FSB-Kadyrov Power Struggle Eclipsing Nemtsov Murder Probe, Media Says The Moscow Times - 7 hours ago Russian media has reported that the investigation into the murder of Boris Nemtsov is suffering under a power struggle between President Vladimir Putin's protege Ramzan Kadyrov and the FSB.
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FSB-Kadyrov Power Struggle Eclipsing Nemtsov Murder Probe, Media Says
The Moscow Times - 7 hours ago
Russian media has reported that the investigation into the murder of Boris Nemtsov is suffering under a power struggle between President Vladimir Putin's protege Ramzan Kadyrov and the FSB. The claim that Nemtsov was shot dead by a devout Muslim who ...
Putin's Kadyrov Dilemma
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty - 8 hours ago
As happy as Kadyrov seems to be, I think it is too premature to pin the assassination on him. He may be ambitious but surely even he can see that angering Putin by acting without his blessing is not the surest path to the high level position in Moscow that he ...
Chechen Leader Kadyrov Shoots His Mouth (And Then His Gun) Off
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty - 18 hours ago
When Ramzan Kadyrov posted an Instagram message hailing the chief suspect in the assassination of Boris Nemtsov as a "Russian patriot," some wondered if perhaps the Chechen leader himself had organized the killing. Zaur Dadayev, the accused killer, ...
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Chechen leader Kadyrov shoots his mouth ...
Kyiv Post - 9 hours ago
Print version. March 11, 2015, 9:36 a.m. | Russia and former Soviet Union — by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov speaks to media close to the site of a suicide attack in the Chechen capital Grozny, on October 5, 2014.
The Moscow Times: FSB-Kadyrov power struggle eclipsing Nemtsov murder ...
Kyiv Post - 6 hours ago
The Moscow Times: FSB-Kadyrov power struggle eclipsing Nemtsov murder probe, media says. Print version. March 11, 2015, 12:34 p.m. | Russia and former Soviet Union — by The Moscow Times. A woman holds 'Confessions of the Rebel,' a book authored ...
Chechen leader Kadyrov receives Order of Honor
Kyiv Post - Mar 10, 2015
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has given Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov the Order of Honor for "his professional accomplishments, social activities and many years of diligent work." Announcement To Readers. Since 1995, the Kyiv Post has ...
Chechnya's leader vows loyalty to Putin amid Nemtsov probe
The Japan Times - 10 hours ago
Ramzan Kadyrov thanked Putin for awarding him the Order of Honor, one of Russia's highest decorations, saying that it would be “the lightest task” for him to sacrifice his life for the Russian leader. “We are infantrymen of the president of Russia!” he added.
Kadyrov made a Companion of Honor
vestnik kavkaza - Mar 9, 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, a Companion of Honor. Kadyrov received the award "for his outstanding achievements, social activities and many years of honest work. "The same decree gives the order ...
Rights activist: Suspect in Nemtsov killing apparently tortured
Los Angeles Times - 1 hour ago
Kadyrov has succeeded in suppressing fresh rebellion in Chechnya since the secessionist uprisings of the 1990s, and he is known to covet a more influential place in the Kremlin hierarchy in return for his service. Much of the Kremlin appointee's ability to ...
Putin awards murder suspect, Chechen leader in ceremony
<a href="http://UPI.com" rel="nofollow">UPI.com</a> - 3 hours ago
Chechen President Kadyrov was awarded the Order of Merit by Putin. Kadyrov recently defended Zaur Dadayev, who is a suspect in the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. "For work achievements, active social activities and many ...
Putin Awards Murder Suspect, Leader Who Praised Death of Opposition Member
Breitbart News - 3 hours ago
Ramzan Kadyrov's award also raised numerous eyebrows. The Kremlin claims the “Order of Honour” award was planned months ago. He received the award for his “professional achievements, public activities, and many years of diligent work.” Only 24 hours ...
Putin awards top honors to 2 men linked to notorious murders
<a href="http://TheNewsTribune.com" rel="nofollow">TheNewsTribune.com</a> - 21 hours ago
On Monday, March 9, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave two of the country's highest awards to Chechen authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Andrei Lugovoi, who's wanted in the United Kingdom on accusations of using polonium to poison ...
Putin gives Russia's top honors to two linked to notorious murders
McClatchy Washington Bureau - 21 hours ago
The recipients were the Chechen authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Andrei Lugovoi, who's wanted in the United Kingdom on accusations of using polonium to poison Alexander Litvinenko, a onetime Russian spy who became a journalist critical of ...
