A Catholic worshiper community in the name of Saint Clement of Rome in Sevastopol, the Crimean peninsula annexed from Ukraine, held a Christmas church service on December 24. Approximately one hundred church-goers attended the service ministered at the closed doors of a Catholic church at Ushakova square.

The worshipers stood under the rain and mostly in the darkness due to absence of proper lighting, according to a reporter from Krym Realii online. Father Anatoly, the priest who ministered …

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that rapprochement between Russia and Germany is impossible without Vladimir Putin.

"Managing Russia is not an easy task. Rather, [Germany] must proceed from the fact that it will not be better after Putin. A step towards rapprochement could lead to the gradual lifting of reciprocal sanctions," Schröder told the Rheinische Post.

In addition, he commented on his chairmanship of the Rosneft Board of Directors, which became public in September. …

The Moscow Arbitration Court did not invalidate the deal on the supply of Siemens turbines to Rostec's subsidiary Technopromexport, RIA Novosti reports. The publication notes that the German concern was unable to prove fraud in the case of shipment of its turbines to the Crimea.

"In violation of the provisions of Article 65 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the plaintiffs on the initial lawsuit did not prove that plaintiff-2 [the Siemens plant producing turbines-Ed.] …

In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker called the outgoing year the most violent since the beginning of the conflict in the Donbas, saying that sanctions against the Russian Federation should continue.

In addition, Volker called the impression that the crisis in eastern Ukraine was over "absolutely mistaken".

"The year 2017 was the most violent year. The number of violations of the ceasefire has increased, the number of dead …

The CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Andriy Kobolyev, said during a broadcast on Channel 5 that the company's task for 2018 is to halt the Nord Stream 2 project by reforming the Ukrainian gas transportation system (GTS).

"Indeed, this pipeline is a big risk, and its construction will fundamentally undermine the economy of the whole country. We believe that its construction is partly a military project, [and] that Putin's goal is to eliminate the transport of Russian gas from the territory of …

The State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine will give 11 gas-bearing areas in the Poltava region, without competition, to the company connected with the associates of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, as stated in an article in Economichna Pravda newspaper.

All eleven sites belonged to the Golden Derrick firm during Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency. They were confiscated during Petro Poroshenko’s first year as president.

According to sources, applications for the out-of- …

Speaking at a rally of the ruling party, United Russia, President of Russia Vladimir Putin stated that the Russian economy will grow faster than the world economy.

“Economic crises and foreign restrictions prevented us from achieving the task of our economy surpassing the world economy in terms of growth. But we must do this. And we will do this,” the President promised. Putin also said that he expected Russia to bridge the gap between it and the world’s leading countries in terms of GDP per …

Turkey has signed an agreement on the provision of $3 million in assistance to the Ukrainian army, Andrii Sybiha, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Turkey, reported this on his Twitter page.

"A worthy end of the year; for the second year in a row, we are signing an agreement with Turkey on the provision of assistance to the Ukrainian army (this year in the amount of about 3 million USD). A strategic partnership in action, assistance is calculated for 5 years with an …