The state-ownedRussian oil giant Rosneft is suing the RBC news outlet for more than3.1 billion rubles ($49.2 million) in libel damages, the Rambler news service reported Thursday. The company claims that its reputation was damagedby an article published by RBC in April 2016. The piecealleged that Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin had asked the Russian governmentto stop British oil BP from getting a larger stake in the company.

Pixabay The red and gold hues of autumn have arrived,which means a mad dash to enjoy frost-free pavements and squirrel-filled parksbefore the chill properly sets in. There are plenty of ways to warm up this season,be it enjoying an outdoor market, with a cup of something hot by a roaring fireor taking a brisk walk in the great outdoors. So go on, wrap up warm andembrace the season.

Two-thirds of Russians — 63 percent — have never made anonline purchase, the Interfax news agency reported Thursday , citingindependent pollster the Levada Center. According to the poll, 20 percent of Russian have purchased trainor plane tickets online, and 10 percent of Russians said they plan tostart shopping online. Just 15 percent of respondents had boughtconcert or theater tickets online, Interfax reported.

Dmitry Grishkin / Vedomosti The Russian economy can be characterized as acapitalism of state monopolies. That is the finding by the FederalAnti-Monopoly Service (FAS) in a report on the state of competitionin Russia. The report contains a number of points that governmentofficials will find troubling, FAS head Igor Artemyev said. The state has rapidly increased its presence inthe economy. Together with state-owned companies, its share in GDProse from 35 percent in 2005 to 70 percent in 2015.

Sergei Kiriyenko Mikhail Metzel / TASS Boris Yeltsin reportedly first spotted Sergei Kiriyenko, then ayoung businessman from Nizhny Novgorod, during a boat trip on theVolga River in July 1994. Nearly four years later, Yeltsin wouldshock the political establishment by appointing him prime minister.Plucked from relative obscurity at the age of just 35, Kiriyenko wasthe youngest prime minister in Russia’s history. Unfortunately for Kiriyenko, the appointment had catastrophictiming.

Russia’s Trade Ministry has proposed slashing the minimum priceof vodka to just 100 rubles ($1.50) per half liter, state newschannel RT (Russia Today) reported Thursday, citing a ministryreport. The report advocates “a balanced excise policy” which wouldalmost halve the minimum price of vodka, down to its “optimalprice” of 100 rubles for half a liter.

Pixabay Abortion rights are on the minds of citizens and officials across Europe this week. In Ireland, protesters marched through the streets of Dublin in the thousands demanding their government hold a referendum to repeal restrictive abortion laws. The same week, the Polish parliament shocked Europe by voting through a draft law on a total abortion ban in its first reading, spurring protests across the country and even a scheduled national women’s strike next week.

Moscow’s Sakharov Center Alexandra Mudrats / TASS A photography exhibition dedicated to the conflict in Ukraine hasbeen vandalized at Moscow’s Sakharov Center for Human Rights. A man threw paint on the photographs — taken by Sergei Loiko andAlexander Vasyukovich — which were displayed as winners of the“Direct View” photography competition, the center announced in astatement Wednesday.

Artyom Geodakyan / TASS Almost half of Russians — 45 percent — support Kremlin plans to charge the unemployed for the use of public services, according to a survey by state-runpollster the Russian Public Opinion Research Center ( VTsIOM ). Some forty-five percent of respondentssaid that the extra charges should apply to those who did not havea job “without a good reason,” the RIA Novosti news website reported.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday to express Washington’s “grave concern” over the situation in Syria, singling out alleged airstrikes by Russian and Syrian regime forces on “hospitals, the water supply network, and other civilian infrastructure in Aleppo.” The secretary of state “made it clear,” according to a readout published by the U.S.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called the U.S. threat to end joint cooperation in Syria “blackmail,” the RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday warned his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that the U.S. could suspend bilateral engagement in Syria, including agreements reached earlier this month to establish a joint implementation center to coordinate airstrikes against the Islamic State and Nusra Front militants. According to a U.S.

One of the photographs allegedly confirming that Sergey Kulakov served in the U.S. military. “Sergey Kulakov” / MySpace A police officer in St. Petersburg stands accused of being an American spy, and there is some curious photographic evidence to support the allegations, the Fontanka news site reported on Thursday. Sergey Kulakov came to the attention of the Federal Security Service (FSB) while acting as a handler in a sting operation targeting a company owned by businessman Igor Khotin.

Associated Press “The grand godfather” of the alt-right — this was how U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton described Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech on Aug. 25. In so doing, she unsubtly made another link: if Putin is the godfather, Donald Trump is merely his stooge, obeying all orders from Moscow. It isn’t hard to understand the main propaganda benefit of Clinton’s narrative.

Russian state airline Aeroflot willsoon be able to refuse to transport more than 300,000passengers on the company's internal blacklist, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin gavethe go-ahead on Thursday during a meeting with Aeroflot's general director Vitaly Savelyev. Savelyev said thatsimilar measures were already in place at European airlines.

DorianKrauss / Pixabay A fan threw a banana onto the field in anapparent racist gesture at the Rostov-on-Don football stadium insouthern Russia, international media reported. FCRostov will likely face disciplinary action from UEFA after the fan'sracist display during the Champions League game against Dutch sidePSV Eindhoven, The Associated Press reported Thursday .