Suspect in Nemtsov Killing Was Most Likely Forced to Confess, Rights Activist ...
New York Times - 1 hour ago
Ramzan A. Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, has said he knew Mr. Dadayev personally as a faithful Muslim. Mr. Kadyrov has suggested that the motive for the killing was Mr. Dadayev's anger about Mr. Nemtsov's defending the right of a French satirical ...
Nemtsov murder: The suspects
BBC News - 35 minutes ago
The North Battalion are part of the so-called Kadyrovtsy, militias that come under the command of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov has written in defence of Zaur Dadayev, who he said was "sincerely devoted to Russia, ready to give his life for ...
How Chechens ended up getting nailed for Nemtsov's murder
iPolitics.ca (subscription) - 15 hours ago
All of them are natives of Chechnya, the formerly separatist region in the Russian North Caucasus that is now run like a personal fiefdom by Ramzan Kadyrov, the former separatist field commander who switched sides in 1999 and pledged loyalty to Putin.
Nemtsov Murder Suspects Show Signs of Torture, Council Says
Bloomberg - 1 hour ago
Before the arrests were made, Kadyrov, 38, said that “Western agents” probably organized the Charlie Hebdo killings to trigger a “new wave” of Islamic State recruits for their war on Islam. In January, he led a protest of hundreds of thousands of people in ...
Zaur Dadaev, charged in Nemtsov murder, may have been tortured
CBC.ca - 4 hours ago
Some observers say the charges laid against the pair, as well as the arrest of three other men from the North Caucasus who remain jailed in connection with the murder but have not been charged, could strain the Kremlin's relations with Kadyrov, who has run ...
Boris Nemtsov ally rubbishes claims politician was killed for supporting Charlie ...
International Business Times UK - 7 hours ago
Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's pro-Putin ruler, the predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia that has witnessed repeated anti-government insurgencies, linked Nemtsov's murder to the outrage over the Charlie Hebdo cartoons mocking the Prophet ...
Boris Nemtsov Assassination: Confession of Former Russian Officer could ...
Center for Research on Globalization - 12 hours ago
The developments prompt the President of the Russian Federation's Republic of Chechnya, RamzanKadyrov, to launch a probe into the republics security services and a probe to identify what may have motivated Dadayev, whom he knew as a loyal officer, ...
Chechen Leader Links Nemtsov Killing To Charlie Hebdo Cartoons
Alaska Dispatch News - Mar 10, 2015
MOSCOW -- Ramzan A. Kadyrov, leader of the troubled southern Russian republic of Chechnya, linked the shooting death of a Kremlin critic to French cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, comments that the victim's associates dismissed on Monday as ...
Monitors: Boris Nemtsov Killing Suspect Says He Confessed Under Duress
Wall Street Journal - 3 hours ago
In a March 8 post on the Instagram account of Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's Republic of Chechnya and a staunch Putin ally, Mr. Dadayev was described as a devout Muslim and a “true patriot of Russia” who had become upset by support for the ...
Critics: Nemtsov murder probe pursues wrong motive
USA TODAY - 21 hours ago
Dadayev was deeply dismayed by the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, Kadyrov said. Investigators believe Nemtsov, who published a blog post condemning the terrorist massacre of Charlie Hebdo staffers in ...
Read the whole story
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11 March 2015 Last updated at 12:08 ET
Zaur Dadayev speaks from a defendents' cage in a Moscow court
Shagid Gubashev
Shagid Gubashev being led into court
Anzor Gubashev
Khamzat Bakhayev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov
Tamerlan Eskerkhanov before his court appearance
Beslan Shavanov
Zaur Dadayev speaks from a defendents' cage in a Moscow court
Russian authorities have arrested five ethnic Chechens for the murder of politician Boris Nemtsov. Two of them have been charged, while three more remain in custody. This is what we know about them so far.
Zaur Dadayev
Dadayev was deputy commander of the North Battalion, a feared Chechen unit based in Grozny. According to state media, he resigned from his position on 28 February after a month's leave.
Boris Nemtsov was killed the previous day. Dadayev's arrest became known a week later, on 7 March.
Dadayev is the only suspect known to have confessed to Nemtsov's murder. But in an interview with a Moscow newspaper he says he made the confession so that a friend and junior officer who had also been detained could be freed.
He also suggested that he made the confession out of fear for his own safety. "Or else what happened to [Beslan] Shavanov would have happened to me too," he told Moskovsky Komsomolets. "He supposedly blew himself up with a grenade."
