• Russia starts developing the Soyuz-5 rocket

    The Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, the Progress Rocket Space Center and the Science and Production Association Energomash have started work on the new Soyuz-5 carrier rocket, Dmitry Rogozin, the Director General of Roscosmos wrote on Twitter.

    Rogozin noted that the Soyuz-5 would “make it possible to mobilize all rocket and space industry” and enable Russia to use its “powerful potential in design and production.” According to Rogozin, after the Soyuz-5, they will start working on a …

  • Right Sector refuses to leave the war zone in the Donbas

    Right Sector, a far-right Ukrainian nationalist movement will not leave the anti-terrorist operation zone (ATO) despite the requirement of Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev, stated the Commander of the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, Andriy Stempytsky.

    “Volunteers will leave the ATO zone only when the territories annexed by the Russian Federation, including the Crimea, are regained,” he said. The squadron commander of the Right Sector Volunteer Corps, Dmytro Kotsyubaylo stated that …

  • Armenia refuses to revise the status of Russian border guards

    Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the press secretary of Defense Ministry told Interfax that Armenia has no intention of revising the status of Russian border guards serving on the country’s border with Turkey and Iran.

    "The minister talked about certain legal clarifications and technical details only with the aim of improving and developing [the agreement on the Russian military base]," Hovhannisyan explained to Interfax.

    Earlier, Armnews and other Armenian media published the statement of Defense …

  • President Poroshenko calls cooperation with Boeing 'a sign of Ukrainian independence in aviation’

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko welcomed agreements between concern Antonov and American corporation Boeing on the supply of parts. According to the Ukrainian president, such an agreement is a “sign of independence in aviation” from Russia.

    “These agreements are a sign of our independence from Russia in aviation and confirmation of a strategic course of cooperation between the US and EU”, Poroshenko wrote on Twitter.

    The supplies are for An-148, An-158, An-178 aicraft.

    It was reported …

  • Media: Ukrainian exporters keep foreign currency revenue in offshore companies

    Ukrainian business owners minimize their tax base by registering offshore companies and by keeping their foreign currency revenue in the accounts of companies registered in countries with a low tax load. According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), more than a third of all foreign direct investments (FDIs) coming into Ukraine since the end of 2017 have come from countries with a low tax load. Furthermore, nearly 100% of direct investments from Ukraine have also been sent into low-tax …

  • Ukrainian journalist: Russia has insufficient resources for large-scale attack on Ukraine

    Russia does not set itself the task of occupying Ukraine or part of it without the guarantee that the political regime in Kyiv will be replaced by one loyal to the Kremlin. Furthermore, Russia has neither the strength nor the resources for a large-scale offensive. Such an opinion was expressed by journalist Yuriy Butusov in an article for Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly).

    “Today, holding the occupied territories, including the Donbas and Crimea, has become a huge burden on the Russian budget …

  • Russia concerned over Japanese bill on Kuril Islands

    Russian lawmakers are trying to negotiate with Japan to prevent a series of legislative actions, which would disrupt an easing of relations, reported the chair of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev, according to RIA Novosti.

    “We will definitely be continuing to discuss this matter, so that if possible certain legislative measures will not be allowed to pass, measures which would disrupt both countries’ efforts to move forward on the resolution of certain …

  • Scientist arrested in Russia over hypersonic weapons information leak

    Roskosmos (Russia’s state space agency) has confirmed the arrest of Viktor Kudryavtsev, a scientist from the Central Research Institute for Machine Building (TsNIIMash), Russian media reported on Sunday, July 22.

    “He is currently being investigated,” Roskosmos spokesman Vladimir Ustimenko told Russian news agency TASS. He did not provide any further details.

    News came out earlier that 74 year-old Viktor Kudryavtsev, a scientist from TsNIIMash, had been sent to the Lefortovo pre-trial …

  • Poroshenko signs a bill allowing Netherlands to prosecute in Ukraine those responsible for MH17 air disaster

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a bill ratifying an agreement with the Netherlands regarding their international judicial cooperation. This decision will allow the Dutch to carry out a legal process concerning the crash of the Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Donbass in 2014, the president’s press office announced.

    President Petro Poroshenko has signed bills “which ratify an agreement between Ukraine and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for international judicial …

  • Israel’s warplanes strike Syrian weapons factory

    The Israeli Air Force struck a military target near the city of Masyaf, Hama province, reported the Syrian state agency SANA with reference to a military source.

    According to other Syrian sources, the  target of the air strike was the Center for Scientific Research near Masyaf that has been transformed since the summer of 2015 into the development center for Fateh-110 ballistic missiles of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

    There are reportedly a number of dead and wounded in the ranks of the …