Hockey anthem
The Russian hockey team at the Winter Olympics in South Korea won gold Sunday, beating Germany 4-3 in the final.
The hockey players sang the Russian national anthem on the medal podium, which the International Olympic Committee banned, along with the Russian flag, when the Russia Olympic team was disqualified due to doping allegations in December.
Nemtsov rally
Several thousand people gathered in central Moscow on Sunday to honor slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.
Interior Ministry estimates cited by Interfax put the number of participants in Moscow at 4,500, while volunteer activists said the number totaled 7,600. Protest organizers had expected up to 30,000 people at the march, which was approved by the authorities.
Troll relocation
The opposition-leaning Dozhd TV cites two sources saying that a former employee of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), known as the "Kremlin Troll Factory," relocated to Washington state in the United States after her husband was offered a job at Facebook.
Burdonova, who reportedly worked for Katarina Aistova, head of the media and forums department at IRA, has denied any relationship with the agency.
No NATO
Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko has
that NATO has halted military cooperation with Russia and was no longer prepared to hold a constructive dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council (NRC).The NRC has not met since July 2017 and NATO has "reinforced its eastern flank against non-existent threats," he said.
Closing Ceremony
The International Olympic Committee decided not to reinstate Russia’s Olympic status ahead of the closing ceremony in Pyeongchang Sunday.
Russia’s Olympic team was barred last December from the Pyeongchang Games, but 168 clean athletes were cleared to participate under a neutral flag.
Two of those athletes — curler Alexander Krushelnitsky and bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeyeva — were suspended last week over doping allegations.
Box office record
The film “Ice,” about a figure skater who returns to competitive sports after an injury, has set a new box office record, with 811.1 million rubles in sales ($14 million) in its first two weekends. The film was produced by Vodorod and Art Pictures as well as the state-run Rossia-1 television channel.
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