• Russian Prime Minister: USSR lived for decades under sanctions

    Russia is not going to persuade Europeans to lift anti-Russian sanctions, said by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the press conference following the talks with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, TASS reported.

     “Lifting sanctions is a mutually beneficial matter and we should not persuade our partners to cancel anything, we don’t need it,” Medvedev said.

    He also said that “our European colleagues need it, they should start an initiative themselves”.

     “If they don’t want to, we …

  • Ukraine confiscates Crimean fishing vessel Nord

    The Prosecutor's office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, in accordance with a court decision, handed over the vessel Nord to the National Agency of Ukraine for finding, tracing and management of assets derived from corruption and other crimes (ARMA). According to the prosecutor's office press service, the decision was made in order to preserve budget funds spent on the detained vessel’s maintenance in the Berdyansk port area.

    The Prosecutor’s office noted that on October 4, the Kyiv Court …

  • OSCE: military actions in the Donbas could be halted in as little as one hour

    The First Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug stated in an interview with Voice of America that military actions in the Donbas can be stopped within one hour but that it would take much more time to fully complete the conflict.

    According to him, after military actions are stopped, other issues of the conflict, including demining of territories or restoration of the economy in Donbas, will have to be solved. Hug noted that the ceasefire has been …

  • Washington temporarily lifts sanctions from head of Russia’s space agency

    NASA director Jim Bridenstine stated that Washington will temporarily lift sanctions from the head of the Russian state owned corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin so that he can visit the US at the invitation of NASA.

    “I would like to discuss many questions with Dmitry Rogozin. If we want to establish a good working relationship, then we need to start to fully interact with each other, which in turn, will be good for both countries. We worked in a number of areas, so the Chief Director of …

  • Putin and Trump may meet in November

    A senior advisor in the Trump administration said at a press meeting on Friday, October 19 that US President Donald Trump and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin may hold bilateral meetings in Paris or in Buenos Aires in November.

    “There are a couple possibilities, including the G-20 in Buenos Aires or the Armistice Day parade in Paris. At the G-20 is probably more likely,” the advisor said. “And President Trump’s invitation to Putin to visit Washington, DC still stands.” France is …

  • Ukraine and IMF agree on new $3.9 billion support program

    The Ukrainian authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached an agreement on a new 14-month support economic policy under the Stand-by arrangement (SBA), which will replace the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, which began in March 2015 and was supposed to end in March 2019.

    “The new SBA, with a requested access of SDR 2.8 billion (equivalent to US$3.9 billion), will provide an anchor for the authorities’ economic policies during 2019,”  said the IMF.

    The agreement is …

  • Head of Swiss intelligence: Russia has increased spy activities in the country

    Head of the Swiss intelligence Jean-Philippe Gaudin stated that there a lot of Russian spies in the country who have recently become more active, Deutsche Welle reported.

    Gaudin did not mention the exact number of spies but he explained that Russian agents in Switzerland are now become more active than before.

    He said that the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office is investigating a criminal case against two Russians, allegedly employees of the GRU (Main Russian Intelligence Directorate), Yevgeny …

  • Erdogan invites France, Germany and Russia to hold talks on Syria

    The German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting will be held on October 27th in Istanbul. Its central theme will be the situation in Syria, reports the Deutsche Welle.

    The parties will meet, by invitation from Erdogan, said his spokesman on Friday, October 19th. This will be the first meeting with these participants. Until now, Turkey has sought to discuss the …

  • Volker: Russia will not go on the offensive in the Donbas

    During his speech at the Atlantic Council center in Washington, the US Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker asserted that Russia would not go on the offensive in the East of Ukraine .

    The American official explained that one of the reasons that it would not be profitable for Russia to aggravate the situation is a high probability that a new spiral of tension in the east of Ukraine could foster the growth of support for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

    "[An offensive] would …

  • Korean ambassador suggests creating a free economic zone in the Odessa region

    Korea has formulated a cooperation strategy with Ukraine which will allow increasing Ukraine's GDP to 10% over the next 10 years, said Korean ambassador Lee Yang-Goo at the tenth National Expert Forum in Odessa organized by the Gorshenin Institute.

    "We have developed a master plan for cooperation between Ukraine and Korea. In accordance with this plan, Ukraine can increase its GDP growth rate to 10% in the next 10 years. International organizations proposed various scenarios for this. This …