After being detained, Dadayev says he was tied up for two days and a bag was placed over his head.
The North Battalion are part of the so-called Kadyrovtsy, militias that come under the command of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov has written in defence of Zaur Dadayev, who he said was "sincerely devoted to Russia, ready to give his life for the motherland".
But he added that Dadayev had been angered by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. It has been suggested that the murder may have been a reprisal for comments that Boris Nemtsov made in support of Charlie Hebdo employees.
Nemtsov's friends are sceptical of this motive, since they say that Nemtsov was much better known for his criticism of President Putin than his support for the murdered cartoonists.
Shagid Gubashev being led into court
Shagid Gubashev is Zaur Dadayev's cousin. He has said that after he and his brother heard of Dadayev's arrest, they came to see him in Malgobek, a city in the republic of Ingushetia, bordering on Chechnya.
"Would we really have gone if we were in any way connected to any kind of crime?" Gubashev asked Moskovsky Komsomolets. "It's illogical."
He says they were detained on the night of 6 March, adding that he and his brother were beaten and tortured by two men who referred to each other as Mikhailovich and Petrovich.
At first Gubashev thought they might be drug enforcement officers, but they eventually demanded that he admit to killing Boris Nemtsov.
He says a bag was placed over his head and he was taken on an aeroplane. When the bag was removed he was in Moscow. The first time he saw his lawyer was in the court room on Sunday 9 March.
He says that conditions in Lefortovo prison in Moscow are fine, but he maintains that he and his brother are innocent.
Anzor Gubashev is Shagid's older brother. Along with Dadayev, he is the only other suspect to have been charged so far.
When asked by Moskovsky Komsomolets why he had bruises on his wrists and legs, Gubashev said he had no complaints about his treatment at Lefortovo prison, and he did not comment about the circumstances of his arrest and initial interrogation.
Anzor Gubashev has been portrayed as an accomplice of Zaur Dadayev, but on Monday Rossiya 1, a state TV station, reported that investigators believe the roles may have been the other way around.
"According to the Russian Investigations Committee, [Gubashev and Dadayev] were the main perpetrators of the murder; Gubashev presumably shot Boris Nemtsov, while Dadayev may have delivered the weapons and been the driver that night," the Rossiya 1 correspondent said.
Anzor Gubashev is one of three suspects reported to have filed appeals against their arrest. The other two are Ramzan Bakhayev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov.
Tamerlan Eskerkhanov before his court appearance
Little is known about these men but reports say they have both denied any involvement in Boris Nemtsov's murder. While the three other suspects were detained in Ingushetia, it is said that Bakhayev or Eskerkhanov were both arrested in Moscow. Eskerkhanov reportedly told the court on Sunday that witnesses could confirm he was not at the scene of the crime when it occurred.
Another man wanted in connection with the murder, Beslan Shavanov, reportedly killed himself when police tried to arrest him last weekend.
According to Interfax, the man was holed up in an apartment in Grozny when the incident occurred. He threw one grenade at officers before blowing himself up with a second.
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Main suspect in Nemtsov murder left Russian interior troops service in 2015
[ 10 March 2015 21:40 ]
Baku-
APA
. One of the suspects in Russian politician Boris Nemtsov’s murder, Zaur Dadaev, left service in Russia’s interior troops earlier this year, a top-ranking interior troops commander told Rossiya-1 television channel on Tuesday,
APA
reports quoting İTAR-TASS.
"His resignation tender was satisfied. From January 27 to February 28, he was on an annual leave. When he returned from the leave, he was dismissed in line with the established procedure," said Igor Grudnov, the first deputy commander of the North Caucasian interior troops of the Russian interior ministry.
Dadaev is the only one out of the five suspects in Nemtsov’s murder to admit his guilt.
Zaur Dadaev served in the Sever battalion of the Chechen interior ministry for about ten years, In 2010, he was awarded the Order of Courage for courage and valour demonstrated while performing his military duties in the North Caucasus. He received the order from Rashid Nurgaliev, the then Russian Interior Minister.
Earlier, Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, said on his Instagram account he had known "Zaur as a true patriot of Russia." According to his post, before leaving the military service Dadaev had the rank of a lieutenant and held the position of a battalion’s deputy commander in a regiment of the 46th separate operative brigade of Russia’s Interior Ministry troops.
