The Moscow Times

Russian police have reportedly uncovered a massive fraud scheme at one of Russia’s foreign exchange markets suspected of embezzling more than 1,000 people. The suspects used an unidentified brand to attract investments “under the guise of providing services in the forex market,” Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk told the RBC news website Wednesday. Special software was allegedly used to show clients their profits, which were then “cashed in with a special plugin,” she was cited as saying...

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has reportedly been denied residency in Switzerland over fears that he may pose a security and reputational risk due to alleged criminal links. Swiss media reported this year that Abramovich, 51, had in 2016 applied for residency in the southwestern ski resort of Verbier, but then withdrew his application. In 2018, the steel tycoon reportedly received an Israeli passport after being left without a visa to Britain, where he owns the Chelsea football club. Swiss...

The Russian military has deployed coastal defense missile systems in the Arctic amid increased military activity in the region. Moscow renewed interest in the Arctic with the discovery of untapped oil and natural gas reserves and a desire to secure access to the Northern Sea Route — a strategic trade artery that has the potential to reroute East-West global trade flows. A military doctrine signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2014 entrusts Russia’s armed forces with maintaining the country’s strategic interests in the Arctic...

Anti-Kremlin activist and publisher Pyotr Verzilov says he has regained consciousness after falling seriously ill from a suspected poisoning two weeks ago. Verzilov, 30, was hospitalized in Moscow late on Sept. 11 after losing his sight, hearing and walking ability. German doctors said he was doing better since he arrived in Berlin for treatment last week. “This is only the third day in relative consciousness, and 12 days in a black hole before that,” Verzilov tweeted on Tuesday. “I’m spending my days in the friendly company of wonderful poisons...

State-run Russian television has come to the defense of U.S. President Donald Trump’s private parts against allegations by adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Daniels, who has claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade ago, has reportedly written a memoir about her running legal battles with Trump. Excerpts of the book obtained by Britain’s The Guardian describe his allegedly “smaller than average” but “not freakishly small” genitalia. Pro-Kremlin pundit Dmitry Kiselyov accused Daniels...

The government plans to shape the regional agenda ahead of the presidential elections with 100 state-run anonymous channels on the messaging app Telegram, the RBC business newspaper reported Tuesday. The Kremlin and other state agencies reportedly include political Telegram channels in their daily intake of media monitoring. Around 200 of these channels are said to be included in “Katyusha,” the media monitoring service purchased by the Kremlin in 2016. Russia’s next presidential elections will be held on March 18, 2018, with President Vladimir Putin expected to seek a fourth term...

A Russian fighter-bomber skidded off the runway in Syria, killing its crew, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday, citing the Defense Ministry. “The Su-24 skidded off the runway and was destroyed on Oct. 10 during acceleration for take-off from the Khmeimim airfield to perform a combat mission,” the ministry spokesperson said...

oreign citizens can now be deployed in Russia’s military operations abroad, according to a new decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Sunday. Foreigners have been allowed to enlist in the Russian army and Interior Ministry troops under a January 2015 decree. Russia's new decree, published on Monday, allows foreign nationals to take part in combat operations outside Russian borders. The law’s previous iteration was ostensibly aimed at legalizing the status of former Soviet republics already serving in the Russian military...

Russia has signed a deal with Saudi Arabia for the delivery of anti-aircraft missiles after initial confusion over whether the deal took place or not. The sale of the S-400 surface-to-air missile systems follows King Salman’s visit to Moscow last Thursday. A preliminary agreement was also reportedly reached to buy anti-tank guided missile systems, multiple rocket launchers, as well as to organize production of the Kalashnikov automatic rifle in Saudi Arabia. The following day, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced $15 billion in weapons sales to Riyadh...

Opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been detained outside his home ahead of a rally in central Russia.  Officials in the city of Nizhny Novgorod last week refused to authorize Navalny’s rally planned for Sept. 29, saying another event had been planned at the same location on the same day.  Local police and prosecutors warned that “provocations” would be quashed if people chose to attend.  In an early Friday Instagram post, Navalny shared footage of two police officers approaching him in what appears to be an underground parking lot...

Russia has the fastest-growing number of dollar millionaires in the world, the consulting company Capgemini said in its annual report on global wealth.  In 2016, the number of people with assets worth $1 million or more in Russia rose by 19.7 percent, according to Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2017. In 2015, the number of millionaires in Russia declined by 1.8 percent.  The numbers show Russian entrepreneurs are starting to recover from the economic crises of recent years, the RBC media outlet reports...

President Vladimir Putin ordered the destruction of the last of Russia’s chemical weapons on Wednesday in a televised broadcast in which he slammed the United States for failing to decommission its chemical stockpile. Russia’s 39,967 metric ton cache of chemical weapons, inherited from the Soviet Union, was enough to "destroy all life on earth multiple time,” Putin said Wednesday. “I believe Russia’s efforts in liquidating its chemical weapons will serve as an example for other countries,” the president said on the state-owned channel Rossia-24...