Naftogaz is considering the possibility of filing new lawsuits against Gazprom, the Ukrainian company’s executive director Yuriy Vitrenko wrote on Facebook.

He said that this could involve a complaint to the European anti-monopoly office regarding Gazprom’s “abuse of its dominant position”, with possible litigation in the EU Court of Justice, as well as an international arbitration in Zurich regarding the new transit contract, on the basis of Swiss law.

Naftogaz might also appeal to the …

Russia could dramatically increase its investments in the Iraqi economy, said Yury Fedorov, First Deputy Chairperson of the Federation Council Foreign Policy Committee, during a meeting on Monday with Iraqi Ambassador to Russia Abdul Rahman Hamid Al-Husseini.

According to Fedorov, Russian oil and gas companies are showing an interest in Iraq, and could invest up to $20 billion in hydrocarbon extraction projects in the country.

“Currently active in your country are Lukoil, Bashneft, and …

A serious conflict is brewing between two Middle Eastern dictators. Turkish forces have been deployed in the Syrian province of Idlib, which is still controlled by Islamist militants, including ISIS. It was into this province that Assad’s forces drove the defeated opposition forces and caliphate supporters.

Now, at a time when the dictator Assad has regained control of most of Syria with the support of Russian troops, his army has approached Idlib. However, Turkey has effectively created a …

As early as 2018, Russia transferred S-300 anti-air missile systems to Syria to strengthen the country’s aerial defense. However, to this day, Syria is being subjected to attacks by Israeli aircraft, but there have been no reports of the Israeli Air Force losing any planes during its raids against Damascus.

There was another incident with the Syrian anti-air defense on February 6. Four Israeli F-16 fighters attacked the outskirts of Damascus without entering Syrian airspace. Syria’s aerial …

Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers can be equipped with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, the modifications should take until the end of 2020, a source in Russia’s defense industry told TASS.

The source did not specify exactly which model of the bomber – the Tu-160 or Tu-160M – would be modified to carry Kinzhals.

There has been no official confirmation of this information.

The Kinzhal was presented to the public for the first time during Vladimir Putin’s state-of-the-nation address in March 2018. …

European countries have been buying more and more liquefied natural gas (LNG). At the end of January, LNG imports had reached 10 billion cubic meters (bcm), and for the first time in history were equal to the amount received from Russia’s Gazprom, according to the monthly monitoring by the Skolkovo School in Moscow.

One year ago, Russian natural gas accounted for twice as much as its liquefied counterpart. In January 2019, Gazprom sold 15 bcm, whereas only 7.7 bcm of gas reached the market as …

Russia has called on the US to immediately restore the normal issuance of visas to its officials, including diplomats and UN personnel, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on its website.

“For a long time we have been urging the Americans completely and without any preconditions to normalize the issuance of visas for officials,” the report states. The department noted that Russia is ready for this to happen at any time.

According to the report, despite repeated attempts by Moscow to restore …

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that it is disappointed in the new sanctions which the Council of Europe (CoE) Committee of Ministers introduced on February 5. The Ukrainian department believes that the new procedure for responding to member-states’ violations of statutory obligations eradicates the possibility of punishing countries for the most severe violations.

The ministry drew attention to the fact that for more than five years Ukraine has been subjected to Russian armed aggression, …