"Zaur was one of the bravest men in the regiment," Kadyrov said. "He displayed particular courage in an operation against a large group of terrorists near Benoi. He was awarded the Order of Courage, and medals For Bravery and For Services to the Chechen Republic. I am certain that he was sincerely dedicated to Russia and prepared to give his life for the Motherland. The real reasons and motives behind Dadaev’s dismissal from the Russian Interior Ministry troops are unclear to me."
"I have instructed Chechnya’s Security Council Secretary Vakhit Usmayev to conduct through investigation of Zaur Dadayev’s resignation and to scrutinize his behavior and morale on the eve of leaving the service," Kadyrov said.
Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposition politician and a lawmaker of the Yaroslavl Region Duma legislature/, was shot dead on Moscow’s Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge just a stone’s throw from the Kremlin overnight to February 28. The principal witness of the crime, Ukrainian national Anna Duritskaya, who had been with Nemtsov at the moment of his murder, left for Ukraine after being interrogated. She pledged she would cooperate with investigators.
Nemtsov was buried at the Troyekurov Cemetery in Moscow on March 3.
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The images were caught on CCTV "not long" before the murder and reportedly show the alleged killers in their getaway car in central Moscow.
But there was also the stunning revelation that the alleged murder gang had been tailing Nemtsov, closely monitoring his movements, since last autumn.
This appears to nullify the claim that his was slain because of his reaction to the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris, a theory given huge prominence in Moscow.
Nemtsov's friends fear he was killed on the orders of a senior figure in the authorities.
Alleged killer Zaur Dadayev - said to be on the left in the car picture - is a personal friend of feared Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
The picture shows a ZAZ-Chance car used as a getaway vehicle after Nemtsov's murder on 27 February.
The exact timing of the image is not given, but last autumn CCTV cameras recorded the car close to Nemtsov's flat in central Moscow, where he was walking with his 23-year-old Ukrainan model girlfriend Anna Duritskaya when he was gunned to death.
Newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets stated: "If we suppose that the suspects had already followed the politician, then the man version collapses because last year the Charlie Hebdo tragedy had not happened."
The car had repeatedly violated parking rules and speed limits since last Spetmeber when it was bought by the alleged killers, who are from Chechnya.
The dramatic development coincided with a new warning that Russian-backed militant fighters are massing close to the Ukrainian-held port city of Mariupol.
This is despite a pull-back of heavy armour by both sides in accordance with the latest ceasefire.
Kiev military source Dmitry Tymchuk said: "The group consists of 2,500 people, divided into several tactical groups of mixed composition - local rebels and Russian mercenaries."
It has 25 tanks and up to 20 armoured fighting vehicles, he said.
He added: "This strike group is being supported by an artillery group, which has 14 multiple rocket launcher units and around 32-36 artillery guns."
The top US diplomat for Europe warned that parts of eastern Ukraine are living under a "reign of terror", as she accused Putin of unleashing "unspeakable violence and pillage".
"Even as Ukraine is building a peaceful, democratic, independent nation across 93 per cent of its territory, Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine are suffering a reign of terror," said Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
"Today Crimea remains under illegal occupation and human rights abuses are the norm, not the exception, for many at risk groups there."
She told the US Senate foreign relations committee: "In eastern Ukraine, Russia and its separatist puppets unleashed unspeakable violence and pillage.
"This manufactured conflict - controlled by the Kremlin, fuelled by Russian tanks and heavy weapons, financed at Russian taxpayers' expense - has cost the lives of more than 6,000 Ukrainians."
It had also killed "hundreds of young Russians sent to fight and die there by the Kremlin, in a war their government denies", she added.
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REUTERS/Tatyana MakeyevaPeople lay down flowers at the site, where Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov was murdered on Friday night, during a march to commemorate him in central Moscow March 1, 2015.
The Russian media is raising awkward questions for the Kremlin surrounding the murder of prominent opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.
Russians have become familiar with the so-called "Chechnya trace" of high profile killings. Investigations by the authorities into the murders of prominent individuals in Russia invariably find a connection to Chechnya, or its neighbouring Caucasus republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan. Russia fought two wars in the 1990s against the Chechens.
Usually, suspects are located fairly quickly and put on trial, while those that organised and paid for the killings disappear into the ether.
And somewhat unsurprisingly, of the five men that have been arrested in connected with the murder, which took place on a Moscow bridge in front of the Kremlin at the end of last month, all five are from the Caucasus region situated between the Black and the Caspian seas in Russia.
