Latest news with #HigherSchoolofEconomics
Observer
4 days ago
- Business
- Observer
SQU expands partnerships with Russian prestigious varsities
MOSCOW: A delegation from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), headed by HH Sayyid Dr Fahd bin Al Julanda al Said, Vice-Chancellor of SQU, concluded a strategic academic visit to the Russian Federation. The visit, which lasted several days, aimed to enhance international cooperation; and expand academic and scientific partnerships. During the visit, the SQU signed cooperation programmes with the Higher School of Economics (HSE) and the Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech); and fostered existing agreements with Moscow State University and Kazan Federal University. Cooperation opportunities in the fields of medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, engineering, innovation and entrepreneurship were explored, as well. Student exchange programmes, joint research training and partnerships in technology development and entrepreneurship were also discussed. SQU expands partnerships with Russian prestigious varsities The SQU's delegation also met with the heads of universities and research centres in Kazan and Moscow, including Kazan Federal University, Kazan State Agrarian University, Sechenov Moscow Medical University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Higher School of Economics (HSE), Skoltech Institute of Science and Technology, Skolkovo Innovation Center, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology; and the Russian Academy of Sciences. HH Sayyid Dr Fahd bin Al Julanda al Said, Vice-Chancellor of SQU, indicated that the visit sought to enhance academic cooperation, learn about best international practices and create effective partnerships in various scientific fields. The visit comes as part of SQU's commitment to strengthening its international presence and establishing effective strategic partnerships thereby maintaining its pioneering role in building international partnerships and enhancing its position as an academic institution striving for excellence and innovation at the global level. — ONA
Russia Today
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russia boosting Africa support with new food shipments
Russia will supply 709.5 tons of food aid to Burkina Faso this May as part of its growing humanitarian support to African nations, Izvestia reported on Thursday, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry. In addition, Moscow is finalizing formal procedures to deliver up to 20,000 tons of wheat to Niger, Russian Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut told the news agency. She indicated that further aid could be arranged 'if agreements are reached.' 'In recent months, we have sent 559 tons of peas and 164 tons of sunflower oil to Zimbabwe [in December 2024], as well as 29,400 tons of diesel fuel to the Central African Republic [in January 2025]. In May, 709.5 tons of peas are expected to be transferred to Burkina Faso,' the ministry announced. Lut emphasized Russia's readiness to continue humanitarian support, confirming that domestic reserves are able to meet future requests. She said such decisions are made at the presidential level and will depend on coordination between heads of state. Speaking to the outlet, Vsevolod Sviridov, the deputy director of the Higher School of Economics Center for African Studies, said African countries have the long-term potential to reduce reliance on humanitarian aid. In an interview, he suggested Russia could offer a unique approach by providing tools like 'drones and digital technologies for agriculture, fertilizers, or seeds adapted to local conditions' instead of traditional aid deliveries. In January, the Russian Embassy in Addis Ababa confirmed to TASS that more than 1,600 tons of grain had been delivered to Ethiopia. On December 30, Moscow also sent over 65 tons of wheat to Mali via the port of Conakry in Guinea. During a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in February, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev reported that Russia had completed the delivery of 200,000 tons of wheat to six low-income African countries. He described the effort as the largest humanitarian food initiative ever undertaken by the Russian government.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Russia sets new record for labour shortage despite high wages
As of the end of 2024, Russian companies faced a shortage of 2.6 million workers, a 17% increase compared to the previous year, setting a new record. Source: The Moscow Times, citing a report by Russia's Higher School of Economics Details: The most acute shortages are in manufacturing (391,000 workers), trade (347,000) and transport (219,000). Employers in these sectors are offering salaries above RUB 100,000 (approx. US$ 717), around one and a half times higher than the national average. The study attributes the growing number of job openings in manual labour professions to a decline in migrant workers, the depreciation of the rouble, and the impact of a series of economic shocks. The outlet notes that the deepening labour crisis is directly linked to the consequences of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. In 2022, around 300,000 working-age men were mobilised. Meanwhile, between 650,000 and 1.1 million people left the country, protesting Kremlin policies and fleeing mobilisation. Further army recruitment has only worsened the labour shortage. At the same time, sanctions have weakened the economy and triggered a sharp fall in the rouble. This, along with tighter migration laws, has led to a significant outflow of citizens from Central Asian countries. Background: In the first quarter of 2025, domestic sales of Russian agricultural machinery dropped sharply. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Russia faces record 2.6 million worker shortage amid war recruitment
Russian companies ended 2024 short of 2.6 million employees, a record high, the pro-state publication Izvestia reported on May 12, citing an analysis by Russia's Higher School of Economics. The deepening labor shortage reflects growing strain on Russia's workforce as the Kremlin aggressively recruits men for its war against Ukraine. The shortages are sharpest in manufacturing (391,000), trade (347,000), and transportation (219,000). Employers in these sectors now offer salaries exceeding 100,000 rubles ($1,200) monthly — 1.5 times higher than Russia's national average. The average monthly gross salary in Russia rose 20% to 88,000 rubles (around $1,000) in 2024, marking the fastest annual wage growth on record against official inflation of 9.5%. Workforce participation also hit a historic high, with 61% of Russians over 15 engaged in the labor market. Inflation in the country reached its highest level in 2024, driven by war spending and rising food prices. To curb inflation, Russia's Central Bank raised its interest rate from 7.5% in July 2023 to the current 21%. Researchers linked the rise in vacancies to a collapse in labor migration, a weakening ruble, and multiple economic shocks. Engineers, scientists, teachers, and doctors were the most in-demand skilled workers. The shortage has sharply worsened since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. To bolster its military ranks, the Kremlin has relied on lucrative contracts and aggressive recruitment campaigns rather than formal conscription. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 15 that 600,000 Russian troops are deployed in Ukraine. Russia plans to increase its forces there by 150,000 in 2025, according to Ukrainian President's Office Deputy Head Pavlo Palisa. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 12 that Russia has lost 967,060 troops in Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion. Read also: 'Not what Putin was expecting' — What we know (and don't know) about Ukraine, Russia peace talks in Istanbul We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Mint
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Putin parades China, North Korea ties in victory day show of force
Vladimir Putin hosted the largest gathering of foreign leaders since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as the Russian president put on a display of military might to celebrate the Soviet Union's defeat of the Nazis in World War II. Putin drew parallels between Moscow's war in Ukraine and World War II, as he delivered a speech to assembled world leaders in Red Square, covered in celebratory red banners. He has cast the invasion of Ukraine as a 'special military operation" to root out Nazis there—a narrative that has been widely rejected internationally as a false justification for an imperialistic war. 'Truth and justice are on our side," he said. 'The entire country, the society, the people, support the participants in the special military operation." Putin also acknowledged the contributions of allied countries in World War II, but put them in the shadow of the battles the Soviet Union won against invading Nazi troops. Moscow's current backers took center stage on Friday. The celebrations included a parade, with Chinese troops marching alongside Russian soldiers and Iran's Shahed drones on display, along with Russian tanks and missiles. Putin shook hands with five North Korean officers at the parade, including three generals that South Korea's spy agency said were leading the thousands of troops fighting alongside Russians. The celebrations took place in the shadow of growing violence between Russia and Ukraine. Kyiv has sent waves of drones into Russia in recent days, disrupting the arrival of some international leaders to Moscow. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia wasn't adhering to a cease-fire that Putin had called for from May 8-10, with its forces firing on civilian targets Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the purported cease-fire a 'theatrical performance." The events in Red Square were an attempt at a diplomatic show of force for Putin, who has worked to defy Western efforts to isolate him. His guest list included leaders from Venezuela, Cuba and Vietnam, as well as a host of former Soviet states. The Trump administration, which has raised the prospect of a rapprochement with Moscow as part of a peace agreement, has recently signaled frustration with Russian intransigence in the conflict. The Kremlin wants to underscore for Washington that it is still a powerful player on the world stage that could be a dangerous enemy or a potentially useful partner with ties to many countries. 'Putin wants to show that Russia is an important and well-connected player in the world and that cooperating with Moscow could help Trump," said Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics. 'On the other hand, having Russia as an enemy is dangerous." Xi's presence in Red Square as part of a four-day trip to Moscow was a huge show of support for Russia, whose great-power status has increasingly slipped in recent years as the Kremlin's attention has narrowed to its war in Ukraine. China has provided economic and diplomatic support to Russia and has remained a crucial conduit for dual-use goods deployed on the front lines. Attendance at the parade has become a divisive issue in the European Union. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico made it to Moscow after blaming Estonia for denying his plane permission to transit to reach the parade. This year marks the 80th anniversary the allied victory over Nazi Germany, and celebrations were staged across Russia's 11 time zones and in occupied Ukraine. In the days and weeks leading up to the holiday, authorities have launched festivities with World War II trivia competitions for schoolchildren, Victory Day themed events at private shooting ranges and plays and musicals put on by theaters in Moscow and beyond. 'What we're still seeing is a Russian fixation on pageantry, and there are people on the hook to deliver a big party, and that's what they're going to," said Andrew Weiss, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees research on Russia and Eurasia. In the towns and cities of Ukraine's occupied Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia provinces, Russian soldiers put on celebrations, singing World War II songs and distributing flowers to residents. In Krasnodar, in southern Russia near the border with Ukraine, children dressed up in World War II era uniforms took part in a military-themed parade, while parents and onlookers looked on filming and clapping. World War II, or the Great Patriotic War as it is known in Russia, remains a powerful event in the country's collective memory. Many families can recite the names of forebears who died in the conflict, either on the front line or as a result of the Nazi invasion. While the Soviet Union lost 27 million people in the war, Russian historians count nearly 9 million military casualties. While Russia takes credit for defeating the Nazis, some historians blame the Kremlin under Stalin for contributing to the outbreak of World War II by signing a nonaggression pact with Hitler in 1939. The holiday, which had stopped and started at different times during the Soviet Union, has become a defining feature of Putin's reign. The Russian leader has sought to celebrate the Kremlin's own version of history, and justify the costly war in Ukraine and ramped-up military spending. 'It is so awfully disconnected from the Second World War," said Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War scholar and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. 'It's about today's regime, Putin's various conquests and the Kremlin's legitimacy." The parade on May 9 has always been a show of the Kremlin's military might, but this year Russia's soaring arms production allowed Putin to showcase more weapons on the streets of Moscow than at any other time during the Ukraine war. Those included tanks and Russia's hypersonic missiles. Russian drones, which are playing a huge role on the battlefield, were paraded through Red Square together with their operators. 'Their production is way up," said Rob Lee, a Russian military analyst and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a foreign-policy think tank. 'They want to show it off." Write to Thomas Grove at
