The activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization have been suspended in Russia

The activity of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization has been suspended in Russia due to "extremist activities", as reported by Russia's Interfax news agency.

According to information on the website of the Russian Ministry of Justice, the religious organization, the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, was added to the list of public and religious organizations whose activities are suspended due to their "extremist nature", by the order of the Ministry of Justice of the …


Court to force Gazprom to pay the 36 million euros it owes Lithuania

The Russian company, Gazprom, did not pay a 36 million euro fine to Lithuania on time and now the court will enforce it, as reported by BNS news, citing a representative of the Competition Council (Lithuanian Antimonopoly Service), Maria Grumblene.

According to her, the court has already received the Competition Council’s resolution on the forcible collection of fines and penalties. Gazprom was to pay the fine before March 22, 2017.

As was reported, the Supreme Administrative Court of …


A group of news portals related to the so-called 'troll factory' has become the largest media holding in Russia

A group of news portals related to the so-called "troll factory" has become the largest media holding in Russia, as stated by the RBC news outlet.

This holding now consists of 16 media outlets, two of which are devoted primarily to Ukraine (nahnews.org and KyivSMI). The largest portal of the group, the Federal News Agency (RIA FAN), in February 2017, had an estimated audience of 11 million people, the whole group has an estimated audience of 36 million people per month. This is more than the 28 …


Duterte allows Russian ships to enter Philippine waters

President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte said that the ships of the Russian Navy are welcome to freely enter the waters controlled by Manila, RIA Novosti reported.

Duterte also announced that Russian ships are allowed to moor off the coast of the Philippines as long as they notify the authorities about their plans in advance. Similar terms now apply to Chinese Navy vessels as well.

In January, Duterte visited the Russian Navy’s large anti-submarine ship, the Admiral Tributs, which was …


Russian Duma calls for sanctions against Ukraine over the entry ban of Russia's Eurovision candidate

In his interview with Lenta.ru, State Duma Deputy Ruslan Balbek called for restrictive measures against Ukraine after Kyiv’s decision to ban singer Yuliya Samoylova from entering the country. She was to represent Russia at Eurovision 2017.  

“The incident involving Samoylova speaks to the need of reciprocal action against Kyiv. It is necessary to consider a number of sanctions against the Ukrainian state,” said the parliamentarian, stressing that the situation is “an insult to Russian pride.” …