Tag Archives: RUSSIAN

Pirates release Russian expatriates kidnapped in Niger Delta

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Russian news agencies reported on Sunday that seven Russian sailors and one Ukrainian captured by Nigerian pirates have been released.

General cargo ship BBC Caribbean cargo vessel was attacked on Nigeria’s territorial waters on February 5.

The sailors were reportedly released after dialogue was held between the owners of the ship and pirates.

According to NAN, Interfax news agency quoted human rights activist Pavel Butsay as saying the sailors were at Frankfurt airport and planned to return home next week.

“We have great news: our sailors are in Frankfurt (Germany) already, all are fine, the talks went successfully, all eight crew members, who have been seized, are freed now – seven Russians and one Ukrainian,” Butsay said.

“Germany’s Briese company had tough negotiations, during which jointly with the Russian embassy they undertook all necessary measures for soonest liberation.”

He added that the sailors’ families had been informed about their regained freedom.

According to NAN, a similar incident occurred in February 2016, when Nigerian sailors captured Ivan Rudny, a 32-year-old Russian seaman, along with his colleagues from the French vessel Bourbon Liberty 251 in the Gulf of Guinea.

Rudny was reportedly released after ransom was paid.

 

Source: The Cable

Pirates Abduct Russians, Ukrainian In Nigeria.

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Pirates have abducted seven Russian sailors and one Ukrainian in the territorial waters of Nigeria, the Russian embassy has said.

Russian Embassy in Nigeria reported on Wednesday that, “the BBC Caribbean ship came under a piratic attack in the territorial waters of Nigeria.”

The Russian embassy said on its Twitter page that, “Seven Russian citizens and one Ukrainian citizen have been kidnapped from the ship”.

The Russian embassy has asked the Nigerian authorities for assistance in establishing the whereabouts of the abducted.”

According to Russia News Agency, Maritime Herald on Tuesday said the general cargo ship BBC Caribbean was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea 45 nautical miles south-west off Brass, Nigeria.

The incident happened near Pennington Oil Terminal at Nigerian Delta, when the cargo ship was approached by a motor skiff with armed men on board, who opened fire.

The guards on board of the general cargo ship BBC Caribbean returned fire.

On November 27 last year three Russian sailors were taken hostage when the Saronic Breeze ship was attacked in the territorial waters of Benin. On December 20 all were freed.

On February 23 last year the Bourbon Liberty 251 ship belonging to a French company was seized by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea.

The attackers eventually fled taking two hostages, one of them Russia’s Ivan Rydny. He was freed in March 2016 to return to his family in Murmansk.

The news of the hostage taking was also broken in the Twitter handle of Rus to En Fr Es News ?@Rus_Eng_News which said “In Nigeria pirates kidnapped seven Russians and the citizen of Ukraine’’

Ruslan TradVerified account ?@ruslantrad had #BREAKING: pirates took hostage 8 sailors from #Russia and #Ukraine in the territorial waters of #Nigeria.

It said “In connection with the seizure of the Embassy of the Russian Federation requested the authorities of Nigeria’s assistance in locating the stolen.’’

 

Source: NAN

Turkish and Russian diplomats will meet as planned to discuss Aleppo amidst rift.

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Diplomats from Turkey and Russia will meet as planned on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, one day after the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey.

On Monday night, a Turkish police officer fired several shots at Andrey Karlov as the Russian envoy opened an art exhibition in Ankara, shouting “Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria.”
The assassination came at a time of thawing relations between Russia and Turkey, and at a pivotal moment for the war in Syria, where Russia has been instrumental in President Bashar al-Assad’s push to retake rebel-held areas.
Six people have been taken in for questioning in relation to the shooting, including five members of the gunman’s family and one flatmate, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
The gunman gestures near the body of Karlov. In a video circulating on social media, the shooter is heard shouting, “Allahu akbar (God is greatest). Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria! Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria!” Russia has been instrumental in helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in its push to retake the eastern sector of Aleppo, which had been held by rebels for nearly four years. Russia is also the most powerful ally of Assad’s regime and has carried out airstrikes since September 2015 to prop up the embattled leader.
Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, speaks at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibit in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, December 19. Moments later, he was fatally shot. Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici was at the event and watched the assassination unfold.
 
Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, speaks at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibit in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, December 19. Moments later, he was fatally shot. Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici was at the event and watched the assassination unfold.
The gunman gestures near the body of Karlov. In a video circulating on social media, the shooter is heard shouting, “Allahu akbar (God is greatest). Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria! Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria!” Russia has been instrumental in helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in its push to retake the eastern sector of Aleppo, which had been held by rebels for nearly four years. Russia is also the most powerful ally of Assad’s regime and has carried out airstrikes since September 2015 to prop up the embattled leader.

Embassies closed in Turkey

All US embassy and consulates in Turkey were to be closed Tuesday following a separate incident, hours after the assassination.
Turkish police arrested a man who fired into the air with a shotgun outside the US Embassy in Ankara, Anadolu reported.
Video fed by Turkish video news agency IHA showed a handcuffed man being led by security officers into an unmarked police car as he shouted “I swear to God. Don’t play with us,” in Turkish. No one was injured.

How the shooting happened

The man who opened fire on the ambassador was identified as police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas.
He was killed soon after the Monday attack at the Cagdas Sanat Merkezi modern arts center in the heart of Ankara, at a neighborhood of foreign embassies including the US and Russia.
Karlov, envoy to Turkey since 2013, had been invited to speak at a photography exhibit opening featuring the work of Turkish photographers in the Russian countryside.
Altintas, wearing a dark suit, fired shots in rapid succession at Karlov’s back. The gunman circled his body, visibly agitated as he smashed photos hanging on the wall, said Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici.
“Allahu akbar (God is greatest). Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria! Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria!” Altintas is heard shouting in video of the incident.
“Only death will remove me from here. Everyone who has taken part in this oppression will one by one pay for it,” he said.

Shooting a ‘provocation’

The brazen attack was immediately denounced by both Turkish and Russian leaders as an effort to derail relations between the two countries, which they said would not succeed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the killing was clear “provocation” aimed at undermining not just the normalization of Russia-Turkish relations but the “peace process in Syria” promoted by Russia, Turkey, Iran and other countries.
“The only response we should offer to this murder is stepping up our fight against terror, and the criminals will feel the heat,” Putin said in televised remarks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan echoed his sentiments, saying “the Russian government and the Turkish republic have the will to not fall into that provocation.”
Officials from both countries and Iran will meet to discuss issues in Syria Tuesday in Moscow.
On the same day, an 18-strong investigative team of Russia’s special agencies is scheduled to arrive in Turkey to help authorities with their inquiries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state-run TASS on Tuesday.
“The important thing is to understand who is behind this crime,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
“We are convinced that the main goal of those who planned this barbaric act [is] to undermine the process of normalization of relations between Russia and Turkey, largely in order to prevent an effective fight against terrorism in Syria. This goal is futile. It will not work.”
Emergency vehicles respond to the shooting of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.
Emergency vehicles respond to the shooting of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.

Russia and Turkey’s role in Syria

Russia has been denounced by human rights groups and several countries over its backing of the Syrian president.
It is the most powerful ally of Assad’s regime and has carried out airstrikes since September 2015 to prop up the embattled leader. As one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia has also used its veto powers to block a political solution to end the war.
Analyst: More violence to come in Turkey

Turkey’s deadly year

The shooting of the ambassador is the latest in a long string of attacks in Turkey this year, although it’s the first in recent memory to be directed at a foreign dignitary.
Relations between Russia and Turkey hit an all-time low after Turkish forces shot a Russian warplane out of the sky near the Syrian border in November 2015.
Russia slapped a raft of sanctions on Turkey after the deadly incident, hurting Turkish exports and damaging its tourism industry.
The relationship began to thaw in June, when Erdogan wrote a letter expressing “regret” to the dead pilot’s family.
When Erdogan faced down an attempted military coup in July, Putin was among the first world leaders to call and offer his support.
Erdogan and Putin have spoken several times on the phone in recent weeks as they worked to reach a deal to evacuate civilians from eastern Aleppo.

