• Russian Court to Consider Extending Natalia Sharina's House Arrest

    The Russian investigative committee is asking the court to extend the house arrest of the Director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, Natalia Sharina, for another three months, her lawyer Ivan Pavlov reported.

    "On January 27th, the Presnensky Court of Moscow will consider the extension of the house arrest of Natalia Sharina. The investigative committee asked the court to extend this period for another three months," Pavlov said. According to him, the court will begin hearings …

  • US Withdraws Accreditation of 5 Honorary Russian Consulates

    The United States closed five Honorary Russian Consulates in response to the closing of the American Center in Moscow, Interfax reported, referencing the Press Secretary of the Embassy of the USA to Russia, William Stevenson, on Friday, January 22th.

    "This action is taken in response to the continued Russian interference in our diplomatic consular activities in Russia" the American Embassy stated.

    The US withdrew accreditation from five of the six Honorary Consulates in the USA: in California, …

  • New Ukrainian embargo on Russian goods to come into force in February

    An extended embargo on newly listed banned goods from Russia will take effect in early February as stated in the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers decision № 28 from 20 January. Added to the extended list of banned goods approved on December 30th 2015 were onions, green tea, prepared or preserved fish, white chocolate, pellets, candies containing alcohol, chewing gum, marmalade and jelly, corn flakes, biscuits and crisp breads, soya and tomato sauce (ketchup).It is worth noting that the list of …

  • Kiev Fines Gazprom $3.4 Billion

    The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) fined Gazprom 85 billion Hryvnia (around 3.4 billion dollars) for an abuse of dominance in the gas transit market in Ukraine, as reported on 22 January, by the head of AMCU, Yuriy Terentyev.  “The decision has just been made concerning the abuse of the dominant position in the market by the monopoly gas producer Gazprom. The amount of the fine is 85 billion Hryvnia," wrote Terentyev on his Facebook page. Yaroslav Teklyuk, Director for Legal and …

  • Lavrov, Kerry discuss Syrian peace talks

    US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have spoken over the phone about the upcoming UN-sponsored Syrian peace talks in Geneva. The talks will be the largest effort yet to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian Civil War that has raged for almost 5 years.

    Kerry’s call to Lavrov comes three days after a face-to-face meeting between the two in Zurich, following which a joint statement was released saying "particular attention was given to the need to form a …