
Putin-backed effort saves Siberian tiger from extinction
Over the past 13 years, conservation efforts have raised the number of the big cats in the Russian Far East from around 430 to 750, according to Konstantin Chuychenko.
'The goal set out in the national tiger conservation strategy has been achieved,' he told reporters at the Land of Big Cats exhibition in Moscow. Chuychenko encouraged the public to visit the Far East to see the animals in their natural habitat.
The Amur tiger is native to forests in Russia's Far East and Northeast China. It is the world's largest cat subspecies and the only one adapted to cold, snowy climates.
Despite progress in Russia, the Amur tiger remains classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), meaning it still faces a very high risk of extinction globally. A formal status change would require further international assessment.
Russia's 750 Amur tigers live in protected areas and remote forests. Several hundred more are kept in zoos and wildlife parks around the world.

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Russia Today
3 days ago
- Russia Today
Putin-backed effort saves Siberian tiger from extinction
Russia's population of Amur tigers, also known as Siberian tigers, is no longer under threat of extinction, the chair of the Amur Tiger Center announced on Wednesday. The foundation was launched in 2013 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a long-time supporter of protecting the endangered animals. Over the past 13 years, conservation efforts have raised the number of the big cats in the Russian Far East from around 430 to 750, according to Konstantin Chuychenko. 'The goal set out in the national tiger conservation strategy has been achieved,' he told reporters at the Land of Big Cats exhibition in Moscow. Chuychenko encouraged the public to visit the Far East to see the animals in their natural habitat. The Amur tiger is native to forests in Russia's Far East and Northeast China. It is the world's largest cat subspecies and the only one adapted to cold, snowy climates. Despite progress in Russia, the Amur tiger remains classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), meaning it still faces a very high risk of extinction globally. A formal status change would require further international assessment. Russia's 750 Amur tigers live in protected areas and remote forests. Several hundred more are kept in zoos and wildlife parks around the world.


Russia Today
4 days ago
- Russia Today
Russian warplane crashes during training
A Russian SU-34 medium-range fighter-bomber crashed during a training flight in the country's Nizhny Novgorod Region on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported. Both the pilot and the navigator who operated the twin-seat aircraft are understood to have ejected and are reportedly alive. According to the ministry's statement quoted by Russian media, 'during landing, the release system of one of the landing gear legs failed.' The pilot made several attempts at fixing the issue while in flight, before deciding to abandon the aircraft. The crew proceeded to divert the warplane away from populated areas and ejected, Russian military officials said, noting that the SU-34 was not carrying any ordnance. The incident reportedly resulted in no casualties or damage on the ground. 'A rescue team has been flown to the crash site to evacuate the crew to their home air base. According to the information from the site, both members are alive,' the ministry stated. In early April, a Russian Tu-22M long-range strategic bomber crashed in Irkutsk Region. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the four crew managed to eject, but the pilot did not survive the landing. Military officials named a technical failure as the suspected cause of the crash. Several weeks before, a Russian SU-25 fighter jet was lost during a training flight in far-eastern Primorsky Region. The pilot ejected and was evacuated to safety.


Russia Today
6 days ago
- Russia Today
Writing ‘God' in lowercase is sinful
Writing 'God' in lowercase is sinful and disrespectful, clerics from the Russian Orthodox Church have said, responding to new spelling guidelines issued by Russia's leading linguistic authority. In comments to the media on Friday, the Vinogradov Russian Language Institute, which operates under the Russian Academy of Sciences, stated that while 'God' should be capitalized in religious texts, lowercase usage is acceptable in everyday expressions such as 'thank God' or 'for the love of God'. In an interview with Abzats Media, Archpriest Aleksandr Ilyashenko argued that not capitalizing the first letter reflects the lingering influence of Soviet-era atheist ideology. 'In my opinion, this is a sin, an expression of disrespect and ingratitude to the Lord,' he said. 'It is very sad that some scientists have [the opposite] opinion. I think it is unacceptable.' Father Alvian Tkhelidze, a priest and prominent religious blogger, said traditional Russian usage calls for capitalization even in idiomatic phrases. 'For Christians, saying 'thank God' is not a stock phrase, but an act of honoring the Creator,' he wrote on Telegram. On Saturday, Archpriest Vladimir Vigilyansky, the rector of the Church of St. Tatiana at Moscow State University, also criticized the recommendation. He insisted that the word 'God' should be capitalized even in common expressions, adding that lowercase usage is only appropriate when referring to pagan gods. Some Russian writers, including Fyodor Dostoevsky, used the lowercase spelling in their literary works. Anastasia Solomonova, the dean of the Philology Faculty at the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, noted that lowercase usage became more common after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution – not only due to atheist propaganda, but because the Soviet authorities no longer recognized the Christian God as the supreme authority. In 2022, the Russian Education Ministry issued guidance recommending the capitalization of terms such as 'God', 'Lord', 'Holy Trinity', 'Holy Ghost', 'Creator', 'Church', and 'Providence' when used in a religious context.