Allan Widman, the Chairman of Sweden’s Parliamentary Defense Committee, suggested that Russia may become a potential enemy that Sweden needs to watch out for. The events in Ukraine, the weak economy and the sharp plunge in oil prices may spawn unwanted conflict at Sweden’s doorstep.

"My assessment is the following: Sweden has been at peace for over 200 years but now the situation is serious enough that we have to be ready for a spillover of violent conflicts from our neighboring countries,” …

Adam J. Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, made statements about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s corruption—statements that accurately reflected Washington’s position. Reuters cited White House Official Spokesman Josh Earnest as stating that during an official White House briefing on Thursday, January 28th.

"The US Treasury official’s assessment reflects the opinion of the administration best of all," said Earnest. At the same time he found it difficult …

Canada’s Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion said that the statements about Ukrainian Diaspora made by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, were inadmissible. Liga.net reported that Dion was quoted by Boris Wrzesnewskyj, a member of Canadian Parliament.

In particular, Dion noted that Canada is outraged by the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory, and emphasized Ukraine's important role in Canada’s history. “We absolutely disagree with this invasion and with Russian government …

Mikhail Kasyanov, the leader of the Russian Opposition “People’s Freedom Party”, took part in the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), dedicated to the memory of Boris Nemtsov. At the session, Kasyanov assured Ukrainian Commissioner for the Affairs of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, that Crimea will eventually be released and returned to Ukraine.

According to Kasyanov, the economic and political situation in Russia is worsening. The people`s approval of …

The European Commission plans to introduce anti-dumping duties on cold-rolled flat metal products from China and Russia, as reported by Reuters on January 28th, citing sources familiar with the plans of the commission.

Officially, the introduction of the new policy will be announced on February 14th, and will be finalized on August 12th, provided the anti-dumping investigation confirms the underpricing accusations, according to the website of the European Commission. Usually, anti-dumping …

In reference to a Lännen Media publication, Kainuun Sanomat reported that Finnish authorities are prepared to deploy soldiers in joint force with the Russian Federation along the eastern border.  This is due to the current influx of refugees into Finland.  It was noted that as of right now there are officially 1500 guards protecting the border with Russia, which equates to approximately one border guard per kilometer.

“However, in practice, only a part of personnel is on duty there,” the …

The Rivne City Court has ruled to seize the accounts of Sberbank of Russia for UAH 8.5 billion (appromately $330 million).  This decision was made on the 26th of January during the consideration of Evgeny Puhalskiy’s lawsuit. Puhalskiy requires the bank to return his funds amounting to EUR 325 million.  The 33-year-old entrepreneur has been in the process of suing Sberbank of Russia since September of 2015. 

Initially, the entrepreneur planned to donate the interest of EUR 24 million to the …

A journalist for European Pravda reported from Strasbourg that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted two resolutions in response to the negative feedback received regarding the state of democracy in the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and to a lesser extent, a number of other countries.

These resolutions were based on systematic harassments of non-governmental organizations as well as the restriction of the rights of human rights advocates.  The …