• Ukrainian Intelligence accuses Russia of using programs to automatically sign petitions on government's website

    On Saturday, July 9, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) reported the discovery of a mechanism that signs petitions for the President of Ukraine. The SSU claims that Russian special services are behind these operations. In particular, the Security Service employees’ suspicions were raised by a petition about the introduction of “a special developmental area” in the territory of the Kharkiv region, filed by one of the members of the former Communist Party of Ukraine. As of May 10, 2016, the …

  • Obama: There cannot be 'business as usual' with Russia until Minsk agreements are implemented

    Speaking at the NATO Summit in Warsaw on Saturday, US President Barack Obama said that relations with Moscow cannot normalize until Russia implements the Minsk agreements, Radio Svoboda reported.

    “Our 28 nations [NATO] are united in our view that there can be no business as usual with Russia until it fully implements its Minsk obligations,” Obama said.

    At his first NATO summit in 2009, Obama stressed that one of the Alliance’s main goals should the pursuit of “a constructive relationship with …

  • Russia expels two US diplomats

    The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of two employees from the US Embassy in Moscow, identified as CIA agents. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said this on Saturday, July 9. According to him, it’s a response to the US having reported the expulsion of two Russian officials from the US the day before.

    Ryabkov added that the two US Embassy employees have been declared persona non grata.

    Moscow called these diplomats CIA agents.

    Earlier on July 8, the US …

  • Ukrainian Foreign Ministry: Russia is the only country blocking the expansion of OSCE's mandate in eastern Ukraine

    The spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mariana Betsa, stated during a briefing that the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the Russian opposition to the proposal to extend the OSCE's Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo & Donetsk in eastern Ukraine is another example of Russia’s failure to implement the Minsk Agreements.

    “Another example of Russia’s failure to implement the Minsk Agreements is their blocking of the OSCE proposal to extend the …

  • Russia hopes to launch carrier rocket which will compete with SpaceX

    As the head of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center Andrey Kalinovsky reported, the first launch of the Russian-made carrier rocket “Proton lite,” which can compete with the SpaceX rockets, will take place in 2018, Russian Interfax news agency reported.

    According to him, the project is “at a crucial stage.” “We are in a process of finalizing some procedural questions, working out schedules and technical requirements. We hope that the first launch will take place in 2018,” …