On July 13, Naftogaz Ukraine sent a proposal to the relevant national commission proposing changes to the method for calculating natural gas transit tariffs which has been in place since 2015, reported the company’s press service.

The price envisaged by the new proposal is $2.17 to transit 1000 cubic meters 100 km (with VAT and the fuel component). This is 20% less than the transit rate in the existing contract with Gazprom, and also 2.3 times smaller than the average cost of transit according …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated that he recently met with US Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations and commander of the United States European Command.    The President noted the bilateral cooperation and stated that cooperation between Ukraine and NATO has been increasing over the last four years. He stressed that Ukraine is strengthening its defense capabilities and reforming the security sector because accession to …

President of the United States Donald Trump believes that it was unlawful for Russia to annex the peninsula of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in his press conference following talks with Trump in Helsinki.

“The position of President Trump regarding the Crimea is known, he stands by it. He talks about the illegality of the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. We have a different point of view. We believe that we held a referendum in strict accordance with …

Unidentified drones attacked the Russian airbase Khmeimim in Syria, reported Telegram channel Directorate 4, which is monitoring the situation in the Middle East.

Local residents said that they hear the sound of the air defense systems in the area of the air base.

Russian air defense systems have repeatedly destroyed several drones which tried to attack airbase. The last drone attack took place in the Syrian province of Latakia on July 1. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the …

At a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured the US President that Russia will keep the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine after the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

Putin noted that during the meeting, Trump "expressed concern that the gas transit through Ukraine may stop."

"I assured the president that Russia is ready to maintain this transit, moreover, we are ready to extend the transit contract, which …

The European Union’s anti-Russian sanctions have jeopardized Moscow-Budapest relations, said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin press service reported. “I must say that we could develop even more [relations] if not for the harmful sanctions. Because of these measures, we are losing opportunities,” said the Hungarian Prime Minister. Moreover, Orban assured Putin that Hungary stands for the normalization of relations between …

According to statistics published by the Central Bank of Russia on Thursday, after the April round of US sanctions, Russian banks and corporations have had difficulties with foreign debt.

In the second quarter, repayment of loans from the West took a record $34 billion out of the Russian economy. Banks which, at the start of the year, had the opportunity to partially extend loans, have this time been unable to refinance a cent: over the last quarter they paid off $9.8 billion, which is even …

Ukraine exports more illegal lumber to the EU than any other country – more than Latin America, Africa and South East Asia combined, Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly) reports, citing an investigation by the British ecological organization Earthsight.

Despite the moratorium on deforestation, over the last four years the export volume of Ukrainian wood to EU countries has grown by 75%, exceeding €1 billion last year.The investigators estimate that 40% of this lumber was felled or sold illegally. …