In a powerful editorial, Vedomosti asks whether those responsible for commissioning the murder of Nemtsov will be named this time.
REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovZaur Dadayev, charged with involvement in the murder of Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, is escorted in a court building in Moscow, March 8, 2015.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, a former warlord turned Kremlin ally, has called one of the suspects Zaur Dadayev a "true patriot of Russia" in a post on the social network Livejournal. The post links the killing with Nemtsov's support for French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which was attacked in January by gunmen leading to the death of at least 12 people.
The magazine had published images of the prophet Muhammad, which according to Kadyrov had "shocked" the devout Dadayev along with Nemtsov's "comments in support of printing the cartoons". Not only does the post appear to provide official support for Dadayev's alleged actions, it also comes as Kadyrov himself received the Order of Honour medal from President Vladimir Putin in recognition of his "professional achievements, public activities and many years of diligent work". (Andrei Lugovoi, the main suspect in the 2006 murder of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko by polonium poisoning in London, also got a medal.)
The argument that Nemtsov was targeted by muslims angry about Charlie Hebdo is so flimsy that it almost beggars belief. As Ilya Yashin, who co-founded the opposition movement Solidarnost with Nemtsov, told AFP: "The official version of the inquiry is more than absurd."
Here are all the statements that Nemtsov made in regard to Charlie Hebdo, as collected by The Moscow Times:
"The tragedy with the killing of 12 journalists of Charlie Hebdo magazine has shocked all normal people. My condolences to the families and loved ones of the innocently slain journalists. When Russia's Council of Muftis calls the actions of the publication's journalists a provocation and a sin, it is justifying the terrorists." (Facebook, Jan. 7)
"Tolerance ends there where violence begins. Many in Europe do not understand this. As a result, [French right-wing politician Marine] Le Pen will win." (Facebook, Jan. 8)
"Since the dawn of time, people have been killed for their beliefs. Romans crucified Jesus and persecuted Christians, and during the Middle Ages hundreds of thousands of people were burned alive on the bonfires of the Inquisition. … Now we are witnessing a medieval Islamic inquisition. Centuries will pass and Islam will mature, and terrorism will become a thing of the past." (Ekho Moskvy, Jan. 9)
That's it. Hardly the incendiary commentary that Kadyrov hints at in his post, nor would it appear sufficient to prompt even the most devout fanatic to travel the nearly 2,000 km from Chechnya to Moscow to risk their life and liberty in an audacious attack on the steps of the Kremlin.
In other words, it pushes at the furthest stretches of credibility to claim that former soldier and Interior Ministry employee Dadayev, a "fearless and courageous soldier" in Kadyrov's words, so adept at following orders on the battlefield, took it upon himself to make this trip. Rather his patriotism and devotion could be read as pointing to the true authors of the crime holding positions further up the chain of command.
As Vedomosti points out, most murders with links to Chechnya are to do with local disputes over influence of business interests. The fact that Nemtsov appeared to have very little to do with Chechnya directly makes the link in this case all the more tenuous.
The Kremlin will be hoping that the arrests will go some way to reassuring the Russian people that they are taking action to bring Nemtsov's killers to justice. Settling for a partial truth this time, however, is not convincing anyone.
NOW WATCH: Putin: We Have The Best Army In The World
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How chameleons really change their color
New study finds it isn't just pigments.
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Elizabeth Armstrong Moore, Newser staff 10:07 a.m. EDT March 11, 2015
Curtis Bird holds two of his prized Picasso Panther Chameleons. Scientists on Tuesday said they uncovered the mechanism of chameleons changing color.(Photo: 2002 photo by Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images)
(NEWSER) – Chameleons may not be the only creatures on the planet capable of shade shifting, but they're probably the best at it—panther chameleons in particular. They can go from green and blue hues to yellow and red ones in a matter of minutes, and scientists say they now think they know how. Reporting in Nature Communications, researchers say that instead of relying on pigments, these reptiles also boast nanocrystals called iridophores beneath their skin, which contract or expand to essentially reflect different levels of light. To study this, the researchers observed the male panther chameleon of Madagascar—which isn't easy given how skilled they are at shade shifting. "I assure you: In Madagascar, they are really difficult to spot," study co-author Michel Milinkovitch, a biophysicist at the University of Geneva, tells the Los Angeles Times.
