Russia

KONFRONTASI-Russia will suspend all regular and charter flights to and from the country from Friday due to the coronavirus crisis and close all shops in Moscow apart from food stores and pharmacies from this weekend, the government and city authorities said.

Authorities announced the measures after Russia reported its biggest one day rise in coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the official tally to 840. Russia has reported two coronavirus deaths, and another woman, who was diagnosed with the virus has died.

KONFRONTASI- Russia was banned from the Olympics and other major world championships on Monday after sporting officials decided to punish it for tampering with doping-related laboratory data in another blow to Russia’s already tarnished sporting reputation.

The decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), imposed a four-year ban on Russia participating in a range of top-flight sporting tournaments, a period covering the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2022 soccer World Cup.

KONFRONTASI-Russia's most advanced new nuclear-powered submarine has successfully test-launched a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile, according to its defence ministry.

Wednesday's launch from the White Sea off Russia's northwestern coast came amid arms control tensions between Moscow and the West following the demise of a landmark Cold War-era nuclear pact that has sparked fears of a burgeoning arms race.

KONFRONTASI -  U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday thanked countries including Russia for their roles in an overnight raid led by U.S. military forces in Syria that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“I want to thank the nations of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq and I also want to thank the Syrian Kurds for certain support they were able to give us,” Trump said in a televised address to the nation from the White House.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had no reliable information on the operation.

Sergei Kiselyov / Moskva News Agency

KONFRONTASI -  Russia can overcome its gender-related issues by legalizing polygamy, the leader of Moscow’s Muslims has said. 

Polygamy, the practice of taking more than one spouse, is frowned upon by an overwhelming majority of Russians. While polygamy is not permitted under Russian law, it remains commonplace in the country’s predominantly Muslim republics of the North Caucasus.

KONFRONTASI -  A paper trail linked to the suspect in the killing of a Georgian citizen in Berlin suggests Russia provided “active support” to the suspect, according to an international team of investigators. 

KONFRONTASI -  A top U.S. spy who was reportedly evacuated from Russia could have been a senior Kremlin official’s aide who now lives in the Washington, D.C., area, the Kommersant business daily has reported.

KONFRONTASI - Russia says the United States does not consider Moscow acting like a “normal” country because, unlike America, the Russian government does not bomb other countries or support coups in foreign lands.

Earlier this week, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper had said during an official visit to France that it would be “great” if the West “could get Russia to behave like a more normal country.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hit back on Monday.

KONFRONTASI - Dubes RI untuk Russia merangkap Belarusia, Mohammad Wahid Supriyadi mendapat penghargaan dari Museum Rekor Inodnesia (Muri) sebagai Dubes atau tokoh inspiratif yang berhasil menggelar Festival Indonesia di Moskwa sebanyak empat kali berturut-turut. Kegiatan ini menjadi festival negara sahabat yang paling akbar di Russia.

Penghargaan MURI disampaikan langsung pendiri Muri, Jaya Suprana, di Wisma KBRI, Moskwa, Senin (5/8). Hadir dalam penyerahan penghargaan ini sejumlah pengisi acara Festival Indonesia.

KONFRONTASI-President Vladimir Putin has disclosed for the first time that the Russian Navy's deep-sea submersible vessel that caught fire three days ago, killing 14 seamen, was nuclear-powered.

Putin met on Thursday with Minister of DefenceSergei Shoigu, who had returned from the Navy's Arctic base of Severomorsk, and asked him about the submersible's nuclear reactor.

Shoigu said the reactor is "completely isolated now" and "in full working order".

The blaze erupted in the vessel's battery compartment and spread, Shoigu said in televised remarks.

The defence ministry earlier said 14 people have been killed and that there was an undisclosed number of survivors.

Details remained scarce about the fire and the ship, which was on a mission to measure sea depths in Russia's territorial waters in the Barents Sea.

The ministry did not name the vessel, but Russian media reported it was the country's most secret submersible, a nuclear-powered research submarine called the Losharik intended for sensitive missions at great depths.