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House lawmakers want the Trump administration to investigate reports that a wealthy foundation used an offshore shell company to give millions of dollars to environmental activists opposed to U.S. energy development. “If you connect the dots, it is clear that Russia is funding U.S. environmental groups in an effort to suppress our domestic oil and gas industry, specifically hydraulic fracking,” Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith said Friday. Smith and Texas Republican Rep. Randy Weber asked Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to investigate whether or not environmentalists were funneling money to U.S. environmental groups through a Bermuda-based shell company. Republicans are pitching...

KIROVSK, Murmanskaya Oblast - The 30,000 inhabitants of this Arctic town in the middle of the vast Kola Peninsula pride themselves on being happy and hospitable. There are reasons for this: For an industrial town, the multicolored buildings look refreshingly pristine and the view is panoramic, especially this time of year, when the sun always hangs in the sky, except for an occasional dip behind the barren and breathtaking Khibiny mountains. But life hasn't always been so idyllic. Like hundreds of other outcroppings in Stalin's gulag system, Kirovsk was designed as a labor camp of death and detainment. It is...

When oligarchs attack: Moment Russian media mogul Lebvedev 'neutralised' fellow billionaire on TV By Ted Thornhill Last updated at 1:30 AM on 19th September 2011 Alexander Lebedev, who owns The Independent and Evening Standard, unleashed a flurry of punches on another businessman taking part in a TV debate on the global economic crisis. In front of an astonished studio audience, the Russian billionaire landed a series of blows on oligarch Sergei Polonsky's head, knocking him off his chair. Afterwards Lebedev claimed that he’d had to ‘neutralise’ Polonsky because he feared he was going to be hit first. The incredible scene...

Some members of the European Parliament (MEPs) deemed yesterday’s resolution on Russian non-compliance with the rule of law to be much too soft, and now seek sanctions against Russian officials implicated in human rights abuses. As reported in the media, the European Parliament has three enumerations: there is the ‘Khodorkovsky list’, which includes those involved in imposing harsh sentences in the Yukos case; the ‘Magnitsky list’, with the names of those accused of the death in jail of the lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management; and the ‘Nemtsov list’, in which appear the persecutors of Russian opposition leaders. The latter list...

Former soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev announced that he would be forming a new political party with billionare Alexander Lebdev.

Chicago (IL) – Russian design studio Art Lebedev opened its online store for pre-orders of the Optimus Maximus LED keyboard. The first shipment of 200 keyboards was sold within one day, despite the keyboard’s hefty price tag of $1564.37. The Optimus maximus keyboard in pictures ... According to a note posted on Art Lebedev’s website, the first 200 buyers will be receiving their keyboard in early January. The next 200 keyboards will ship after December 20, with another 400 becoming available in early January. For 43,990 rub., which translates to $1564.37, buyers will get the first keyboard, which features a...

Russian prosecutors brought new charges Monday against the imprisoned founder of the Yukos oil company and one of his business partners, opening a new line of legal attack against a Kremlin opponent. The former executive, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, and his partner, Platon A. Lebedev, were charged with embezzlement and money laundering, which his lawyers said together could carry prison sentences of 15 years. The two men have been held since their arrests in 2003, and are serving eight-year sentences for tax evasion and other charges. Their lawyers said they had potentially qualified for parole late this year, when they would...

MOSCOW — Russia's foreign spy chief said military forces from other countries deployed at bases along Russia's periphery are a threat to the nation, a Russian news agency reported Monday. In comments that appeared directed at U.S. forces deployed on bases in former Soviet countries, the Interfax news agency quoted Sergei Lebedev, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, as saying that Russia no longer had a "main adversary" as during the Cold War. But "Russians cannot help but be concerned about new military bases and military contingents being deployed around our country," he was quoted as saying. Russia has watched...

Jailed Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky has gone on hunger strike over what he sees as the unfair treatment of his ex-business partner. Khodorkovsky, once Russia's wealthiest man, has refused food and water for several days, his lawyer told Russian TV and radio stations. Platon Lebedev was placed in solitary confinement last week for allegedly insulting prison guards. Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in May for fraud and tax evasion. Lebedev was handed the same sentence. The pair are being held at a Moscow detention centre while they appeal against the verdicts. 'Not alone' Speaking to Russian media, Khodorkovsky lawyer...

Speaking outside the courtroom, lawyer Konstantin Rifkin repeated the defense team's complaint that the judges had largely ignored the evidence it presented. "The evidence of witnesses is cited very selectively -- what fits with what the prosecution is saying goes into the verdict while there is complete silence on explanations or conclusions that favor our clients," Rifkin said. Judges read the verdict in oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's politically charged trial for a ninth day Thursday, going over details of tax evasion charges. Defense lawyers agree that what the judges have read so far guarantees that the court will find their...

Moscow, 17 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- A Moscow court today found jailed former Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovskii guilty of most of the fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement charges against him, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported, citing Interfax. The court reportedly has yet to read out its decision on one last charge before it can pronounce a final verdict against Khodorkovskii and his co-defendant, former top Yukos executive Platon Lebedev. It must also read summations of witness testimony. Russian authorities accuse Khodorkovskii and Lebedev of massive tax evasion, illegal privatization, and embezzlement. The prosecution has requested that the oil tycoon get the...