The cost of a barrel of North Sea Brent oil during trading on the ICE exchange exceeded $56. The price of April WTI oil futures increased by 2.26% to $44.44 per barrel. The growth is associated with the decision of the US Federal Reserve to keep the base rate at 0–0.25%. The exchange rate of the dollar during trading on the Moscow Exchange fell below 60 rubles. As of 21:55, the US currency was worth 59.86 rubles. The euro exchange rate dropped to 64.40 rubles during trading.

A substance believed to be cyanide was found in correspondence received by the White House in Washington. reports this Bloomberg with reference to the US Secret Service. The letter was received on March 16 by the White House Post Office. The initial biohazard test result was negative, but on March 17, a test for potentially hazardous chemicals returned a "presumptive positive" result. The envelope was sent to another facility to confirm or refute the results. The investigation is ongoing.

A militant attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunisia killed 20 people, mostly foreign tourists, AFP reported , citing Tunisian state television. It was previously reported that 19 people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack. Two attackers were also killed, and police are now looking for their accomplices. The identities of the attackers have not yet been established.

Slovak President Andrej Kiska will not go to Moscow to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Victory, reports the local agency SITA. He explained his decision by events in Ukraine and Crimea. Kiska added that he would be in Slovakia that day. He said that he would visit cemeteries where fallen soldiers of the Red Army, soldiers from Czechoslovakia, Romania and France were buried.

The EU has corrected a statement by Foreign Policy Commissioner Federica Mogherini, who previously blamed the attack on a museum in Tunisia on ISIS. According to Reuters , in a new EU statement, Mogherini blames “terrorist organizations” for the incident. The agency said the statement "has removed reference to Daesh, the Arabic acronym for ISIS." “Terrorist organizations are once again targeting the countries and peoples of the Mediterranean region,” Reuters quoted Mogherini as saying.

During exercises in Armenia, artillery units of the Russian military base of the Southern Military District (SMD) fire from Grad multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). The press service of the Southern Military District reported this, Interfax reports . Firing is carried out in high altitude conditions, at an altitude of more than 2 thousand meters above sea level.

The company's total revenue due to lower iron ore prices and ruble devaluation decreased in 2014 to $6.367 billion, which is 13.1% less than a year earlier Work of the Ural Steel metallurgical plant, part of Alisher Usmanov’s Metalloinvest holding (Photo: TASS) The net profit of Metalloinvest at the end of 2014 amounted to only $66 million, having decreased by 93.9% compared to 2013, as follows from the company’s report compiled in accordance with international financial reporting standards

Three people were injured in the shooting, which took place in the basement parking lot of a shopping center on the outskirts of Copenhagen. This was reported by Reuters with reference to representatives of the local police. It is known that the shooting was preceded by a conflict between two groups of people. The identities of the shooters have not yet been established; the police are currently investigating the cause of the conflict.

This is the third series of searches in the city today. Photo: RBC St. Petersburg police raided the branch of JSCB Transcapitalbank on Zvenigorodskaya, 22. As Fontanka reports , investigative actions are being carried out by employees of the “banking” department of the Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.

About 90 thousand people came to the rally-concert in Moscow dedicated to the first anniversary of the annexation of Crimea to Russia, according to the website of the capital’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. Law enforcement officers provide such estimates as of 16:30 Moscow time. But the poet Ivan Kupriyanov had already performed at the concert, and a broadcast of Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly a year ago about the annexation of Crimea to Russia was shown, an RBC correspondent reports.

European Commissioner for Foreign Policy Federica Mogherini blamed the Islamic State for the attack on tourists in Tunisia, reports Reuters . According to her, ISIS is “again targeting the countries and peoples of the Mediterranean region.” “This strengthens our resolve to work more closely with our partners to counter the terrorist threat,” Mogherini said. She promised Tunisia full support from the European Union in the fight against terrorism and reforming law enforcement agencies.

People who control two-thirds of banking assets in Russia Almost 20 years ago, the “seven bankers” were the names given to the co-owners of financial and industrial groups that controlled, according to Boris Berezovsky, more than half of the Russian economy. All of them were private entrepreneurs (albeit with good connections in the government), large shareholders of their banks, and in 1996 they united in order to prevent the Communists from winning the presidential elections.

Five formations of the Airborne Forces have been brought to full combat readiness and have begun exercises in the interests of the Northern Fleet and four military districts. Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov reported this to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “By the end of March 17, the 76th and 7th air assault divisions were transferred to operational subordination to the commanders of the Western and Southern military districts.

Due to the sanctions, Russia has faced problems in receiving money from arms exports, but has already found a way to cope with this, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at a meeting on support for the defense industry on Wednesday. “We earn almost fifteen billion dollars annually. And it seems that through foreign exchange earnings we could compensate for the economic losses that we suffered due to the introduction of sanctions,” RIA Novosti quotes the Deputy Prime Minister .

Despite the sanctions imposed on Rosneft, the Norwegian company Statoil plans to drill four wells in 2015-2016 as part of joint projects with the Russian state-owned company, told Bloomberg Statoil press secretary Knut Rostad . At the same time, two wells should be drilled on the shelf of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and two more in Western Siberia.