• Ukraine praised Volker’s work with Surkov

    The framework of negotiations conducted between US State Department Representative Kurt Volker and Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov was one of the most effective this year, said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for the European Integration Olena Zerkal during a broadcast on Channel 5.

    "There is no other framework, so everyone supports the Minsk format ... This year the Volker-Surkov format worked more intensively," she said on Channel 5 on Tuesday.

    According to Zerkal, …

  • Austrian court postpones extradition of Ukrainian oligarch Firtash to United States

    Interfax-Ukraine reports that the Austrian Supreme Court has postponed the extradition of the Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash to the United States. The decision of the Austrian Court of Appeals was thus annulled, said Firtash’s lawyer, Lanny J. Davis, on Tuesday, December 26.

    "The Supreme Court ordered a stay of Mr. Firtash's extradition pending its review," the lawyer said.

    He also added that the case was suspended until the European Court of Justice delivers a preliminary decision on the …

  • Kyiv injects $550 million capital into Ukraine’s PrivatBank

    Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance has completed the fourth stage of the additional capitalization of Kyiv-based PrivatBank by issuing domestic government bonds worth UAH 16 billion ($570 million USD) covered by the bank’s shares, the Ministry’s website reports.

    The Ministry of Finance stated that the recapitalization of the bank to UAH 38.5 ($1.38 billion USD) was in accordance to the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision of June 23, 2017. The decision was based on proposals by Ukraine’s National Bank ( …

  • Dodon: Moldova cannot develop its economy without close cooperation with Russia

    Moldovan president Igor Dodon stated that his country's economy would not develop without close cooperation with the Russian Federation.

    "Moldova and Russia are closely connected with each other historically, economically and politically. The Moldovan economy cannot develop without all-round cooperation with the Russian Federation," Dodon wrote on his Facebook page after a meeting with the Head of Sberbank, Herman Gref in Moscow.

    The President clarified that during the meeting he had …

  • Head of Crimea: terrorist sleeper cells are operating on the peninsular

    The head of the Crimea's Russian-controlled administration, Sergey Aksyonov, said that there are ‘sleeper cells’ of international terrorist organizations on the peninsula, RIA Novosti reports.

    According to him, there are several threatening factors that influence the situation in the field of countering terrorism.

    "Firstly, it is the destructive activity of the activists of the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian national separatism, as well as the presence on the peninsula of "sleeper cells" of …

  • Five European countries supply lethal weapons to Ukraine

    Five Eastern European countries are currently supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine, as stated by Pavlo Barbul, the director of the state-owned enterprise SpetsTechnoExport, which specializes in the trade in military technologies.

     “In particular, [the automatic grenade launchers] VOG-17 and VOG-25, ammunition for grenade launchers, some artillery ammunition – 100-mm and 152-mm – that’s what’s top priority. I will not name the countries, quantities or prices, but yes, we do import those", said …

  • Putin: tax exemption on the capital repatriated to Russia needs to be extended

    "The first is to extend the amnesty period for capital, referring to those external restrictions that do not become smaller, but, on the contrary, appear to have a tendency to increase," he said at a meeting with Russian MPs.

    Putin also proposed to exempt those entrepreneurs who transfer business from abroad to Russia from income taxes.

    The amnesty on capital was effective in the country from July 1, 2015 until June 30, 2016. This rule allowed Russian taxpayers to voluntarily declare their …

  • Russia vows to return to PACE

    The Chairperson of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, promised journalists on Monday that Russia, without any doubt, will return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

    “We will return, we need to. But who needs this more is another question, and not an easy one. The Council of Europe needs this no less, if not more than Russia. The dialogue continues as the Council of Europe understands clearly that we will not waiver,” TASS reported quoting …

  • Russia to spend $55 million annually to operate its Tartus naval base in Syria

    The expansion of the Navy base in Syrian city of Tartus will require 3.2 billion rubles or $55 million annually, said the chairman of the Main Directorate for International Military Cooperation of the Defense Ministry Alexander Zinchenko, RIA Novosti reports. He outlined the required expenses at a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, where the question of ratifying the agreement with Damascus to expand this base was being considered.

    As a result of the …

  • Moldovan President Dodon intends to begin resolving problems with Russia after the New Year

    Moldovan leader Igor Dodon announced in an interview with Izvestia that there are two scenarios for the development of Moldova's relations with Russia.

    "There are two scenarios for how to return to normal bilateral relations. The first scenario, and I very much hope that it will be possible to implement it, [would be] right after the New Year holidays ... We will try and do our best to resolve the problems right after the New Year. I spoke with the Prime Minister and Speaker of the Parliament …