• Russian Central Bank communication system fails after Kremlin attempts to shut down Google services

    The Russian Central Bank experienced a failure of its electronic systems a few days after the Russian media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, stepped up efforts to block VPNs and attempted to limit the work of a number of Google services.

    Communication channels through which Russian banks interact with the Central Bank became unstable on Monday, September 13, Interfax reports, with reference to the press service of the Russian Central Bank.

    On Tuesday, the problems persisted and created difficulties …

  • Belarus loses access to European banking system due to sanctions

    The Belarusian banking system has felt the heavy footstep of European and American sanctions imposed in the summer in response to repression and the forced landing of the Ryanair flight in Minsk.

    European banks began to massively close dollar end euro correspondent accounts of Belarusian states-owned companies, making it impossible to conduct operations in two key world currencies.

    Last week, the correspondent accounts of Belarusbank, Belinvestbank and Belagroprombank were closed by Deutcsche …

  • Ukraine to buy 24 additional Bayraktar drones from Turkey

    Ukraine will buy from Turkey four additional Bayraktar TB2 drone systems. Each systems includes six drones. There will be 24 drones in total, announced the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, in an interview with the news outlet Report.

    "One system was purchased this year at the request of the Defense Ministry. In addition, four more such systems are planned to be purchaseed  to meet the needs of the Armed Forces in 2021-2022 . In the future, we plan to replenish …

  • Poland, following Belarus, shuts off main Russian oil export pipeline

    The Druzhba oil pipeline, one of Russia’s largest oil export channels to the EU, has been paralyzed by Poland's and Belarus' synchronous decision to shut it off.

    Both branches of the pipeline, built in the 1960s to supply Soviet oil to eastern European countries, were shut off over the weekend.

    Belarus was the first to stop pumping oil. On August 9, the day of President Alexander Lukashenko's visit to Moscow, the state concern Belneftekhim stopped exports along Druzhba’s southern branch in …

  • Sudan demands payment from Kremlin for Russian Navy base

    The new authorities of Sudan, where president Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for 30 years, was overthrown two years ago, are unwilling to fulfill the agreement on a Russian Navy base and demand a revision of its terms.

    According to RIA Novosti, the Sudanese Defense Ministry would like to receive economic assistance from Moscow for the next five years in exchange for a 25-year lease of the navy base in Port Sudan, which should become the first fort post of the Russian fleet in Africa since the …