By filming color changes and examining the chameleons' skin using transmission electron microscopy, the scientists were able to see two layers of skin with iridophores. It turns out that tiny guanine nanocrystals boast very specific spacing between each crystal that in turn reflects different layers of light—shorter spacing reflects blue light, longer spacing red. By interacting with yellow pigment cells (xanthophores) in the skin, greens and oranges emerge. What's more, some less-organized crystal spacing may even reflect near-infrared light, helping to cool the chameleons. "We need to continue investigating the chameleons," Milinkovitch adds, "because part of the answers are there and nowhere else." (Chameleons don't necessarily boast longevity.)
Archaeologists discovered skeletons which appear to be holding hands during an excavation at the Chapel of St. Morrell in Leicestershire, England, a site of pilgrimage in during the 14th Century. (Photo: AP)
Huge holes have been discovered in a Siberian region nicknamed "the end of the world," reports the 'Siberian Times.' (Photo: Yamalo-Nenets Press Service via AP)
A drawing of the world's largest-ever flying bird, Pelagornis sandersi, shows its size next to a California condor, bottom left, and a Royal albatross, bottom right. The giant bird's skeleton was discovered in 1983 near Charleston, but its first formal description was released July 7 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Photo: Liz Bradford, Bruce Museum via AP)
Exoplanet Kepler 421-b orbits its star every 704 days, the longest-known year for an exoplanet, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. It was discovered at the "frost line" — the crucial distance that divides rocky planets from gaseous planets about 1,000 light-years from Earth. (Photo: David A. Aguilar, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
A new species of dinosaur had feathers not just on its wings but also on its hind legs, making it one of only a handful of "four-winged" dinosaurs. It also had big, sharp teeth and sharp claws, indicating it was carnivorous. Scientists report in 'Nature Communications' that the extraordinarily long tail feathers of the Changyuraptor yang could have helped save the animal from crash landings. (Photo: Stephanie Abramowicz, Dinosaur Institute, NHM)
Unlike the other 60-plus known species of horned dinosaurs, the newly-discovered Mercuriceratops, center, has wing-like protrusions on the side of its skull. Measuring about 20 feet long and weighing more than 2 tons, Mercuriceratops lived about 77 million years ago. The species is named after Mercury, the Roman god with the winged helmet, says Michael Ryan, the lead author of a report published in June on Mercuriceratops in the journal 'Naturwissenschaften.' (Photo: Danielle Dufault)
Researchers have discovered evidence of water — enough to fill oceans — embedded in minerals deep beneath the surface of the United States that could alter the current understanding of Earth's composition and how it was formed. Were this water in liquid form, which it is not, the discovery could be considered the planet's largest underground water reservoir, researchers said. The team of researchers, led by geophysicist Steve Jacobsen and seismologist Brandon Schmandt, has found pockets of magma about 400 miles beneath Earth's surface — clear signs of the presence of water, though not in its familiar liquid form. Here is hydrous ringwoodite synthesized from olivine in Jacobson’s laboratory. (Photo: Steve Jacobsen)
A sea creature previously thought to be a sea anemone belongs to an order of it's own, researchers found. The Relicanthus daphneae lives near deep sea thermal vents in the Pacific and had been considered a giant sea anemone because of it's boneless, immobile carnivorous state. But while the anemone lost it skeleton over millions of years of evolution, R. daphneae never had them. "Putting these animals in the same group would be like classifying worms and snakes together because neither have legs," says researcher Estefanía Rodríguez. (Picture: A diver looks at a sea anemone off Saba island in the Caribbean in 2012.) (Photo: Brian Witte, AP)
An exploratory dig for Los Angeles' subway extension project uncovered Ice Age fossils, including geoducks (or large clams, pictured), sand dollars and digger pine tree cones and seeds. A rock found in the dig "appears to have a sea lion skull within it that is perhaps 2 million years or more old," according to the Metro Rail's blog. The expansion of L.A.'s purple line is near the La Brea Tar Pits, where many fossils have been found. (Photo: LA Metro)
Beekeeper Anthony Cantrell of Burlington, Vt., discovered zombie bees in his hive in October, the first time they had been found in the eastern U.S. John Hafernik, a professor from San Francisco State University, discovered the first zombie bees in 2008. A fly called Apocephalus borealis attaches itself to the bee and injects its eggs, which grow inside the bee, Hafernik said. Scientists believe it causes neurological damage resulting in erratic, jerky movement and night activity, "like a zombie," Hafernik told the Associated Press. These aren't undead bees doomed to roam for eternity. They often die only a few hours after showing symptoms, Hafernik said. (Photo: Andy Duback, AP)
