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Russian Duma Speaker Calls on EU to Impose Sanctions against Ukraine
The Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Sergey Naryshkin, invited the leading European countries to punish Kiev for their failure to comply with the Minsk Agreements, as reported by the Russian media on Tuesday, January 19th.
At the opening of the spring session of the State Duma, Naryshkin stated that "the position of France and Germany, presiding over the OSCE this year, will become completely constructive and objective. The advocates of extending anti-Russian sanctions will realize that …
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More Than 400 German Companies Closed Their Doors in Russia In 2015
According to the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce report released on January 20th, the number of German companies, together with their branches and representative offices, was reduced by 7% in Russia last year.
According to the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation, six thousand companies with German capital were registered in Russia in 2014. However, in 2015, their number dropped to 5583, more than 400 fewer than the previous year.
Meanwhile, the number of legal entities with …
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Ash Carter: Russia Makes Strategic Mistakes in Syria
The United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter expressed the view that Russia is pursuing the wrong course in Syria. After meeting with the US’s key allies in Paris on January20th, Carter stated that Russians make strategic mistakes as well as tactical ones. “That’s why we don’t have a basis for greater cooperation with Moscow,” Carter noted.
The Defense Secretary promised to destroy powerful centers of Islamic State. He likened it to a cancer that will be defeated by destroying its two …
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NATO Seeks To Reopen Dialogue with Russia
In the coming weeks, NATO hopes to resume dialogue with Russia, which was frozen because of the conflict in eastern Ukraine since July 2014. Diplomats in Brussels stated on January 20th that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization expects negotiations at the ambassadorial level within the NATO-Russia Council to take place sometime between the end of February and the beginning of March, if Moscow is amenable.
One of the diplomats said that NATO wished to put a discussion on the conflict in …
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New Monument Could Remove the Kremlin from UNESCO List
The Commission of UNESCO experts may consider removing the Kremlin from the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Der Tagesspiegel reported on January 19th that such a decision was prompted by the plans of Russian authorities to construct a 24-meter monument to Grand Duke Vladimirat on Borovitskaya Square near Kremlin. The Grand Duke was a historical figure who chose Orthodox Christianity as the state religion of Kievan Rus.
According to UNESCO experts, the monument, rising high above the …