Russian President Vladimir Putin caught a cold, as relayed to journalists by Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, Interfax reports.

During a meeting with the finalists of the Leaders of Russia contest, Putin apologized that he spoke quietly, as he lost his voice a little. As a result, journalists asked Peskov about the President’s health. Peskov answered, "He has a cold but he continues to work."

He stressed that the ailment hasn’t affected the President's working schedule.

If Russia is disconnected from the SWIFT interbank system, it will impede bank operation and necessitate the use of outdated technology, but Russian financial institutes and companies are technologically prepared to do this, stated Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich in response to students’ questions during the opening ceremony of the seventh session of the “International Model United Nations” conference.

“Of course it [the disconnection from SWIFT] would not be pleasant, because …

Germany is not satisfied with the state of implementation of the agreements reached in Minsk on February 12, 2015, and intends to continue work to resolve the conflict through the "Normandy format" (consisting of Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia), according to a statement published on the website of the German Foreign Office.

"Thanks to the Minsk Agreements, we have succeeded in containing the conflict in the east of Ukraine and preventing a fire in the region. With the political will …

On Monday, a law went into effect in Moldova that prohibits television channels from showing Russian news and informational-analytical programs, as announced by the chairman of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (Consiliul Coordonator al Audiovizualului - CCA) Dragos Vicol, reports Newsmaker.md.

According to him, the 30-day period – a formality – was up on February 11. “But according to Article 265 of the Civil Code, if the date falls on a day off, then the law goes into force on the next …

Ukrainian citizen Konstantin Davydenko, who has been detained in Simferopol, confessed that he was assigned by the Security Service of Ukraine to go to the Crimea to collect information, reported TASS, citing a video recording by the FSB. The suspect’s testimony was recorded on video, the report said.

On the video, Davydenko said that he arrived in the Crimea “following instructions of the Ukrainian Secret Service” and that he had to give information to someone named Vitaly.

The detained man …

New evidence has begun to appear on Russian social networks and media on the death of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private military company, in an airstrike by the US-led coalition forces in the Syrian Deir al-Zor province.

The death of Alexey Ladygin from Ryazan was reported on Sunday.

Ladygin’s friends write that he was involved in the events in Crimea as part of the Russian special forces. He later took part in the fight for Debaltseve in western Ukraine. In the Wagner …

The ex-president of Georgia and leader of the “Movement of New Forces” Mikhail Saakashvili was detained by the State Border Service together with representatives of the State Migration Service and other law enforcement agencies during the “investigation of certain places where there is a concentration of illegal migrants,” reported the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“While carrying out coordinated interdepartmental work, law enforcement officers found the stateless person M. …

On January 15, 2018, the Reutov City Court of the Moscow Region ruled to enforce the deportation of a participant of the capture of the Ukrainian city of Slovyansk by pro-Russian militia, Nikolai Tregubov, to Ukraine, as reported by Komsomolskaya Pravda.

According to the Ukrainian Myrotvorets website, he was born in Vinnytsa, attended boarding school, and was an active supporter of Anti-Maidan (anti-Ukrainian movement).

Tregubov took part in the capture of Slovyansk in 2014.

After leaving …