• Russia starts investigation into Ukrainian oligarch’s company

    The Russian FSB is conducting searches regarding a case of fraud on an especially large scale, the primary subject of it being the Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, Rosbalt news web site reports.

    As Rosbalt reports with reference to a source in the law enforcement authorities, searches have been carried out at a number of former managers of the insurance company “Rossiya”, at the offices of firms related to this company, and also at the major legal office which represents the insurers’ …

  • LPR official: the owners of the nationalized Ukrainian enterprises will not be replaced

    According to separatist controlled information sources, Vladyslav Deinego, a representative of the LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic), during the Minsk talks, stated that the introduction of “external management” of enterprises within Ukrainian jurisdiction, located in the separatist-held territories of the Luhansk region, does not mean that the owners of such enterprises will be changed.

    “We decided that there must be temporary external management…as far as the ownership, it doesn’t affect that. …

  • Prava Sprava: Separatists are planning provocations directed at OSCE monitors in Luhansk

    Author: Dmytro Snegiryov, Head of Prava Sprava public initiative.

    The analytical department of the Prava Sprava public initiative says that according to local sources, on March 7th, in a city of Luhansk and near the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska, employees of the Ministry of State Security of the self-proclaimed LPR, were planning to commit a series of provocative acts against members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) under the guise of Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance …

  • British Foreign Minister plans to visit Russia, will not meet with Putin

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is not planning to meet with British Minister of Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson, who will come to Russia in a few weeks, as reported by Russia's TASS news agency citing the Russian presidential Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov.

    “As of now no meeting is planned,” Peskov stated.

    British Minister of Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson will visit Russia in the coming weeks for a high level summit.Johnson is coming to Moscow at the invitation of his counterpart Sergey …

  • Kyiv: separatists shelling disrupted power supply to Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine

    According to the statement issued by the Command of Ukrainian Armed Forces in eastern Ukraine, the town of Avdiivka, was left once again without electricity as a result of shelling from heavy weapons by the separatists.

    "Just now, Avdiivka lost its electricity again. The availability of mobile generators is intermittent. Water supply for the households is still provided for now." the statement says.

    The severity of damage to power lines is still unknown. Currently, the town’s critical …

  • Kyiv announces possible sanctions following the 'nationalization' of Ukrainian property in separatist republics

    The European Union and the United States can administer sanctions against the possible new owners of Ukrainian enterprises in the Donbas territories that are not under Ukraine's control as stated by the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Konstantin Eliseev, while on air with Inter TV channel.

    "It's really about the seizure, I would even say, a corporate raid by the Russian side, by the Russian fighters. Of course, not a single civilized country in the world will recognize this …

  • French company closes down in the separatist-held territory in Donbas

    Air Liquide, a French joint-stock company that is a world leader in the industrial gases market, announced that it is closing its operations in the separatist-held territory of the Donetsk region. The company announced the closure of its subsidiary, “Air Liquide Yenakiieve”, in company statement.

    The shutdown was due to the decision of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) to introduce new interim administrations to Ukrainian enterprises in the territory."Following the recent decisions of the …

  • Thousands in Belarus protest against the tax on parasitism

    More than a thousand of people protesting against the “tax on parasitism” walked along the central streets of Belarusian city of Brest and blocked traffic flow on the city’s main motorway.

    The protesters chanted “Enough!”, “Lukashenko, go away!”, “We don’t want to pay thieves, parasites and cops”. “No salary – there’s a tax, the deputy’s purse. The real sponger is the person who invented the decree.”

    A number of the participants in the unsanctioned action – about 150 people – agreed to go …

  • Ukrainian National Council says that TV tower broadcasting to Crimea will run at full capacity by April

    A member of Ukraine’s National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, Sergei Kostinsky stated on UA TV that the TV tower at Chonhar will run at full capacity by the end of March, Krym.Realii reported.

    “Currently, the TV tower at Chonhar is operating in test mode. However, it will begin to work in normal mode this month. All four radio stations should become operational as of April,” Kostinsky reported.

  • Russia increases the price of gas for Belarus

    The price of Russian gas for Belarus has risen by 6.81 percent from January 1, 2017, from 132 dollars to 141.1 dollars per thousand cubic meters. This was stated in a letter dated January 25, addressed by the Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom, Valery Golubev to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, as reported by RBC news agency.

    The authenticity of the letter was confirmed to RBC by officials in the Energy Ministry in Moscow and Minsk. In the letter, Golubev describes …