Belarus has completely stopped accepting oil through the Druzhba pipeline until all the poor quality oil has been removed. At the same time, Russia claims that the oil contamination was deliberate sabotage.

Andrey Verigo, CEO of the Druzhba pipeline’s operator, Gomeltransneft Druzhba, announced that Belarus had completely stopped accepting Russian oil through the pipe on Tuesday morning. Transit is expected to resume on 2 May, but only to a limited extent. Verigo believes that it will take “at …

Russian Federation Ambassador to Belarus Mikhail Babich was recalled from his post, reported the Russian edition of Kommersant with reference to several high-ranking sources.

“This has been discussed since last week,” said one of the publication’s sources.

A few hours after the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed the decree it was published on the Kremlin website. The publication says that Babich has been relieved of his duties as the Ambassador and Russia's special …

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has strongly objected to the centers in Russia where Russian passports are now being issued to Ukrainian citizens residing in the territories which are not under Ukraine’s control, and has urged the international community not to recognize such documents.

“Ukraine asks its international partners not to recognize and not to accept documents issued by the Russian Federation to citizens of Ukraine who reside in the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces of …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko congratulated his successor, Vladimir Zelensky, officially recognized as the winner of the April 30 election by the Central Election Commission, and arranged to meet with him, according to a statement published on the President’s website.

“As the acting head of state, I just called Vladimir Zelensky and congratulated him on the official results of the elections which the Central Election Commission announced today. During our conversation, Vladimir Zelensky …

The relevant departments will implement the decree on issuing Russian passports to residents of the Donbas, said Press Secretary for the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, as reported by TASS.

When asked whether Putin has a detailed plan for implementing his decree, Peskov replied: “It is not the president’s plan. Relevant departments within the Ministry of Internal Affairs that deal with issuing passports, as well as other departments, will take charge of the process.”

He was also unable to …

The amount held by Venezuelan entities in Russian banks grew by 29% to $1.16 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to statistics from the Bank of Russia. Venezuelan companies and individuals transferred $337 million to Russian credit organizations over the three month period.

This increase could be the result of Venezuelans transferring funds from American banks due to the risk of sanctions, observes analyst Dmitry Monastyrshin from Promsvyazbank. “It could be legal entities or …

​Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed that the elected President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, return Ukrainian citizenship to Mikheil Saakashvili.

"As for freedoms, it would be better to start not from Russia or Russians, but, let's say, from Georgians, or former Georgians. For example, it would be fair to restore the Ukrainian citizenship to a person who used to be Georgian in the past and now considers himself a Ukrainian, I mean Mikheil Nikolayevich Saakashvili ", quoted Putin TASS …

Russia has given Kyrgyzstan a new shipment of armored vehicles and helicopters worth around $6 million, the Russian Defense Ministry announced, as cited by Interfax.

At the handover ceremony held at the Russian air base in Kant, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu clarified that Kyrgyzstan would be receiving two multipurpose Mi-8MT medium helicopters and nine reconnaissance and patrol vehicles. He remarked that the helicopters would help with transport and search-and-rescue operations in …