• US ambassadors to Europe warn of dangers of Nord Stream 2 pipeline

    American diplomats are urging European countries to revise their Gas Directive and to adopt amendments that would extend the EU’s regulations to companies from third countries, including the Nord Stream 2 project. The US ambassadors to Germany, Denmark and the EU, Richard Grenell, Carla Sands and Gordon Sondland, wrote about this in an opinion article for Deutsche Welle.

    “The EU should revise the Third Energy Package's Gas Directive so that the bloc's laws also apply to projects like Nord …

  • EU diplomats warned about Russian and Chinese spies in Brussels

    The European Union External Action Service (EEAS) warned European diplomats and military about espionage by Russian and Chinese intelligence services, Die Welt reported with a reference to diplomats and the data of the EEAS.

    According to the European Union External Action Service, there are about 250 Chinese and 200 Russian spies in Brussels. Diplomats told the newspaper that they have been warned against visiting certain places, in particular, a cafe near the European Commission (Berlaymont) …

  • Russia not getting paid for arms shipments

    Russia has started making arms shipments without receiving payment due to the US sanctions that prohibit dollar transactions for Russia’s defense-related export company, Rosoboronexport, finanz.ru reports.

    The Russian Federal Customs Service’s (FCS) final statistics for 2018 appear to indicate that some of Russia’s weapons are being sold abroad for free, according to a review by Raiffeisen Bank analysts.

    By the end of the year, Russia’s export revenue had grown by 25.8% to $443 billion, which …

  • President Poroshenko: EU and NATO are guarantors of Ukraine's security

    On Saturday, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko stated during the “Open Dialogue” forum in Kyiv that only the country’s membership in the EU and NATO could guarantee Ukraine’s security and independence. 

    “Only full-scale and equal membership in the European Union and NATO definitively and irrevocably guarantees independence, national security, freedom and well-being for our country,” Interfax-Ukraine quotes Poroshenko as saying. 

    According to the president, Ukraine’s achievement of the …

  • Putin accepts invitation to visit Italy

    Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted an invitation to visit Italy, stated the Russian Ambassador in Rome, Sergey Razov in an interview with RIA Novosti. 

    “With regard to the Russian President's visit to Italy, the relevant invitation from the Italian leadership was received and accepted with appreciation,” he noted. Razov added that they will agree on a specific time frame later through diplomatic channels. 

    Razov stressed that Putin's visit to Italy could be a key event in bilateral …