• Russia’s foreign currency purchases reach record levels

    The Russian Ministry of Finance continues to increase the volume of the operations to buy currency on the market after receiving additional oil and gas income into the budget .

    Between February 7 and March 8, the government will funnel 298.1 billion rubles into currency interventions on the Moscow Exchange, the Finance Ministry reported on Monday.

    The volume of currency purchases has increased by as much as 18% compared to January, and will be an all-time record for the operations which began …

  • Estonia establishes border with Russia

    As TASS reports, Estonia has fully completed the layout of the border with Russia. According to the Police and Border Guard Department of the republic, 567 poles have been installed.

    It was reported that last spring, the demarcation of the border on Lake Peipus and the Narva Reservoir was carried out and 176 buoys were placed there.

    According to calculations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country, the modernization of the eastern border infrastructure cost Estonia 197 million …

  • Russia’s largest private bank believes the country is losing GDP annually due to sanctions

    The largest private bank in Russia estimated that the Russian economy lost 0.5% of GDP due to sanctions. Because of this, the entire positive effect of the actions of the Central Bank has been negated.As indicated in the report of the chief economist of Alfa Bank, Natalia Orlova, the losses are caused by diminished possibilities in attracting financing from abroad as a direct result of the sanctions on certain companies.

    The current US sanctions impose significant restrictions in the provision …

  • President of Lithuania: deployment of Iskander missile systems in Russia’s Kaliningrad region poses a threat to Europe

    While speaking at a press conference, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaité stated that the Iskander Tactical Missile Systems that will be permanently stationed in the Kaliningrad region of Russia beginning February 5 will be a threat to Europe, Delfi reports.

    "Iskander missiles are being stationed in Kaliningrad for permanent presence as we speak. This is not just a threat to Lithuania but to half of all European countries," said Grybauskaité.

    NATO believes that the deployment of the …

  • Kremlin prepares bill requiring Russian citizens to monitor foreigner guests

    As the newspaper Izvestia reports, Russian citizens and companies will be required to monitor the behavior of foreign guests and partners, so that the purpose of their stay in the country and the terms of the visit correspond to those planned. Otherwise, violators will face fines.

    The draft amendments were developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it was supported by the government commission of legislative drafting.

    According to experts, it won’t be easy to check whether these …