Новости за 18.08.2016

Russia state-controlled Gazprom plans to build Nord Stream II gas pipeline on its own after partners pull out.

Ukraine's decision to launch an online asset-declaration scheme for MPs without proper certification “makes little sense and might actually be counterproductive”, the EU foreign service said on Wednesday. The EU added that "failure to swiftly resolve this issue could undermine Ukraine's important anti-corruption efforts". Corruption concerns have stalled a deal for Ukrainians to get visa-free travel in the EU.

Estonian police have arrested Aleksandr Kornilov, publisher of a pro-Russian website, on charges of forging documents and providing false information to tax authorities. Kornilov is the director of the Estonian branch of Baltnews, a news site promoting the Russian government's views in the Baltic countries.

More than 20,000 people have been arrested since a failed coup in Turkey on 15 July, of whom 5,187 are still in custody, Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim told state-owned TRT Haber news channel on Wednesday. He said 40,029 people had been detained, of whom 20,355 had been formally arrested. He said they included "police officers, soldiers, judiciary members, local administrators and civilians".

Children out of school and vulnerable to radicalisation, asylum claimants pushed back from Greece, and refugees forbidden from entering from Syria - a new report paints a bleak picture of the situation in Turkey.

EU Council president Tusk will meet chancellor Merkel at a castle retreat in Germany on Thursday as part of preparations for the Brexit summit in Bratislava.

Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has called on the UK government to guarantee that EU nationals living in the UK can stay in the country after Brexit. Speaking to a group of some 300 people invited by the Scottish government to hear concerns from EU nationals, Sturgeon said it was "disgraceful" that the UK had not guaranteed the right of EU nationals to remain.

More than one million people from the eight eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 are working in the UK, the first time this number has been reached, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures published on Wednesday. In total, 23.22 million people worked full-time from April to June, of whom 2.23 million were EU nationals - an increase of 238,000 from last year.

Spain’s public debt rose in June by €18.55 billion, reaching a total of €1.11 trillion, the highest figure ever in absolute terms, according to figures published on Wednesday. As a percentage of GDP, the ratio of the country’s debt comes in at 100.9%, a record figure. Such a figure has not been seen since 1909, when, according to records, debt levels reached 102% of GDP, El Pais reported.

Russia has invited experts from most Baltic Sea countries for talks on regional security, but Denmark and Germany were omitted from the guest list.