The new runway at the Belbek Airport in Crimea is ready to receive civilian and military planes, the Russian Defense Ministry reported, citing Viktor Sevostyanov, Commander of the 4th Army Air Force and Anti-Air Defense. 

“The reconstruction of this airport has been effectively completed. Today we made the first technical route with two planes, and looked at the condition of the runway. There is still work to do, and the work is underway. But initially the conclusion is made that the airport …

On December 22, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the violation of human rights in the Crimea annexed by Russia. In particular, the General Assembly condemned the "illegal establishment of laws, jurisdiction and administration" in the region. The document submitted by Ukraine was backed by 67 countries, the permanent representative of Ukraine to the UN, Volodymyr Yelchenko wrote on his Twitter page. 27 states, including Russia, Belarus, China, India, Serbia, Syria, the Republic of …

Russia needs a pretext for aggression in Ukraine, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker told TSN.Tyzhden in an interview. 

According to Volker, the US used to think it was unlikely that Russia was set on aggression in Ukraine, but in the wake of the Kerch Strait incident, it will be necessary to reconsider the realistic probability that there may be new aggression from Russia. 

“We must do everything we can to stop it from coming to this. We must do everything to prevent this …

On October 26, 2018, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry placed a $2 billion sovereign eurobond, of which a $750 million 5-year tranche was issued at a rate of 9% and a $1.25 billion tranche at 9.75%. According to a Zerkalo Nedeli article by Tetiana Bohdan, chief of the Optima Expert-Analytical Center public finance department, this was one of the most expensive eurobond issuances in the world between October and November 2018. 

“As for world record-holders that have theoretically overtaken Ukraine, …

3 million 200 thousand Ukrainian citizens work abroad on a permanent basis, while the number of Ukrainians who work abroad temporarily is between 7 and 9 million, stated Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Andriy Reva on Saturday at a press conference, Interfax Ukraine reported. 

“According to the official data of the State Migration Service of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, 3 million 200 thousand Ukrainian citizens work abroad on a permanent basis, while between 7 and 9 …

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow extended the arrest of immovable property and land of the Roshen confectionary factory in Lipetsk for three months. As a result, all money on the factory’s accounts for salaries of remaining personnel, were withdrawn to pay taxes, fines and penalties, the factory’s press service stated. 

"In fact, before the Arbitration Courts could took any decisions on the case, [Russian] tax authorities, using unsubstantiated judicial decisions on cancelation of interim …

On December 21, the UN General Assembly did not approve the Russian resolution  aimed at preserving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). 43 states voted for the adoption of the document, 46 were against, and 78 countries did not take part in the voting. 

On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the withdrawal of the United States from the INF treaty can lead to a new arms race and direct confrontation in different parts of the world.

 “The results of voting in …

On December 17th, specialists of the World Anti-Doping Agency arrived in Moscow to extract data from the doping tests of Russian athletes for the period from 2011 to 2015 but they were not able to obtain these samples. According to Interfax, citing WADA’s press release, Moscow has demanded that the sampling equipment be certified in Russia. 

According to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s General Director Yuriy Ganus, failure to give WADA experts access to the doping samples, indicates that the …