Contents tagged with Russia

  • Russian Air Force violated Estonian airspace

    Tallinn has accused Russia of violating its airspace. According to the country's Defense Ministry, a Russian Antonov An-72 military transport plane breached Estonian airspace for less than a minute on Thursday. The incident occured near Vaindloo island, off the country’s northern coast on the Baltic Sea. 

    According the its flight plan, the An-72 was supposed to stay in international airspace, though it flew over Estonian territory without attempting to contact Estonian dispatchers. 

    The …

  • Paris Court of Appeals Delivers The Next French Slap to Russia

    RIA Novosti reported that the Paris Court of Appeals refused to suspend the decision to seize French assets belonging to Yukos Oil Company. The Russian Federation recently moved to suspend enforcement of The Hague Court’s decision to confiscate the Russian property, as well as the order to pay $50 billion to the former shareholders of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s company.

    In mid-June, the courts in Belgium and France seized several Russian assets, especially the accounts of a number of companies and …

  • Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Issue to Be Raised at Next EU Summit

    The construction of the second branch of the gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea for transporting natural gas from Russia to Germany is causing heated debates in the European Union.

    The controversial issue of the construction of the new gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 will be, according to reports from the diplomatic community, one of the themes of the EU summit in Brussels on Friday, December 18th. According to the DPA agency, the final document of the meeting of the Heads of State and Government …

  • Trump: Putin's compliments are a great honor

    Donald Trump reciprocates the compliments by Vladimir Putin

     The leading presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Donald Trump, told ABC that for him it's a "great honor" to receive a compliment from Vladimir Putin.

     Trump made this statement on Thursday after the ABC broadcast of an interview with Putin in which the Russian president called the American businessman and showman a "colorful, talented" person that wishes to put U.S. - Russia relations on a more solid ground. "How can …

  • IMF recognizes status of Ukraine’s debt

    Ukraine’s debt to Russia is set to mature on December 20th.  Recently, however, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lifted the ban on lending to countries with existing overdue sovereign debt, so Ukraine’s unpaid "debt of Yanukovych" will not prevent the IMF from further cooperation with Kiev.

    The Executive Committee of the IMF officially recognized the $3 billion Eurobond that Ukraine owes to Russia as sovereign debt, not commercial. Consequently, Ukraine will have to demonstrate that it is …

  • Putin comments on Nemtsov investigation

    During his annual Q & A session with journalists, Russian President Vladimir Putin encouraged those who demand progress in the investigation of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov to be patient.

    "I knew him personally. He chose a path of political battle, and he was not alone...and I believe that is a crime that must be investigated thoroughly", Putin stated.

    Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of Putin, was gunned down in February of this year, just steps from the Kremlin. The former Minister had …

  • Russia deploys nuclear weapons in Crimea

    MP and leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, spoke about the nuclear situation in Russian occupied Crimea.

    The People's Deputy said that the Kremlin has decided to position its nuclear power on the occupied peninsula and has restored the abandoned nuclear storage facility. 

    “It is known for certain that they have almost completely restored the nuclear repository in the natural boundary of Kyzyltash near Yalta, which was closed and emptied after the signing of the 1994 Budapest …

  • Turkey detains Russian merchant ships

    Turkish authorities cite the formal reason for the detention as the lack of completed documents, minor technical defects and violations of safety regulations.Since the beginning of the deterioration of relations between Moscow and Ankara, a total of 27 Russian merchant vessels have been detained in Turkey. These actions were in response to the detention of eight merchant ships in the Black Sea, as reported on December 16th by the Hürriyet. According to the newspaper, Turkish authorities …

  • Hostilities in Donbas region could resume before New Year

    Ukrainian intelligence has received indications that Russia is ready to expand the scope of the armed conflict in the Donbas region, and open hostilities may resume as early as the end of December, reported Ukrinform.

    "The situation in eastern Ukraine is extremely complicated.  An increase in the number and the scale of enemy provocations is leading to a deterioration of the situation in the Donbas region.  This includes attacks on Ukrainian Army positions by rebel soldiers… reinforced by …

  • The Russian rouble has fallen to 1998 levels

    The Central Bank set a record U.S. Dollar rate against the Ruble. The American currency has reached an historic high. On Tuesday, December 15th, the Central Bank of Russia set the Dollar exchange rate against the Ruble at around 70.82 rubles. This was the highest rate for the U.S. currency since 1998. Compared to the previous trading day, the Dollar rose more than 60 cents.

    The Euro exchange rate of the Central Bank was set at 78.23 rubles. The European currency has not yet exceeded its …