Contents tagged with Kremlin

  • Kyiv: Russia refuses to agree on 'Easter truce' in Donbas

    During negotiations held by the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Russia refused to support Ukraine’s initiative to declare an Easter truce that would start on April 19, said Ukrainian representative in the TCG, Iryna Herashchenko.

    According to her, the Skype conference lasted for six hours, but the negotiations bore no results.

    “Russia refused to support the Ukrainian initiative to declare a truce for the holiday and refused to take on the responsibility of enforcing a cease-fire in the Donbas, …

  • Kremlin: Sovereign Internet Act was forced on Russian by the West

    Russia had to adopt the law on “autonomous Internet” because of  the cyber threats from the West, said Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev.

     “We are not speaking about restricting the work of the World Wide Web. Russia is not going to disconnect itself. Nevertheless, there is a threat that external forces may disconnect Russia from the Internet,” Patrushev said in an interview with Izvestia.

     “It is necessary to create an infrastructure that would …

  • Kremlin takes over sanctioned Russian-Venezuelan bank

    The Russian government has decided to take over VTB Bank’s shares in Evrofinance Mosnarbank, which has come under sanctions for servicing payments by the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela.

    VTB’s share in the bank of 25% plus one share, which is held through VTB’s foreign offices and ITC Consultants, will most likely be transferred to the Federal Agency for State Property Management at no cost, VTB head Andrey Kostin announced on Thursday.

    “The decision has been made, and it has been approved …

  • Kremlin: NATO is redeploying troops to the borders with Russia

    NATO is returning to the transatlantic redeployment of troops to Europe that existed during the Cold War in order to strengthen the coalition forces on the border with Russia, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Mikhail Popov said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

     “The system of transatlantic reinforcement forces from the United States and Canada to Europe that existed during the years of the Cold War is being reanimated for the deployment of large coalition …

  • Kremlin calls US actions against Nord Stream-2 'international racketeering'

    The press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, stated that the Kremlin sees the United States’ hostile attitude towards the Russian project "Nord Stream-2" as attempts of unfair competition, reports RBC news agency.

    “We are all aware that we are dealing with attempts of unfair competition, and sometimes with actions that are actually comparable to racketeering and raiding on the international level,” he said.

    Peskov added that instead, the White House should think about how to …

  • Kremlin confirms that four American Mormons have been detained in Novorossiysk

    Four US citizens were detained in Novorossiysk, two of whom have already been deported from Russia by a court order, said the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova on Thursday, Interfax reports.

    According to her, the Americans were detained for violating Russian migration rules. Zakharova referred journalists to law enforcement agencies for further details.

    Russian media earlier reported that several Mormons were detained in Novorossiysk. It was reported …

  • Kremlin loses $3 billion in 3 days to gold price drop

    The biggest drop in the international gold price in more than a year has had a drastic effect on the value of the Bank of Russia’s reserves.

    In just over three trading days, the price per troy ounce slipped by 3.4% from $1,330 to $1,285, and had fallen by 2.6% at the end of last week, the worst result since May 2017, finanz.ru reports.

    The price reached an intraday low of $1283.3 on Monday, the lowest price since 25 January.

    For the Bank of Russia, which is buying all the gold that is being …

  • Kremlin offers the US to start Venezuela negotiations

    The Russian government has started to lose faith in its ability to keep Nicolás Maduro in power in Venezuela, despite the $17 billion Moscow has spent on assistance for the country over the last 12 years.

    When another of Venezuela’s major creditors – China – began negotiations with opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has been recognized as interim president by the US, EU and 8 Latin American countries, the Russian Foreign Ministry contacted Washington, asking to begin bilateral consultations on …

  • Kremlin: the US will use any excuse to invade Venezuela

    Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia Valentina Matviyenko stated at a meeting with Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez that the situation in Venezuela is yet another “test of strength” for those governments that previously organized coups in Iraq, Libya and other countries. She stated that the international community must not allow the legal government of Venezuela to be overthrown.

    “We are afraid that the United States could go for any provocation, so that blood could be …

  • Russian Defense Ministry aircraft spotted near Caracas

    In the early morning hours of 3 March, an Il-62 aircraft (registration number RA-86496) belonging to the Russian Defense Ministry was detected in the region of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, according to information from Flightradar24.

    According to the flight tracking service, the Il-62 took off close to the Chkalovsky military airport near Moscow on the morning of 2 March. The plane adopted a course towards South Africa, flew over the Moroccan capital, Rabat, and approached Caracas in the …