• Latvia to spend one sixth of its defense budget on radio systems

    The Latvian Ministry of Defense plans to modernize their tactical radio systems in the coming years. To accomplish this, the ministry plans to purchase equipment made by American manufacturer Harris Corporation for €67.4 million. As noted by BaltNews, this purchase represents more than one sixth of Latvia’s entire defense budget.

    Latvian military experts say this is good equipment, and the intention is to make the purchase by 2019. The equipment to be purchased includes Falcon-II and Falcon- …

  • Poland seeks to become mediator in pursuing closer relations between the EU and Belarus

    Ryszard Terlecki, the Vice Speaker of the lower house of the Polish Parliament, said that Warsaw, to a certain extent, would like to be a mediator in pursuing closer relations between Belarus and the European Union, Radio Polsha reported.

    Terlecki explained that due to the historical and cultural ties between Poland and Belarus, Warsaw would be able to fit the role of mediator quite naturally.

    According to the Vice Speaker, Belarus is in an important geopolitical position, and the EU is …

  • Polish state-owned company begins delivering gas to Ukraine

    Polish State gas company PGNiG announced on Thursday, August 4, 2016 that it will begin to deliver gas to industrial consumers as part of an agreement with a private Ukrainian gas supplier, Eru Trading. Details about volumes and terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

    According to Reuters, Poland and Ukraine, which depend on natural gas supplies from Russia, intend to expand the exchange between the gas transportation systems to 5-8 billion cubic meters of gas from the current 1.5 …

  • Italy rejects resolution to lift sanctions on Russia

    The Italian Parliament did not support a resolution calling to lift sanctions against Russia. The Ukrainian Ambassador to Italy, Yevhen Perelygin, reported this on his Facebook page.

    “Another attempt made by certain parties to adopt a resolution to lift the sanctions against Russia has failed in the Italian parliament. The members of the Chamber of Deputies did not support the draft resolution of the opposition political forces of the Five Star Movement, which called on the Government of Italy …

  • EU imposes sanctions against Russian metallurgical companies

    The European Union imposed anti-dumping duties on cold-rolled steel from Russia and China, the EU official journal reports. Tariffs for Russian manufacturers range between 18.7% and 36.1%.

    The tariffs are introduced retroactively, back to December 2015 and will be in place for five years. For Chinese companies the amount of the anti-dumping duty is between 52.7 % and 59.2 %.

    Brussels launched an investigation after a complaint from the European Steel Association (Eurofer), representing …