The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has begun considering the application of Rada deputy Maxim Mikitas for the acquisition of 25% of OJSC Joint-Stock Commercial Industrial Investment Bank, a subsidiary of the Russian Vnesheconombank, TASS reports. Consideration of the application began on January 10. The deal will ensure “the achievement of 25% of votes in the highest management body of the company,” the committee believes.

Letters were sent to more than 70 owners of premises across Russia where signatures are being collected in support of Putin / Evgeny Razumny / Vedomosti The Yabloko party has asked the owners of premises where signatures are being collected in support of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin to provide space for signature collection for Yabloko founder Grigory Yavlinsky.

January 12, 2018, 15:04 / Business Alekperov did not rule out selling a 20% stake in the trader Litasco to its management undefined Vedomosti Lukoil does not exclude the sale of up to 20% of the trading division of Litasco (registered in Switzerland) to managers of this structure, the president of the oil company, Vagit Alekperov, said today.

Russian businessmen have approached former US State Department and Treasury Department officials with requests to help them avoid being included in the so-called Kremlin report, a list of people close to the Russian leadership, former State Department official Dan Fried told Bloomberg . According to him, he was also approached with similar requests, but he refused to fulfill them. Fried did not name the people who made these requests.

Alexei Navalny will make another attempt to integrate his supporters into the existing party system / Evgeny Feldman / For the project "This is Navalny" Politician Alexei Navalny announced on Thursday that he would once again seek registration of his Party of Progress.

January 12, 2018, 12:35 / Finance The euro strengthened against the dollar to its highest level since 2014 Vedomosti The euro/dollar exchange rate rose to $1.212, the highest level since the end of 2014, according to data from the Moscow Exchange. Since the start of trading on Friday, the European currency has strengthened against the dollar by 0.75%.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called President Vladimir Putin's offer to return Ukraine's military equipment remaining in Crimea a gesture of goodwill. "This is another gesture of goodwill, a manifestation of the political will to finally move the Ukrainian settlement process forward," Peskov told reporters. The press secretary of the head of state noted that preparations for the return of military equipment from Crimea will require contacts with Kiev.

The Russian Investigative Committee has brought charges against the driver of a bus that drove into an underground passage near the Slavyansky Bulvar metro station in Moscow. The charge is based on the article on violating traffic rules or operating vehicles, resulting in the death of two or more people. "The investigation obtained sufficient data indicating that the bus was in good working order. In connection with this, the driver, Viktor Tikhonov, was detained.

The Ministry of Defense posted two videos on its YouTube channel showing how the militants who fired mortars at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria on December 31 were destroyed. One of the videos shows the moment the terrorists' drones were destroyed. Both targets, which were hit by Krasnopol artillery munitions, are located in the Syrian province of Idlib. As the ministry noted, all means of Russian military intelligence in Syria were used to identify targets and monitor them.

The bill retains the current method of serving summonses - in person against signature, and introduces a new method of serving summonses - sending by registered mail with notification of delivery to the conscript's place of residence / Sergei Konkov / TASS First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrei Krasov introduced a bill to the State Duma that makes it mandatory for a conscript to appear at the military registration and enlistment office, even if he did not receive the

The State Duma has adopted in the first reading a bill on additional regulation of the activities of media outlets that are foreign agents, allowing for the recognition of individuals as such agents. These amendments were made in December 2017 to the law on foreign agent media that had been adopted shortly before. The authors were deputies Pyotr Tolstoy and Leonid Levin, as well as senators Andrei Klishas and Lyudmila Bokova.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that the White House is continuing to work on a new sanctions list against Russia. Answering a journalist's question about sanctions against "Russian oligarchs," he said: "We are working on that, as we have said. The list will appear in the near future. That is something we are paying attention to." A recording of the briefing is available on the White House YouTube channel.

US President Donald Trump, who a few days ago compared the nuclear buttons of Washington and Pyongyang, assessed his relations with the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong-un as "very good." He said this in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Several months earlier, the owner of the White House called the North Korean leader a madman, a maniac, and a rocket man. "I may have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un. I build relationships with people. I think you're surprised by that," Trump said.

The representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maryana Betsa, stated that the Ukrainian authorities are working on the possibility of returning to the country the military equipment that remained in Crimea, the TV channel “112 Ukraine” reports.

An American company from Virginia specializing in cybersecurity, ThreatConnect, has suggested that pro-Russian hackers are preparing cyberattacks on the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. On its website, it published a message about domains that were registered over the past month by unknown persons copying the addresses of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCASIA).