• Moscow: Kiev is aggravating the situation in Transnistria

    Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Grigory Karasin, expressed Moscow’s concern over the lack of progress in the negotiations on the Transnistrian issue, stating that the Ukrainian position has a negative impact on the situation in the region.

    "The change of Kiev's position on the Transnistrian issue supports the delay of an appointment of a new Ukrainian representative in the "5 + 2" negotiation that was supposed to happen in May of 2015. We are concerned about the …

  • 40 tons of Belgian pears destroyed at Russian border

     Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) agents and Roskomnadzor’s employees found two batches of pears at the Troitsk checkpoint in the Chelyabinsk region. The shipment of pears falls under the Presidential Decree issuing retaliatory sanctions, the Rosselkhoznadzor press service reported.

    Fresh pears from Belgium were imported to Russia by two cars from Kazakhstan. Kazakh certificates, indicating Serbia as the country of origin, were attached to them. The total weight of the two batches was 40 …

  • Internal strife becoming a major problem for Russian-backed separatists

    The conflict is rapidly developing in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), both in terms of skirmishes with Ukrainian forces and internal power struggles. Certain DPR military units, under the auspices of the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB), have been engaged in “mop up operations” of other militant units, effectively removing belligerent commanders, Tyzhden.ua reported.

    “We observed the arrival of unknown special units in Dokuchaievsk, apparently for disciplining several …

  • Waszczykowski: War in Donbas one of the main threats to Poland

    The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski, stated in a radio interview that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, initiated by the Russian Federation, is one of the main threats for Poland in 2016. “It wasn’t Poland that created the ice age, nor was it responsible for attacking other countries and it was not us who sent little green men to other countries in order to take away part of their territory,” Waszczykowski said.

    “Therefore, if we are talking about problems, they …

  • Medvedev approves gas discount for Ukraine

    Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev signed a decree detailing the discounted price of natural gas shipments from Russia to Ukraine. The tariff rates will remain the same until March 31, 2016. The documentation was posted on the official legal information web portal on Friday, January 1st.

    The decree provides a formula that makes it possible to calculate the rate of fees on imports of low-carbon, “blue fuel” gas to Ukraine.

    Most economists agree that, based on the contract price of gas at …