Russian Air Raids Kill 55 In #Aleppo

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At least 55 people have been killed over the past 24 hours in the Syrian province of Aleppo as Russian air strikes resumed over the countryside, sources told Al Jazeera.

The deaths from raids in Aleppo’s Bustan al-Qasr and Fardos neighbourhoods, as well as Ar-Rasheeqa city, were the results of the heaviest Russian bombardment in days on the city’s rebel-held sector. Dozens were also wounded.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, reported a lull in fighting on Wednesday.

“Silence is taking over Aleppo city, so far no gunshots or airstrikes have been heard, since the airstrike[s],” the monitor said.

Heightened tensions on the ground came amid efforts from the international community to halt the bloodshed in Aleppo.

Al Jazeera has seen a letter signed by at least 62 countries including Saudi and Qatar, but excluding Egypt and Iraq, calling on the UN Security Council to prevent further deaths from a “calculated campaign”.

The letter warns that the war in Syria is unlikely to be resolved by armies. It called on all parties to adopt political processes for a political transition based on recommendations agreed upon at Geneva conventions and by the Security Council.

“The fighting, the bombardment and the siege have worsened conditions inside Aleppo,” said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Turkish border with Syria.

“The United Nations is warning that drinking water remains limited, medical supplies are urgently needed and the distribution food rations are being split in half … aid agencies are appealing for access to treat the wounded,” Khodr added.

Read More: aljazeera

Simone Biles Releases Statement On Twitter Following The Russian Drug-Testing Hack

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A group of Russian hackers broke into the World Anti-Doping Agency’s database earlier this week and released the private medical records of multiple Olympic athletes, including Simone Biles, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams.

According to E! News, all three of the superstar athletes had been “given medical exemptions to use banned drugs” for various reasons, and Simone had tested positive for one of WADA’s banned substances prior to the 2016 Summer Games. In response, Simone took to Twitter on Tuesday to explain her side of the story, and to further emphasize that she did not misuse any drugs or cheat.

“I have ADHD and I have taken medicine for it since I was a kid,” she wrote. “Please know, I believe in clean sport, have always followed the rules, and will continue to do so as fair play is critical to sport and is very important to me.”

“Having ADHD, and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of [and] nothing that I’m afraid to let people know,” she continued.

WADA later released a statement on the matter, condemning the cyber-attack and to state that they believe it happened as a result of email phishing. They also believe that the attack happened in response to the Russian doping scandal at this year’s Olympics.

“WADA deeply regrets this situation and is very conscious of the threat that it represents to athletes whose confidential information has been divulged through this criminal act,” Director General Olivier Niggli said. “We are reaching out to stakeholders, such as the IOC, IFs and NADOs, regarding the specific athletes impacted.”

“Let it be known that these criminal acts are greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russia further to the outcomes of the Agency’s independent McLaren Investigation Report,” he continued.

Meanwhile, the team behind the cyber-attack — which goes by the name Fancy Bears — has released a statement on their website saying that they “stand for fair play and clean sport” and intend to keep releasing information from the WADA database.

“We will start with the U.S. team which has disgraced its name by tainted victories,” they wrote. “We will also disclose exclusive information about other national Olympic teams later. Wait for sensational proof of famous athletes taking doping substances any time soon.”

Credit: cosmopolitan

Russian Man Marries A Pizza, Says It Would Not Reject Or Betray You

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A 22-year-old Russian man recently got married to a pizza…yes, you read right. Pizza, that round flat bread usually topped with tomato sauce and cheese and baked in an oven. Except that this particular pizza wore a white wedding veil. The ceremony allegedly took place in the city of Tomsk, Russia, in a pizzeria with chefs and managers as witnesses because Russian authorities refused to officially register the marriage and a church also declined. Awon ti won ni she se! Lol
The unnamed groom says he decided to marry his favourite fast food after getting bored of the single life. “Love between two humans is a complicated wild thing,” he said. “Pizza, on the other hand, would not reject you or betray you, and speaking quite frankly and sincerely, I love it.” The restaurant even presented the groom and his ‘bride’ with an unofficial wedding certificate on a clipboard.