• Secretary General of Council of Europe speaks about the crisis in PACE due to the conflict with Russia

    Depriving Russia of the right to vote in the Parliamentary Assembly neither improved the human rights situation in Russia nor made Russia to return the Crimea. Instead, it caused a crisis in the Council of Europe, said Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary General of the organization, at the PACE winter session on Tuesday, January 22. A report on his speech was published on the website of the Council of Europe.

    Jagland noted that the Assembly’s decision to deprive the Russian delegation of the …

  • Putin: Russia and Japan will continue negotiations on the Kuril Islands

    Russia and Japan will continue negotiations on the peace treaty, stated Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe at the press-conference following the bilateral meeting in Moscow, the Russian service of Radio Svoboda reports.

    According to Putin, both parties are interested in the signing of the document. Putin said that the conditions of the peace treaty should be acceptable for both countries and supported by society. The Russian President noted that Moscow will …

  • Ukraine and Israel agree on strengthening defense cooperation

    The Ukrainian Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak announced on Facebook that during an official visit to Israel a memorandum of cooperation between Ukraine and Israel was signed. This memorandum includes the development and modernization of weapons from Elbit Systems Ltd. 

    “Cooperating with the Israeli company and partner will allow us to improve the capabilities of our Armed Forces,” said Poltorak. 

    According to the minister, the Ukrainian side got acquainted with advanced defense …

  • Ukraine prepared to extend gas transit agreement with Russia under European rules

    Andriy Kobolyev, CEO of Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz, said in a press conference after trilateral negotiations in Brussels that the company is willing to extend the current agreements to transit Russian gas through Ukraine after 2019 if they comply with European regulations.

    “Naftogaz is willing to consider future agreements only if they completely abide by the European legislation that has been implemented in Ukraine,” Kobolyev said.

    He added that Naftogaz is open to all …

  • Putin asks Abe for investments during Kuril handover negotiations

    Russia hopes to expand its investment and technological collaboration with Japan, said Russian President Vladimir Putin following negotiations with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Moscow.

    After the leaders’ meeting in the Kremlin, to which Abe had come “fully resolved” to deal with the matter of the peace treaty – which has been left hanging for more than 50 years due to the territorial dispute surrounding the Kuril islands – Putin bemoaned the small amount of Japanese investments in …