The European Union’s anti-Russian sanctions have jeopardized Moscow-Budapest relations, said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin press service reported. “I must say that we could develop even more [relations] if not for the harmful sanctions. Because of these measures, we are losing opportunities,” said the Hungarian Prime Minister. Moreover, Orban assured Putin that Hungary stands for the normalization of relations between …

According to statistics published by the Central Bank of Russia on Thursday, after the April round of US sanctions, Russian banks and corporations have had difficulties with foreign debt.

In the second quarter, repayment of loans from the West took a record $34 billion out of the Russian economy. Banks which, at the start of the year, had the opportunity to partially extend loans, have this time been unable to refinance a cent: over the last quarter they paid off $9.8 billion, which is even …

Ukraine exports more illegal lumber to the EU than any other country – more than Latin America, Africa and South East Asia combined, Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly) reports, citing an investigation by the British ecological organization Earthsight.

Despite the moratorium on deforestation, over the last four years the export volume of Ukrainian wood to EU countries has grown by 75%, exceeding €1 billion last year.The investigators estimate that 40% of this lumber was felled or sold illegally. …

Israel launched missiles at a Syrian military base near Nayrab airport in the north of the country, SANA reports. According to the news agency, no one was injured by the attack. Only material damage was caused.

On July 12, the Israeli Air Force launched air strikes on several facilities near the border city of al-Quneitra in response to the infiltration of the Syrian surveillance drone into Israel.

On July 11, Israel shot down a Russian Forpost drone which was supposedly engaged in reconnaissance of militant positions, reported the Directorate 4 Telegram channel, which also notes that the drone was a licensed copy of the Israeli Searcher drone.

The drone was shot down by an MIM 104 Patriot anti-missile defense system stationed on the buffer zone of the Syria-Israel border.Military Informant says that the drone belonged to the Russian Aerospace Forces, and was downed several dozens of …