The duck-billed dinosaur known as Edmontosaurus regalis was supposed to be a plain Jane of the Cretaceous. Now scientists have discovered that it actually had a spectacular adornment unique in the dinosaur world. A beautifully preserved new fossil shows Edmontosaurus boasted a party hat of jiggly flesh atop its head. Researchers theorize that like a rooster's coxcomb, the crest was brightly colored and served as a signal to others of its kind. Never before have scientists found such a non-bony crest on a dinosaur. (Photo: Juliis Csotonyi, Current Biology)
Potentially the world's oldest-known wine cellar was discovered in what is now present-day Israel. Anthropologist Eric Cline, who helped unearth the site, says the cellar was near a hall where banquets took place in the 75-acre Tel Kabri site in Israel. The ruins date back to about 1700 B.C. Overall, 40 jars, the equivalent of 3,000 bottles of wine, were found packed in a 15-by-25 foot storage room, Cline said. (Photo: Skyview Photography)
The Hubble Space Telescope photographed a never-before-seen asteroid with at least six comet-like tails on Sept. 10, and then again two weeks later. The spinning space rock, designated P/2013 P5, looked like "a rotating lawn sprinkler," says lead investigator David Jewitt of the University of California-Los Angeles. (Photo: NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt , UCLA)
Paleontologists unveiled in November a new dinosaur discovered four years ago in southern Utah that proves giant tyrant dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus rex were around 10 million years earlier than previously believed. The fossils were found in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in November 2009, and a team of paleontologists spent four years digging them up and traveling the world to confirm they were a new species. Paleontologists believe the dinosaur lived 80 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period on a landmass in the flooded central region of North America. (Photo: Audrey Atuchin, Natural History Museum of Utah, via AP)
Tamu Massif, a monster volcano roughly the size of Arizona, ranks among the largest such structures in our solar system, 'Nature' reports by way of a Nature Geoscience study. But Tamu Massif differs from typical seamounts in that it has a nearly indiscernible slope—around 1 degree near the summit (which sits 6,500 feet below the surface), and much less near the base, National Geographic reports. And lead author William Sager says other oceanic plateaus could also be volcanoes: "There may be bigger ones out there." (Photo: Newslook)
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Published time: March 11, 2015 13:17
Nuclear payload on a trolley in a tunnel of the nuclear arsenal loading area at the Balaklava Naval Museum (submarine museum) in the Crimea (RIA Novosti / Mihail Mokrushin)
The Russian Foreign Ministry has no information on nuclear weapons deployment in Crimea, but maintains that the country has the right to do so in principle.
“I don’t know if there are any nuclear weapons there at the moment and I am not aware of such plans, but in principle Russia can do this,” the head of the ministry’s Department for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Weapons Control, Mikhail Ulyanov, told a Wednesday press conference in Moscow.
“Naturally Russia has the right to put nuclear weapons in any region on its territory if it deems it necessary. We hold that we have such a right, though Kiev has a different opinion on this matter,” RIA Novosti quoted Ulyanov as saying.
In mid-January this year, Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said that in 2015 the nation will focus on reinforcing its military on the Crimean Peninsula.
“In 2015, the Defense Ministry’s main efforts will focus on an increase of combat capabilities of the armed forces and increasing the military staff in accordance with military construction plans. Much attention will be given to the groupings in Crimea, Kaliningrad and the Arctic,” Gerasimov said.
Earlier this month Russia’s Navy chief, Admiral Viktor Chirkov, announced plans for a major rearmament of the force, including the Black Sea Fleet stationed in Sevastopol, Crimea.
The Crimean Republic became part of the Russian Federation a year ago, after over 96 percent of its residents – the majority of whom are ethnic Russians – voted for the move in an urgently called referendum. The decision was prompted by the change of regime in Ukraine, which ousted the democratically-elected president and government.
In mid-March this year Russia’s public opinion research center VTSIOM conducted a poll that showed that today over 90 percent of Crimean residents have positive feelings about the reunification with Russia.
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Russia has the right to deploy nuclear arms in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine last year, a Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday, adding that he knew of no plans to do so.
"I don't know if there are nuclear weapons there now. I don't know about any plans, but in principle, Russia can do it," Mikhail Ulyanov, the head of the ministry's department on arms control, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
His comment is the latest instance of a Russian official using rhetoric about nuclear weapons to assert Moscow’s control of Crimea, a territorial claim that is not internationally recognized. As recently as December, the country’s foreign minister also maintained Russia's right to move nuclear weapons to Crimea.
