Istanbul authorities stepped up security measures in the Bosphorus Strait to prevent a possible attack by the Islamic State terrorist group on Russian warships. This was reported on Tuesday, May 16, by Hurriyet Daily News. Earlier, Turkish intelligence received information indicating that jihadists can start preparing to fire on ships of the Russian navy from portable missile systems and long-barreled weapons.

Based on the received data, the Turkish police studied those places in the Bosporus …

The mission of the International Monetary Fund arrived in Ukraine and will work until May 25, reported a representative of the Ukrainian office of the IMF on May 16.

Among the issues that the IMF mission intends to discuss are pension reform, changes in tax and customs policy, progress in VAT refund and budget implementation.

The last time the IMF mission worked in Ukraine was in the first half of November 2016. On April 3, 2017. At that time Ukraine was given a tranche of $1 billion.

On …

The Verkhovna Rada has supported the bill to prohibit the production, wearing and distribution of St. George Ribbon in Ukraine. 238 MPs voted in favor of the decision on Tuesday.

According to the draft document, fines from 850 ($32 USD) to 2550 hryvnia ($97 USD) are envisaged for public use, demonstration or wearing of Georgian ribbons or pictures thereof. For repeated infringement during a year, a more severe punishment is envisaged – a fine of up to 5100 hryvnia ($193 USD) or administrative …

On May 16, Ukraine put the Russian social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki on the sanctions list. The Ukrainian president signed a decree affirming the ruling of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) from April 28 to expand the list of physical and legal entities with sanctions against them.

Which companies are on the sanctions list ?

In total there are 1228 physical persons and 468 companies on the updated list. Firstly, Ukraine has introduced sanctions against the major …

According to a report released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in March 2017, Russia increased its investments in U.S. Government Securities by $13.8 billion compared with investments made during the same period last year, to $99.8 billion.

According to the department, in February, Russia's investments in U.S. securities amounted to $86.3 billion, in January $ 86.2 billion, and in December of last year $86.1 billion. In October, this figure fell to $74.6 billion from $90.9 billion in …

The final decision on the exact amount of Gazprom's profit share that will be spent on dividends has not yet been made, as stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 15, responding to a question at a press conference in Beijing. The President noted that Gazprom "has no real cash flow."

The Head of State noted that he had discussed this issue with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev before his departure for China and that the decision would take into account the fact that a significant part …

On Wednesday, May 17, an exhibition titled the “Industrial Heritage of the Donbas” will be opened in the State Duma, RBC news agency reported. It will be organized by MP Iosif Kobzon from the “Yedinaya Rossiya” (United Russia) party and the Lower House Committee for Culture, two sources from the Committee for Culture told RBC. From the unrecognized republics, Eduard Golenko, acting Minister of the Coal Industry of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) is expected to speak at the exhibition, one …

People's Deputy of Ukraine Andriy Artemenko, who proposed a plan for leasing the Crimea, said that he was banned from entering Ukraine, channel 112 Ukraine reports.

"I cannot go to Ukraine right now, because I received official information from the migration service, from the border guards, that I was banned from entering the territory of Ukraine using any of my three foreign passports," Artemenko said.

According to the deputy, his three foreign passports have been annulled since May 5. These …