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Russian sanctions extended
BRUSSELS – The European Union on Monday extended its economic sanctions against Russia for six months, after the Kremlin had failed to fully respect a peace agreement in east Ukraine.
The sanctions target Russia's financial, energy and defense sectors as well as some dual-use goods.
Despite a cease-fire declared in February, Ukraine says it still has not regained complete control over its border with Russia and that Russian-backed rebels are not respecting the cease-fire conditions.
The …
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Peskov denies reports of military interference
Russia didn't send military experts to Ukraine, said the President's Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov. He claims that the Russian presence in the southeast of Ukraine consisted entirely of volunteers. According to Interfax, those were his comments on the words of Vladimir Putin during his end-of-the-year press conference on December 17th. Putin said that the Russian citizens fighting alongside the separatists in eastern Ukraine were there as volunteers, though he also admitted to the presence of …
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Kremlin Envoy: Crimean Tatar Mejlis no longer recognized
On Saturday, Representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Oleg Belaventsev, stated that the Crimean Tatar Mejlis no longer represents the interests of the Crimean Tatar people, and has been replaced with the Crimea Interregional Civil Movement.
The Crimean Tatar Mejlis is the highest executive-representative body of the Crimean Tatars, and was officially and explicitly recognized as such by the Ukrainian Rada in March of 2014. While the Mejlis was legalized in 1999, its influence had …
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Kiev issues moratorium on payment of debt
The government of Ukraine has announced that it will not repay the $3 billion debt owed to Russia by the due date of December 20th. In addition, a $507 million commercial debt owed to several Russian banks will also be suspended.
Kiev cited Russia’s refusal to accept repayment terms already offered to other international creditors.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk did not specify how long the moratorium would last, but acknowledged that the Russian government would take legal action …
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Aksenov complains about Russia’s promises
The Russian Federation was slated to provide the Crimea with funds for the development of the peninsula and Sevastopol in particular until the year 2020. This assistance was pegged at 15 billion rubles per year. Close to the end of 2015, Crimea has yet to receive any of the funds from the federal program.
According to Russian news agency KrymInform, this was announced by the de-facto Prime Minister of Crimea Sergey Aksenov during a round table conference about the annexed territory and the …