The Head of the Central Election Commission or CEC of the Russian Federation, Ella Pamfilova claimed foreign interference in the elections of the President of the Russian Federation, which the CEC had already faced.

Pamfilova stated during her interview in Itogi Nedeli (Results of the Week) on Russia’s NTV Channel that the meddling is "very diverse," RIA Novosti reports.

"They take a situation; interpret it completely differently from reality. Then it starts disseminating...  And powerful …

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the Alliance has lost some of its offensive skills at sea since the end of the Cold War.

"NATO has reduced its capabilities at sea, particularly the ability to counter submarines. We are less trained and have lost our skills," he told the German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The Secretary-General said this while speaking about the activity of Russian submarines and the strengthening of the Russian Federation's military potential. …

A Catholic worshiper community in the name of Saint Clement of Rome in Sevastopol, the Crimean peninsula annexed from Ukraine, held a Christmas church service on December 24. Approximately one hundred church-goers attended the service ministered at the closed doors of a Catholic church at Ushakova square.

The worshipers stood under the rain and mostly in the darkness due to absence of proper lighting, according to a reporter from Krym Realii online. Father Anatoly, the priest who ministered …

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that rapprochement between Russia and Germany is impossible without Vladimir Putin.

"Managing Russia is not an easy task. Rather, [Germany] must proceed from the fact that it will not be better after Putin. A step towards rapprochement could lead to the gradual lifting of reciprocal sanctions," Schröder told the Rheinische Post.

In addition, he commented on his chairmanship of the Rosneft Board of Directors, which became public in September. …

The Moscow Arbitration Court did not invalidate the deal on the supply of Siemens turbines to Rostec's subsidiary Technopromexport, RIA Novosti reports. The publication notes that the German concern was unable to prove fraud in the case of shipment of its turbines to the Crimea.

"In violation of the provisions of Article 65 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the plaintiffs on the initial lawsuit did not prove that plaintiff-2 [the Siemens plant producing turbines-Ed.] …

In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker called the outgoing year the most violent since the beginning of the conflict in the Donbas, saying that sanctions against the Russian Federation should continue.

In addition, Volker called the impression that the crisis in eastern Ukraine was over "absolutely mistaken".

"The year 2017 was the most violent year. The number of violations of the ceasefire has increased, the number of dead …

The CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Andriy Kobolyev, said during a broadcast on Channel 5 that the company's task for 2018 is to halt the Nord Stream 2 project by reforming the Ukrainian gas transportation system (GTS).

"Indeed, this pipeline is a big risk, and its construction will fundamentally undermine the economy of the whole country. We believe that its construction is partly a military project, [and] that Putin's goal is to eliminate the transport of Russian gas from the territory of …

The State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine will give 11 gas-bearing areas in the Poltava region, without competition, to the company connected with the associates of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, as stated in an article in Economichna Pravda newspaper.

All eleven sites belonged to the Golden Derrick firm during Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency. They were confiscated during Petro Poroshenko’s first year as president.

According to sources, applications for the out-of- …