• Five employees of pro-democracy organization Open Russia detained in Moscow

    Five employees of the pro-democracy organization Open Russia were detained on Friday night. According to the advocacy group’s human rights manager, Pauline Nemirovskaya, the two vehicle carrying the employees were pulled over by Moscow police shortly after leaving the office.

    Dozhd reported that police officers declared that the cars were wanted, and six people (five employees and one driver) were taken to the Basmanny police station.

    Shortly after, lawyer Sergei Badamshin attempted to enter …

  • Russia to construct gas pipeline under the Black Sea

    Russian company Gazprom, Italian company Edison and Greek company DEPA have signed an agreement to transport gas from Russia to Europe via a route under the Black Sea, as stated in a press release by Gazprom.

    The Russian company emphasized that the parties were interested in natural gas supply routes from Russia to Greece, as well as from Greece to Italy.  The results of work carried out by Edison and DEPA under the ITGI Poseidon project will be used “to the fullest extent” for these purposes. …

  • Open Russia's St. Petersburg office evacuated during Yashin presentation

    The offices of Open Russia in St. Petersburg were evacuated during the presentation of Ilya Yashin, the Deputy Chairman of the People’s Freedom Party (PARNAS).  Yashin was presenting his report, “The threat to national security”, which detailed the situation in Chechnya and the life of its leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.  This was reported to Dozhd on the 25th of February by the co-chair of PARNAS' St. Petersburg division, Natalia Gryaznevich.

    Yashin had already presented the report and was in the …

  • EU expects Ukraine to implement two more reforms before visa-free regime can be established

    The European Union expects full implementation of two out of five commitments in the so-called “visa-free” package from Kiev. 

    A European diplomat said this to the correspondent of UKRINFORM in Brussels, commenting on the package of "visa-free" legislation approved by the Verkhovna Rada last week.

    "Yes, indeed, there are still two important questions left: the National Anti-Corruption Agency and the law on electronic declarations," the diplomat said.

    At the same time, he believes that the …

  • Azerbaijan issues note of protest over Russia's arms deal with Armenia

    Azerbaijan demands that the Kremlin provide assurance that weapons supplied to Armenia won't be located in Nagorno-Karabakh.

    The Azerbaijani authorities handed over a note of protest to Russia in connection with the arms deal signed between Moscow and Yerevan, according to a report by BBC Ukraine, with reference to the official representative of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hikmet Hajiyev.

    "Weapons acquired by Yerevan are usually situated in the separatist region of Azerbaijan, …

  • US and Ukraine sign deal for construction of grain terminal in Odessa's port

    Ukraine and the US have signed a $100 million investment agreement for the construction of a gain terminal in Odessa.  The signing ceremony was held in the presence of US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, as reported by Gordon.

    According to Pyatt, the construction of the new grain terminal in the Yuzhny Port in Odessa will increase Ukraine’s export opportunities and create hundreds of jobs. 

    “I want to congratulate the American and Ukrainian …

  • NATO to supply Ukraine with demining equipment for use in Donbas region

    NATO intends to supply Ukraine with equipment to be used in the clearing of land mines in the Donbas region.  This was reported by the Acting Head of the Mission of Ukraine to NATO, Yehor Bozhok, during the workshop entitled "Research challenges in the field of border security of Ukraine".

    “Ukraine will receive the demining equipment in the spring.  It will be ready by the beginning of the so-called season of clearance, which is in May,” Bozhok explained.  According to him, the need for this …

  • Only two Duma deputies observe moment of silence in memory of Nemtsov

    Russian Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov proposed that those in attendance of Friday’s legislative session in Moscow share a moment of silence in memory of Boris Nemtsov on the eve of the anniversary of his assassination. As Glavnoe reported, only Gudkov and one other, Ivan Grachev, stood up to honor Nemtsov, who was assassinated on February 27th of last year.

    “I suggested that we hold a moment of silence in the Duma in memory of Boris Nemtsov. As a result, two people stoop up- myself and Ivan …

  • US State Department tells companies that there are many risks in doing business with Russia

    The US State Department confirmed that it is working with representatives of the business community in order to convince companies to not do business with Russia in the usual way, RIA Novosti reported. “We continue to clearly state in communications with US companies that we believe that a return to the usual means of conducting business with Russia causes both economic and reputation risks,” the agency quoted the unnamed representative of the US State Department as saying.

    According to the …

  • Russian S7 Airline finds way to circumvent ban on flights over Ukraine

    The largest private Russian airline company, S7 Airlines, wants to provide service through another airline in Bulgaria’s capital for flights from Moscow to Europe through Ukraine, RIA Novosti reported.

    “Yes, we have sent the documents for the registration and purchase of the local airline company. Ukraine’s airspace is closed to us and it is impossible to fly to Bulgaria while bypassing Ukraine,” S7 co-owner, Natalya Fileva, stated in her interview with journalists.

    She noted that a few …