The press secretary for the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin did not refuse to answer phone calls from Syrian leader Bashar Assad after the Syrian air defense shot down the Russian Il-20. According to Peskov, Putin reviewed all the materials provided by the Israelis, with the details of the destruction of the Russian Air Force aircraft on September 17th.

Some Israeli media referring to Israel’s Minister of Intelligence Yisrael Katz wrote that the Russian president …

The passport numbers of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, whom the UK suspects of attempting to assassinate Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, may reveal the identities of other Russian intelligence agents, writes news outlet The Insider, which is working together with the investigative group Bellingcat to investigate the facts surrounding the suspects’ identities.

Another series of studies published on Thursday state that Petrov and Boshirov’s passport numbers are virtually identical, …

The outflow of capital from the Russian banking system has picked up speed once again, according to a new survey by Raiffeisen Bank.

In August, corporate clients withdrew $4.9 billion from their accounts, 60% more than in July ($3 billion). The funds were partially used to repay foreign debt, the refinancing of which has come to a halt due to tightened sanctions on Russia from the US and EU. According to the Central Bank of Russia, companies had to make $3.1 billion in repayments.

Several …

As Vakaru Ekspresas reports, Walmart, the world's largest network of stores will stop selling clothes with Soviet symbols at Lithuania’s request.

“The Lithuanian ambassador to the United States [Rolandas Krisciunas] received a written response from the company’s management the other day that promised to stop the sale of goods with Soviet symbols soon,” the ministry said.

The ambassador and three other politicians had earlier applied to the management of the distribution network with a request …

The International Monetary Fund is ready to consider the allocation of the next tranche to Ukraine after the adoption of the state budget for 2019, reported the Ukrainski Novyny news agency with a reference to a source close to the talks.

The IMF mission worked in Kyiv for two weeks and left Ukraine in the evening of September 19. Neither the Fund nor the government and the National Bank have made any comments on the outcome of the talks.

According to the agency, the discussions held by the …