Contents tagged with USA

  • Former US ambassador: Washington will soon provide Ukraine with more weapons

    Washington could send Kyiv weapons and impose new sanctions on Russia within the next two or three months, former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst told Radio Liberty in an interview. 

    “Within 2-3 months we will see the US giving Kyiv weapons and announcing new sanctions against Russia in connection with this aggression [in the Kerch Strait]. I think that, in the course of the next 8-10, or at most 12 weeks, this more forceful US response will appear. And, in addition to the sanctions, this …

  • 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 …

  • Russia threatens to retaliate if US deploys missiles in Europe

    Russia will respond if the US deploys nuclear missiles which are prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in Europe, warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as reported by Interfax. 

    Lavrov said he “regrets European countries’ refusal to support the preservation of the treaty”. 

    “Our European colleagues… are not yet ready and follow the US even in cases where it clearly goes against their own interests,” he remarked. 

    “All of the EU voted against our proposal [ …

  • Gazprom CEO: Nord Stream 2 will be operational by January 2020

    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,” …

  • Putin is ready for dialogue with Trump

    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 …

  • Kremlin claims United States has become one of Russia’s top three trade partners

    The Russian Ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov stated that trade turnover between Russia and the United States during the last 10 months of 2018 increased by 16% compared to last year, reaching $23.3 billion, Russian news outlet EDaily reports. 

    Antonov said that the United States ranked third among countries investing in the Russian economy and that businessmen working in the Russian market are greatly worried about anti-Moscow sanctions. However, they have no intention to leave a …

  • European Commission: construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline is hard to stop

    US President Donald Trump’s criticism of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is not a reason to stop the project, stated European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Günther Oettinger on December 28. He said that any attempts to prevent the construction will encounter serious opposition as the construction is already underway. 

    Trump criticized Berlin for supporting the $11 billion gas pipeline. In July, he accused Germany of being Moscow's “hostage” because of the …

  • Poroshenko signs law expanding Ukraine’s zone of control in Black Sea

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law “On Ukraine’s surrounding zone,” which doubles the country’s zone of control in the Black Sea, the presidential press service reported.

    The law harmonizes Ukraine’s maritime legislation with that of other states on the Black Sea and other signatories of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982. It is intended to prevent smuggling operations and illegal visitation of the closed ports in the temporarily occupied territories of …

  • Russian ambassador to the US: there are no regular contacts between Lavrov and Pompeo

    During a press briefing, speaking about the relationship between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov stated that there are no regular contacts between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.

    “Regular contact between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is not working out, admitted the diplomat. Our proposal for the resumption of the practice of joint meetings between the …

  • Ukraine to receive patrol boats from the US in 2019

    On Friday, December 28th, the commander of the Naval Armed Forces of Ukraine, Igor Voronchenko, stated that Ukraine would receive Island-class patrol boats from the US in 2019.

    “In July, they [the ships] should be in Ukraine. The crews are preparing. The steps for equipping these ships and joint training at the base in Baltimore [in the US] have been decided. The final procedures for fast delivery of these ships to Ukraine have also been finalized,” said the Navy Admiral.

    Earlier, the …