• Le Pen seeks funding from Russian banks for French presidential election

    The President of the French right-wing populist party, the National Front, Marine Le Pen, requested foreign financial institutions, including Russian banks, to fund her election campaign, as she stated in her interview with French TV Channel BFMTV on January 4th.

    According to her, all French banks have refused to give her a loan for her election campaign before the first round of presidential elections in France in April 2017. Currently, Le Pen is in need of 6 million Euros.

    “I submitted …

  • Polish media: The bodies of some victims of the Smolensk plane crash were replaced

    Preliminary research shows that the bodies of some of the victims of the Smolensk plane crash, which occurred on the 10th of April 2010, were misplaced, as reported by the Polish Press Agency citing its own sources.

    According to the Agency’s sources, the remains from the grave of the Undersecretary of State of the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland, Mariusz Handzlik, probably belong to the Chief of the Polish Olympic Committee, Piotr Nurowski.

    In early December, after the  …

  • Heads of Moldova and Transdniestria hold a meeting for the first time in 8 years

    Moldovan President Igor Dodon and Vadim Krasnoselski, the head of the unrecognized Moldovan Transdniestrian Republic, held a meeting, which is the first time the leaders of Moldova and Transdniestria met in eight years. The parties identified a number of issues requiring urgent solutions, according to Transdniestria’s press service.

    The main agenda was about freedom of movement for citizens, recognition of documents, railroads, and communication. "Contact has taken place. The meeting was …

  • U.S. senators are preparing a bill on new sanctions against Russia

    United States senators are preparing a bipartisan draft bill about additional sanctions against Russia in connection with its hacker attacks on American political institutions and its activities in Ukraine and Syria. The Voice of America reported that the lawmakers confirmed this information when the Senate convened for a new session of Congress.

    Senator Ben Cardin, the leading Democrat of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters in Capitol Hill on January 3 that he was working on the …

  • Istanbul terror attack: Russian citizens detained by police

    On New Year’s eve, a gunman opened fire at the popular Reina club Istanbul. 39 people were killed and nearly 70 wounded. A couple days later, the so-called Islamic State took responsibility for the attack.

    The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said that the law enforcement agencies have identified the terrorist, who is currently wanted, but did not name him.

    Overall, more than 40 people have been detained in connection with the terrorist attack in Istanbul.

    On January 4th, in a …

  • SBU wants to ban the French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen from entering Ukraine

    The leader of the French far-right presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, said that the annexation of the Crimea by Russia "was not illegal since the people voted to join Russia in the referendum."

    As UNIAN reported, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) sent a letter to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry requesting that the presidential candidate of the French far-right party, Marine Le Pen, be banned from entering the country, due to her statements about Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

    "On …

  • Ukraine issues an arrest warrant for a businessman from Yanukovych's circle

    The Pechesrky District Court in Kyiv has issued an arrest warrant for businessman Serhiy Kurchenko. The court has satisfied the request of the Prosecutor's General of Ukraine to issue an arrest warrant for the fugitive businessman.

    “This decision of the court lets us proceed with the criminal investigation and ensure the international search warrant. Thus, in case Serhiy Kurchenko is apprehended abroad, the necessary steps to arrest him and bring him over to Ukraine can be taken,” Adrian Lupu, …

  • French banks refused to issue a credit for the election campaign of Marine Le Pen

    The leader of the National Front (FN), Marine Le Pen, is facing difficulties with financing her campaign for the upcoming presidential elections in France. As the politician herself has said on BFM-TV, she currently lacks about €6 million in funding needed to run a successful campaign.

    "No French bank has agreed to issue a loan for me to conduct an election campaign," the politician said.

    The FN leader noted that "French banks freely lend money to other parties. I regard this as a political …

  • The National Bank of Ukraine reduces the limit on total cash payments per day

    On the 3rd of January, the National Bank of Ukraine announced the reduction of the total limit amount of individual cash payments from UAH 150,000 or about $55,570 to UAH 50,000 or approximately $18,520 beginning from the 4th of January 2017.

    As the website of the National Bank of Ukraine reports, the limits apply to total cash payments between individuals and enterprises per day and also between individuals themselves under sale-purchase agreements, which are subject to notarization.

    However, …

  • Separatists from LPR receive almost half of the value of coal supplied from the occupied territories to Ukraine

    Separatists from the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) receive 47% of anthracite value supplied from the occupied part of Donbas to PJSC Centrenergo as taxes. This was outlined in the conclusions of the Security Service of Ukraine. The corresponding data is contained in the decision of the Severodonetsk City Court of Luhansk region of 2 December 2016.

    The Minister of Fuel, Energy and Coal Mining of LPR directs approximately 47% of the taxes received from the  export of coal from the above- …