According to the World Bank’s vice president for Europe and Central Asia, Cyril Muller, without necessary reforms and having current GDP growth rates, Ukraine will need 50 years to reach Poland’s current economic level, reported  Economichna Pravda with reference to a World Bank study on the economic development of Ukraine.

According to Muller, in 2017 the total net worth of the three richest individuals in Ukraine exceeded 6% of Ukraine’s GDP.

“It is almost twice as much as in Russia and …

According to Deutsche Welle, during a visit to the Bundeswehr soldiers stationed at the Estonian Emari airbase as part of a NATO mission, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen reported that German fighters scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea thirty times in six months. 

"This large number indicates that the presence of German soldiers here is very important," said the Minister. 160 Bundeswehr soldiers and four German Eurofighter planes are stationed in Estonian …

The Swedish National Defense Research Institute (FOI) stated that the Russian army is being prepared for participation in large-scale military requirements. They came to this opinion analyzing the military exercises conducted in Russia from 2009-2017.

The experts note that the Russian Federation armed forces, which had previously been involved only in local conflicts began to prepare for continuous regional wars starting back in 2009.

According to FOI, Russia considers NATO or the Chinese …

The United States will not supply Turkey with the Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems if Ankara acquires Russian S-400s, Turkish daily newspaper Yeni Şafak reported on Thursday with a reference to a representative of the US administration.

It became known in December that the State Department approved the sale of missile systems to Turkey for $ 3.5 billion. In particular, the State Department approved the sale of 80 Patriot missiles and 60 other missiles to Turkey, including related …

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a press conference that the US is working on scenarios to invade Venezuela, thereby violating the UN Charter.

“Signals keep coming from Washington on the possibility of using a forceful scenario in order to overthrow the legitimate government, even through a military invasion,” she said, claiming that the White House has been speaking about this openly.

Zakharova emphasized that such statements contravene article 2(4) of the UN …

The Netherlands expects to start negotiations with Russia regarding its responsibility for the crash of Boeing-777 in Ukraine in July 2014, announced RTL channel on Thursday with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

At this stage, the ministry does not want to disseminate too much information, "so as not to harm the confidentiality of the process." “However, everything is moving in the right direction, and there is hope that official negotiations will begin soon,” …

The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada asked NATO member countries to support Ukraine's intention to become a member of the Alliance and to start a formal dialogue on a Membership Action Plan at the NATO Summit in London in December 2019, Interfax-Ukraine reports. The draft decision and request were supported by 243 People's Deputies at the plenary meeting of the Parliament on Thursday. 

"We are calling on the heads of NATO member states to approve... the given decision at the anniversary Summit of the …

Russia demands that the US meet a number of conditions before the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty can be reinstated, Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday, 7 February, as reported by Interfax.

“The Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation has advised America to take the necessary measures to return to strict compliance with the treaty during the period before the INF Treaty expires,” he said.

According to Konashenkov, Russia has advised the …