Kyiv: More than 80 Ukrainians held in Russian prisons for political views

More than 80 Ukrainian citizens are being held in Russian prisons due to their political views, Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Facebook. 

“Every year on January 12, Ukraine observes the Day of the Ukrainian Political Prisoner. Unfortunately, the matter of political prisoners is extremely relevant today. Among the modern political prisoners are Oleh Sentsov, Stanislav Klykh, Pavlo Hryb, Roman Sushchenko, Kazim Ametov, Asan Chapukh, Bekir Degermendzhi, Remzi …


Ukraine buys combat drones from Turkey

Following negotiations between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Kyiv has signed an agreement with Ankara to buy a batch of Bayraktar TB2 combat drones, Ukrainan President Poroshenko announced on Facebook. 

“These latest strike drones on the operative and tactical level, aside from the high-tech characteristics, can also be extended with modern precision missile weaponry for destroying armored vehicles, engineering and fortification buildings, as well as …


Russia developed a plan to rescue Venezuela’s economy

Russian authorities developed a plan to pull its strategic partner Venezuela out of the deep crisis. Venezuela’s economy is in collapse and inflation reached about 1,300,000% last year, Russian publication the Bell reported, citing sources in Russian government.

There are four main points in the proposed package of measures.

First, Russian economists offer to introduce a basic income for Venezuelan households. They claim a basic income is a more effective measure to combat poverty than fuel …


Company of Putin's friend Rotenberg receives funding for 'anti-corruption activities'

According to the documents published on Russian government’s procurements website, Moscow-based company Granat has won the tender of the Russian Civic Chamber, a consultative civil society to analyze draft legislation and monitor the activities of the parliament.

Funds in the amount of more than 46 million rubles or nearly $700,000 dollars were allocated to provide "preparation and assistance services" for the Civic Chamber’s activities in the field of developing civil society institutions, …


Russia to continue gas transit to Kaliningrad through Lithuania

The governor of the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov said on TV channel Vesti 24 that despite the launch of a terminal for receiving liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Kaliningrad region would not refuse to transit gas through the territory of Belarus and Lithuania.

"The Kaliningrad Region does not plan to abandon gas supplies through the Minsk-Vilnius-Kaunas-Kaliningrad trunk pipeline system due to the commissioning of a gas receiving terminal and a floating regasification platform. The …