Contents tagged with Russia

  • Russia issues travel ban on five US officials

    In response to the expansion of the U.S. Treasury’s ‘Magnitsky list,’ Moscow published a list of U.S. citizens "involved in the legalization and use of torture," who are now denied entry into Russia.

    The day after the expansion of Washington's ‘Magnitsky list,’ Moscow retaliated. On Tuesday, February 2nd, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a list of U.S. citizens who are prohibited from entering Russia. All of them are former high ranking officials of the Pentagon, the CIA and the Justice …

  • Iran Decides Against Purchasing T-90 Russian Tanks

    Iran has withdrawn the procurement of T-90 tanks from Russia from their agenda.  The Commander of Land Forces of the Iranian Army, General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, said on Tuesday that Iran will focus on the production of their own tanks. 

    “Due to the fact that our own production facilities completely satisfy our needs, the purchase of the T-90 tanks was removed from the agenda,” Mehr News Agency quoted General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan as saying.

    At the same time, the General stressed that T-90 …

  • Polish Oil and Gas Company Files Lawsuit against Gazprom

    Polish oil and gas company, PGNiG, has filed a lawsuit in the Court of Arbitration in Stockholm against Gazprom, according to a statement on Monday, February 1st. In May of 2015, PGNiG notified the Russian company of the pending arbitration.

    The subject of the lawsuit is the revision of pricing conditions for a long-term contract signed in 1996 for the purchase of natural gas. The company notes that because of the "confidential nature of the arbitration" it cannot provide details of the …

  • Survey Suggests 56% of Russians Regret the Collapse of the USSR

    More than half of all Russians regret the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and only 3% saw this event as a positive, according to a survey by the Levada Center.

    According to the survey, 19% of Russians think "very negatively" about the disintegration of the Soviet Union and 25% view this event "rather negatively."

    Although 54% of Russian citizens regret the collapse of the USSR, 37% indicated they "have no regrets." However, 51% of Russians believe that the collapse of the Soviet Union …

  • Naftogaz to Discuss Gas Transit Tariffs with Gazprom

    The delegation Naftogaz of Ukraine will visit Moscow in the near future to discuss new tariffs for the transit of gas through Ukraine.  These discussions will be held with the Chairman of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev.  This was reported to the Agency Gas Information (AGI) by an inside source.

    The transit rate is currently determined by the long-term contract (from 2009 to 2019) between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom.  This rate is dependent on the value of the fuel component and inflation in …

  • US Adds Five Names to the Magnitsky List of Sanctioned Russians

    The U.S Treasury Department reported that five additional people have been placed on the Magnitsky sanctions list. A Sevastopol native and former Deputy Interior Minister of Russia, Alex Anichin, as well as Yevgeny Antonov, Boris Kibis, Pavel Lapshov and Oleg Urzumtsev (all citizens of the Russian Federation) were added to the list.

    The US State Department has clarified that the Russians were included to the Magnistky list on the basis of reliable information concerning human rights violations. …

  • Kadyrov's Video Showing Opposition Leader in Crosshairs Removed from Instagram

    The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said that Instagram has removed his video depicting the leader of the Parnas party, Mikhail Kasyanov, because the application protects "American dogs," as he wrote on his Instagram page on Monday, February 1st.

    "I always honestly and openly express my opinions in words and writing. But when I say a few words about the US lap dogs they immediately removed the post from Instagram. Here is this touted freedom of speech in America! You can write whatever you …

  • Russian Finance Ministry Rejects Large Portion of Anti-Crisis Plan

    Russia's Finance Ministry refuses to support a significant portion of the draft anti-crisis plan prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development. RBC reports that in the Finance Ministry’s address to the government it categorically objected to 37 items in the 86-point plan. The total value of rejected items was 210.2 billion rubles.

    The most expensive demand rejected involves funding agriculture with an additional 23 billion rubles. A similar decision concerns an additional subsidy of …

  • Russian Media Regulation Agency Issues Warning To The New Times

    Roskomnadzor, the Russian media regulation agency, issued a warning to The New Times magazine for the article "If Only There Was No War." The warning was received on the day they published an investigation into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged eldest daughter.

    The New Times received its first warning from Roskomnadzor in nine years. Chief Editor Yevgenia Albats told RBC that the breach was found in January's issue of the magazine (№ 392) in the category "January Of Our Anxiety." The …

  • Russian Freight Carriers No Longer Allowed In Poland and Turkey

    Russian labor permit agreements in the cargo business with Poland and Turkey have expired. Negotiations to renew them have been unsuccessful for different reasons. Cargo transportation between Russia and the two nations has consequently stopped completely. 

    Poland has not yet renewed permits for Russian freight forwarders from Kaliningrad due to dissatisfaction with Russia’s new legislative requirements. According to them, conditions for foreign freight companies appeared to be seriously …