• Putin: Russia will respond if Finland joins NATO

    If Finland joins NATO, the Russian troops are unlikely to remain retracted at a distance of 1,500 kilometers from the border.

    This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Helsinki, the Kremlin website states.

    “Imagine that Finland joins NATO. This means that Finnish troops will cease to be independent, will cease to be sovereign in the full sense of this word. They will become a part of NATO's military infrastructure, which overnight will appear on the Russian …

  • Gazprom has provided the Donbas with $718 million in gas

    The head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, stated at a press conference in Moscow on June 30th that the Russian gas company has supplied the occupied Donbas with $718 million in gas under the contract price initially granted to Naftogaz of Ukraine, Ukrainian news portal UNIAN reports.

    “As for the gas supplies to the Southeast of Ukraine, we have only one contract signed with Ukraine in 2009. The contract defines the entry point for the gas supply to Ukraine, including the entry points in the …

  • Ukraine to extend sanctions against Russia through 2017

    According to Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Natalia Mykolskaya, in response to the extension of food restrictions by Russia, Ukraine will extend its own food embargo until the end of 2017.

    “The proposal of the Ministry is to extend our embargo [against Russia], measures that we take in retaliation, to the same term. We are ready to contact the Cabinet of Ministers with this proposal and consider this decision,” Mykolskaya said in her interview with journalists in …

  • Following visit to Moscow, PACE President announces need for dialogue with Russia

    The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pedro Agramunt, has urged members to maintain communication with the Russian parliament. He said this after a two-day visit to Moscow.

    “Russia is a member state of the Council of Europe. Russia is important because without its active participation, we will be unable to effectively fight against terrorism. We will not be able to find a solution to the crisis in Syria. We will not be able to solve the crisis in Ukraine,” …

  • Yerevan supports placing Russian air defense system in Armenia

    The Armenian Parliament has ratified the government’s decision to combine its air defense system with that of Russia. The governmental proposal was adopted by the Armenian Parliament on the 30th of June despite protests from the opposition. 102 People’s Deputies voted in favor of this proposal while 8 voted against it.

    Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are all members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Moscow strengthened its military …