• Russia’s largest private bank believes the country is losing GDP annually due to sanctions

    The largest private bank in Russia estimated that the Russian economy lost 0.5% of GDP due to sanctions. Because of this, the entire positive effect of the actions of the Central Bank has been negated.As indicated in the report of the chief economist of Alfa Bank, Natalia Orlova, the losses are caused by diminished possibilities in attracting financing from abroad as a direct result of the sanctions on certain companies.

    The current US sanctions impose significant restrictions in the provision …

  • President of Lithuania: deployment of Iskander missile systems in Russia’s Kaliningrad region poses a threat to Europe

    While speaking at a press conference, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaité stated that the Iskander Tactical Missile Systems that will be permanently stationed in the Kaliningrad region of Russia beginning February 5 will be a threat to Europe, Delfi reports.

    "Iskander missiles are being stationed in Kaliningrad for permanent presence as we speak. This is not just a threat to Lithuania but to half of all European countries," said Grybauskaité.

    NATO believes that the deployment of the …

  • Daughter of former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Shokin plans to sue Biden over insult to her grandmother

    Former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s daughter Alina intends to sue former US Vice President Joe Biden. She regarded a statement made by Biden to be an insult to her grandmother.

    "I have considered the situation of former Vice President Biden's speech, in which he insulted my late grandmother and my father. Considering this concerns my whole family, I am planning to go to court to protect the dignity of my family and show the highest principles of the equality of all American citizens …

  • Kremlin prepares bill requiring Russian citizens to monitor foreigner guests

    As the newspaper Izvestia reports, Russian citizens and companies will be required to monitor the behavior of foreign guests and partners, so that the purpose of their stay in the country and the terms of the visit correspond to those planned. Otherwise, violators will face fines.

    The draft amendments were developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it was supported by the government commission of legislative drafting.

    According to experts, it won’t be easy to check whether these …

  • Lawyer of the Russian 'King of Spam' claims that conditions in United States prison are torturous

    The conditions of detention of Russian citizen Peter Levashov, who is charged with cyber-fraud and was extradited from Spain to the US, can be called "torture", said Levashov’s lawyer Igor Litvak in a conversation with Izvestia newspaper.

    The lawyer, according to the newspaper, said that his client was forbidden from calling family members, going out for walks, communicating with other prisoners, taking a shower and reading newspapers. Levashov was not allowed to go to a local store and was …

  • Ukraine initiates criminal proceedings against German deputies for visiting Crimea despite travel ban

    The Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has initiated criminal proceedings as a result of the visit of German deputies from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to the peninsula.

    The case has been initiated on the basis of an appeal from the Embassy of Ukraine in Germany concerning the violation of entry and exit procedures from the Temporarily Occupied Territory (p. 1 art. 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine prescribes up to three years of imprisonment).

    " …

  • Putin cancels Kyrgyzstan's debt of $240 million

    President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on the ratification of an agreement between the governments of Russia and Kyrgyzstan on the settlement of the latter's debts on loans. 

    The agreement writes off the remainder of Kyrgyzstan’s debt totaling $ 240 million. Russia already wrote off the first part of the debt, $188.9 million back in 2013. Nevertheless, Kyrgyzstan still owed $300 million.

    Since Kyrgyzstan was not able to repay the debt, the countries agreed to write it off by $30 million a …

  • US expands 'Kremlin List' to include representatives of separatist LPR and DPR

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury has expanded the so-called Kremlin List of Russian oligarchs and close confidants of Russian President Vladimir Putin to include the names of separatist representatives of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), as reported by Radio Liberty.

    According to the report, the list was expanded to include nine ministers and one deputy minister of the separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions as well a former Luhansk official and his family …

  • Russian Prime Minister Medvedev: IOC has adopted a shameful decision in denying 'justified' Russian athletes from participating in the Olympics

    Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Facebook that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has adopted a "shameful decision" in refusing to invite 15 "justified" athletes and coaches from Russia to attend the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

    "The IOC Commission has adopted a shameful decision. Unjust and unlawful. Immoral and politically motivated. By denying our athletes, whose rights were reinstated by a sports court designed specifically to resolve such disputable situations, the …

  • Croatia demands that Ukraine replace four faulty MiG-21s

    Croatia is demanding that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine replace four faulty MiG-21 aircraft that were purchased in Ukraine, reports the publication Jutarnji Vijesti citing its own sources.

    “Croatia wants to return four defective MiG-21 military aircraft to Ukraine, and is asking the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to replace them with four airplanes that work properly and to provide a guarantee along with the aircraft,” the publication reported.

    Aircraft 131, 132, 134 and 135 were purchased …