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Putin's son-in-law received $1.75 billion Russian state loan
A Reuters report on information taken from public records about the government and the Sibur Company indicates that Russian President Vladimir Putin's son-in-law has received government funds for a lucrative construction project.
33-year-old Kirill Shamalov owns one fifth of the largest petrochemical company in Russia, Sibur Gas Processing and Petrochemicals. In December, Sibur received funds from the National Welfare Fund (NWF) for the construction of a large complex in the Tyumen region near …
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Russia to end Ukraine’s supply of electricity to Crimea
It appears as though Moscow will end a contract with Kiev that ensures the delivery of electricity to the Crimea. Having illegally annexed the peninsula in early 2014, Russia insists that Ukraine remove any language from the contact that stipulates that the Crimea is part of Ukrainian territory. Kiev is determined not to give in.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov asserted that if Ukraine does not agree to change the wording, Russia is most likely to abandon the contract. "It can be assumed …
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Moscow to sue Kiev over $3 billion debt
The Russian Ministry of Finance has declared that Kiev is in a “state of default”, and that Moscow is taking legal action against Ukraine. The $3 billion Eurobond debt owed to Russia was loaned during the reign of former president Viktor Yanukovich in 2013 under the stipulation that Ukraine forgo any steps towards European integration, namely the ratification of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement.
Russian authorities have contacted the Law Debenture Corporation and initiated the …
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Russia demands prosecution of Syrian Turkman who shot Russian pilot
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has demanded that Turkey arrest the leader of an insurgent group of Syrian Turkmen, Alparslan Celik, and bring him to justice for the murder of Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov, as reported by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, on the agency’s website.
In an interview with the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, Celik confessed to participating in the shooting of the pilot after he ejected from his Su-24 bomber that was shot down by a Turkish F-16 …
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Yavlinsky: Russia must create political alternative in 2016
In an op-ed written for Novaya Gazeta, politician Grigory Yavlinsky examined the year's main events in Russia, highlighting political reprisals against political dissidents, in particular the assassination of Boris Nemtsov.
"The whole theme of this year, the most pressure put on civil society in the last 30 years, the amount of force used in the country and in international relations, is concentrated in the very beginning: the tragedy of February 27th," Yavlinsky wrote, referring to the day on …