The international credit rating agency Fitch has given Russia the lowest possible investment grade, a BBB-, Rosbalt reported. Fitch also gave Russia a negative growth outlook.

"In line with the updated guidance contained in Fitch's revised Sovereign Rating Criteria dated July 18, 2016, Russia's credit profile does not support a notching up... This reflects Fitch's view that neither of the two key factors cited in the criteria that support upward notching of the LTLC IDR [long-term local …

NATO fighters intercepted and escorted three Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea last week, Delfi reported, citing the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense.

According to the Ministry, fighters, as part of NATO’s air patrol mission over the Baltic Sea, escorted a Russian Tu-134 military cargo plane and two Su-27 fighters on July 18th.

The Russian planes were flying with disabled transponders, which NATO believes is a threat to civil aviation.

The presence of Russian military aircraft and  …

Ukrainian forces lost two soldiers during the fight near Novozvanivka

On July 23, 2016, Ukrainian forces near Novozvanivka, in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, defended against the attacks of the pro-Russian separatists, and two Ukrainian soldiers were killed as a result. The details of the fighting near Novozvanivka were provided by the Ukrainian Headquarters on its Facebook page.

Reportedly, in the morning of July 23, Ukrainian military officials noticed the movement of a sabotage- …

In the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, employees of the Security Services of Ukraine (SSU), together with Ukrainian military, border guards and police, found two stores with a large number of munitions.

As reported by the press center of the SSU, on the outskirts of Popasna in the Luhansk region, law enforcement officers found a cache under a private house.

Security forces seized an anti-tank mine ТМ-62 with fuses, a high-explosive tank shell, a 200-gram TNT block and nearly two hundred …

The Head of the information support department of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Vyacheslav Trukhachev reported that two people were killed as a result of a collision involving a civilian Ford Focus and a convoy of military vehicles near Tabachnoye (Bakhchysarai region) in the Crimea. Trukhachev privided this information in his interview with a number of Crimean journalists.

According to him, the traffic accident took place on Saturday at 8 AM. RIA Crimea news agency quoted him as saying that …

Throughout the night and into the day, Russian troops opened fire 40 times against the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the press center of the Ukrainian Army Headquarters, the situation in the front line in eastern Ukraine has worsened; however, the Ukrainian forces remain in control of the situation.

In Donetsk, the seperatists fired on fortifications in Avdiivka and Opytne using 122 mm artillery, which is prohibited by the Minsk Agreements. The separatists also used twice 120 mm …

A Russian contract proposal for the construction of a power plant in the Krasnodar region, needed to support the annexed Crimea, has not received any bids, reported Reuters.

No companies have submitted bids for the contract, and authorities subsequently deemed the proposal invalid.

The proposal planned to search for new investors to fund the construction of the 450 MW capacity power plant on the Taman Peninsula by 2018. The power plant is needed to supply power to the Krasnodar region of …

On July 22nd, 6,111 people crossed the line of demarcation through the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint in both directions. As Deputy Chairman of the Luhansk Regional Military-Civil Administration, Yury Klimenko, told journalists, it is the largest number of people crossing the checkpoint in a 24-hour period since the opening of the checkpoint.

"Despite the increased attacks by militants, people continue to cross the only pedestrian checkpoint in the Luhansk region," the press service of Luhansk …