• Ukraine launches investigation into IMAX cinemas in annexed Crimea

    The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has taken note of recent media reports that the Canadian company IMAX and other western cinema companies are operating in annexed Crimea.

    “After verifying the information, if there is reason to, the SBU will commence with a legal response,” said SBU spokesperson Olena Hitlyanska as cited by Krym.Realii.

    The Canadian Foreign Ministry said that it is aware of the situation and will state its stance on the matter soon.

    The Saturn-IMAX cinema in Yalta, …

  • Hearings on seizure of Gazprom’s assets in the Netherlands to start in December

    The hearings concerning the seizure of Gazprom’s assets in the Netherlands will commence in December 2019, according to the Russian gas monopoly’s report for the second quarter of 2019.

    The document states that Gazprom’s shares in the Blue Stream Pipeline Company and the debt owed by several subsidiaries in the Netherlands to Gazprom were seized by the Amsterdam District Court on May 30, 2018, based on a request from Naftogaz of Ukraine.

    The Ukrainian company is having Gazprom’s assets seized …

  • Kremlin invites governor of Syrian Tartus province to visit annexed Crimea

    The coordinator of the Russian State Duma group on relations with the parliament of Syria Dmitry Sablin, arrived in Syria on Sunday and plans to invite Tartus Governor Safwan Abu Saad to visit annexed Sevastopol,  reports Russian Interfax news agency.

    In early 2019, Saad signed an agreement on economic and cultural cooperation with Sevastopol.

    In January of this year, the former Russian head of Sevastopol Dmitry Ovsyannikov visited Syria as part of the Russian delegation.

    In April 2018, …

  • Kremlin vows to respond to US military expansion in Europe, Asia and Pacific

    Moscow will take symmetrical measures in response to the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (IMF) only when the U.S. begins deploying new missiles in Europe and Asia, said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu in an interview with Russia 24 TV channel.

    "We will not be there until they [the US] get to Asia and the Asia-Pacific region," he added.

    At the same time, Shoygu said that Moscow is ready to continue dialogue with Washington on medium and shorter-range …

  • Russian criminal group launders largest sum in Finland's history

    Two Estonian citizens were arrested in Finland on charges of laundering more than 100 million euros for a Russian organized criminal group, reports Yle TV channel.

    The money laundering was carried out with the assistance of the Finnish HTR Talonrakennus Oy construction company. Estonians, who led this firm, received charges of laundering 140 million criminal euros. Now the detainees deny their guilt, claiming that the money was allegedly intended for the construction of roads in Karelia.

    It …