themoscowtimes--2020-10-23--Russia-China Military Alliance ‘Quite Possible,’ Putin Says

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club , Putin said that Russia has stepped up military cooperation with China through joint military exercises and the sharing of sensitive Russian military technologies .
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a future military alliance with China can ’ t be ruled out but is not needed right now , the Associated Press reported .
“ Without any doubt , our cooperation with China is bolstering the defense capability of China ’ s army , ” Putin said via videoconference with international foreign policy experts .
Moscow ’ s military ties with Beijing could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noting : “ The time will show how it will develop… we won ’ t exclude it.
” Asked about a hypothetical Russian-Chinese military alliance , Putin said : “ We don ’ t need it , but , theoretically , it ’ s quite possible to imagine it.
” To date , Russia and China have rejected an outright military alliance in favor of a strategic partnership .
Russia “ pivoted ” toward China after its annexation of Crimea in 2014 triggered Western sanctions and sunk relations to post-Cold War lows .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and economic superpower status while the role of the United States , as well as Britain and France , has waned , Putin said .
Putin ’ s comments on sharing sensitive technology with China come amid a wave of criminal prosecutions against Russian scientists accused of passing state secrets to China in recent years .

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club, Putin said that Russia has stepped up military cooperation with China through joint military exercises and the sharing of sensitive Russian military technologies.
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a future military alliance with China can’t be ruled out but is not needed right now, the Associated Press reported .
“Without any doubt, our cooperation with China is bolstering the defense capability of China’s army,” Putin said via videoconference with international foreign policy experts.
Moscow’s military ties with Beijing could someday deepen further, he added, noting: “The time will show how it will develop… we won’t exclude it.”
Asked about a hypothetical Russian-Chinese military alliance, Putin said: “We don’t need it, but, theoretically, it’s quite possible to imagine it.”
To date, Russia and China have rejected an outright military alliance in favor of a strategic partnership. Russia “pivoted” toward China after its annexation of Crimea in 2014 triggered Western sanctions and sunk relations to post-Cold War lows.
China and Germany are headed for political and economic superpower status while the role of the United States, as well as Britain and France, has waned, Putin said.
Putin’s comments on sharing sensitive technology with China come amid a wave of criminal prosecutions against Russian scientists accused of passing state secrets to China in recent years.


themoscowtimes--2020-10-23--Russia Continued Developing Novichok After Program's Official Closure, Investigation Says

The investigation comes amid mounting questions in the West over Russia ’ s alleged use of chemical weapons on foreign and domestic soil , accusations that Moscow denies .
The European Union and Britain have slapped sanctions on Russia over the suspected Novichok poisonings of a former Russian double agent in Britain in 2018 and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny this summer .
Russian military scientists continued working on the Novichok nerve agent ’ s development long after Moscow said it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles , an international investigation said Friday .
While Russia was said to have destroyed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the clandestine Novichok development program continued under cover of civilian research , the Bellingcat investigative website said in a joint year-long investigation with Russia ’ s The Insider news website , the U.S.-funded RFE/RL media group and Germany ’ s Der Spiegel weekly .
Obtained phone logs showed close coordination between the state institutions behind Novichok ’ s continued development and the GRU military intelligence agency ’ s Unit 29155 that has been linked to several Novichok poisonings , the outlets said .
Two of the institutes are under EU sanctions for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agent program , the outlets reported , while two other institutes worked outside the focus of Western intelligence services .
“ Russia continued its Novichok development program long beyond the officially announced closure date , ” Bellingcat said .
Previous reporting said Unit 29155 oversaw the Skripal poisoning , the poisoning of an arms smuggler in Bulgaria in 2015 and other destabilizing activities across Europe .
The head of one of the top-secret state institutes , chemist Sergei Chepur , made at least 65 calls and text messages to the head of Unit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the latest investigation said .
The phone logs also showed Chepur repeatedly communicating with three other members of the unit .
Metadata also reportedly showed Chepur visiting the GRU headquarters in northern Moscow days before the early 2018 poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter .
Three members of Unit 29155 were also said to have been in the building at the same time .
The scientists identified in the investigative report either hung up or denied their involvement when reached by phone .
“ Stop lying to everyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bellingcat .

