Russia continues to tighten the gas noose around the neck of the European Union, stopping again its key export gas pipeline.

Starting Friday, December 17, the Russian gas conglomerate Gazprom will stop gas delivery through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which supplies consumers in Germany through Belarus and Poland.

The auction held on Thursday for the gas delivery for a day ahead ended in vain: Gazprom refused to book any transit capacity, Interfax reports.

During the previous two weeks, Yamal- …

The Kirovsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don accidentally proved the presence of the Russian military in the east of Ukraine while delivering a verdict in the case of bribery for the food supplies to Russian military units stationed there.

The court considered the case of a certain V.N. Zabaluyev, who worked in one of the local companies as a deputy regional manager for military nutrition. He was found guilty of giving bribes to the head of the Center for State Sanitary and Epidemiological …

Belarus is working on obtaining new loans from Russia amid sanctions that have cut off its economy from key foreign currency sources.

Minsk is negotiating a new government loan, as well as additional funds from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development, which is 90% funded by Russia, said First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov.

"The total amount of the requested funds is $3.5 billion," he said at a meeting with the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. New …

It is necessary to create an independent financial infrastructure to ensure trade operations between Russia and China, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during an online meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This should be a payment system that could not be influenced by other countries, said Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, adding that this issue is "really being discussed."

According to Ushakov, Putin and Xi Jinping also discussed the increase in the share of national …

Despite U.S. sanctions on the import of Russian small arms and ammunitions, their supplies from Russia to the United States broke the record set in the early 1990s, reports the Russian news agency RBC with reference to the data of the US Census Bureau.

During the first 10 months of 2021, American companies imported $ 157.9 million worth of Russian firearm cartridges, breaking the record of 2016 ($ 148 million per year).

According to the UN, more than 94% of all Russian firearm cartridges are …

Ukraine and Germany can solve the problem of Berlin blocking the purchase of weapons by Ukraine through negotiations, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

"We do have some discussions going on with some members of the Alliance about how this whole system will function. But I am convinced that we should talk about this with them [Germany] now at the bilateral level, as diplomats. Because I don't think it's an unsolvable task. We may well solve it through negotiations," Kuleba said.

" …

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation. One of the topics of the conversation was the situation around Ukraine.

According to the Kremlin’s press service, the conversation took place at the initiative of the French side.

The Kremlin's press service reports that Putin complained to the French president about the alleged violation of the Minsk agreements by Ukraine. The Russian president claims that Kyiv is exacerbating the situation …

Germany's new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, currently sees no reason to commission the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. This gas pipeline does not yet comply with the norms of European energy legislation, said Baerbock on the air of the ZDF television channel. In addition, according to her, it seems clear that "in the event of further escalation [of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict] this pipeline can no longer be connected to the gas transit network." This was agreed by the …