It's astounding that the EU and US don't realize that by limiting Russia's access to international capital, they're actually undermining the financial wellbeing of Ukraine, which is credited by Russian banks, Vladimir Putin told German TV channel ARD. The Russian President said that the country's banks "have currently extended a $25-billion loan to the Ukrainian economy.” [...]

CIS countries should unite in order to resist the vast media and sanction pressure from the West, which is aimed at hampering the integration in Eurasia, a Russian senator says. “Today the area of totalitarian manipulation of the media extends to the Eurasian integration. [...]

Vladimir Putin says the G20 must address global imbalances together, and economic isolation, especially in the case of sanctions, which not only leads nowhere but is a crude violation of international economic law. Here are the Russian president’s top takeaways he gave in an interview to TASS ahead of the G20 summit being held in Brisbane, Australia from November 14-15. [...]

Russia will make financial claims to France if the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers is not delivered by the end of November, an anonymous high-ranking source told RIA Novosti, adding that the sum of the forfeit will be revealed. "We are preparing for different scenarios. We are waiting until the end of the month [the fulfillment of Mistral deal], then we will make serious claims," the s [...]

Doing away with the US dollar and switching to ruble and yuan payments will significantly increase Russia and China's say in energy and financial markets, Vladimir Putin has said, adding that the first deals are already underway. In short the President said the US dollar has no future, and that the ruble and the yuan have better long-term prospects. [...]

The Bank of Russia took another step towards a free float ruble by abolishing the dual currency soft peg, as well as automatic interventions. Before, the bank propped up the ruble when the exchange rate against the euro and dollar exceeded its boundaries. "Instead, we will intervene in the currency market at whichever moment and amount needed to decrease the speculative demand,” the bank’s [...]

Twenty-five years after that embodiment of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, was torn down by ecstatic Germans, the world observes the anniversary as it rushes headlong towards a new confrontation. As the celebration unfolds in Berlin to rejoice in a unified country – and to some extent a unified world – some of the people who shaped the events two-and-a-half decades ago approach the date in a [...]

From Spider Man protesting in Hong Kong to Darth Vader running for parliament in Ukraine's elections; a world search for North Korea's 'missing' leader and Sweden's hunt for a mysterious 'Russian submarine' - RT offers you October headlines, made visual. The ongoing epidemic of the deadly Ebola virus has shown no sign of abating, being dubbed a "worse threat to humanity than HIV or SARS." [...]

The EU won't provide any new funds for Ukraine to pay off its gas debt to Russia, and Moscow has no guarantees should Kiev use agreed funding elsewhere, said the EU Energy Commissioner's spokeswoman Marlene Holzner. The European Commission is allocating €760 million ($954 million) of financial aid to Ukraine earlier than scheduled to help it pay for gas deliveries, said Mrs. Holzner on Friday [...]

The unipolar world as we know it is moving to its end, Wolfgang Schüssel, Austria’s Chancellor in 2000-2007, told RT at the Valdai forum. Russia is to play a major role in the new order, but at the moment the Ukraine crisis dominates the country’s image. Wolfgang Schüssel: First of all, there was a story before the sanctions. We were absolutely surprised with what happened in Ukraine. [...]

Vladimir Putin lashed out at the United States and the West for destabilizing the world order of checks and balances for its own gains. He also accused the West of inflaming the situation in Ukraine and said Russia is not interested in building an empire. The Russian President delivered a fierce broadside aimed at the United States in a speech for the Valdai Club in Sochi, which is an informal [...]

The sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and the West, among other financial blunders, are mistakes that have triggered the world to de-dollarize. Russian President Putin describes this as like "cutting down the branches, upon which they are sitting." Putin said that sanctions have an overall negative effect on the entire global community, and actually motivate countries to seek financial sove [...]

Moscow never put Kiev's right to develop closer ties with the EU into doubt, it only wanted to escape risks that Ukraine's economic integration into the European Union might have brought about, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. “I stress this: we never questioned Ukraine’s right to develop partnership with the EU,” Lavrov told the Verdens Gang (VG) Norwegian newspaper, when he [...]

Russia, the world's second-largest producer of natural gas, has launched its first auction of natural gas on Friday at the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX). It will be Europe's largest natural gas trading post. The project is intended to create a more competitive market for natural gas prices, which at present are more-or-less tied to oil. Now, independent producers wil [...]

Trying to isolate Russia with sanctions and restrictive measures is "an absurd and illusory goal," Russia's president has said. Moscow intends to "further deepen" cooperation with EU partners, Vladimir Putin told the Serbian newspaper, Politika. “If the main goal is to isolate our country, it’s an absurd and illusory goal. It is obviously impossible to achieve it and the economic health of [...]

The Russian PM has suggested that Obama's charges against Russia were caused by a "brain aberration" and added that such rhetoric saddened him. “I am very upset by the fact that President Obama, while speaking from the United Nations’ podium and listing the threats and challenges humanity is currently facing, put Ebola in first place, the Russian Federation second and the Islamic State orga [...]

Since 3 October the Russian Embassy in the UK has been waiting for a positive response from the Financial Times on publishing a letter from Ambassador Yakovenko's as part of the debate on Ukraine. We have only heard that it is under consideration. So, we have decided to publish the text of this letter on our website for the British public to see for themselves that there is nothing subversive, [...]

The overwhelming majority of Russians think the US is their main enemy, and more than half name China as Russia's main friend, a recent poll shows. According to the research conducted by the influential Russian VTSIOM center, the number of Russians who think that USA is their country’s main foe grew from 25 percent in 2008 to 73 percent currently. [...]

Leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia have signed a treaty that will make Erevan a new member of the Eurasian Economic Union, a free trade zone made up of former Soviet states to rival the European Union. The deal was signed Friday at the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union in Minsk. [...]

The Russian Lower House is calling on international organizations and national parliaments and governments to investigate crimes against civilians in south-east Ukraine, and to step up efforts to find a peaceful settlement in the region. The motion was passed by 428 votes in favor with only one abstention. [...]

As the mainstream Western press keeps lamenting Belarus's rising influence, very few commentators dare to explain why "the last dictatorship in Europe" became the only possible venue for peace talks between the warring Ukrainian parties. The explanation is not quite flattering for the countries of the EU: it turned out that they all were biased in their attitude to the conflict in Ukraine, all [...]

German industry is feeling the most pressure since the peak of the global financial crisis in 2009, putting Berlin in a difficult position as it preaches tough austerity to its neighbors. Russian sanctions are only exacerbating the economic misery. Industry orders tumbled 5.7 percent in August from July, the fastest since January 2009 when they dropped 7.7 percent, the Germany Economy Ministry [...]