Deputy Mayor of Mariupol Sergey Zakharov said that the city authorities plan to purchase the Iron Dome missile defense system from Israel.

According to him, the opening of the airport in Mariupol requires that the distance from the zone of demarcation of the warring parties was more than 160 kilometers, but it is only about 40. Since the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the international community do not consider the flights to the city located near the conflict zone safe, the mayor's office of …

The U.S. administration intends to continue imposing sanctions against Nord Stream 2. Such actions should demonstrate that the United States continues to oppose this project, said the U.S. Department of State spokesman, Ned Price.

"We will continue to impose restrictive measures against individuals and companies whose activities are subject to such sanctions. In this way we will demonstrate that we oppose this gas pipeline," he said at the briefing.

At the same time, according to Price, the U. …

Russia has started aviation and air defense exercises in the annexed Crimea, reports the Russian Defense Ministry.

"In accordance with the combat training schedule, the anti-aircraft missile units of the Black Sea Fleet Army Corps have begun to work out joint tasks in the area of intensive aviation flights. Combat training activities are being carried out in the airbases and permanent deployment bases of Black Sea Fleet air defense units,” the statement reads.

According to the Russian Defense …

The amount of claims against the Russian government, brought in foreign arbitration courts, continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

To date, the total amount of lawsuits is approaching the $100 billion dollar mark, said the Russian Presidential representative, Harry Minh, speaking in the State Duma.

"Currently, 37 trials are underway in arbitration courts, and as part of these claims, lawsuits totaling $99 billion have been brought against the Russian Federation," Minh said.

The number of …

Russia does not intend to stop using the U.S. dollar, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"We are not trying to escape from the system that now exists, and which is crucially based on the dollar," the minister said. Lavrov stressed that the U.S. either does not realize its responsibility as a country, the issuer of the dollar, or grossly abuses its position.

At the same time, the Russian Foreign Minister confirmed that the Kremlin wishes to "de-dollarize" the Russian economy.

"It …

The European Parliament calls for Belarus to be disconnected from the SWIFT payment system, as well as to ban the country's national team from participating in the Tokyo Olympic, reported the Belarusian news outlet Nasha Niva.

The European Parliament calls on the Council of the European Union to expand sanctions against Belarus as soon as possible. The sanctions list should include all those responsible for the forced landing of the Ryanair passenger plane and the arrest of opposition …

Emigrant sentiment continues to intensify in Russia as the standard of living declines, the post-Crimean syndrome fades away, and the authorities instead of a brighter future offer the society repressions and a course to "resuscitate" the corpse of the USSR.

As of May 2021, 22% of Russian citizens said they would like to go abroad for permanent residence, showed a survey conducted by Levada Center.

In four years, the proportion of those wishing to emigrate has increased by 7 percentage points, …

Disconnection of Russia from SWIFT is unlikely, but there is a more serious problem - the loss of access to correspondent accounts abroad, through which Russian banks conduct transactions in foreign currency, said Olga Skorobogatova, the first deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank, at a roundtable in the State Duma.

"Many times we spoke about this, and SWIFT itself said, we really consider these risks minimal and do not see any serious threat and do not think that it will happen, because …