Contents tagged with Russia

  • Latvia detects Russian reconnaissance ship in its territorial waters

    The Latvian National Armed Forces reported on Twitter that a Russian reconnaissance ship was spotted in the exclusive economic zone of Latvia. “On December 25, we found the Russian reconnaissance ship named Yuri Ivanov in the exclusive economic zone of Latvia at six nautical miles from the border.”

    Russian warships and aircraft have been increasingly seen and recorded close to the air and sea borders of the Baltic States since the start of the conflict in Ukraine and the aggravation of …

  • Kyiv: Ukrainian army has taken control of nearly all gray zone in the Donbas

    Yuriy Biryukov, advisor to the President of Ukraine said on the talk show “Situation” on Pryamyi TV that the Ukrainian Army has taken control of almost all of the gray zone, the territory which separates them from the pro-Russian militants, in the Donbas.   “Considering what we had in May 2014, two thirds of the territory [of the Donbas] was liberated. Almost all the gray zone was liberated and brought under Ukraine’s control,” Biryukov stated.   Occasionally, Ukrainian military in the Donbas …

  • Putin: new hypersonic nuclear missile makes an excellent New Year’s gift for Russia

    The Russian Defense Ministry conducted test launches of an Avangard hypersonic glider missile. 

    The missile, the fruit of a 20 trillion ruble ($290 billion) state arms program, passed the testing “completely successfully”, Putin said after the Strategic Missile Troops drill at the Kura Test Range. 

    “All the tactical and technical data has been confirmed,” Interfax cites the Russian president as saying. “The Avangard system is invulnerable to the current and future anti-air and anti-missile …

  • Ukraine extends entry ban for Russian men 

    The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) extended the entry ban imposed on Russian men aged from 16 to 60, despite the end of the martial law, said First Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Yarovyi, the press service of the ministry reported.

    "Taking into consideration the difficult situation with security, all bodies of the Interior Ministry continue functioning in emergency mode. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has decided to extend the State Border Guard …

  • Two Russian billionaires decline invitation to meet with Putin 

    Two Russian billionaires were unable to go to the Kremlin to take part in President Vladimir Putin’s annual meeting with the country’s top businessmen. 

    Petr Aven, head of Alfa-Bank’s board of directors with an estimated $5.1 billion according to Forbes, and Yandex co-owner and CEO Arkady Volozh ($1.5 billion) declined to attend the meeting which took place on Wednesday, December 26. 

    “I’m just not in Moscow, I am very far from Moscow. There is no special reason,” Aven told TASS. 

    A source …

  • Ukraine suspends martial law 

    December 26th, at 14:00, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that martial law, which was enacted due to Russian attack in the Kerch Strait, had been discontinued in regions of the country.  

    “Now at 14:00 martial law has stopped. This is ultimately my decision. It is based on all the components of the current security situation in the government,” said Poroshenko during a meeting of the Council of National Security and Defense of Ukraine. 

    On November 25th Russian border guards  …

  • Ukraine imposes additional sanctions against Russia 

    The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine approved the introduction of additional sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities. The decision is made in connection with the incident in the Kerch Strait, as well as with the holding of elections in the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR. 

    The press service of the National Security Council of Ukraine specified that the sanctions are imposed on those Russian companies, businessmen, politicians and deputies, law enforcement …

  • Russia warns Ukraine and NATO against sending ships through the Kerch Strait

    Moscow called on Ukraine and its Western partners to abandon the new attempt to send naval ships through the Kerch Strait.

    At a press briefing, the spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the possible passage of Ukrainian ships through the Kerch Strait "a reckless initiative", RIA Novosti reports.

    Zakharova also noted that the "Western supervisors" of Kyiv should come up with a way of "reasoning with the ruling regime" in Ukraine in order to make them abandon the …

  • Russian State Duma proposes a constitutional review to Putin 

    Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the leadership of the State Duma and Federation Council. Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin proposed to him that the Russian Constitution needed an overhaul and that legal experts should be called in to evaluate its relevance to the current reality. 

    “25 years ago is the time when such questions could have be answered,” TASS cites Volodin as saying. The Deputy claimed that judges from the Constitutional Court, scholars in the Constitutional Right and …

  • China rejects transition to settlements in national currency with Russia

    The redirection of Russia’s economic policy to the East, announced after the annexation of Crimea and the sharp deterioration of relations with the West, has ended up as a wake-up call. 

    The attempt to get China involved in de-dollarization and to formalize the transition to reciprocal trade in national currencies has not been successful. 

    China refused to sign the intergovernmental agreement to settle in national currencies that was drafted in 2014 and already considered a “done deal” by …