Dmitry Balakin, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the OSCE stated at the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council that the Crimea has completed its integration into Russia’s society, reported the press service of the Russian Permanent Mission to the OSCE.

“Life has proven that the Crimea's residents made the right choice. Now, we can say for sure that its integration into Russia’s common political, legal, social and economic space has been completed,” he said.

Balakin added that the …

The technical plan to modernize the Polish army will require 185 billion Polish złotys (around $48.9 billion) in financing for the several programs it includes. The relevant document has already been signed by Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, the Polish government website reports.

“This is a record plan in terms of the amount of financing,” Błaszczak observed.

According to the minister, the programs included in the plan reflect the army’s current objectives. One of them is to “reinforce …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to take part in the opening of the monument to the victims of the siege of Leningrad that will be established in Jerusalem.

The invitation to visit Israel was voiced during the meeting of two leaders that took place earlier, on February 27 in Moscow. "In the near future, in Jerusalem, we will establish a monument dedicated to the Victims of the siege of Leningrad and we will be happy to see you, Mr. President, …

The London court ordered to seize two of the businessman Dmytro Firtash mansions, reports the Russian newspaper Kommersant.

Interim measures on this and other property, estimated at more than £ 50 million, were imposed at the request of the Russian VTB Bank, to which Firtash has not returned 2.5 billion rubles worth of loans.

The court also ordered the defendant to disclose all of his assets.

According to sources, representatives of VTB Bank filed the lawsuit in the High Court of England and …

The nephew of the host of “News of the Week” program, Dmitry Kiselev was sentenced at a German court. According to RTVi, Sergey Kiselev was sentenced to a prison term for participating in hostilities in the Donbas.

Kiselev Jr., who is a German citizen, was accused of preparing “a serious crime against the Ukrainian government,” as well as a violation of the law on weapons possession.

According to investigators, in 2014, Kiselev underwent combat training in St. Petersburg. He then used the …

 Maritime Bulletin reported that on February 28th, the Russian Seagrand cargo ship crashed into a pillar of the Gwangan motorway bridge in the South Korean port of Busan.

According to the newspaper, the vessel was from the port in Vladivostok and brought a cargo of steel products weighing one and a half thousand tons to South Korea. The incident occurred after unloading in the port of Busan.

No one was injured, but the bridge and ship itself were severely damaged as a result of the collision. …

One year after its lawsuit victory against Gazprom at the Arbitration Institute in Stockholm, Naftogaz of Ukraine announced on Facebook that it has started collecting its debt from the Russian company in Luxembourg too.

“Gazprom has to pay us $4.6 billion in compensation according to the transit contract,” the Ukrainian company’s press service stated, noting that it has already received $2.1 billion in gas. “The remaining amount we have been collecting through an enforcement process in several …

Swedish television SVT discovered in its investigation that former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych used Swedish bank Swedbank to get money out of Ukraine, DELFI reported.

The information obtained by the investigation indicates that an offshore company associated with Yanukovych had a Swedbank account in Lithuania from 2004 to 2014. The bank deposits were registered in the bank documents as royalties which the Ukrainian president allegedly received for “doubtful” book publications. …