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Kremlin: Western sanctions against Russia will most likely remain forever
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant that the restrictive measures that the West has imposed on Russia will remain forever.
"The sanctions are the reaction of the old enemy to our reinforcement. And they will be lifted only if we again become weak," he said.
According to Rogozin, "for Russia, sanctions are a chance to show the best features of its national character."
In response to a question about whether the sanctions hamper the …
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Czech President hinders extradition of Russian hacker to US
Czech President Milos Zeman insists on extraditing Russian Evgeny Nikulin, detained in Prague in 2016 at Washington’s request, to Russia rather than the United States, Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikan told the publication Aktualne.
"It is true that there have been two meetings this year at which the President asked me to extradite a Russian citizen not to the United States, but to Russia," Pelikan said. After the publication of the material, right-wing Czech politicians attacked Zeman …
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Smolensk air disaster investigator: it is likely that explosives were planted on President Kaczynski’s plane in Russia
Polish statesman Antoni Macierewicz, the chairperson of a special commission that was formed to investigate the deadly crash of the Tu-154M plane near Smolensk, Russia, in 2010 and took lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and members of the Polish governmental delegation, has stated that the explosives could not have been placed on the plane in Warsaw.
“We do not suspect that the explosive was planted during that time at the airport. There is no such suspicion. We’ve run forensic tests …
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The EU extends embargo on arms exports to Belarus
The Council of the European Union officially extended the sanctions against Belarus for arms sales and exports of goods that could be used for internal repression. It also extended an entry ban to four people.
As stated in the decision published on February 23 on the website of the EU Council, which was adopted the day before, the sanctions were extended for another year, until February 28, 2019.
"These measures include an embargo on the supply of weapons, a ban on the export of means that …
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Sweden plans to double its defense budget and army size due to Russian aggression
Sweden intends to increase the strength of the Armed Forces by 2035 from current levels of 50,000 troops to future levels of 120,000 troops, as noted in a new report on national defense strategy submitted by the Swedish Armed Forces, reports The Local.
The document assumes that the overall defense budget will increase from today's 53 billion kronor ($6.5 billion) per annum to about 115 billion kronor ($14 billion) per annum by 2035.
The document, called a "prospective study", is formally …