“Crimea was not a non-nuclear zone in an international law sense but was part of Ukraine, a state which doesn't possess nuclear arms,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Interfax news agency in December. “Now Crimea has become part of a state which possesses such weapons in accordance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty."
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that Russia was still arming and training rebel forces in eastern Ukraine. He called for the warring parties to help foreign monitors reinforce a cease-fire.
Asked at a news conference about a U.S. diplomat's remark that Russian tanks had crossed into Ukraine in recent days, he declined specific comment on that but said, "We ... still see Russian presence and strong support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine. We see the delivery of equipment, forces, training. And so Russia is still in eastern Ukraine.
"Therefore we call on Russia to withdraw all its forces from eastern Ukraine and to respect the Minsk agreement."
On Tuesday, Victoria Nuland, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European affairs, told a congressional hearing that Russian tanks and artillery had crossed into eastern Ukraine in recent days in breach of a cease-fire deal agreed upon in Minsk, Belarus, on Feb. 12.
Stoltenberg and the top NATO commander, U.S. Gen. Philip Breedlove, told reporters at the alliance's military headquarters in Belgium that their priority now in Ukraine is to see monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) given safe and free access and comprehensive information they need to reinforce the truce.
Al Jazeera and Reuters
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(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. imposed sanctions on officials close to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as NATO called for the warring parties in the eastern European nation to pull back weapons to support a “fragile” truce.
The U.S. approved $75 million in non-lethal aid after the Treasury announced an asset freeze against Mykola Azarov, prime minister under Yanukovych, for “misappropriation of state assets.” Former First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, Health Minister Raisa Bohatyriova and five others also had their assets blocked, along with the Russian National Commercial Bank, the Treasury said Wednesday.
“Russian authorities have used the bank to facilitate its illegal efforts to incorporate Crimea into the Russian Federation,” the Treasury said in a statement, referring to Russia’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014.
The penalties, which follow similar actions by the European Union and Canada on Feb. 16, follow a truce last month and a lull in fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government troops. With more than 6,000 people dead in the conflict, according to United Nations estimates, Russia continues to provide “substantial” aid to the separatists, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said on Wednesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin denies the allegations.
Fragile Truce
The Obama administration pledged to send equipment including Raven tactical reconnaissance drones, 30 armored Humvees, as many as 200 standard Humvees and counter-mortar radars, said a Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced. The equipment will ship in the next several weeks.
Vice President Joe Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko by phone about the new sanctions, the White House said in an e-mailed statement.
“The vice president noted with concern the ongoing violations of the cease-fire by Russia-backed separatists near Donetsk and Mariupol and their refusal to allow OSCE monitors unfettered access to the territory they occupy,” the White House said.
Heavy Weapons
Ukraine reported minor skirmishes on Wednesday, saying one soldier was killed and four wounded in the past 24 hours. The U.S. Treasury department said assaults by Russian-armed rebels in the cities of Debaltseve and Mariupol after the Feb. 12 cease-fire was signed in Belarus violated the agreement. Stoltenberg said it was now time for both sides to pull back artillery and other heavy arms from the line of contact.
“The cease-fire seems to be holding but it remains fragile,” Stoltenberg said in Mons, Belgium. “It’s important that this withdrawal of heavy weapons is complete and that it is verifiable.”
Relations between Russia, the U.S. and the EU have deteriorated since Putin annexed Crimea. The move led to a set of sanctions against Russia and helped push its economy to the brink of recession.
The latest public demonstration of soured ties surfaced Wednesday, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office said she was snubbing Putin’s military parade marking the Allied victory in World War II and was planning to join him at a tribute to fallen soldiers in Moscow instead.
IMF Deal
Ukrainian bonds rallied on optimism the International Monetary Fund will sign off on a $17.5 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine on Wednesday. The government, which needs to repay $5.4 billion in foreign debt this year, plans to enter into consultations with bondholders once the IMF has signed off on the program.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in Kiev on Wednesday that his nation has met all conditions to get the IMF aid and expects a positive decision by the fund. The country of more than 40 million may receive a first tranche of $5 billion from the deal, Interfax news service cited Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko as saying.
Ukraine’s $2.6 billion of benchmark debt due July 2017 rose 49 cents to 47.22 cents on the dollar by 3:21 p.m. in Kiev, taking the yield to 49.44 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net; Brendan Murray in Washington at brmurray@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net; James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net Michael Winfrey, Paul Abelsky
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