Nine towns in Crimea were left without electricity when a high voltage transmission line broke down. The Russian government press service reported that the Simferopol REN (Regional Electric Networks) suffered a damaged power line that generated 35 kW of electricity. The towns of Hvardiiske, Sofiyivka, Sovkhoznoye, Malenkoye, Zhuravlevka, Shirokoye, Divnoye, Storozhevoye and Kuprino were deprived of power as a result. Repair work is currently ongoing.

On December 30th, Ukrainian power supplies …

The head of Russian natural gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, recently reported to President Vladimir Putin that his company is able to harvest 617 billion cubic meters of gas annually, but last year it was able to sell only 444 billion, meaning the Public Joint Stock Company has a surplus of 173 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

While western sanctions against Russia do not specifically target hydrocarbons, the conflict in Ukraine has undoubtedly led many western countries to turn to …

The 5 men suspected of assassinating Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in February of 2015 were indicted on December 29th. They were charged with "a contract murder committed by an organized group and the acquisition, transport and storage of illegal firearms," the Russian Investigative Committee said.

Rosbalt has reported that the suspects in Nemtsov’s assassination case allegedly attempted to kill the opposition leader several times before finally succeeding on the evening of February 2 …

Human rights activists claim that civilian victims of the Russian bombing campaign in Syria number in the hundreds in densely populated areas. This Saturday, a senior U.S. official reported that only one-third of Russian aviation air strikes are being aimed at the positions of the so-called Islamic State. The indiscriminate bombing forces civilians to flee, further exacerbating the crisis in Europe caused by the massive influx of refugees.

Among the 5,000 air strikes inflicted by the Russian …

A negative result on the referendum in the Netherlands regarding the Association Agreement with Ukraine could trigger a continental crisis, stated Jean Claude Juncker, President for the European Commission, in an interview with NRC Handelsblad on Saturday, January 9th.

“A ‘no’ answer in the Dutch non-binding vote may spark a continental crisis," he noted. "Let's not change the referendum into a vote about Europe," Juncker emphasized. "I sincerely hope that the Dutch won't vote no for reasons …