• The Polish Ambassador to the United States expressed grave concerns about the Russian-Belarusian exercise

    Eastern European countries are in an atmosphere of "fear and uncertainty" in connection with the forthcoming West-2017 joint Russian and Belarusian military exercise, said Polish Ambassador to the United States Piotr Wilczek. The West-2017 drills will take place on the territory of Belarus from September 14 to 20.

    "We do not know much about this exercise due to the lack of transparency. This is primarily a danger to Ukraine and it is a potential threat to other countries too. I'm not saying …

  • Director of company involved in Siemens turbines scandal fired in Russia

    The CEO of Silovye Mashiny, which was involved in a scandal with Siemens turbines, has been fired In Russia.

    As reported by Interfax, the Board of Directors of Silovye Mashiny passed a decision July 19 on the early termination of Roman Filippov's powers.

     On July 13, Filippov was interrogated in Russia for a criminal case concerning the disclosure of state secrets.

    The Board of Directors of PJSC Silovye Mashiny appointed a new CEO after Roman Filipov's resignation. The new CEO is Filippov's …

  • National Bank of Ukraine removes PwC from auditor registry for inaccurate audit of PrivatBank

    The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has removed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) from the registry of auditing firms which have the right to audit banks.

    The relevant decision was made on July 20 by the NBU’s executive board on the basis of a request from the Committee on matters of bank auditing, the NBU’s press service reported.

    The announcement points out that the reason for the decision was the fact that PWC affirmed inaccurate information about the financial-economic activity of PrivatBank ( …

  • US authorities fine ExxonMobil for deal with Russian Rosneft

    A notice regarding a fine for ExxonMobil was placed on the US Ministry of Finance’s website. The notice points out that company and its subsidiary organizations (ExxonMobil Development Co. and ExxonMobil Oil Corp.) violated §589.201 of the sanction legislation introduced in connection with the events in Ukraine. This paragraph imposes a ban on deals with entities on the sanction list.

    The violation with the company’s involvement took place in the period between the 14th and the 23rd of May 2014 …

  • Strelkov: funds and weapons to start the war in the Donbas were obtained in Crimea

    During his debate with Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny , former head of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) separatists  Igor Girkin, also known as “Strelkov”, said that he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin when he saw that Putin opposed the West and what he did with the annexation of Crimea.

    The former separatist leader clarified that he thought Putin’s next step would be to clean up his surroundings.

    “In 2014 I supported Putin because I really believed that he would …

  • The President of Lithuania demanded that the US deploy its Patriot missile defense system in the Baltics

    On Thursday, President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė observed the progress of the Tobruq Legacy 2017 international military exercises in Šiauliai, where she stated that the US Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems should be placed in the Baltic region.

    NATO's Tobruq Legacy-2017 air defense military exercises were launched in Lithuania on July 11 and will end on July 22. They involve about 500 military personnel and 30 air defense personnel from the UK, the US, Latvia and Poland.

    Before the …

  • A Russian Navy warship entered the Mediterranean Sea on its way to Syria

    The Russian landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov entered the waters of the Mediterranean Sea on the way to Syria, Interfax reported.

    The vessel is headed to the Syrian port of Tartus, where the logistics center of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea is located. This is the Filchenkov’s seventh campaign.

    According to Turkish media, on July 16, a Kyzyl-60 auxiliary transport ship of the Russian Navy passed through the Black Sea straits bearing cargo bound for Syria. On July 10, the landing …

  • IMF ready to postpone requirement for land reform in Ukraine

    Pension reform, privatization, and the fight against corruption are key requirements for the completion of the fourth review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), says William Murray, an official representative of the Fund.

    "Consideration by the Executive Board of the fourth review will be possible once the policies needed for this review are implemented. The focus of this review is on pension reform and on measures to speed up privatization …

  • Media: Kremlin facing challenges in developing campaign strategy for Putin for 2018 elections

    The Kremlin has not yet come up with “a vision for Russia's future” that Vladimir Putin could use in the 2018 presidential election, reported the Russian publication Vedomosti.

    According to people close to the Russian president's administration, work in this direction is "stormy" and "difficult." Notably, more than a dozen meetings have taken place on this issue.

    The Kremlin has already replaced several resource professionals who were to invent an image of the future for Putin's campaign. …

  • Washington: Russia's FSB requested assistance of the FBI in ensuring security during the FIFA World Cup

    The FSB of Russia appealed to the United States FBI with a request for assistance in providing security at the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018, as reported in the U.S. State Department's most recent annual report on the analysis of terrorist threats in the world.

    “The FSB requested assistance from the FBI with respect to security training in preparation for the FIFA World Cup in 2018,” the document notes. It does not provide any details about what kind of assistance Russian law enforcement …