President Vladimir Putin is convinced that the lifting of sanctions against Russia is dependent upon German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

This was reported by Deutsche Welle and was based on reports by German political scientist and an expert of the German Council on Foreign Relations, Stefan Meister.  Meister notes that Putin’s administration believes that Merkel has become the main obstacle to the lifting of these sanctions.

“According to Putin, the main problem is Merkel.  In the event that …

The European Union Ambassador in Russia, Vygaudas Usackas, believes that the recent statements made by Kadyrov against members of the Russian opposition "are unacceptable in a democratic society."

The Ambassador believes that authorities should immediately respond to the statement of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, against the opposition and the politician Mikhail Kasyanov.

According to the EU office in Moscow, during a telephone conversation between Usackas and Kasyanov, the Ambassador …

In response to the expansion of the U.S. Treasury’s ‘Magnitsky list,’ Moscow published a list of U.S. citizens "involved in the legalization and use of torture," who are now denied entry into Russia.

The day after the expansion of Washington's ‘Magnitsky list,’ Moscow retaliated. On Tuesday, February 2nd, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a list of U.S. citizens who are prohibited from entering Russia. All of them are former high ranking officials of the Pentagon, the CIA and the Justice …

One of the world's leading suppliers of food, personal care products, and household products, Unilever, has invested 8.3 million Euros in a tea factory in Gostomel (Kiev region). According to a statement made by the company Unilever Ukraine, the factory should begin operations in the second half of 2016.

"Unilever will start running its own tea factory in Gostomel. Work on the project was initiated by Unilever in mid 2015, and at the present time the investment made in the tea factory already …

Iran has withdrawn the procurement of T-90 tanks from Russia from their agenda.  The Commander of Land Forces of the Iranian Army, General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, said on Tuesday that Iran will focus on the production of their own tanks. 

“Due to the fact that our own production facilities completely satisfy our needs, the purchase of the T-90 tanks was removed from the agenda,” Mehr News Agency quoted General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan as saying.

At the same time, the General stressed that T-90 …

Polish oil and gas company, PGNiG, has filed a lawsuit in the Court of Arbitration in Stockholm against Gazprom, according to a statement on Monday, February 1st. In May of 2015, PGNiG notified the Russian company of the pending arbitration.

The subject of the lawsuit is the revision of pricing conditions for a long-term contract signed in 1996 for the purchase of natural gas. The company notes that because of the "confidential nature of the arbitration" it cannot provide details of the …

More than half of all Russians regret the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and only 3% saw this event as a positive, according to a survey by the Levada Center.

According to the survey, 19% of Russians think "very negatively" about the disintegration of the Soviet Union and 25% view this event "rather negatively."

Although 54% of Russian citizens regret the collapse of the USSR, 37% indicated they "have no regrets." However, 51% of Russians believe that the collapse of the Soviet Union …

The delegation Naftogaz of Ukraine will visit Moscow in the near future to discuss new tariffs for the transit of gas through Ukraine.  These discussions will be held with the Chairman of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev.  This was reported to the Agency Gas Information (AGI) by an inside source.

The transit rate is currently determined by the long-term contract (from 2009 to 2019) between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom.  This rate is dependent on the value of the fuel component and inflation in …