• Russia withdraws from tax agreement with Cyprus

    Russia is denouncing the double taxation agreement with Cyprus, the Russian Ministry of Finance announced on Monday.

    Negotiations with the authorities of the island, which since the 1990s has become the main piggy bank of offshore capitals from Russia, have not been successful, the Ministry said in a press release.

    The Russian side insisted on taxing 15% of the dividends that the business puts into the accounts of its parent Cypriot structures. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave such an …

  • Israeli army strikes Syria

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck Assad's army targets in southern Syria in response to an attempt to plant explosives on the border.

    According to the IDF, "the targets of the airstrikes were observation posts, intelligence-gathering equipment, anti-aircraft batteries and command facilities at Syrian military bases."

    The official news agency of the Assad regime SANA reports, citing military sources, that at about eleven o'clock in the evening Israeli helicopters fired missiles at several …

  • Russia to establish military bases in 6 African countries

    Russia has agreed with six African leaders to establish domestic military bases in the territory of their countries, reports the German newspaper Bild. According to journalists, to date, Russians are conducting military cooperation with 21 African countries.

    The German media outlet refers to a secret document of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The documents says that for five years Russia has been actively establishing military contacts n Africa. Recently, during negotiations, Moscow …

  • Poland fines Gazprom for violating antitrust law

    The Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection UOKiK (Urz'd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsument) has fined Russian gas giant Gazprom 213 million zlotys, which is equivalent to $50 million USD.

    The reason for imposing such a large fine was Gazprom's refusal to provide UOKiK with the data on contracts concluded by its subsidiary Nord Stream 2 with European companies financing the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. In November 2019, the French company Engie was fined 172 …

  • OSCE reports 225 ceasefire violations in Donbas

    Since the beginning of the truce on July 27, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission has documented 225 ceasefire violations in the Donbas.

    According to the OSCE report, there were 44 explosions, 180 cases of small arms fire and one unidentified projectile.

    Also, according to the mission, on July 27, a resident of the town of Marinka was injured by shrapnel.

    On July 22, the Trilateral Contact Group agreed on a full and comprehensive ceasefire in the Donbas from 00:01 on July 27. According to …

  • Russia conducts joint military exercises with Armenia amid continued tensions between Yerevan and Baku

    Russian military, stationed in Armenia, carried out exercises amid deteriorating relations between Yerevan and Baku, Interfax reports, citing a report from the Russian Southern Military District.

    More than one and a half thousand Russian servicemen, as well as more than 500 units of military equipment, took part in the joint exercises with Arminian military. MiG-29 fighter jets, Mi-24P, Mi-8MTV helicopters and combat drones were involved in these exercises.

    On July 12, a border conflict broke …

  • Belarus gives Ukraine list of detained Wagner mercenaries

    Ukraine has received from Belarus a full list of detained contractors of the Russian private military company the Wagner Group and now is looking into their possible involvement in crimes against Ukraine, announced Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba during an online briefing, reported Hromadske.

    According to him, on July 30, the Ukrainian ambassador to Belarus met with the Foreign Minister of Belarus Vladimir Makei.

    Kuleba specified that Belarus had no claims against Ukraine. …

  • Israel to help Ukraine modernize MiG-29 fighter jets

    The Israeli company Elbit Systems will take part in the modernization of 11 MiG-29 fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force.

    According to the Ukrainian publication Defense Express, Elbit has received all the necessary permits from Israeli authorities to begin the work.

    Only issues concerning the interoperability of Israeli innovative systems with Ukrainian-made radar and computer modules that control R-27 air-to-air missiles have not been fully resolved.

    According to Defense Express, Kyiv is not …

  • Russians detained in Belarus claim there were going to Venezuela, Turkey, Syria and Cuba

    Russians detained in Belarus were planning to fly to Venezuela, Turkey, Syria, and Cuba, the head of the Belarusian investigative group Alexander Agafonov on air of the Belarusian TV channel ONT, as quoted by TASS.

    "It is obvious that while organizing the crime the attackers were preparing alibi for themselves. A similar situation occurred with the detention of 33 citizens of the Russian Federation, who were carrying tickets for the July 25 flight to Istanbul. However, as the investigation …

  • Poland: President Kaczynski’s plane was destroyed by 2 explosions

    Experts of the Polish commission, which is investigating the plane crash near Smolensk in 2010, which killed 96 people, including the country's President Lech Kaczyński, have revealed new details of the incident.

    The Commission, which is led by former Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, has published an interim report alleging that two explosions in the left wing and central part of the plane were the cause of the crash.

    According to the Commission, this is evidenced by the nature of …