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Maduro prepares to send 20 tons of Venezuela’s gold to Russia
The Venezuelan government under Maduro is preparing to transfer 20 tons of gold – roughly 20% of the Central Bank’s reserves – to Russia, said José Guerra, a member of the country’s National Assembly and a retired economist for the Central Bank.
Guerra claims to have received the information from a Central Bank official with whom he still has contact. An aircraft from Moscow has supposedly arrived to collect the gold.
“We demand that the Central Bank give us information about what is going on, …
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US Intelligence dismisses possibility of large-scale Russian attack against Ukraine
American Intelligence believes that a large-scale attack by Russia against Ukraine in 2019 is "operationally possible but not likely,” stated Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats during a hearing at the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Voice of America reported.
"We assess that a major offensive by either Ukraine or Russian proxy forces is operationally feasible but unlikely in 2019,” Coats stated. US intelligence services foresee increased tensions in the Black Sea and …
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Tokyo: establishing US military bases in the Kuril Islands is only possible with Japan’s consent
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that if the South Kuril Islands are handed over to Japan, the creation of US military bases on those islands will be possible only after Tokyo gives its consent, RIA Novosti reported, citing Kyodo News Agency.
The United States has the right to establish military bases in Japan. However, in the case of the Kuril Islands, the deployment location must be coordinated with the Japanese government, Abe stated.
Meanwhile, Abe gave no answer to journalists’ …
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France provides Ukraine with a $64 million loan to upgrade water supply system in Mariupol
On Tuesday, Ukraine signed a contract with France for a line of credit to complete the project of providing water in Mariupol.
The loan in the amount of 64 million euros is allocated for 30 years with a 10-year grace period. The Ukrainian government’s press service indicated that the rate would be 0.08% per annum.
The water that is supplied to apartments in Mariupol comes from the Northern Donetsk river, which crosses the line of demarcation several times. Due to the conflict in the Donetsk …
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Russia prepares to kiss goodbye to multi-billion investments in Venezuela
The US sanctions on PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, threaten to affect the Maduro government’s ability to repay its debts to Russia, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak said on Tuesday.
According to Storchak, Venezuela has borrowed more than $3 billion from Russia in intergovernmental loans.
The debt had to be restructured in November 2017, when the repayment schedule became impossible for Nicolás Maduro, whose 6 year rule has seen the Venezuelan economy shrink by …