• Russian military pensioners will have benefits reduced in new Labor Ministry bill

    Over 2.5 million Russian military pensioners will not receive a lump-sum payment of RUB 5,000 (USD 79.00). Military pensioners are not subject to the law on lump-sum payments following authorities’ decision to replace the indexation of pensions in 2016, RBC news agency reports.

    "The payment is charged only to recipients of pensions from the Pension Fund," the relevant draft bill reads. The draft has been sent through a first reading in the State Duma and is being prepared for the second. …

  • Poland to open investigation to determine why so few autopsies were carried out for victims of Smolensk plane crash

    According to the representative from the National Prosecutor’s Office press service, Eva Bialik, the Polish National Prosecutor’s Office has initiated an investigation into the lack of autopsies after the Smolensk tragedy in Poland, Polish Radio reports.

    The office is investigating why some autopsies were not carried out in Poland and who is responsible.

    According to Bialik, six years ago in Poland autopsy reports were accepted from Moscow, but examinations from Wroclaw Medical University …

  • Poland to publish correspondence pertaining to visit of deceased President to Smolensk

    Poland was able to reconstruct e-mails concerning the planning of the visit of the late President, Lech Kaczynski, to Katyn. These materials will now be published, the Foreign Minister, Witold Waszczykowski, said.

    In September he indicated that this information would be published in a few days, however, just before the publishing date, he relayed on Polish radio that it would be delayed due to the appearance of new documents.

    "At the time, there were only paper documents found in the archives, …

  • Ukraine demands that Russia provide documents confirming Russian citizenship of Crimeans Sentsov and Kolchenko

    The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine demands that Russia provide copies of documents confirming Russian citizenship for Ukrainians Oleg Sentsov and Olexander Kolchenko, who were jailed in Russia. The Deputy Minister of Justice, Sergiy Petukhov, posted a photo of the said request on his Facebook page.

    “The Moscow kingdom resumed serfdom. Crimeans were captured with land like serfs. When a neighbor’s head is filled with a medieval mindset, it is difficult to talk about European values. We believe …

  • Lithuania issues manual specifying what to do if Russia invades

    Lithuanians have been handed a 75-page manual telling them what to do in the event of a Russian invasion. As reported by СNN, the guide on what to do if the country is invaded is entitled, "Prepare to Survive Emergencies and War."

    “Attention needs to be paid to Russia’s actions," the manual says. “This country does not hesitate to use military force against its neighbors, and at this moment it continues military aggression against Ukraine.”

    Postimees news agency indicates that it is the third …

  • Ukraine completes disposal of Soviet-era intercontinental ballistic missiles

    The routine disposal of outdated, Soviet manufactured PC-22 (SS-24) intercontinental ballistic missiles has been completed in Ukraine by the State enterprise SPA (Scientific Production Association). The Pavlograd Chemical Plant (PCP) has fully completed the disposal of the second stages of the rockets, as was reported on 28 October during a press conference by the Director General of the enterprise, Leonid Shyman.

    According to him, the enterprise has disposed of 108, or 67% of the stages of …

  • Swedish expert: Russia is trying to establish control over the Baltic Sea

    A Senior Lecturer from the National Defense College, Thomas Ries, told Aftonbladet newspaper that the deployment of two submarines to the naval base in Kaliningrad is part of Russia's strategy to establish control over the Baltic Sea.

    Two small missile ships, the Zeleny Dol and the Serpukhov, were added to the Russian Baltic Fleet this week. They were transferred from the Black Sea Fleet.

    Ries explained that in the event of a conflict, corvettes equipped with Kalibr missiles will be able to …

  • Churkin: Russia will be reelected to the UN Human Rights Council next year

    Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said that Russia will be re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council next year. This was said on 28 October, when commenting on the results of the vote of the General Assembly, when Russia did not receive the required majority of votes, losing to Hungary and Croatia.

    "We were in it for several years, I'm sure the next time we will be included again," Churkin said, adding that Russia "needs a break."

    More than 80 human rights groups …

  • Georgia seeks to ease tensions with Russia

    Georgian Prime Minister Georgy Kvirikashvili said that Tbilisi is seeking to ease tensions with Moscow, TASS reported.

    "Georgia will continue to pursue its policy of easing tensions with the Russian Federation," Kvirikashvili said.

    "We will continue to seek ways to get the relationship with Russia back to normal, but everybody should understand that nothing will be done to harm Georgia’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders,” the Prime Minister explained.

    " …

  • Ukrainian court to consider lawsuit over Russian aggression

    The Supreme Specialized Court of Ukraine has opened proceedings on the issue of establishing the fact of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. The proceeding was opened on the application of the Director of the Open Court project, Stanislav Batryn, Zn.ua reported.

    According to the edition, the Court has evoked the case from the Shevchenkivskiy District Court of Kyiv, where the case was initially reviewed. Batryn first filed his claim two years ago. The Ukrainian activist stated that he …