Breaking News, 1st of March, 2018

The Stockholm arbitration ordered Gazprom to pay Naftogaz $4.63 billions of dollars for the shortage of volumes of gas for the transit, INTERFAX has been told by the press service of the Naftogaz. Thus, according to the results of two arbitration disputes between the companies for the supply and transit of gas, Gazprom must pay Naftogaz $2.56 billions of dollars. At the same time, the arbitration court did not satisfy Naftogaz’s demand to revise the tariff for the gas transit in a contract with Gazprom, on the revision of the transit contract in accordance with European and Ukrainian energy and competition legislation.

In the DPR, over the past day, Ukrainian forces violated the ceasefire agreements five times, firing 149 shells at the front-line territories of the Republic. During the shelling, mortars, grenade launchers and small arms were used. Dokuchaevsk, Lozovoye village of Yasinovatsky district and the northern outskirts of Gorlovka were under fire.

ISIS continues to conduct subversive activities in Iraq. Yesterday the terrorists attacked the Khabaz oil field in Kirkuk, killing and wounding five guardsmen. Another Shia militia man was killed and three were wounded in an ambush in Havidzh. Three districts in the province of Kirkuk remained without control after the departure of Iraqi and Kurdish forces, where security issues were delegated to the federal police forces.

The plan for the humanitarian corridor for the exit of civilians from Eastern Guta was disrupted. The terrorists controlling the eastern suburb of Damascus shelled the corridor and did not allow the local residents to use it. The de-escalation zone in East Guta, like the other three ones, was established by an agreement between Russia, Iran and Turkey. There are also zones in the province of Idlib, south-west Syria and north to the city of Homs. Armed groups in East Guta deny accusations of obstructing the exit of civilians and shelling the evacuation route.

Military tests of sea missiles and torpedoes will be run near the coast of Crimea. At the moment, in order to test such weapons, Russia uses the test range in the White Sea. But, due to climatic conditions, the period of its exploitation is limited. Some types of weapons are being tested in the Baltic sea, but because of the size of the area, the tests are being carried out literally in front of NATO. In the Far East, there is no necessary technological infrastructure for such tests in the first place, and in the Crimea there were necessary technological conditions left over from the Soviet times.

Egyptian military, during the large-scale anti-terrorist operation in the Sinai Peninsula, over the past two days, eliminated 13 terrorists. This was reported by the official representative of the government army of the country. In addition to the neutralized militants, about 90 people, suspected in the extremism, were also detained. During the operation, the security forces managed to destroy several shelters and warehouses with weapons and explosive devices.