Kazakhstan authorities are shutting down the internet across the country amid mass protests that began On January 2 in the city of Zhanaozen, and the next three days spread to all major cities, including Almaty and the capital Nur-Sutlan.

On Wednesday, January 5, the Central Asian republic had almost no internet follows from the data of the NetBlock service, which tracks network outages around the world.

Partial internet shutdowns began on Monday. Representatives of the cellular providers …

39-year-old Ukrainian theater director Yevgeny Lavrenchuk was taken into custody In Italy at the request of the Russian authorities for his extradition. Lavrenchuk is accused in Russia of fraud (Part 3 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code), reports TASS.

Lavrenchuk is the chief director of the Odesa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. The Tagansky District Court of Moscow arrested him in absentia in July 2020.

According to the press secretary of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign …

Foreign Ministers of NATO countries will hold an emergency meeting on January 7, the press service of the alliance reported on Tuesday.

The topic of the talks, which will be held in virtual mode, will be the build-up of the Russian troops near Ukraine and other issues of pan-European security, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said on Twitter.

The consultation will take place a day after the foreign policy adviser to the German Chancellor Jens Plötner and the diplomatic adviser to the President …

The Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 may not pass the EU certification procedure, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin, reports RIA Novosti.

According to him, the certification process may last many months until the summer of 2022.

At the same time, the U.S. may impose new sanctions which will completely invalidate the North Stream 2 certification.

"We can imagine that the Americans will tell the Germans not to buy an ounce of Russian gas through Nord Stream. It may or may …

In early 2022, Russia plans to hold strategic command exercises Thunder with the participation of all three components of its strategic nuclear forces, reported TASS, citing a source.

"The Thunder exercises with the participation of the Russian nuclear triad (land-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-missile-armed submarines, and strategic aircraft with nuclear bombs) are scheduled for early 2022," said TASS’ interlocutor close to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russia conducts the Thunder …

The Presidents of the United States and Ukraine held a telephone conversation on January 2. As noted in the press release of the White House, Joe Biden assured Volodymyr Zelensky that "the United States, its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine."

The American President expressed support for diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions in the region. The efforts include a meeting of representatives of the United States and Russia, scheduled for …

The Kremlin is ready to take all necessary measures to protect hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens in the Donbas and resolve the conflict in Ukraine through diplomatic means, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with RIA Novosti.

"We will continue to make efforts to resolve the internal Ukrainian conflict by political and diplomatic means. The undisputed basis for this remains the Minsk Package of Measures, approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2202," he said. …

A new round of tough sanctions that the United States threatens Russia in the event of an invasion of Ukraine could lead to a complete rupture in relations between the two countries, Russian president Vladimir Putin told US President Joe Biden during a telephone conversation held on Thursday evening, the Kremlin’s press service reports.

The 55-minute dialogue, the third since Biden took office, finally set the dates for the upcoming talks on security assurances: January 9-10 in Geneva on a …