Author: Steven Sahiounie

The content of the amendments has not been published yet, but it may be related to Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe Russian President Vladimir Putin is submitting to the State Duma draft amendments to the procedure of notifying the United Nations and the Council of Europe in the event of the introduction or termination of martial law or state of emergency in Russia. The official portal of legal information published a presidential decree saying that Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko will be the official representative of the president during the consideration of these amendments by the Russian parliament.…

The Kremlin press service pointed out that Ramaphosa gave a positive assessment of the results of the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa held a telephone conversation, during which they discussed a number of issues of cooperation between the countries with a focus on strengthening trade and economic ties, the Kremlin press service reported. “In continuation of the July 29 separate meeting between Vladimir Putin and Cyril Ramaphosa, the leaders discussed a number of issues of practical cooperation between Russia and South Africa with a focus…

The Government of Austria signed a new multi-year agreement that will provide a total of €9 million over three years to the Health Program of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, starting from 2023, according to a UNRWA press release. “Another decisive milestone in our long-standing cooperation with the most important international agency in the region. Today’s agreement clearly demonstrates Austria’s commitment to support Palestine refugees, particularly in the crucial health sector. This new multi-year agreement will allow UNRWA more predictable financial planning,” said Oliver Walter, the…

On July 21, at the last meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia, the regulator raised the key rate by 1 percentage point at once, to 8.5% MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin believes that the Bank of Russia was forced to raise the key rate as a response to the heating of inflation. On July 21, at the last meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia, the regulator raised the key rate by 1 percentage point at once, to 8.5%. “The rate has risen because there are trends associated with…

“In recent years, the EU has tightened the export of high-tech products to China, which is a direct cause of the decreasing potential of European exports to China and the emergence of a trade imbalance,” the ministry said BEIJING, August 8. /TASS/. EU countries should lift export restrictions imposed on China if they want to solve the problem of trade imbalance, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. “In recent years, the EU has tightened the export of high-tech products to China, which is a direct cause of the decreasing potential of European exports to China and the emergence of a trade…

The move comes in response to numerous sanctions against the state Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree on the suspension of certain provisions of tax treaties with the United States, several EU countries, and other so-called ‘unfriendly states’. The idea to scrap double-taxation treaties with those who hit Moscow with sanctions had been proposed by Russia’s finance and foreign ministries. According to the document published on Russia’s official legal information portal, the decision was “based on the need to take urgent measures” due to the ‘unfriendly actions’ of some countries. The double-taxation treaty ban will remain in place “until foreign states eliminate…

The country’s GDP will increase by more than 2%, the economy minister says Russia’s economy is expected to grow by more than 2%, Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov has said. Reshetnikov told TASS news agency that the forecast is preliminary, noting that work on the final figures would be completed by the ministry later this month. “It will definitely grow by more than 2%, but let’s wait for concrete figures. We are now at the stage of making a forecast. That is why everyone is interested, not only in the assessment of this year, but also in the assessment…

Soaring costs for basic essentials have led to a decline in British living standards Surging inflation which has been crippling the British economy may slow but food will remain more expensive than before the cost-of-living crisis, the Bank of England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, has warned. Official figures show that food inflation in the world’s tenth-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) remained stubbornly high at 17.3% in the 12 months to June. “Unfortunately, the days of seeing food prices fall, that does seem to be something that we may not be seeing for a little while yet,…

Economic relations between the two countries have been on upward curve, according to Dmitry Dogadkin Moscow has proposed to Doha a switch to the use of national currencies in trade settlements, Russian Ambassador to Qatar Dmitry Dogadkin has said, adding that the sides are already working on the idea. “Our cooperation in investments is expanding. We are successfully developing our partnership with the Russian Direct Investment Fund. A number of joint projects worth more than 160 billion rubles, or 7.2 billion Qatari riyals ($1.9 billion), are being worked on,” Dogadkin told news agency Sputnik on Monday. The ambassador said that Russia-Qatar…

Around $26 million in transfers has been stalled as a result of the measures US authorities have frozen transfers worth around $26 million by firms belonging to Indian diamond dealers over alleged imports from Russia, the Economic Times reported on Monday. The step by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reportedly targeted subsidiaries of Indian diamond houses registered in the United Arab Emirates. Dollar payments by the UAE-based firms were stalled due to suspicions that their supplies have Russian origins, or that they have investments and other connections with Russian miners and sanctioned entities. The…