• Senate votes to allow US partners to purchase weapons from Russia

    The US Senate has passed legislative changes that will allow the President waive sanctions on countries that are attempting to establish closer relations with Washington, but are also involved in weapons deals with Russia.

    The decision passed with 87 Senators voting in favor and 10 voting against, writes RFE/RL.

    This decision had already been passed by the US House of Representatives, and now awaits President Trump’s final approval.

    Earlier, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis appealed to …

  • Syria claims it shot down Israeli drone over Damascus

    The national news agency SANA reported that Syrian armed forces spotted two hostile air targets just west of the country’s capital of Damascus and shot them down. SANA did not say to whom the aircraft belonged.

    Meanwhile, RIA Novosti reported, citing a Syrian field commander, that targets were Israeli reconnaissance drones. He confirmed that the drones were shot down by Syrian Air Defense Forces.

    Al Masdar news agency reports, with a reference to a source within the Syrian army, that the …

  • Ukrainian Ambassador believes Finland will deport Russians who entered the country with passports issued in Crimea

    Two residents with international passports issued by annexed Crimea received Finnish tourist visas and were allowed to enter the country because human error, Radio Liberty reports, citing a statement from the Ukrainian Ambassador to Finland, Andriy Olefirov.

    “It seems to me that these residents were allowed to travel to Finland on a tourist visa because of human error. Up to a million Schengen visas are issued at the consulates in St. Petersburg every year. Of course, there’s no law that …

  • Ukrainian hackers arrested at the USA’s request

    On Wednesday, US authorities announced the arrest of three key members of a large East European criminal cyber-group known as FIN7. The hackers are accused of attacking more than a hundred American companies and stealing millions of clients’ credit and debit cards.

    All three hackers, Dmytro Fedorov, Fedir Khladyr and Andrii Kolpakov are citizens of Ukraine. Khladyr remains in Federal custody in Seattle after his arrest in Germany in January and later extradition to the United States. Fedorov …

  • Central African media: Russian journalists were detained, questioned and killed by local militia

    Media outlets of the Central African Republic (CAR) sounded a new version of the death of three Russians who, according to the Investigations Management Center (IMC)  investigative project, went there to shoot a movie about the activities of the private military company the Wagner Group.

    According to Palmares Centrafrique news outlet, insurgents from the Muslim group Seleka who control the territories around Dekoa City kidnapped journalist Orhan Dzhemal, filmmaker Alexander Rastorguyev and …