Contents tagged with Russia

  • Media: Italy intends to ask Putin for a bail out

    Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte came to Russia on an official visit on Wednesday. Conte is the head of Italy’s populist government which was formed after summer elections as a coalition between the anti-establishment “Five Star Movement” and the anti-migration party “Northern League”.

    Conte spoke to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in the morning, and later met with President Vladimir Putin.

    During the talks, Conte intended to ask Putin for financial assistance, as he had been …

  • Russian insurers refuse to insure Russian space program

    Not a single Russian insurance company has bid to insure the upcoming launch of the Progress MS-10 spacecraft with a Soyuz-FG launch rocket. The spacecraft will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in November.

    This was reported by Interfax, citing documentation from the Russian state procurement website. The client was TsENKI, a subsidiary of Roscosmos, which announced its call for proposals on October 10.

    The premium on the contract would be capped at 116.5 million rubles for a …

  • Putin threatens to point nuclear missiles at Europe

    Russia will be forced to respond in kind to the US’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

    If European countries agree to have American missiles deployed in them, as was the case in the 1980s, they will “have to understand that they are putting their territory at risk of a response strike from Russia,” Putin remarked after talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in the Kremlin.

    “It isn’t our choice,” …

  • Recent Putin and Trump meeting costs Finland €1.7 million more than expected

    The expenses for a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump increased from €4 million to €5.7 million, following amendments to the country's budget for 2018, according to an update posted to the Finnish government’s website.

    The expenses include the remuneration of police, border guard, defense forces and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The message did not specify what allocations each department received or whether they were increased.

    In July 2018, …

  • Yanukovych’s final statement could be delayed by several months

    On Tuesday, October 23, during a regular meeting on the case of high treason against former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, his lawyer made a request on his behalf that could lead to a delay of the trial for several months.

    The lawyers are currently debating the case. Oleksandr Horoshynsky, one of Yanukovych’s attorneys read a speech for an hour during which he gave the court a written statement that he received from the defendant in Moscow. In the statement, the ex-President asked the …

  • Swiss court allows disclosure of reasons for the refusal of Abramovich's residence permit

    The Swiss Supreme Court lifted restrictions on the disclosure of for the reasons why Russian businessman Roman Abramovich failed to obtain a residency permit in the country.

    The court rejected Abramovich's arguments that the disclosure of such information could damage his reputation.

    In September, the Swiss authorities refused to allow Abramovich to obtain a residence permit fearing that his stay in the country could pose a "threat to public safety" and cause "reputational damage". According …

  • Polish President calls for halt of Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction

    During his visit to London, Polish President Andrzej Duda urged Germany to abandon the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Deutsche Welle reported.

    The second gas pipeline running under the Baltic Sea will lead to the disruption of the ‘energy balance’, he said during a joint press conference with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday, October 23, in Berlin.

    According to Duda, the new gas pipeline will lead to the dominant position of a single supplier and will …

  • Israel: Russian air defense systems will not protect Iranian forces in Syria

    Israel is convinced that it will be able to attack the Iranian forces in Syria even now that Iran’s partner, Russia, has transferred S-300 anti-air defense systems to Syria.

    In an interview with Voice of America’s Persian service in Jerusalem, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Michael Oren said that the Russian S-300 systems “will pose a problem, but one which can be overcome”.

    “Israel has been overcoming such problems since the day of its creation in 1948,” Oren observed, “We will overcome this, …

  • Russia promises Saudi Arabia tens of billions in investments

    Russia is prepared to increase its investment in the Saudi Arabian economy, said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), during the Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh.

    Dmitriev says that “many companies from the petrochemical sector and other sectors” have expressed interest in investing in Saudi Arabia.

    “We believe that, alongside our partners, we will bring in billions and tens of billions of dollars of investment into Saudi Arabia,” he stated.

    He …

  • Mogherini: European Union will never recognize annexation of Crimea

    While speaking before the deputies of the European Parliament during the hearings on the situation in the Azov Sea , High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, assured that the European Union would never recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

     “I am grateful to the European Parliament for focusing their attention on the situation in the Black Sea after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. We do not recognize [now] and …