• Construction of Kerch Strait Bridge from Russia to Crimea to Cost $2.8 Billion

    Russia has approved the construction cost of the Kerch Bridge. The Main State Expert Review Board gave its positive consideration to the construction project of the bridge to Crimea and confirmed the accuracy of the estimated cost, Rosavtodor reported.

    According to the report, the cost of the construction project will be 211.9 billion Roubles (approximately $2.8 billion). It is 680 million Roubles lower than the budget ceiling established by the Government of the Russian Federation a year ago. …

  • Poll shows that more than half of Russians think Nemtsov's assassins will never be found

    A survey conducted by the Russian polling organization, Levada Center, has revealed that 52% of Russians believe that participants in the murder of Boris Nemtsov will never be found.  Only 10% were sure that they would be apprehended.  This was reported by the Kommersant daily newspaper.

    A quarter of the survey takers think that the truth about the assassination will never be known.  Many believe that random people will be appointed as guilty.  The survey also showed that 22% think that the  …

  • Russian court refuses to recognize PARNAS as an injured party in the Boris Nemtsov case

    On Friday, February 19, Moscow's Basmanny Court dismissed PARNAS's complaint concerning the refusal of the authorities to recognize it as an injured party in the case of the murder of the party's co-chairman, Boris Nemtsov.

    The PARNAS party claims that Nemtsov was their largest contributor, so they have suffered material damage as a result of his assassination. According to the representative of Parnas, lawyer Vadim Prokhorov, the law allows legal entities to be recognized as an injured party …

  • Advocacy group calls on international organizations to protest against ban of Crimean Tatar Mejlis

    A Crimean advocacy group has appealed to international organizations with a statement of non-acceptance of the ban on the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People in Crimea. In their statement, the advocates called on international organizations to influence the situation in order to prevent politically motivated prosecutions of Crimean Tatars and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People.

    This document is a response to the lawsuit brought by the Russian Prosecutor General of the Republic of Crimea, …

  • Kadyrov orders a 'spiritual and ethical certification' for Chechen youth

    Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered that a "spiritual and moral certification" be administered to the republic’s citizens who are aged between 14 and 35 years.  This was reported by MP Adam Malikov on the official website of the republic’s parliament.

    During a meeting with the pupils of a school in the village of Alkhan-Kala, Malikov said that after undergoing the procedure, every young person will receive a document that will indicate his personal description, national, typical and …

  • Russia sees 25 percent decrease in trade with Germany

    The trade volume between Russia and Germany fell by 25 percent in 2015. This is evident from the survey of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce (GRCC), published on Friday, February 19. German exports to Russia fell by 25.5 percent.

    At the same time, the number of companies with German capital in Russia decreased in 2015 from 6,000 to 5,600. According to a survey conducted by the GRCC, only 16 percent of the companies said their position on the market was good or very good. More than 75 …

  • Yatsenyuk states Poroshenko did not urge him to resign

    The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, in an interview on Ukrainian television on Friday evening, claimed that Ukraine's President, Petro Poroshenko, did not call for him to resign.

    According to him, Poroshenko called for a reformation of the government in his statement, not his resignation. "Then, the political forces began circulate ideas concerning my resignation," Yatsenyuk said.  The Ukrainian Prime Minister noted that his relationship with the President is really complicated, …

  • In the Donbas, Surkov Discussed the Possibility of a Renewal of Hostilities

    The Assistant to the President of Russia, Vladislav Surkov, has travelled to the occupied Donbas region twice this month and discussed the possible resurgence of hostilities, as reported by the Ukrainian intelligence service.

    “The main goal of the Russian occupational forces is to reach the administrative borders of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions,” stated a representative of the Department of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense. Vadim elaborated on the Kremlin’s decisions on the further …

  • Russia and Poland Agree on a Temporary Resumption of Freight Transit

    According to the agreement between Warsaw and Moscow, Polish and Russian freight carriers will be given 20,000 transport permits, which will be valid until April 15th.

    Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the two countries finalized this agreement on February 19th.

    As the newspaper reports, the Deputy for the Infrastructure of Poland, Jerzy Schmidt, and the Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia, Nicolay Asaul, signed an agreement in Moscow, which by the end of this week will allow temporary …

  • Russian satellites encounter problems due to import substitution

    The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was forced to order an additional four Meridian communication satellites due to the fact that the Sphere-B perspective devices, which were planned for replacement, proved to be too heavy for existing carrier rockets.

    “The problems with import substitution, especially with regard to electronic component bases, has resulted in an increase to the actual mass of the Sphere-B devices.  This means that the Proton-M and the Angara-A5 Russian carrier …