Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off amendments to the law “On the state defense order,” which now classify weapons, military equipment and ammunition procurement as a secret, even when bought for the National Guard or the Interior Ministry. 

According to the state arms program signed by Putin in 2017, out of the 22 trillion rubles ($316 billion) allocated to the state defense order for the next 10 years, 19 trillion will go to re-arming the army, and 3 trillion will go to law …

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said he is ready to be questioned in the case of alleged interference in the Russian presidential elections. In exchange, he demanded that the Russian Prosecutor's Office extradite former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych who is suspected of high treason in Ukraine.

“I am ready to testify in the so-called case on interfering in the elections of Putin in exchange for the extradition of Ukrainian citizen Yanukovych,” Avakov wrote on Facebook.

The …

Ukraine Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak stated that Kyiv will purchase up to 20 types of new weapons for the country's army. He emphasized that domestically produced weapons would be purchased, as well as Western weapons.

“I would say that most of the weapons will be of domestic production,” the press service of the Ukraine Defense Ministry cites him as saying.

The Ukrainian Minister of Defense said that plans to acquire arms are part of state defense contracts for 2019-2021 adopted by the …

In his New Year’s greeting to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the union between the two nations has been successful, the press service of the Belarusian leader reported. 

Lukashenko noted that in the upcoming year, the two countries will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of signing the agreement on establishing the State Union. According to him, Belarus and Russia have had an uneasy path “but we can now say with confidence that the …

Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller is convinced that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will start supplying Europe with gas by January 1, 2020, Interfax reports. 

“We are working according to the plans that were approved from the very beginning. The planned start for gas shipments is January 1, 2020,” Miller said. 

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin also said that he is prepared to work no matter how the situation develops with the US. 

“We are working constantly under these circumstances. Our job is risk management,” …

The Ukrainian government’s press service reported on Sunday, December 30th, that Ukraine would test new weapons in 2019. 

It is noted that testing of the Ukraine-made man-portable air defense missile system (MANPADS) Kolibri (Hummingbird) will begin. 

Also, next year, Ukrainian weapon makers will complete development and start government testing of the Neptun ground-based cruise missile systems which is capable of striking distant targets at sea. 

“This weapon will be high-precision, modern …

In an interview with the Rheinische Post, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that the gradual lifting of sanctions against Russia should be linked with the process of resolving the situation in the Donbas. 

“When I was a foreign minister, I believed that it was necessary to link the gradual lifting of sanctions against Russia with positive steps towards Ukraine – something that former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier proposed. The first step would imply establishing a real …

On Sunday, December 30th, the Kremlin press service reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin in a New Year’s message to his American counterpart Donald Trump confirmed Moscow’s openness to have a dialogue with Washington. 

“In a congratulatory message to the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, with Christmas, and New Year holidays in tow, Vladimir Putin stressed that Russian-American relations are critical to ensuring strategic stability and international security …