• Survey Suggests 56% of Russians Regret the Collapse of the USSR

    More than half of all Russians regret the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and only 3% saw this event as a positive, according to a survey by the Levada Center.

    According to the survey, 19% of Russians think "very negatively" about the disintegration of the Soviet Union and 25% view this event "rather negatively."

    Although 54% of Russian citizens regret the collapse of the USSR, 37% indicated they "have no regrets." However, 51% of Russians believe that the collapse of the Soviet Union …

  • Naftogaz to Discuss Gas Transit Tariffs with Gazprom

    The delegation Naftogaz of Ukraine will visit Moscow in the near future to discuss new tariffs for the transit of gas through Ukraine.  These discussions will be held with the Chairman of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev.  This was reported to the Agency Gas Information (AGI) by an inside source.

    The transit rate is currently determined by the long-term contract (from 2009 to 2019) between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom.  This rate is dependent on the value of the fuel component and inflation in …

  • US Adds Five Names to the Magnitsky List of Sanctioned Russians

    The U.S Treasury Department reported that five additional people have been placed on the Magnitsky sanctions list. A Sevastopol native and former Deputy Interior Minister of Russia, Alex Anichin, as well as Yevgeny Antonov, Boris Kibis, Pavel Lapshov and Oleg Urzumtsev (all citizens of the Russian Federation) were added to the list.

    The US State Department has clarified that the Russians were included to the Magnistky list on the basis of reliable information concerning human rights violations. …

  • Kadyrov's Video Showing Opposition Leader in Crosshairs Removed from Instagram

    The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said that Instagram has removed his video depicting the leader of the Parnas party, Mikhail Kasyanov, because the application protects "American dogs," as he wrote on his Instagram page on Monday, February 1st.

    "I always honestly and openly express my opinions in words and writing. But when I say a few words about the US lap dogs they immediately removed the post from Instagram. Here is this touted freedom of speech in America! You can write whatever you …

  • Russian Finance Ministry Rejects Large Portion of Anti-Crisis Plan

    Russia's Finance Ministry refuses to support a significant portion of the draft anti-crisis plan prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development. RBC reports that in the Finance Ministry’s address to the government it categorically objected to 37 items in the 86-point plan. The total value of rejected items was 210.2 billion rubles.

    The most expensive demand rejected involves funding agriculture with an additional 23 billion rubles. A similar decision concerns an additional subsidy of …