Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has instructed the heads of the Belarusian petrochemical industry to ensure the supply of oil from alternative sources within the next few days, reports the BelTA news agency. In the first place, Belarus officials consider delivering oil from the Baltic Sea port terminals by rail.

Head of the Belneftekhim concern Andrei Rybakov said that after telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko instructed to complete negotiations …

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on December 31, reports the Kremlin's press service. According to the Kremlin, the conversation was initiated by the Ukrainian side.

Putin and Zelensky noted the importance of the new gas transit contract and the recent exchange of prisoners between Kyiv and the territories of the Donbas that are not controlled by Ukraine. They also wished each other a Happy New Year.

Putin has not …

At a time when the incomes of most Russian citizens are still stagnating after a record dip since the 1990s, Russia’s billionaires have continued to amass wealth at a startling rate.

According to Forbes, the five wealthiest Russians became $27 billion richer.

Converted to rubles at the current exchange rate, Nornickel stakeholder Vladimir Potanin, Novatek co-owner Leonid Mikhelson, Lukoil president Vagit Alekperov, Vladimir Putin’s “friend” Gennady Timchenko and Power Machines’ owner Alexey …

Responding to a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding Poland’s role in World War II, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said that Warsaw is prepared for a lengthy information war with Russia, reports tvn.24.

“We are ready for a very long information war with Russia,” he said.

Jablonski also said that Warsaw deliberately refrained from commenting on Putin’s statement initially, in order to observe how things would develop.

“You can respond very quickly, without …

German companies are continuing to withdraw from Russia, winding up operations in the wake of US sanctions and the decline of solvent demand.

In the five years since Russia annexed Crimea, its relations with the West have deteriorated sharply, and nearly 2,000 German companies have left the Russian market, Deutsche Welle reports, citing data from the Russian-German Foreign Trade Chamber.

At the end of 2019, 4,274 companies with German capital were operating in Russia, as opposed to 6,200 in 20 …

The largest Swiss coal trader, Adelon AG, has been accused of buying coal from the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LDPR) and reselling it to Ukraine, the Ukrainian news outlet Delo.ua reports. The Swiss company denied the allegations. The company specializes in supplying coal from the Kuzbass (Russia’s Kemerovo and Novosibirsk provinces) to a number of European and Asian countries, but it does not work with Ukraine.

Adelon AG does not accept Donbas coal, and this applies not only to …

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the Molotov—Ribbentrop Pact was initially a Union agreement between the USSR and Nazi Germany.

Morawiecki also accused the Russian authorities of supporting Stalinism.

"Russian citizens are the main victims of Stalin, one of the greatest criminals in world history, and therefore they deserve the truth. I believe that the Russians are a nation of free people, and they reject Stalinism, even if Putin's government is trying to justify it," wrote …

During a press conference with journalists, the Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the US did not inform Russia about its strikes on several targets in Syria and Iraq over the weekend.

"No, [Washington did not inform Moscow about this]," said Peskov.

Speaking about the attacks of the US army, Peskov noted that "any actions aimed at eliminating terrorists are assessed positively. On the other hand, any actions that lead to the destabilization of the situation in …