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Russian Ministry of Finance announces complete depletion and liquidation of Reserve Fund
In an official press release, The Russian Ministry of Finance has stated that that Russia’s Reserve Fund was completely depleted in December 2017, and will cease to exist beginning February 1, 2018.
"In December 2017 ... the balance of the Reserve Fund in foreign currency on accounts with the Bank of Russia ($7.62 billion, 6.71 billion euros and 1.10 billion pounds sterling) was fully used to cover the deficit of the federal budget," the report said.
As follows from the Russian agency’s …
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Russian oligarch Deripaska sues Manafort for '$26 million fraud'
A company owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has filed a lawsuit against Paul Manafort, former head of Trump’s electoral campaign, and his assistant Richard Gates. Deripaska’s Cyprus-based company Surf Horizon Limited accuses Manafort and Gates of millions of dollars of fraud.
Surf Horizon Limited filed a lawsuit at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, claiming that Manafort and Gates pocketed a portion of the $18.9 million which Surf invested in the Ukrainian …
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Turkey called on Russia to stop Assad’s offensive in Idlib
Turkey urged Russia and Iran to influence Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop the offensive in the province of Idlib. Ankara is worried that the fighting may lead to a new flow of refugees across its southern border, as expressed by Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, on Wednesday, January 10th in an interview with Anadolu.
According to Çavuşoğlu, the offensive in Idlib contradicts joint agreements on the establishment of a de-escalation zone in the only province of Syria that …
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Russian warship returning from Syria collides with cargo ship in Aegean Sea
On December 30, the Yamal, a large Russian landing ship, collided with a dry cargo vessel from Sierra Leone in the Aegean Sea, Interfax reports, quoting the Russian Defense Ministry.
The Yamal was sailing from the Mediterranean Sea to occupied Sevastopol, and the Orka-2 cargo ship was headed to Turkey from Egypt. No one was hurt, and the Russian ship received only minor damage.
Photos taken of the Russian Navy ship after it arrived at port were posted on the social site VKontakte. The Yamal …
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Berlin fines German company for importing goods to Russia in violation of sanctions
A German company that exported dual-use equipment to Russia, was fined 190,000 euros, as reported by the German edition, Stuttgarter Nachrichten.
According to the publication, the equipment supplied to the Russians can be used, among other things, for military purposes.
In order to export such equipment to Russia, the firm had to obtain a special permit as required as part of EU sanctions against Moscow, but supplied the equipment without it.
"The request for permission is usually refused if …