One of the saving goals of the 2018 budget is to reduce defense expenditure, but this will not affect the plans to retrofit the army and the navy. The state will fulfill the defense order. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a statement to this effect at a meeting with United Russia party leader Vladimir Vasilyev in the State Duma. A transcript of the meeting was published on the Kremlin’s website.

Putin noted that “significant budget savings” are planned.

“We will fulfill the state defense …

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that on August 12, Ukrainian citizen Hennadiy Limeshko was arrested while attempting to damage the power line between Sudak and Novyi Svit. The FSB report calls him an SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) agent, sent to Crimea to carry out acts of sabotage, as   reported on the FSB website.

He was allegedly found in possession of two TNT type 200 blocks and a ZTP-50 capped fuse, a mechanism for detonating the explosive device, an RGD-5 grenade …

The pilots participating in the NATO air mission in the Baltic States flew over the Baltic Sea eight times last week to identify and escort a total of 21 Russian military aircraft, as reported by Delfi, citing the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania.

About half of the escorted planes were fighters, the rest were transport and even passenger aircrafts. Many Russian transport aircrafts flew with their transmitters off.

Further, 10 Russian aircraft had to be escorted by NATO aircrafts on Thursday, …

On Monday, August 14th, a third coal carrier from South Africa arrived at the port of Yuzhne in Ukraine, as reported by the press service of DTEK Energo, which is purchasing the coal.

The Bulk carrier, SBI REGGAE, sailing under the flag of Liberia, delivered 75,000 tons of South African anthracite to Ukraine. The ship is currently being unloaded, after which the coal will be sent to warehouses at the Pridneprovska and Kryvyi Rih Thermal Power Plants. These power plants support the stability of …

The German Investment and Development Corporation (DEG) will contribute $10 million to the development of small and medium-size businesses in Ukraine, as reported on the website of the German Embassy in Ukraine.

This amount will be transferred to the Emerging Europe Growth Fund III (EEGF III). According to the website of the diplomatic department, this will allow access to long-term financing for small and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine.

The German Investment and Development Corporation …

Ukraine sent a case file on the mass shooting of Ukrainian military in Ilovaisk to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague, as reported by the press service of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine.

“The Chief Military Prosecutor's Office transmitted the information about the evidence collected regarding war crimes (including the treacherous killing of Ukrainian military in the Ilovaisk area) to the Office of the ICC Prosecutor to resolve the issue of opening a criminal proceeding, …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made assurances that the government will fulfill its obligations to increase defense spending until 2024 to the NATO target of 2% of GDP each year.

She stated this in interviews with the German television channel Phoenix and the radio station Deutschlandfunk, Deutsche Welle reports.

At the same time, she refuted accusations from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) that the increase in defense spending would come from a reduction in social programs." …

The Kremlin-appointed head of the Crimean government, Sergei Aksyonov, has signed the main version of a draft law on the procedure for restructuring debt of the Crimeans on loans taken from Ukrainian banks prior to the annexation of the peninsula. Aksyonov reported this on Facebook on August 14.

"The bill will still be discussed and adjusted, but the main points will remain intact: legal entities and individuals that are in arrears of up to 5 million rubles ($83,478 USD)are completely exempted …