Business surveys show activity in both services and manufacturing is in decline. By Ben Aris for bne IntelliNews The unexpected economic slowdown that started at the end of September delivered another surprise Thursday as IHS Markit reported a big drop in Russia’s purchasing managers index (PMI) reading for services — tumbling from 53.7 to 46.9 in October. That marks the biggest single-month fall

Between 30% and 40% of the Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests performed in Russia could be giving false negative results because of the methodology being used, the state-run Interfax agency reported Thursday citing Russian Health Ministry chief pulmonologist Sergei Avdeev. “If sampling materials are collected poorly or too lightly, that could lead to a false negative sample,” Avdeev said.  Avdeev identified

During a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the incumbent president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko expressed interest in buying an oil field in the Russian Federation. According to Lukashenko’s press service, Putin supported this idea, but suggested discussing the details of the deal during next conversations. In addition to oil, the parties talked about the COVID-19 pandemic, including setting up

The occupied territory of Donetsk oblast has begun to destroy Ukrainian literature in the libraries of schools and universities. This is written in social networks. The process of withdrawing books in Ukrainian from school libraries began this summer, and now it has been continued in a clone of the Ukrainian university – Donetsk National University. “Now they got to the

The Kremlin claims that the proposals for a settlement in the Donbas, prepared by the Ukrainian party, allegedly differ from the algorithm of the Minsk agreements. This was stated by press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov on Thursday, – Interfax-Ukraine reports. During the conversation with journalists, Peskov was asked about the Kremlin’s attitude towards the

Russia’s foreign ministry on Thursday said outdated legislation and a lack of regulation had revealed flaws in the U.S. electoral system, as votes were being tallied to decide the next American president. The knife-edge U.S. presidential race was tilted toward Democrat Joe Biden early Thursday, but President Donald Trump claimed he was being cheated and went to court to try

The judges stress it is impossible to consider specific constitutional proceedings until the situation around the court’s work gets normal.Photo from UNIAN The judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) who voted against the controversial decision on anti-corruption legislation have temporarily refused to participate in its work. This was reported by the nv.ua news outlet, which cited its owns source.