The investigation comes amid mounting questions in the West over Russia’s alleged use of chemical weapons on foreign and domestic soil, accusations that Moscow denies. The European Union and Britain have slapped sanctions on Russia over the suspected Novichok poisonings of a former Russian double agent in Britain in 2018 and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny this summer.
Russian military scientists continued working on the Novichok nerve agent’s development long after Moscow said it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles, an international investigation said Friday.
While Russia was said to have destroyed its last chemical weapons arsenal in 2017, the clandestine Novichok development program continued under cover of civilian research, the Bellingcat investigative website said in a joint year-long investigation with Russia’s The Insider news website, the U.S.-funded RFE/RL media group and Germany’s Der Spiegel weekly.
Obtained phone logs showed close coordination between the state institutions behind Novichok’s continued development and the GRU military intelligence agency’s Unit 29155 that has been linked to several Novichok poisonings, the outlets said.
Two of the institutes are under EU sanctions for their work on Russia’s nerve agent program, the outlets reported, while two other institutes worked outside the focus of Western intelligence services.
“Russia continued its Novichok development program long beyond the officially announced closure date,” Bellingcat said.
Previous reporting said Unit 29155 oversaw the Skripal poisoning, the poisoning of an arms smuggler in Bulgaria in 2015 and other destabilizing activities across Europe.
The head of one of the top-secret state institutes, chemist Sergei Chepur, made at least 65 calls and text messages to the head of Unit 29155 between May 2017 and September 2019, the latest investigation said. The phone logs also showed Chepur repeatedly communicating with three other members of the unit.
Metadata also reportedly showed Chepur visiting the GRU headquarters in northern Moscow days before the early 2018 poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Three members of Unit 29155 were also said to have been in the building at the same time.
The scientists identified in the investigative report either hung up or denied their involvement when reached by phone.
“Stop lying to everyone including to yourselves,” Chepur told Bellingcat.


themoscowtimes--2020-10-23--Death of Sea Life Off Russia Peninsula 'Caused By Algae'

Locals in Kamchatka , a volcanic peninsula in Russia 's Far East , raised the alarm in September after the animals were found dead and surfers complained of stinging eyes .
Blooming algae was behind a recent mass death of sea animals that saw octopuses and seals wash up on the shore off a Russian peninsula , scientists said on Friday in the final conclusion to their probe .
Scientists later said that up to 95 % of marine life living along the seabed in the affected area had died .
Environmental campaigners said they were conducting their own inquiries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the official probe 's findings .
Andrei Adrianov , vice president of Russia 's Academy of Sciences , announced the probe 's conclusions on Friday , saying the mass death was due to the effects of toxins from single-cell algae .
Speaking at the same meeting , Svetlana Radionova of environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor said her agency conducted over 5,000 tests .
She said the agency did not see a way the situation could have been caused by humans .
In a separate criminal probe , investigators announced they had eliminated oil spills and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added that the previously reported high levels of phenol and petroleum products were `` not critical '' and had been observed in the bay for decades .
Environment Minister Dmitry Kobylkin said the situation in Kamchatka was improving .
But Russia 's branch of Greenpeace said they would not rule out any theories until they received the final results of their own probes .
Greenpeace 's Yelena Sakirko told AFP that human factors could have affected the algae — for example , if sewage or phosphates from washing powder and fertiliser leaked into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were concerned that the incident could affect the food chains in the region , causing long-term damage to wildlife .
The World Wildlife Fund said its experts were likewise unable to make any conclusions yet .
`` Unfortunately , public data available today does not fully prove any version of the ecological crisis off the coast of Kamchatka , '' it said .
Russia has been hit by a string of environmental disasters this year .
Just weeks after the Kamchatka incident , an oil spill covering 35,000 square meters was reported in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nakhodka in Russia 's Far East .
The most devastating incident took place in May , when some 20,000 tons of diesel leaked from a fuel tank into nearby rivers in the Siberian Arctic .

