• Russian Prime Minister Medvedev demands officials urgently accelerate the economy

    At a meeting to discuss national development goals, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the growth of the Russian economy does meet the expectations, finanz.ru reports.

    "At the end of last year, the gross domestic product grew not much more than 2%. At the beginning of this year, the dynamics are even worse," Medvedev said.

    According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), in the first quarter, the economy gained only 0.5% and fell by 0.4% comparing to the …

  • Russia ready to ship a batch of rocket engines to US

    The user acceptance commission has given the green light to a batch of RD-180 rocket engines bound for the US, announced NPO Energomash, the Russian rocket manufacturer.

    “In June, representatives of Pratt & Whitney, United Launch Alliance and RD Amross signed the forms for three engines. Over the course of two weeks, representatives of the aforementioned companies carried out an external inspection of the engines and the SPTA, and [filled in] the accompanying documentation,” the Energomash’s …

  • Two people convicted of spying for Russia in Lithuania

    Two men were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in Lithuania on charges of espionage for Russia.

    Both defendants were found guilty of transmitting information to Russian intelligence and sentenced to four years and nine months in prison each, reports Deutsche Welle.

    The message of the General Prosecutor's office in Vilnius reports that two men, who were born in 1966 and 1961, for several years were taking photos of the area and communication structure of a military airfield in Šiauliai …

  • Putin prepared to talk to Trump

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he is willing to talk to US President Donald Trump, if that is what his American colleague wants. However, Putin observed that Trump’s re-election campaign could complicate Russia-US relations.

    Trump said previously that he is expecting to meet with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan, although Moscow claims it has not yet received any official requests for a meeting.

    Relations between the two countries are tense due to a …

  • Putin acknowledges presence of Russian mercenaries in Syria

    There are contractors from private military companies (PMCs) in Syria, but they do not represent the Russian government, said Russian President Vladimir Putin in an episode of the TV show “Direct Line”, when asked why combat veteran status is not given to Russians who work as mercenaries abroad.

    “They are really there,” Putin said, referring to the private military contractors. However, he continued, this is “not the state”, and these people are technically not combat veterans. They deal with “ …