The Russian rating agency ACRA will be the first of the national agencies to start publishing Russia’s sovereign rating, an informed source told Interfax. The information was later confirmed by ACRA’s press service.

At present, the agency is consulting with officials and discussing issues that have arisen with experts in the rating process, the source told Interfax.

Another source said that the decision would be made in autumn, probably before the end of September.

The credit rating, which …

Ukraine plans to grow its arms exports to $2 billion by 2025, Aivaras Abromavicius, chairperson of the advisory board of the Ukrainian state-owned defense conglomerate UkrOboronProm, told Censor.net in an interview.

“In exports we have set ourselves an ambitious goal – to grow by a factor of five by 2025. The world arms market is nearly $2 trillion per year. We want to export $2 billion per year,” he said.

According to him, the most promising areas for military exports are the aircraft and …

Belarus, Ukraine and Venezuela are the countries that owe Russia the most through government loans, according to an estimate by RBC based on open information.

Traditionally, Russia does not disclose information about loans issued to other governments. Their existence becomes known if Russia signs an international agreement which is later ratified by the State Duma. In such cases, Russian MPs talk about the loans, or the borrowing state discloses information about them.

According to RBC, …

Ukraine and Moldova will be able to import gas from Romania through Isakcha-1-Orlovka connection point in the South Odessa region from January 1, 2020, reports Ukrainian national gas transit company Ukrtransgaz on its webpage.

"Ukrtransgaz and Moldovagaz, together with gas transport systems operators of other countries agreed on the necessary technical solutions for creating new import capacities based on the Trans-Balkan pipeline system in the South-North direction (reverse through the …

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, in an interview with  the newspaper Rzeczpospolita, commented on the US plans to redeploy its military from Germany to Poland, because Berlin doesn't plan to increase its budget for NATO.

Czaputowicz didn't support this idea, noting that US troops provide security for Poland even from the German territory. According to him, the US provides a "backup" in case of "attack from Russia," but they manage it well even from a distance.

Also, the Minister …

The authorities are working to eliminate any danger to the Russians after the missile explosion at the military test site near Severodvinsk, and the reports about a radioactive cloud over the region are absurd, said Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov as cited by RBC news agency.

"The wording itself is quite absurd," the Kremlin spokesman said. He also noted that Putin receives all the data about the accident, and advised to focus on Putin’s statement that there is no danger to the public. …

The exercises of the Russian Navy Ocean Shield-2019 lasted almost twice longer than planned because of the actions of the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as bad weather, said the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy Nikolai Yevmenov as quoted by RIA Novosti.

According to him, the original plan was that the exercises would be held from August 1 to August 9. However, he added, the adverse weather and the response of the NATO joint naval forces" to the actions of the Russian navy required …

The State Duma Council has decided to create an inter-party commission on foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs, the lower house of parliament announced. Vasily Piskarev, an MP from the United Russia party and head of the Committee for Security and Opposing Corruption, will head the new commission.

“We are seeing how on government channels a number of countries are voicing statements like ‘Rise up, Moscow!’, calls to action – all of this constitutes interference in Russia’s …