• US expands 'Kremlin List' to include representatives of separatist LPR and DPR

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury has expanded the so-called Kremlin List of Russian oligarchs and close confidants of Russian President Vladimir Putin to include the names of separatist representatives of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), as reported by Radio Liberty.

    According to the report, the list was expanded to include nine ministers and one deputy minister of the separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions as well a former Luhansk official and his family …

  • Russian Prime Minister Medvedev: IOC has adopted a shameful decision in denying 'justified' Russian athletes from participating in the Olympics

    Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Facebook that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has adopted a "shameful decision" in refusing to invite 15 "justified" athletes and coaches from Russia to attend the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

    "The IOC Commission has adopted a shameful decision. Unjust and unlawful. Immoral and politically motivated. By denying our athletes, whose rights were reinstated by a sports court designed specifically to resolve such disputable situations, the …

  • Russian Defense Ministry accuses online publication Fontanka of disclosing information on pilot killed in Syria

    The Russian Ministry of Defense has criticized an article by the online news outlet Fontanka which it claims disclosed the personal details of the Su-25 assault jet pilot who was shot down in Syria on February 3. The Defense Ministry considers this a “violation of the elementary concepts of decency and the ethics of journalist activity”.

    “We are convinced that the law enforcement organs will give their assessment of what happened in accordance with Russian legislation,” RBC reported, citing …

  • Putin signs bill to integrate Armed Forces of self-proclaimed South Ossetia into Russian army

    Separate subdivisions of the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia were integrated into the army of the Russian Federation. The bill was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the press service of the Kremlin reported.

    The bill provides for the procedure for “the entry of separate units of the armed forces of the Republic of South Ossetia into the armed forces of the Russian Federation.”

    The bill concerning the Ossetian army joining the Russian Armed Forces was …

  • Former NATO Secretary General becomes advisor to Russian-owned bank in Latvia

    Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Board at Latvian bank Norvik Banka, according to the website of the international intelligence community InformNapalm.

    Grigory Guselnikov, a Russian banker, is the owner of Norvik Banka; he also controls Vyatka Bank.

    In July, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) denied Grigory Guselnikov and Sait-Salam Gutseriev from purchasing the Ukrainian branch of Sberbank.

    "This bank [Vyatka Bank] recently tried …