The Armed Forces of Finland allocated EUR 100 million for the purchase of heavy artillery, which will replace old post-Soviet weapons. According to the newspaper Rzeczpospolita, at the end of 2016, the Finnish army tested South Korean K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers. Those are equipped with a 155 mm gun, and their range of fire is 40 km. The Howitzer's maximum speed is about 70 km per hour.

Moreover, the newspaper noted that Helsinki plans on purchasing used howitzers. The Finnish Defense …

Employees of the General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) of France are not ruling out the possibility that Russia may intervene in the presidential elections with the help of cyber-attacks in favor of Marine Le Pen.

The secret service announced that Moscow also allegedly intends to use social networks to support the Chairman of the National Front (FN), having arranged for the mass publication of messages in support of the National Front party leader. Russian hackers, finally, may try …

As reported by the press service of Krymenergo, about 30 settlements in the Crimea were left without electricity due to adverse weather conditions.

"On the eve of February 8th as a result of the deterioration of the weather conditions (gusty winds up to 25 m / s, frost, icing, a storm warning declared for February 8-9) the electricity supply was disrupted in 27 Crimean settlements, in 8 of them the disruption was partial (mostly in the Rozdol'ne, Pervomaiske and Saki regions)," the statement …

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) urged the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) to voluntarily forfeit the right to host the Biathlon World Championships in 2021 in Tyumen before February 24th. Otherwise, the IBU will unilaterally deprive the Russian Federation of this right. The decision was made at an Extraordinary Congress of the International Biathlon Union on Wednesday, February 8th, in Fieberbrunn, Austria. Also, a new venue for the World Championships 2021 will be determined in September 20 …

A Ukrainian partisan group operating in the Donbas has claimed responsibility for the recent death of the head of the so-called People’s Militia of LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic), Oleg Anashchenko.

In a short video posted on the Facebook page of the Donbas Liberation front on February 5, a masked man spoke in Russian referring to Anashchenko’s assassination.

“We have warned you that if you don’t leave our land you will encounter death. The death will reach anyone who is waging this senseless …

According to the Minister of the Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, Ihor Nasalyk, Ukrainian authorities are holding negations regarding the purchase of anthracite coal in the US, Korrespondent.net reported.

“I have information that negotiations are now being held regarding the shipment of one million tons of anthracite coal from the US to Ukraine,” the minister said at a press conference.

Nasalyk specified that negotiations are being held with private companies.

The minister also noted …

The US does not intend to lift the sanctions against Russia with respect to the Crimea, White House representative Sean Spicer stated on Wednesday the 8th of February. “There are two sets of sanctions that we are dealing with. One is the ones with respect to Crimea. And I think that US Ambassador Haley has addressed that very forcefully at the UN, that until Russia leaves Crimea, those sanctions are a non-starter,” Spicer stated in response to journalists’ questions during a traditional press …

The President of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky rejected the proposal of the Prime Minister of Moldova, Pavel Filip to begin discussion on granting special status to Transnistria within Moldova.

Krasnoselsky stated this after the meeting with Austria’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and acting OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Sebastian Kurz. Krasnoselsky stressed that political issues on granting special status to the region within Moldova are not currently …