• Ukrainian Justice Ministry begins negotiations on the transfer of Sentsov and three other political prisoners

    Negotiations are also under way for the return of Olexandr Kolchenko, Gennady Afanasyev and Yuri Soloshenko

    The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has started negotiations on the return of four Ukrainian political prisoners from Russia: Oleg Sentsov, Olexandr Kolchenko, Gennady Afanasyev and Yuri Soloshenko, TSN reports.

    The Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Sergiy Petukhov, said that the prisoners have agreed to undergo a legal procedure for the transfer of sentenced persons from Russia to …

  • Hearing on ban of Crimean Tatar Mejlis postponed until April 15th

    The so-called Supreme Court of the Russian Crimea held a session on Friday regarding the prohibition of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People on the occupied peninsula. As Krym.Realii reported, the session lasted a mere 10 minutes and resulted in a postponement of the hearing.

    The next session is scheduled for April 15th.

    Crimean Prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya initiated proceedings to ban the Mejlis, accusing the representative body of engaging in extremist activity.

    On Friday, …

  • Dzhemilev: The de-occupation of Crimea must be discussed during negotiations on Ukraine

    The leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, believes that the issue of the de-occupation of Crimea cannot be of less importance then other topics during the international negotiations on the situation in Ukraine. The politician said this at a press conference in Kyiv on April 6, Krym.Realii reported.

    "The Minsk Agreements don't say a word about the aggressor withdrawing completely from the occupied territories. So the de-occupation of Crimea is omitted from these agreements. From our …

  • Latvian official: The Baltic States are susceptible to Russian foreign policy 'adventures'

    The former head of Latvian counterintelligence and adviser to the president of the republic, Janis Kazocins, believes that Russia will hardly risk a direct military invasion into the Baltic States as stated in his article titled, "Has the Russian Venture into Syria made Latvia Safer?", BaltNews reported.

    However, in his opinion, right now there comes an extremely dangerous period when Moscow can "decide on their next venture."

    "There are two opinions regarding Russia’s current opportunities …

  • World Bank cuts Russia's economic forecast

    The World Bank predicts that the Russian economy will shrink 1.9%, a poorer estimate than the December forecast which estimated a dip of only 0.7%.

    The worsening of the forecast is due to a revaluation of oil prices for 2016. In the previous forecast the bank assumed that the average oil price would be 49 dollars per barrel. According to the bank’s new estimates, the average oil price this year will be about 37 dollars per barrel.

    The new WB forecast also anticipates 1.1% growth in the …