Taliban negotiators arrive in Moscow days after Trump declares Afghan peace talks ‘dead’
A Taliban delegation arrives for talks in Moscow earlier this year. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
Read moreMonthly Archives: September 2019
Russian Pravda wants to award best political satire
3rd price : 10 Years in a Siberian Gulag 2nd price : A cup of tea with Vladimir Putin 1st price : One week in Russian occupied Crimea
Read moreHead of Donetsk People’s Republic: integration with Russia is a priority
The chairman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, said that republic considers integration with Russia as its primary goal. “We have only one task – maximum integration of DPR into the Russian Federation. The perfect scenario would be to become a part of Russia as a federal district. And the people from the Donbas show so much
Read moreEx-political prisoner Sentsov presents his prison relics to Zelensky
Oleg Sentsov, the Ukrainian movie maker recently liberated from Russian captivity, has presented the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky with mementos from his prison life, in a symbolic move calling for making all possible to liberate all Ukrainians held hostage by the Kremlin. This happened during Sentsov’s speech at the Yalta European Strategy forum in Kyiv on Sept. 13. “In the place I have been
Read morePresident: The issue of elections in the occupied territories can be discussed only after the fulfillment of a series of conditions
The issue of elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine should be discussed only after fulfilling a number of conditions, including the withdrawal of Russian troops, as stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference after a meeting with President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid. “This is the issue of the liberation of people, the issue of troops
Read moreReuters: Opal pipeline says it will comply with regulator’s curbs
It did not comment on the nature of the move. REUTERS The operator of Germany’s onshore gas pipeline Opal on Friday said it had launched measures to comply with an energy regulator decree asking it to stop marketing certain capacities that make up 40% of the pipeline’s total availability. The Kassel-based company said in a statement that the measures would
Read moreYoungest prisoner swapped: Belarus unsafe for Ukrainians (interview)
Pavlo Hryb is the youngest man of the Ukrainians who returned home in the result of September’s prisoner swap. In an interview with Belsat, 21-year-old citizen of Ukraine reveals the details of Russian officers’ capturing him in Belarus. Hryb also explains why he considers Belarus a ‘governorate-general of Moscovia’. Павел Гриб дал интервью «Белсату» «Нам бы [Украине] стоило закрыть границы
Read moreRussia asks Interpol for alleged CIA spy Smolenkov’s whereabouts in US
The Russian Foreign Ministry has contacted Interpol in connection with former Russian presidential administration employee Oleg Smolenkov showing up in the US. Recently there have been reports in the media that the former Russian diplomat was actually a CIA agent who was exfiltrated to the US for his own safety. In Russia, he was considered missing. “A Russian citizen disappeared
Read moreRussian Investments in Foreign Startups More Than Double in First Half of 2019
The figure is 3.5 times higher than the $248 million of Russian investments into the Russian market. Russians invested $860 million in foreign startups in the first half of 2019, more than double the $418 million seen in the same period last year, the Vedomosti daily reported on Friday. The figure is 3.5 times higher than the $248 million of Russian investments
Read moreJulian Assange to stay in prison over absconding fears
Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange is to remain in prison when his jail term ends because of his “history of absconding”, a judge has ruled. He was due to be released on 22 September after serving his sentence for breaching bail conditions. But Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard there were “substantial grounds” for believing he would abscond again. The Australian, 48, is
Read moreNavalny Ally ‘Evacuates’ Electronics by Drone as Russian Police Stage Mass Raids
A supporter of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has filmed himself “evacuating” his hard drives on a drone as police closed in on his high-rise apartment building during nationwide mass raids. Navalny and his allies said police carried out more than 200 searches in 41 towns and cities, including Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk, as part of a money-laundering investigation. His close associates said
Read moreHague court declines Russia’s request to reconsider liability under PrivatBank’s Crimea claim
