Russian President Vladmir Putin deemed the actions of Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, as “effective”.  He cited this during the inter-regional forum of the All-Russia People’s Front, which was held in Stavropol.  

Putin went on to state, “Those living there [in Chechnya] have done this.  Thanks to the first president of the Republic… to the current head, he is working efficiently.”

On January 12th, Kadyrov called the representatives of Russian non-system opposition “public …

Four Russian citizens received political asylum in Ukraine in 2015, as reported by the head of the press service of the State Migration Service, Sergei Gunko.

Refugee status was received by seven Russians; overall 86 Russian citizens requested asylum in Ukraine. As of January 1st, Ukraine is now home to 2,500 refugees and about 600 citizens who are in need of additional protection.

Previously, the Director of the Department for Foreigners and Stateless Persons, Natalia Naumenko, said that …

In December 2015, the production of passenger cars in Russia declined by 38.9% year-on-year and by 12.5% in comparison with the previous month.  These results were presented by the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the Rosstat.

According the Rosstat, the production of passenger cars in Russia saw a general decrease of 27.7% from 2014.  This amounted to 1.2 million units.

In addition, the country produced 131 000 trucks last year – 14.7% lower than the previous year.  …

According to Glavnoe, the head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, took the decision to rename the Boulevard Shevhenko as part of the ongoing “de-Ukrainization" campaign in areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.  It is to be renamed in honor of the leader of the Chechen Republic, also known as the “patriot of Russia”, Ramzan Kadyrov. Glavnoe reported that this information was posted in the newspaper of the DPR.

It should however be noted …

The Government of Ukraine may be headed by the former Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, instead of Arseniy Yatsenyuk, as reported by Glavcom, citing a source in the presidential administration.

The appointment of Bildt, as the newspaper notes, would simplify the negotiations with international money lenders for Kiev, and would also allow President Poroshenko to take greater control of the activities of the government. In addition, such a personnel choice would help the authorities to shift …

The deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have begun collecting signatures to initiate a further investigation into the murder of a Russian opposition leader, co-chairman of the RPR-PARNAS, Boris Nemtsov. This was stated by the Deputy Chairman of the Alliance of European Liberal Democrats in PACE, Swedish MP Kerstin Lundgren, in an interview with Voice of America.

She indicated that the collection of signatures is almost completed. According to procedure, in …

The former Minister of Defense of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Igor Strelkov, believes that the armed forces of Novorossiya (New Russia) would be rapidly destroyed without the support of the Russian Army should the armed forces of Ukraine decide to attack. Strelkov stated this in his interview, published on the separatists’ social network page.

“Based on available information, I regret to say that the DPR Army would be destroyed in few days. The DPR and LPR Armies, the so-called …

Former President Leonid Kuchma, the second President of independent Ukraine and current representative of the Ukrainian government to the Trilateral Contact Group, stated that separatists in Donbas use the exchange of prisoners as leverage over Ukraine, when in fact many of those prisoners could be deceased by now.

“The last time, we negotiated twice on the number of prisoners to be exchanged. Representatives of the separatists came and negotiations started anew. Delaying this process is their …