• Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Abe to negotiate peace treaty on January 22

    Negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe are scheduled to take place in Moscow on January 22. The two leaders will discuss matters relating to the signing of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan, the Kremlin’s press service reported. 

    “The plan is to discuss the state and development prospects of a bilateral collaboration in the political, commercial, economic and humanitarian areas. As a follow-up to the agreements achieved during …

  • NASA head agrees to meet with Roscosmos director in Russia

    NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has accepted the invitation from Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin to meet in Russia, the Russian state space corporation announced on its official website. 

    Bridenstine’s visit to Russia was discussed during a teleconference between the two space corporation administrators on January 14. Initially, Roscosmos did not report that the call had taken place, although this was reported by Kommersant. The Russian space corporation explained that it delayed the …

  • Lavrov: Russia will not give the Kuril Islands to Japan

    After the meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Kuril Islands are and will remain Russia’s territory.

    “The sovereignty over the islands is non-negotiable. We drew attention to the fact these islands are designated as a northern territory in Japan’s legislation, which is, of course, unacceptable,” Lavrov said. 

    He pointed out that no peace agreement can be concluded if Japan does not recognize the results of World War II. 

    “I …

  • Belarusian opposition urges authorities to restrict broadcasting of Russian channels

    The opposition party Belarusian Popular Front or BPF adopted a statement at a party’s meeting that demands that the authorities restrict broadcasting of Russian TV channels and replace them with programs of local production or a balanced set of foreign television programs from other countries, Interfax report.

    The BPF declared 2019 the Year of the Belarusian language, calling it "an important factor of national security" in the face of "information attacks against Belarus." “We call on all …

  • Kyiv: Russia amassing military equipment in Crimea in order to block access to it

    Russia is amassing military equipment in Crimea in order to block off access to it, not only for possible military opponents, but also for humanitarian organizations, international experts and monitoring, said Vadym Chernysh, Ukraine’s Minister of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, in a post on the ministry’s website.

    “This is already the fourth missile system in temporarily occupied Crimea, sent in order to control the sea waters and Ukraine’s territory. We are …