Contents tagged with Russia

  • Russia’s foreign debt has grown by $ 16.2 billion since the beginning of the year

    Since early 2017, Russia's foreign debt has increased by 3.1%, or $16.173 billion, based on data published on the Bank of Russia's website. Thus, as of April 1, 2017, Russia's foreign debt amounted to $529.6 billion.

    "The growth of accumulated foreign debt was observed in all sectors of the economy, and was largely due to a reassessment of debt obligations denominated in national currency in response to the strengthening of the Russian ruble,” says Russia's TASS news agency, citing a report …

  • Four of the Maidan dispersers from Berkut special force decided to seek refuge in Russia

    Four former members of the Kharkiv battalion of the “Berkut” special division crossed the border and moved into Russia, their lawyer Valentin Rybin told RIA Novosti.

    On April 13, they sat on a bus and went to Russia. “They crossed the Ukraine-Russia border without incident after completing the necessary border crossing measures and after the end of the pretrial investigation. Taking into consideration the pressure put on them by the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the fact that several …

  • Russia may be suspended from Eurovision next year

    The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) does not exclude the possibility of Russia's suspension from participation in Eurovision next year. This was reported by Russia’s TASS new agency, citing the official representative of the EBU, Dave Goodman. According to him, such a decision can be made only after the song contest in Kyiv.

    According to the current rules of the contest, Russia may be deprived of the right to send its representative to the competition next year because of its refusal to …

  • Lavrov accuses Head of Ukrainian National Security Council of refusing to comply with Minsk agreements

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that statements by the Secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov, regarding the advance of Ukrainian troops to the east of the country indicate Kyiv's reluctance to fulfill the key points of the Minsk agreements.

    Earlier Turchynov told the BBC that the main task of the Ukrainian military is now "meter by meter, kilometer by kilometer, while minimizing losses, to move east."

    "Mr. Turchynov's statement means that Kyiv …

  • Russian political scientist: Trump ‘has driven Russia into a corner’

    The new American president is “effectively putting TNT under foundation of the Russian system”, causing disappointment in the Kremlin circles, writes political scientist Lilia Shevtsova in her article published on Echo of Moscow web site, while commenting on the decision of US President Donald Trump to carry out a missile strike on the Syrian airbase, and to drop the ten-ton “mother of all bombs” on Afghanistan.  

    According to her, “Trump has violated the Russian monopoly on unpredictability,” …

  • Media: Hypersonic Russian Zircon missile reaches eight times the speed of sound

    The Russian hypersonic Zircon missile reached a maximum speed greater than eight times the speed of sound during the tests, according to a source in Russia’s defense industry.

    TASS reported that according to the source, the Zircon missiles can be launched from the same launchers that are used for the Kalibr and Oniks missiles.

    The Zircon is designed to destroy ships. It will be part of the armament of new-generation submarines such as the fifth-generation, Husky-class, nuclear-powered …

  • Russian Foreign Ministry: Moscow did not supply Croatia with S300 surface-to air missile in the 1990s

    Russia did not supply the S-300 surface-to-air missile systems (SAM) to Croatia in the 1990s, bypassing the arms embargo imposed by the UN, as stated by the Deputy Head of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Artem Kozhin. The text of his statement is published on the official website of the Ministry.

    Kozhin commented on reports which appeared in the Croatian media stating that Russia supplied the SAM to Croatia. In particular, on April 13th Croatian …

  • Russian air defense troops to carry out exercises using new Tor-M2U missile system

    A Russian air defense missile regiment in the country’s Western Military District will carry out live firing exercises in the Astrakhan Region using their newly acquired Tor-M2U surface-to-air missile systems, TASS reported.

    "During the tactical live-fire drills, the Tor-M2U anti-aircraft missile systems teams will make a march to the area of live-firing and deploy the launchers, detect, track and identify… low-flying small-size target missiles," the Western Military District’s press office …

  • Media: Russian state agency mediates delivery of iron ore to the separatist-held territories of eastern Ukraine

    According to RBC news agency, the Federal Agency for State Reserves (Rosrezerv) of the Russian Federation has become an intermediary in the supply of iron ore to the metallurgical companies "Metinvest" and "ISD” that were seized by the separatist authorities, in order for Russian mining companies to avoid any possible claims.

    Rosrezerv is a state agency that is responsible for ensuring the mobilization needs of the Russian Federation, and also provides humanitarian assistance. Practically all …

  • According to Putin's financial disclosure, he makes less money than his press secretary

    The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin earned 8,858,432 rubles (157,243 USD) in 2016, as indicated on Putin's financial disclosure, published on April 14th on the Kremlin's website.

    Compared to the previous year, the President's income declined by about 33,000 rubles (586 USD). In 2015, Putin's income amounted to 8,891,777 (157, 835 USD).

    However, Putin's Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, in 2016 earned 12.8 million rubles (227,000 USD). The income of Peskov’s wife, ice skater Tatiana Navka, …