Locals in Kamchatka, a volcanic peninsula in Russia's Far East, raised the alarm in September after the animals were found dead and surfers complained of stinging eyes.
Blooming algae was behind a recent mass death of sea animals that saw octopuses and seals wash up on the shore off a Russian peninsula, scientists said on Friday in the final conclusion to their probe.
Scientists later said that up to 95% of marine life living along the seabed in the affected area had died.
Environmental campaigners said they were conducting their own inquiries and were not yet able to confirm the official probe's findings.
Andrei Adrianov, vice president of Russia's Academy of Sciences, announced the probe's conclusions on Friday, saying the mass death was due to the effects of toxins from single-cell algae.
Speaking at the same meeting, Svetlana Radionova of environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor said her agency conducted over 5,000 tests.
She said the agency did not see a way the situation could have been caused by humans.
In a separate criminal probe, investigators announced they had eliminated oil spills and toxic waste as possible causes.
They added that the previously reported high levels of phenol and petroleum products were "not critical" and had been observed in the bay for decades.
Environment Minister Dmitry Kobylkin said the situation in Kamchatka was improving.
But Russia's branch of Greenpeace said they would not rule out any theories until they received the final results of their own probes.
Greenpeace's Yelena Sakirko told AFP that human factors could have affected the algae — for example, if sewage or phosphates from washing powder and fertiliser leaked into the water.
Sakirko also said scientists were concerned that the incident could affect the food chains in the region, causing long-term damage to wildlife.
The World Wildlife Fund said its experts were likewise unable to make any conclusions yet.
"Unfortunately, public data available today does not fully prove any version of the ecological crisis off the coast of Kamchatka," it said.
Russia has been hit by a string of environmental disasters this year.
Just weeks after the Kamchatka incident, an oil spill covering 35,000 square meters was reported in the waters of the port city of Nakhodka in Russia's Far East.
The most devastating incident took place in May, when some 20,000 tons of diesel leaked from a fuel tank into nearby rivers in the Siberian Arctic.


themoscowtimes--2020-10-23--Years of ‘Stone Age’ Forced Sterilizations Claimed at Russian Institution

One former resident died after undergoing the surgical procedure , her widower told national television .
At least 15 women at an assisted-living facility in Russia ’ s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg have been subjected to forced sterilization over the years , media outlets and officials reported this week .
Law enforcement and health authorities in the Sverdlovsk region launched a probe into the reports that women at the state-run Uktus Boarding House have been coerced into being sterilized .
“ This method of sterilization is undoubtedly Stone Age , it ’ s unacceptable , ” said regional human rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broke out after local media published an interview Saturday with one of the women who said the boarding house subjected her to compulsory sterilization .
The outlets reported that a total of 15 women at the facility , which houses orphans with health issues , the elderly and the disabled , had been forced to sterilize over the past decade .
Another woman said that staffers and psychiatrists at a hospital where the sterilizations took place had threatened to institutionalize them if they refused to give written consent .
Sterilization without written consent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ person is disabled , is illegal in Russia .
The head of the Uktus Boarding House said that it had sterilized 15 women between 2006-16 and claimed that all of them had given written consent to the procedures , the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday .
“ Four of them were incapacitated , ” the director , Irina Verkholantseva , told the outlet .
Merzlyakova , the human rights ombudswoman , proposed free in vitro fertilization for the women Thursday .
In 2005 , six patients at a Moscow region psychiatric @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Compulsory sterilizations for fear that women will have mentally ill children is a Soviet relic still common in Russia , mental health activists told The Moscow Times at the time .
An International Criminal Court memorandum not signed by Russia , the United States or China defines forced sterilization as a crime against humanity .

One former resident died after undergoing the surgical procedure, her widower told national television.
At least 15 women at an assisted-living facility in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg have been subjected to forced sterilization over the years, media outlets and officials reported this week.
Law enforcement and health authorities in the Sverdlovsk region launched a probe into the reports that women at the state-run Uktus Boarding House have been coerced into being sterilized.
“This method of sterilization is undoubtedly Stone Age, it’s unacceptable,” said regional human rights ombudswoman Tatyana Merzlyakova.
A nationwide scandal broke out after local media published an interview Saturday with one of the women who said the boarding house subjected her to compulsory sterilization. The outlets reported that a total of 15 women at the facility, which houses orphans with health issues, the elderly and the disabled, had been forced to sterilize over the past decade.
Another woman said that staffers and psychiatrists at a hospital where the sterilizations took place had threatened to institutionalize them if they refused to give written consent.
Sterilization without written consent, or a court order if the person is disabled, is illegal in Russia.
The head of the Uktus Boarding House said that it had sterilized 15 women between 2006-16 and claimed that all of them had given written consent to the procedures, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday.
“Four of them were incapacitated,” the director, Irina Verkholantseva, told the outlet.
Merzlyakova, the human rights ombudswoman, proposed free in vitro fertilization for the women Thursday.
In 2005, six patients at a Moscow region psychiatric facility accused doctors of forcibly sterilizing them. Compulsory sterilizations for fear that women will have mentally ill children is a Soviet relic still common in Russia, mental health activists told The Moscow Times at the time.
An International Criminal Court memorandum not signed by Russia, the United States or China defines forced sterilization as a crime against humanity.