Shares of billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov's companies were pummeled on the Moscow Stock Exchange on Friday following news from the US that a group of congressmen is seeking sanctions against the businessman, who has already given the State key oil assets and lost 70% of his fortune due to a conflict with Rosneft.

US Congressmen affiliated with the Republican Party, Mark Walker and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, argued that the inclusion of Yevtushenkov, as well as his companies AFK Sistema and MTS, in …

Russia’s largest companies continue to report that they are ready for a possible disconnection from the SWIFT international payment system.

Gazprom Neft announced that it has followed Rostec and Rosneft in transitioning to the Central Bank of Russia’s SWIFT equivalent - the Financial Message Transmission System (FMTS).

The nearly 100% Gazprom-owned company, which holds the 4th place for oil extraction in Russia, has begun to use the Russian SWIFT equivalent instead of the traditional one, …

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that the Canadian parliament’s decision to legalize the recreational use of cannabis is a “gross and deliberate violation by the country of its international legal obligations”.

The Russian foreign policy department drew attention to the fact that Canada has signed a number of conventions which obligate its member states to restrict the use of drugs exclusively to medicinal and scientific purposes. The obligations are not open to alternative interpretations, the …

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that Russian warplanes carried out airstrikes in southern Syria, violating one of the so-called "de-escalation zones".

“For the first time since the ceasefire in southern Syria was agreed last year, intense Russian air strikes hit cities in the eastern part of Daraa province," said the head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.

According to Reuters, the two monitoring centers controlling the movement of …

On June 25, Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CE), will send Russian President Vladimir Putin an official request to pardon Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, a senior CE official told Deutsche Welle.

“On Monday, Jagland will file a petition for the pardoning of Sentsov,” Deputy Secretary General Daniel Holtgen announced. He also pointed out that the Secretary General has a right to do so according to the European Convention on Human Rights.

On June 20, Jagland …

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, warned the European countries of the "terrible future" if the nuclear agreement with Iran is abolished, Interfax news agency reports with reference to the Iranian TV channel Press-TV.

"If the EU and other countries supporting a joint comprehensive action plan do not demonstrate a principled position and respond to U.S. policy in a timely fashion, they will face a terrible future and unprecedented security gaps in the region …

The head of the Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, wrote in a June 22 post on his Facebook page that the average cereal crop yield in the Crimea in 2018 will be half that of the previous year.

"Unfortunately, the average yield this year is 16 centners per hectare for grains, [which is] half as much as last year. Accordingly, the total amount collected last year was 1.7 million tons. This year will be 800,000 tons of grain and legumes," Aksyonov wrote.

According to Aksyonov, 132,000 hectares of cereals …

The Ukrainian military managed to kill two Russian officers in the Donbas, which commanded the local militants. The military equipment was also destroyed, reported the volunteer organization "Come back alive” on their Facebook page.

The organization reports , citing its informants that ,near the Ukrainian village of Pikuzy, the Russian officers with call-signs Metka and Georgik met near an armored personal vehicle (BTR) when it suddenly exploded. The old Soviet-made car Zhiguli, which was …