Experts from Moody’s believe that if clashes take place in the Crimea, it will lead to a strengthening and extension of sanctions against Russia, which will have a negative effect on the restoration of the country’s economy.

Moody’s Investors Service warns that deterioration of relations between Moscow and Kiev can jeopardize the restoration of Russia’s economy. This was reported in the agency’s review, published on August 15.

“If clashes take place in the Crimea and intensify in the Donbas …

Russian President Vladimir Putin removed six people from his inner circle due to the State’s lack of money, as reported by the Russian Vedomosti newspaper, citing sources close to the Kremlin.

The following people lost their positions this year: the President of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin; the head of the Federal Guard Service, Eugene Murov; Director of the Federal Drug Control Service, Viktor Ivanov; Director of the Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovskiy; and the Director …

Russian aggression against Ukraine cannot be characterized as a hybrid war, stated ex-Deputy Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Skipalsky. He told the newspaper "Gordon" when commenting on the situation concerning ‘Crimean terrorist actions’ that Russia is attempting to walk away from the Minsk negotiation process. "Russian authorities decided not to wait any longer, thus they tried to charge Ukraine with something and declare their withdrawal from the Minsk process.” …

The transport system project "United Eurasia", valued at $240 billion and developed in Russia, is expected to be implemented by 2035. The details of the project were reported by Kommersant with information taken from a letter to the Deputy Minister and the project’s own documentation.

The Security Council of the Russian Federation and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Nekipelov, proposed the project to Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. United Eurasia will develop a …

Russia’s Defense Minister, Sergey Shoygu, has said that Russia’s actions prevented a NATO strike, comprising of 624 cruise missiles, on Syria. This was reported by Russian RIA Novosti.

“Syria’s situation was changing then. You have to ask yourself what would have happened if our president [Putin] had failed to convince parties of the idea surrendering and destroying of the chemical weapons. There were 624 NATO cruise missiles ready to be launched in 24 hours. That is the number I memorized. …

The website of Russia’s Dozhd TV channel revealed new information about the possible cause of a shootout in the Crimea on the night of the 7th of August.

It was reported that during the shooting in Armyansk, a car with two civilians came under fire. Russia says that the shooting was part of an attempt to detain saboteurs. This was said by a representative of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People in the Crimea, Muzafar Fukala, citing witnesses and a friend of the victim, Bakha Aliyev.

Sources …

According to Gazprom’s forecast, gas production by the end of this year will amount to 417.2 billion cubic meters. In 2015, the company’s enterprises reached the lowest level of production to date, 418.47 billion cubic meters.

According to a forecast, presented in a report for the second quarter of this year, natural gas production by the end of this year will be 0.3 percent lower than it was last year. Last year’s gas production by the enterprises of Gazprom reached the lowest level in the …

A Russian naval strike group has launched a tactical exercise in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. This was reported by the press service of the Defense Ministry.

Two small missile ships, Serpukhov and Zeleny Dol, participated in the exercise which saw them interacting with ships of the permanent task force of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea. “The exercise will test the Russian Navy’s ability to act in crisis situations of a terrorist nature,” the press service said.

The …