• Merkel: Ukraine must remain a gas transit country

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint press statement saying that they discussed the transit of gas to the European Union through Ukraine in the Meseberg meeting, Interfax reported on Saturday, August 18.

    "In the context of Ukraine, we also talked about the transit of gas. I believe that even after the launch of the Nord Stream-2, Ukraine must continue to play its role in gas transit to Europe." I am very pleased that we managed to begin the …

  • Poltorak: Armed forces of 18 countries to participate in Ukraine's Independence Day Parade

    The representatives of several foreign countries will take part in the military parade on Ukraine Independence Day, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak wrote on Facebook.

    “We look forward to the arrival of eighteen foreign delegations from around the world to participate in the parade,” said the Defense Minister, commenting on a parade rehearsal held in the center of Kyiv.

    The parade will be held on August 24 and will be one of the largest Independence Day military parades ever held in Ukraine, …

  • Putin attends Austrian foreign minister’s wedding with gift and gives a toast

    One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s gifts to Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneisl was a painting with rural motifs, depicting the places where Kneisl’s husband Wolfgang Meilinger is from, reported Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

    “Putin gave the newlyweds a painting with rural motifs, because her husband is from precisely these places, and he also gave an ancient butter squeezer and a Tula samovar,” Russian news agency TASS cites Peskov as saying.

    The Russian president’s spokesman …

  • Russia stops reducing its share in US government debt

    The United States Department of the Treasury published a report of country-holders of American bonds. According to the report, the total amount of treasury securities owned by Russia in June was $14.9 billion. The same figure was recorded a month ago.

    As in May, Russia was not on the list of 31 countries that are the main bondholders, but decline of Russia’s holdings in the first month of summer has stopped. For comparison, from March to May, Moscow sold $80 billion of the US treasuries. …

  • Experts: new US sanctions will cause 10% of investors to withdraw from Russian government bonds

    New US sanctions that may be imposed on the Russian national debt may lead to an outflow of 8-10% of investors from Russian sovereign debt bonds, according to the results of a study conducted by the Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA), reported TASS.

    Analysts believe that the introduction of new sanctions for the purchase of the Russian national debt will significantly reduce the investor base, which will lead to a strong increase in the cost of borrowing for the Russian government.

    " …