Новости за 19.10.2017

US legislation targeting digital advertising platforms including Facebook, Google and Twitter has won bipartisan support after senator John McCain became the first Republican to back a bill to extend rules covering political ads to online ones. The proposed Honest Ads Act comes after revelations that a Russian group calling itself the Internet Research Agency bought […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on October 19 he had all grounds to believe that Moscow, along with Damascus, would soon defeat terrorists in Syria. Read more here. 

The full-length film of Maryna Stepanska ‘Headlong’ that was created with the support of the State Agency of Ukraine on Cinema was picked for the participation in the main competition of the Stockholm International Film Festival as the press service of the State Cinema reported. Four showcases of the film are planned within the film […]

President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on October 19 of trying to squeeze Russia out of European energy markets, saying the latest round of U.S. sanctions was designed to force Europe to buy U.S. liquefied natural gas instead. Read more here. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on October 19 he doubted that a possible U.S. preventative strike on North Korea would destroy all of Pyongyang’s weapons.  Read more here. 

Kremlin commented on the opening of monument to “heroes of Donbas” by presidential aide Vladislav Surkov in Rostov-on-Don, saying that they do not consider such an act to be discrediting Moscow’s position. This was reported by the publication RBC agency. According to the agency, Moscow does not believe that Surkov’s participation in the opening ceremony […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on October 19 President Donald Trump should be respected because he has a democratic mandate. Read more here. 

About 150 participants of the protest rally, which was held near the building of the Verkhovna Rada, have come to the presidential administration building on Bankova Street in the center of Kyiv. The group of protesters is headed by the parliamentarian from the Samopomich faction Yehor Sobolev, shouting different slogans into a megaphone, an Interfax-Ukraine […]

International Investigation Group JIT (Joint Investigation Team), which is investigating Boeing MH17 disaster in July 2014, published a new photo of the Buk 332 air defense missile system made in Ukraine on the day of the aircraft being shot down. This was reported in Twitter, by the research network Bellingcat. “The JIT has released a […]

A presidential bid by a celebrity Russian TV host drew conflicting reaction from the country’s beleaguered opposition October 19, with some accusing her of playing into the Kremlin’s hands and others welcoming her move. Though President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied that the Kremlin has encouraged Ksenia Sobchak to run, some opposition figures say […]

Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, the presumed favorite to win a new six-year term next March, offered a message of renewal in a marathon address on October 19. But he failed to deliver the news that Kremlin watchers have been waiting for: whether he will seek reelection. Addressing a conference on international policy at a Russian […]

People’s deputies haven’t supported any of the three bills on the election of people’s deputies, which assumed a change in the election system. Corresponding bills No.1068 and 1068-1 polled less than 100 votes of people’s deputies, each with 226 minimum required. Bill No. 1068-2 polled 169 votes; the parliamentarians did not support the speaker’s initiative […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 19 accused Washington of not fulfilling its obligations under nuclear and chemical weapons treaties. Read more here. 

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has sent both submitted draft laws on lifting parliamentary immunity, debated today, to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, to see the Court’s conclusion. Read more here. 

Hr 15 million has been allocated from the state budget for temporary housing of internally displaced persons. The Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons reported this on Twitter. Read more here. 

Ksenia Sobchak, who has announced her intention to run for president, may turn out to be a spoiler candidate, Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said. “And how to collect two million signatures? Clearly, she will get help with that. Huge money is needed for the election campaign; someone will give the money. It means […]

Two bills to provide legal frameworks for cryptocurrencies including bitcoin have now been submitted to the Ukrainian parliament, Bitcon.com reports. Read more here. 

Russia’s readiness to back an extension of the supply cuts agreement between Opec and its allies until the end of 2018 has prompted oil ministers to seek widespread support for the proposal, Opec’s secretary-general said on October 19. Mohammad Barkindo said Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid al-Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak were taking […]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld sanctions imposed by the European Union on former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr. The Luxembourg-based court confirmed on October 19 the freezing of their funds for the period from March 2015 until March 2016, upholding a previous ruling by the General Court. Read more […]

The Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) plans to sell 800 million cubic meters of gas to Ukraine in 2017. Furthermore, the company plans to increase supplies to Ukraine in the near future. Maciej Wozniak, Vice Chairman of the PGNiG Management Board for Trade, said this in an exclusive commentary to an Ukrinform correspondent during […]

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko has discussed with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch the issue of improving the investment climate in Ukraine and ways to improve bilateral cooperation in urgent criminal proceedings. The meeting was held in the building of the Prosecutor General’s Office on October 19, the official website of the Prosecutor […]

Rights activists are criticizing the arrest in Ukraine of an Azerbaijani opposition journalist on the basis of an Interpol alert that was requested by Azerbaijan’s government. Read more here.

Operatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have detained a resident of Berezivka, Odesa region, who had reportedly disseminated anti-Ukrainian material on Russian social networks, the SBU press center reported. Read more here.

Ukrainian lawmakers on Oct. 19 moved towards meeting one of the demands of anti-corruption protesters who have set up the first tent city in Kyiv since the pro-EU revolt of 2014. Read more here.

Ukrainian lawmakers voted through a long-delayed overhaul of the health system on Oct. 19 that the state’s Western backers say will raise standards and tackle a culture of bribe-taking in surgeries and hospitals. Read more here.