PrivatBank commenced the arbitration on April 13, 2015. REUTERS The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague has declined the Russian Federation’s request to reconsider jurisdiction and obligations in the PrivatBank lawsuit concerning the illegal seizure of the bank’s Crimean assets after the annexation of the peninsula in 2014. “PrivatBank is pleased to announce that on September 12, 2019,
Read moreRussian press: Su-57’s flaws make it useless
Although Russia’s Su-57 fifth-generation fighters are competitively priced, neither China nor Iran are interested in them, and not even Turkey, which recently expressed admiration of the Su-57, writes the Russian news agency Svobodnaya Pressa (Free Press). According to the columnists, the primary reason for this aversion is the fighter’s large number of shortcomings. Development of the Su-57 began well over ten years
Read moreNext Normandy summit must put ‘cast iron agreements’ on paper – Kremlin
The Kremlin insists that the next Normandy-format summit should conclude with “cast iron agreements” committed to writing. “There are three important preconditions that we think, if implemented, could ensure success of this summit, ” Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said at a briefing on Friday. “Thus, it is necessary to finally settle the issue of disengagement in the three so-called
Read moreUkraine worries about concessions at talks with Russia
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – The Ukrainian president’s envoy for peace talks with Russia-backed separatists expressed concern Friday that the leaders of France and Germany will push Ukraine to make unacceptable concessions to Russia. Ukraine and Russia have been locked in a bitter standoff since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and threw its weight behind separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Read moreA Blow To Fair Elections: Russian Police Stand Idly By As Election Observer Is Sucker Punched
Based on the reaction of police and election officials inside St. Petersburg polling station 1619, the event that unfolded before them on election day last week was nothing out of the ordinary. Vasily Dyachenko, a 30-year-old election observer, was monitoring the polling on September 8 and had been trying for an hour to get the officials managing the process to
Read moreSentsov sets fire to “most hated thing on Earth” (Video)
He earlier said he would like to see Russian President Vladimir Putin on trial in the Hague court. Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, who has recently been freed from Russian captivity, has set fire to “the most hated thing on Earth.” The former political prisoner doused the prison uniform he wore in prison in Russia with gasoline and set it
Read moreBusiness as usual
On Sept. 4, Ivan Bakanov, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and other allies of President Volodymyr Zelensky attended the birthday party of pro-Russian lawmaker Grigory Surkis, who called Bakanov his friend. Surkis is a major partner of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s main Ukrainian ally Viktor Medvedchuk. Surkis, along with ex-President Petro Poroshenko’s top ally Igor Kononenko, is
Read moreWorst season in 3 years: Kerch bridge hardly helps boost tourism in Crimea
The Crimean authorities may claim that 5.8 mln people have visited the peninsula this year, but the actual number of tourists is far lower, Alexander Liyev, a former Resorts and Tourism Minister of of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, says on Facebook. Мост турсезону не помог. Анализируем итоги крымского лета.«Крымские власти» снова не постеснялись назвать… Opublikowany przez Александр Лиев Środa, 11
Read morePrague Will Remove Statue of Soviet Marshal Who Led Red Army Forces
A district assembly in Prague voted on Thursday to remove a statue of a Soviet World War Two marshal and replace it with a more general memorial following a row that has drawn in the Czech president and Russian authorities. The statue of Marshal Ivan Konev, who led the Red Army forces that liberated most of Czechoslovakia and entered Prague
Read moreRussia tells ECHR that it didn’t annex Crimea & accuses Ukraine & West of ‘fake evidence”
22:06, 12 September 2019 The Kremlin imposes its own agenda, trying to persuade the West that Ukraine assumed the role of the aggressor in 2014. Russia’s representatives have assured the European Court of Human Rights that Ukraine in February – March 2014 was controlled by ‘fascists’ from whom Russian soldiers had merely ‘protected’ Crimeans until 18 March 2014 when the
Read moreTrump Administration releases $250 mln in military aid to Ukraine – media
21:59, 12 September 2019 Ukraine sees the aid as vital to bolstering its military and controlling Russian aggression. The Trump administration has released $250 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine – funds that it had held up despite criticism that the money was desperately needed to counter Russian aggression and territorial expansion. The announcement of the aid disbursement came
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