's Sputnik Light single-component vaccine against the coronavirus, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced on Wednesday.

In Krasnodar’s central square, a giant digital billboard counts down the days until Russia’s parliamentary elections. With polls opening on Friday, the clock is ticking for parties to convince people to actually turn out and vote. Read Full Article at RT.com

Despite the completion of Nord Stream 2, Europe should not expect the Russian pipeline to start deliveries this year due to bureaucracy within the EU, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Wednesday. Read Full Article at RT.com

The current sharp rise in gas prices in Europe has nothing to do with Russia, but the launch of the newly constructed Nord Stream 2 pipeline may stabilize the energy market, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov says. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Shares of Russian oil company Rosneft on 15 September reached record 589.8 rubles ($8.12) at the Moscow Exchange after the reports about potential gas exports via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Russia’s lucrative role as one of the world’s largest energy exporters could be under threat in the not-too-distant future, a top Moscow official has warned, claiming oil deposits could begin running dry within just two decades. Read Full Article at RT.com

History is often more about the politics of the present than what happened in the past. That much is clear from recent unveilings of two monuments to a Russian hero and saint, Alexander Nevsky, in a show of defiance to the West. Read Full Article at RT.com

An international team of scientists led by experts from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (NRNU MEPhI) were the first to demonstrate the recently predicted quantum electrodynamics effect. According to the authors, the results could improve the efficiency of solar cells, organic LEDs, and other photovoltaic equipment by several times.

Grain production in Russia is expected to reach 118 million tons this year, including more than 75 million tons of wheat, according to a Russian Grain Union forecast. Read Full Article at RT.com

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin was invited to the US-led virtual summit on the COVID-19 response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 15 September, adding that the president’s participation is being considered.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will balance the price parameters on the European gas market, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, as gas futures prices keep surging to record highs.

Russian officials are waiting for an answer after presenting the American ambassador with a dossier on purported examples of US attempts to interfere in the country's upcoming elections, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Read Full Article at RT.com

DUSHANBE (Sputnik) - Moscow is awaiting a response from Washington regarding its interference in Russia's domestic affairs, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on 15 September, noting that the facts to substantiate the claims, which were recently communicated to the US ambassador, were quite serious.

European gas prices have hit another record in Wednesday’s trading, exceeding $900 per 1,000 cubic meters. Read Full Article at RT.com

Middle-aged women are part of the core base of Russia’s ruling party. Can its refusal to help domestic violence victims harm its support in this weekend’s elections?

Ahead of this week's elections many opposition candidates have been prevented from running.

Romelu Lukaku came to the rescue for a subdued Chelsea as they struggled against Russian visitors Zenit St. Petersburg in their Champions League opener at Stamford Bridge before the big Belgian broke the deadlock. Read Full Article at RT.com