Author Archive
Posted on July 7, 2010 - by Venik
Russia and US ‘planning spy swap’
Russian nuclear researcher Igor Sutyagin could be freed in exchange for alleged agents held in US, his brother says Russia and America are orchestrating a spy swap, in which the alleged agents captured in the US last week will be handed back to Moscow, according to the family of a Russian scientist who will be [...]
Posted on July 7, 2010 - by Venik
Mikhail Pletnev charged with child molestation in Thailand
Russian pianist and conductor denies charge after police raid Thai property over investigation into a paedophilia ring A celebrated Russian pianist and conductor was charged today in Thailand with molesting a 14-year-old boy after police raided the musician’s home and found incriminating photographs. Mikhail Pletnev, 53, founder and artistic director of the Russian National Orchestra [...]
Posted on July 7, 2010 - by Venik
Mikhail Pletnev charged with child molesting in Thailand
Russian pianist and conductor denies charge after police raid Thai property over investigation into a paedophilia ring A celebrated Russian pianist and conductor was charged today in Thailand with molesting a 14-year-old boy after police raided the musician’s home and found incriminating photographs. Mikhail Pletnev, 53, founder and artistic director of the Russian National Orchestra [...]
Posted on July 7, 2010 - by Venik
The US foreign policy tightrope walk | Nicolas Bouchet
Hillary Clinton’s tour of eastern Europe has been a balancing of foreign policy goals with the promotion of democracy Hillary Clinton has spent the last few days trying to show that Barack Obama’s administration can walk a tightrope and balance its foreign policy goals and democracy, where George W Bush ultimately fell flat on his [...]
Posted on July 6, 2010 - by Venik
FSA fines Sibir Energy’s former boss over secret loans to Russian tycoon
Sibir’s former CEO Henry Cameron is given £150,000 off his fine for early settlement with Financial Services Authority The former boss of Russian energy firm Sibir has been fined £350,000 for his role in a controversial deal in which the company secretly loaned $325m (£214m) to its largest shareholder. Henry Cameron’s fine for market abuse [...]
Posted on July 5, 2010 - by Venik
REF Smith obituary
Professor REF Smith, who has died aged 87, was the foremost British historian of medieval Russian agrarian society, and a linguist. These two interests resulted in more than 10 major books: on medieval Russian agriculture and peasantry; several translated works; and a Russian-English Social Science dictionary that went into two editions. He saw his task [...]
Posted on July 5, 2010 - by Venik
Russian spy ring: Irish passport ‘used in alleged conspiracy’
County Donegal fireman who holidayed in Moscow in 2005 dragged into case of alleged Russian spies An Irish fireman has found himself at the centre of the Russian spy scandal in the United States after his passport details were apparently used by one of the alleged spies. Eunan Gerard Doherty, from Ballyloskey, Carndonagh, County Donegal, [...]
Posted on July 4, 2010 - by Venik
Russian space capsule delivers supplies to astronauts
Food and water brought to three Russian and three US astronauts aboard space station 220 miles above the Earth An unmanned Russian space capsule carrying tons of food, water and supplies to the International Space Station docked with the orbiting laboratory today, two days after the first attempt went awry. A video feed from Russian [...]
Posted on July 4, 2010 - by Venik
I’m Anna Chapman – but I’m no Russian spy
The alleged spy has the same name as me. So suddenly I am very popular on Facebook Since last Wednesday morning I’ve been battling to prove who I am. The first sign of trouble ahead came from my brother, who emailed to ask about my spying activities, and sent me a link to the story [...]
Posted on July 3, 2010 - by Venik
Thomas Cook nears deal with Intourist, travel agency set up by Stalin
Tour operator ‘weeks away’ from clinching joint venture with former USSR state travel agency to meet growing Russian demand for sunny getaways Tour operator Thomas Cook is close to clinching a multimillion-pound deal in Russia to set up a joint venture with Intourist, the Russian travel agency established in 1929 by Stalin. The deal would [...]
Posted on July 3, 2010 - by Venik
Anna Chapman and the ‘Russian spies’ no match for the steely cold war agents
The media has tried to make Moscow’s suburban undercover agents glamorous. Well they’re not In the summer of 1910 an English newspaper thrilled readers with a description of “the hundred or so spies, all trusted soldiers [who have] passed unnoticed into the country”. Worse than that, said the Daily Mail, was the unmistakable ambition of [...]
Posted on July 2, 2010 - by Venik
Anna Chapman ‘is an ordinary girl’, says her father-in-law
Kevin Chapman first met Anna when she and Alex returned to England from Russia after their secret marriage in 2002 The British father-in-law of Anna Chapman has spoken of his bewilderment after hearing she had been arrested following accusations that she is associated with a Russian spy ring. Kevin Chapman, father of Alex Chapman, said: [...]
Posted on July 2, 2010 - by Venik
Anna Chapman: spotlight on London years of Russian spy accused
Intelligence officers go through Southern Union accounts as sole director says he has never heard of the firm MI5 is investigating a British company with close ties to an alleged Russian spy amid concerns that its accounts may have been used to transfer funds for espionage to Britain. Southern Union was set up by Anna [...]
Posted on July 2, 2010 - by Venik
Russian spy ring: FBI piles on evidence in bid to bolster case
US prosecutors alarmed at growing scepticism over scale of threat from espionage ring The FBI is trying to bolster its case against 11 alleged Russian spies amid increasing scepticism in the US over whether the “long-term, deep cover espionage ring” posed any real threat to US security. US prosecutors have piled on further evidence in [...]
