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Almost 20 million Russians live in poverty according to Russian statistics
Last year, the number of Russians living in poverty reached 19.8 million, which is the highest point in 10 years. The number of poor Russians increased by 300,000 in 2016, according to data released on April 5th by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, Rosstat.
More than 13% of the population have incomes below the subsistence minimum, which in the fourth quarter of 2016 was 9,691 rubles a month (this is about 4,600 hryvnia).
This is the highest level since 2006, when 21.6 million …
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Ukraine will hold large-scale air defense exercises this year
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has planned to conduct large-scale exercises with live firing of Buk and S-300 air defense systems.
This was reported on the General Staff‘s Facebook page.
"Today, anti-aircraft missile forces are the main force for deterring the enemy from the air. In 2016, after a long break, the S-300P has started shooting once more. Plans for 2017 are even more ambitious," said the report.
It is noted that increased attention will be paid to combat shooting …
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Russia promises to strengthen Syrian air defense in response to U.S. strike
The official spokesman of Russian Defense Ministry, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said that Russia will take measures to strengthen the air defense system (ADS) of the Syrian army after the U.S. attack on a Syrian military base, as reported by Interfax news agency.
"To cover the most vulnerable objects of Syrian infrastructure, a set of measures to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of the air defense system of the Syrian armed forces will be implemented in the near future," …
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Ukrainian Defense Ministry concerned over Belarus' and Russia's plan to hold military exercises later this year
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is concerned about the impending Russian-Belarusian Armed Forces Zapad-2017 joint military exercise, as stated by the First Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine, Ivan Rusnak, during a meeting with NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller.
"The situation in the area of the antiterrorist operation [the Donbas] remains tense. In addition, the strategic exercises of the Russian and Belarusian armed forces Zapad-2017, which will be held this autumn, are cause …
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Eight people were detained in Moscow and St. Petersburg in connection with the metro bombing
On Thursday, April 6, eight suspects were detained in connection with the explosion in the St. Petersburg Metro, as reported by the official representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Svetlana Petrenko. According to her, the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, working jointly, detained six people in St. Petersburg and two in Moscow.
"Seyfulla Khakimov, Ibragibzhon Yermatov, Dilmurod Muidinov, Bakhram Yergashev, Azamzhon Makhmudov, Makhamadyusuf Mirzaalimov, …
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Russian intelligence agent deported from US
The United States deported Evgeny Buryakov, a Russian convicted of espionage who spent more than two years in American prison, Radio Svoboda reports.
42 year-old Buryakov worked for several years in the US at the New York branch of Vnesheconombank, while engaging in economic espionage for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)
Buryakov collaborated with two other SVR agents, Igor Sporyshev and Viktor Podobny, who worked at the Russian Trade Delegation and the Russian Mission to the UN. …
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The DPR said SBU officer ordered the murders of separatist commanders Givi and Motorola
A spokesperson of the so-called Ministry of State Security or MGB of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Maria Petrova, said that the man behind the killings of the separatist leaders Arsen Pavlov, aka “Motorola” and Mikhail Tolstykh, aka “Givi”, is a high-ranking SBU officer named Alexei Petrov, Rossiya 24 TV channel reported.
Petrova alleges that there are special units in the Department of Counterintelligence of the SBU that are conducting a "terrorist war" against the Donbas. …
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Moldova demands that Russia not recognize documents issued by Transnistria
Moldova demands that Russia not recognize documents issued by the authorities in the separatist region of Transnistria. A recent separatists’ appeal to Moscow for recognition of their "passports" and other documents was condemned by the Moldovan authorities.
The Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Andrian Candu, said that such a move by Russia would be a gross violation of international law.
Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip reminded Russia that it recently proclaimed support for the …
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Prime Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said they will never recognize the annexation of the Crimea
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia promised to never recognize the legitimacy of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation as was stated in a joint statement by the Prime Ministers of the Baltic countries and the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Volodymyr Groysman following a meeting in Kyiv.
“We strongly condemn Russia's aggression against Ukraine and stress that the sanctions imposed on Russia must remain in place until the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented and Ukraine's …
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U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine says details of meeting between Poroshenko and Trump are under discussion
The question of organizing a meeting between the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. President Donald Trump are still under discussion.
This was reported by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and broadcast by Interfax-Ukraine.
"The discussion on the date and everything else is under way," she said.
Yovanovitch noted that the question of such a meeting is important for both Ukraine and the United States, and that each side is interested in holding a meeting at the highest …
