• Russia's Roskosmos to spend $915 million on new Federation spacecraft

    Roskosmos will spend $915 million to create the first flight model for the new generation of manned spacecraft, "the Federation". This amount was named on the public procurement website. The federal budget of the Russian Federation is indicated as a source of funding.

    The project consists of the development of the “Federation” manned transport spacecraft for flight “into and beyond the Earth orbit, including to the moon.” Interfax news agency published excerpts from the tender documents on …

  • Russia to produce film on the construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge

    The Russian Ministry of Culture posted an announcement on the state procurement website seeking competitive bids for the production of a special project, "a full-length film with partial financial support from the State on the subject of the construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait." The film must be completed before the end of November 2017.

    The project budget should not exceed 3 million rubles ($47,700). The Ministry of Culture will accept applications for the production of the …

  • Kadyrov proposes shooting 'violators of the peace'

    The Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, proposed executing the violators of peace in the Republic at the meeting of the regional Government, Novaya Gazeta wrote. “Those who disturb peace in the Chechen Republic should be shot to hell. It doesn’t matter if it’s the law or not. If the issue concerns security, shoot the violators. Do you understand? As-salamu alaykum and everything is fine. That is what we call the law!” Ramzan Kadyrov said.

    Novaya Gazeta quoted Kadyrov exactly from the …

  • Dozens of Ukrainians died due to poisoned alcohol imported by Russian supplier

    A Russian alcohol supplier has been implicated in the alcohol-poisoning deaths of 38 Ukrainian citizens, as the First Deputy Head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, Sergey Bilan, wrote on his Facebook page. 

    “We have identified the supplier of the methyl alcohol to the Kharkiv region which has killed 38 people. It was supplied from an enterprise in the Luhansk region, located in Severodonetsk. The enterprise also officially sells methanol and imports the products from the Russian …

  • Media: Aleppo's largest hospital was bombed by Russian and Assad's planes

    At least two barrel bombs hit the biggest hospital in Aleppo, Syria, as reported by Al Arabiya news agency, citing representatives of the medical organization. Medics say that the target of the bombardment was a hospital, located in the opposition-controlled part of Aleppo. Presumably, cluster bombs also were used during the attack.

    In addition, Anadolu news agency reports that the Air Forces of the Russian Federation and of the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad both dropped bombs of a "great …

  • Russian Finance Ministry: National Wealth Fund will be exhausted by the end of 2019

    The National Wealth Fund (NWF) will be reduced to 500 billion rubles by the end of 2019, the Russian Minister of Finance, Anton Siluanov, stated at the Sochi-2016 forum,” TASS reported.

    “The total of all reserves, the NWF and the Reserve Fund, will only contain 500 billion rubles at the end of the three-year plan. These 500 billion rubles will remain in the NWF,” the Minister said.

    He also noted that it is necessary to be careful with NWF spending on new projects.

    “At a time when we are …

  • Russia to equip its Southern district with new generation of BUK missiles

    This year the Southern military district of Russia will be equipped with the new generation of surface-to-air BUK-3M missiles. According to the Russian TASS news agency, this was stated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces, Colonel-General Oleg Salyukov.

    “As a part of strengthening of the ground forces the air-defense units will be equipped with modern missile systems. And these are in particular BUK-3M surface-to-air missile systems capable of engaging up to 6 air targets …

  • Lutsenko: Russian Prosecutor General inadvertently disclosed the names of more Ukrainian prosecutors who deserted to Russia

    The Prosecutor General of Ukraine reported that he has received a letter from the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. According to Lutsenko, in this letter, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office expressed their indignation over the criminal proceedings against a number of former Ukrainian prosecutors who accepted the Russian citizenships at the time of the Russian annexation of the Crimea.  The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine had filed charges of treason against the …

  • Separatists open fire following withdrawal of troops from demarcation line

    After the withdrawal of troops, separatists opened fire with grenade launchers in the Luhansk region near the Novo-Aleksandrovka settlement, the press officer of the Luhansk sector of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valentin Shevchenko, said on-air with Channel 5.

    According to Shevchenko, the parties withdrew forces from the Zolote settlement in the Luhansk region; specifically, forces were withdrawn by 1 km along the front line.

    The press officer said that a few minutes after the withdrawal, …

  • US reconnaissance aircraft approached Russian warships in the Mediterranean

    The data of the web portals that track flights of military aircraft show that two U.S. Air Force reconnaissance planes flew to the Black Sea coast of Russia and the waters of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea on October 1st, where the ships of the permanent operational squadron of the Russian Navy are allegedly stationed.

    According to their information, an RC-135W strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. Air Force with tail number 62-4138 and call sign NAOMI48 that took off from …