Contents tagged with Putin

  • Putin plans to visit Serbia

    Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s said that the preparation of a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Serbia is underway, RIA Novosti. According to Peskov, the visit agenda is being prepared currently.

    On January 7th, Putin signed a decree awarding the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic with the Order of Alexander Nevsky. According to the Kremlin, the Serbian leader was awarded this award for “a great personal contribution to developing mutual cooperation” with Russia. …

  • Belarusian President Lukashenko threatens to break off alliance with Russia

    Russia risks losing its “sole ally” in the west, Belarus, if it refuses to compensate Minsk for the losses arising from a Russian tax maneuver in the oil sector, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told Interfax in an interview. 

    According to Lukashenko, if the monetary dispute with Russia’s leaders is not resolved, it will not be a catastrophe for Belarus. 

    The amount in question is in the region of $400 million per year, the amount that the Belarusian budget earns from the fact that …

  • Putin invites India’s Prime Minister to the Eastern Economic Forum as the main guest

    On January 7th, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephone conversation.

    The Kremlin press service reports that the leaders warmly exchanged New Year’s wishes. Narendra Modi also expressed his best wishes to the Russian people in connection with Christmas.

    According to the Kremlin press service, the key issues of the bilateral agenda were discussed.  

    Putin wished Modi success in the scheduled upcoming parliamentary elections.

    The sides agreed …

  • Germany calls on Russia to take a prohibited cruise missile out of service

    To maintain the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Moscow should take out of service the cruise missile that violates agreements with the USA, stated German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Welt reports. 

    "Moscow has the key to maintaining the INF Treaty. If Russia wants to maintain the treaty, it should disarm so that it could be checked,” Maas said and added that "Russia violated the treaty by developing and putting a prohibited cruise missile [9M729 missile] into service." 

    Maas …

  • Erdogan to visit Russia in January

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is planning to visit Russia to hold negotiations with his colleague Vladimir Putin, Anadolu Agency reported, without any official confirmation.

    According to the news agency, the heads of state will discuss the situation in Syria and the contract for Ankara’s purchase of S-400 anti-air missile systems from Russia.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed that preparations are being made for the presidents to meet, Interfax reports. “The leaders …

  • Kremlin considers classifying genetic data of Russians

    Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, prepared a bill aiming at protecting information obtained from the biological and genetic material of Russians. The corresponding document was published on the website of normative legal acts.

    Lawmakers believe that the changes should be made to the law “On Personal Data” and the law "On Protection of Consumers' Rights”, which will impose restrictions on the personal data processing and the …

  • Macron and Putin discuss Kerch Strait incident

    French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine and the Kerch crisis in a phone call, the official Kremlin website reports. 

    Putin told the press service that he and Macron had continued the “exchange of opinions” on the topic, but did not provide any further details on the discussion. 

    The two presidents also considered the problems of the Syrian situation in detail. 

    According to a communique from the Élysée Palace, Macron …

  • Putin extends restrictions on transit of Ukrainian goods to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

    Russian President Vladimir Putin amended the decree from January 1, 2016 "On Measures to ensure economic security and national interests of Russia during the transit of goods from Ukraine to the Republic of Kazakhstan or the Kyrgyz Republic through the territory of the Russian Federation." He extended it for half a year, until July 1, 2019,  the Russia’s government website of legal information. 

    The decree entered into force on December 31, 2018. It stipulates that inter-country transportation …

  • Russia raises gas price for Armenia by 10%

    From January 1, 2019, the price of Russian gas for Armenia will be raised to $165 per thousand cubic meters, the press service of Gazprom reported on Monday. 

    The new price is 10% higher than the price established by the agreement of April 2016. 

    “In accordance with the supplementary agreement signed to the contract between Gazprom Export LLC and Gazprom Armenia CJSC, determining the price of gas supplies to Armenia in 2019, the price of Russian gas will be $165 per one thousand cubic meters …

  • Russia arrests US citizen on charges of espionage

    Russia announced on Monday that its intelligence agency had arrested a US citizen in Moscow on suspicion of espionage. 

    According to the FSB, the American was arrested on Friday “while carrying out spying activity”. 

    Charges have been brought against him according to article 276 of Russia’s Criminal Code (Espionage), which envisages a prison sentence of up to 20 years. 

    The suspect was identified as Paul Whelan, but no other details were provided. 

    The US later asked to be granted consular …