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News From Russia: What You Missed Over the Weekend

A floating dock with a scrapped Russian Navy submarine sunk in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, causing an oil spill. Sergei Malgavko / TASS

Sunken dock

A floating dock with a scrapped Russian Navy submarine has sunk in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.

The PD-16 dock and B-380 diesel submarine’s sinking caused an oil spill, Interfax cited the acting governor as saying.

Free the sisters

Activists in Moscow and at least seven other Russian cities staged pickets in support of three sisters facing up to 20 years in prison for killing their abusive father.

Krestina, Angelina and Maria Khachaturyan killed their father Mikhail Khachaturyan in July 2018 after he had subjected them to years of physical, mental and sexual abuse.

Moscow’s garbage

Moscow’s authorities have drafted a waste disposal plan to transfer up to 60 million metric tons of garbage to nearby regions by 2029, with the protest hotbed in northwestern Russia omitted.

The absence of the former village of Shiyes from the draft does not mean that Moscow has abandoned plans to ship its waste there, an unnamed official in northwestern Russia’s Arkhangelsk region told the RBC news website.

Love of smoke

Around 30% of the Russian population are smokers, according to research by the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo private graduate business school cited by the state-run TASS news agency.

“Smoking tobacco is more widespread in Russia than in other countries,” said Olga Komarova, who heads the school’s health development center.

Social media

Russia has the world's second-highest share of internet users on social media — 78% behind Japan’s 89% — according to research from the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics.

Russian internet users are more likely to access the internet through mobile phones than users in developed countries, RBC cites the HSE statistical studies institute’s research as saying. However, they are less likely to buy online, check email, read ebooks or take online courses.

Transgender marriage

Authorities in the city of Kazan have registered a transgender marriage, according to a marriage certificate and video published by the KazanFirst website.


										 					KazanFirst
KazanFirst

The couple, Erika and Viktor, said the ceremony passed without incident.

Includes reporting from Reuters.

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