Russian Channel One has said that it will not broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest this year because of the refusal of the Ukrainian authorities to let the singer Yuliya Samoylova enter the country to participate.

This was announced in a news broadcast from Channel One, reports Russia’s Interfax news agency.

"Today, Channel One received a letter from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) informing us that the EBU was unable to resolve the issue of the participation of our contestant, Yuliya …

According to the US State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, the U.S. does not plan to participate in the conference on Afghanistan that will be held in Moscow on April 14.

"We do not plan to participate in these regional talks”, said Toner. “I think they’re April 14th, which is tomorrow. They have been organized by the Russian Government," he said.

At the same time, the representative of the State Department noted that the U.S. supports regional attempts to solve the problems of Afghanistan. …

The US Navy nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its strike group approached the Korean Peninsula in anticipation of a possible new nuclear test or launch of ballistic missiles in North Korea.

According to the American private intelligence and analysis company Stratfor, the carrier group is currently located west of the Japanese island of Kyushu and is crossing the Korean Strait to the waters of the Sea of Japan toward the east coast of North Korea. There, according to Japanese …

Georgia refused to purchase Russian gas, choosing instead to buy from Azerbaijan. According to the 2017 forecast balance, starting from April the country will make no more purchases from Gazprom, RIA Novosti reported.

During the first three months of 2017, Georgia received 100 million cubic meters of gas from Russia, writes Novosti-Georgia. Starting from April, the government plans to fully provide the population and commercial sector with gas supplies from Azerbaijan. The deliveries will be …

An upgraded version of the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system will be presented after 2020, announced Sergey Chemezov, the general director of Rostekh State Corporation, TASS reported.

“Over the last few years at MSC [the JSC Scientific Production Corporation Engineering Design Bureau], more than twenty complexes of precision weapons and their modifications were created. In accordance with the adopted strategy of the Armament cluster, in ten years we intend to improve the …

The volume of capital withdrawal from Russia abroad in the first quarter of 2017 puzzled the financial community. Regardless of the Central Bank’s forecasts about a yearly rate of $12 billion, the outflow for the first quarter alone has already amounted to $15.4 billion.

According to the Central Bank itself, the reason lies in the growth of banks’ foreign currency purchases, but the banks themselves deny this. "We did not increase foreign assets in the first quarter of 2017," VTB Bank reported …

The European Union may give Moldova 100 million euros in macro-financial assistance. A decision about this was made today in Brussels by ambassadors of member nations of the EU, as reported  on the website of the Council of the European Union.

It is expected that of the total amount to be provided for assistance, 60 million euros will be long-term loans, and the remaining 40 million euros will be a grant, which means the money will not need to be repaid.

The funds will be used to support the …

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, said that Ukraine is now restoring its missile shield, which should become a part of a unified system providing security on the European continent. He said this while congratulating the workers of the rocket and space industry with a professional holiday, according to the website of the National Security and Defense Council.

"Thanks to this selfless hard work, Ukraine is confidently asserting itself on the world …