There will be a continued depreciation of the national currency in Ukraine, and the exchange rate may reach 30-35 UAH to the US dollar, as stated by economist, Elena Slezko, in her commentary for GolosUA.  She also stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) plays a considerable role in this situation.

“Everything depends on the government’s actions and how long the IMF will delay the next tranche as we are very dependent on that money,” she noted.  “All developing economies use a number …

Bribes in Uzbekistan led to the second largest anti-corruption penalty in history.

Registered in the Netherlands, VimpelCom Holdings will pay a penalty to the governments of both the United States and the Netherlands for bribery in Uzbekistan.

Unitell LLC, a subsidiary company of VimpelCom Holdings in Uzbekistan, plead guilty to violating U.S. anti-corruption legislation as announced yesterday in a Manhattan Federal Court in New York.

The amount of the fine under an amicable settlement will …

Ukrainian intelligence says that the deployment of sabotage and intelligence activities to Mariupol is associated with the preparations for an amphibious operation as reported by the press service of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense.

"The 9th Division motorized rifle regiment (in Novoazovsk city) of the 1st corps has been strengthened with units from the 810th Division Marine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation," the statement said.

It was …

European countries will increase their military budgets by an average of 8.3%, primarily due to Russian foreign policy. This is the first time in 20 years that military expenditures will go up in Europe. Expenditures will increase mostly in Eastern European, particularly in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.  The military budget of these seven countries will increase by 20%.

This was stated on the 19th of February by Defense News citing the report of …

Information related to a demonstration in the memory of Boris Nemtsov in Nizhny Novogrod was removed from a website dedicated to Nemtsov's memorial, as the information was not approved by the authorities.

Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media watch dog, has sent a warning to the administrators of nemtsov-most.org. According to the OVD-Info media project, the document states that access to the information about a rally in memory of Nemtsov in Nizhny Novgorod should be limited because it wasn't approved …

Russian Duma Deputy Dmitry Vyatkin has proposed amendments to legislation that would require journalists to be accredited in order to cover election day news at the polling stations, as reported by Vyatkin, the Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, to the Gazeta.ru news site.

The amendments wouldn’t allow candidates and non-profit organizations to send their observers to the polling stations under the guise of media staff. Only reporters or …

The United States Air Force will stop launches of the Atlas-5 carrier rockets, in which the Russian RD-180 engines are installed, if the American government decides that Russia, which is subject to sanctions, controls the manufacturer of these engines.  This was reported by the Head of the Air Force’s Space and Missile System Center, Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves.

At the moment, the Pentagon is preparing responses regarding sanctions and related issues to a request from the senior United …

Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with the head of the Kremlin controlled Crimean government, Sergei Aksenov, said that the residents of Crimea need "to be patient a little bit longer," when referring to the energy crisis on the peninsula.

According to him, the second line of the energy bridge from the Kuban to Crimea might be finished "by May 1st or earlier."

"We just have to be patient for a little more. I think that the construction will be completed by May 1st for sure, or, …