• Court proceedings to ban Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people have begun

    On March 3rd, 2016, the trial which aims to prohibit the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars on the peninsula, began in the Supreme Court of Crimea.

     “Traditionally, the quarter of the courthouse is surrounded by police officers.  The court itself is fenced with turnstiles. Entrance to the building is allowed through the framework of metal detectors. People are searched,” the Head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kurultay of the Crimean Tatars, Zaire Smedlyaev, reported to Krym.Realii .

    " …

  • The Kremlin declines to comment on Savchenko's hunger strike

    Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the hunger strike declared by Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian pilot being charged in a Russian court.

    “I do not want to comment on it. It is not a question that relates to our agenda. Moreover, there is a trial, and certainly some comments from our side would not be allowed,” Peskov said, as reported by Interfax.

    Savchenko declared a hunger strike starting March 3rd after the Donetsk City Court in the Rostov region …

  • Expert says the worst is yet to come for the Russian economy

    The head of the Higher School of Economics' Center for Development, Natalya Akindinova, explained that January economic data indicated that the Russian economy has started to worsen.

    “This relates in particular to construction, cargo turnover and trade. The total fall in basic industries in January was 0.4-0.6% lower than December without taking into account seasonal fluctuations. The huge lack of growth has been accumulated in real incomes and consumer demand, and its downside potential has …

  • Russian Gazprom to receive 2 billion euro loan from Chinese bank

    Gazprom and the Bank of China have signed an agreement granting the Russian gas monopoly a €2 billion loan for a period of five years as reported by the press service of the company.

    It is the largest funding deal coming directly from one credit institution in the history of Gazprom. It was also noted by the company that it was the first bilateral loan agreement with the Chinese Bank.

    In August 2015 Gazprom secured a loan from a consortium of Asian Banks for $1.5 billion at LIBOR + 3.5% for …

  • Klimkin hands statement from relatives of Ukrainian prisoners to Normandy Four Foreign Ministers

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin, handed a statement written by the mothers and relatives of Ukrainian prisoners to the Foreign Ministers of the Normandy Four.

    “I have sent an letter written by the mothers and relatives of our prisoners. It is about their relatives, who should be released immediately,” he wrote in his Twitter account following the results of the Normandy Four meeting in Paris.

    Earlier, Klimkin reported that no conclusions were agreed on by the participants of …