Kuchma proposed to lift the blockade from the Donbass

Today, on 6th of June, the ‘St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019’ will begin its work at the convention and exhibition center »Expo-forum». It will last until Saturday, 8th of June. The forum consists of 4 thematic blocks: «The World Economy in the Search of Balance», «Russian Economy: Realizing the Goals of the National Development», «Technologies that draw the Future» and «Human — First and Foremost.» The program has more than 120 events in various formats. Including 2 plenary sessions, several panel sessions, round tables, business breakfasts and TV debates. It is expected that Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will take part in the forum.

The representative of Kiev at the talks of the tripartite group on Donbass in Minsk, Leonid Kuchma, proposed to lift the economic blockade against the LPR and the DPR — said the representative of the OSCE — Martin Saydik. According to him, the proposal was made by Leonid Kuchma. It was supported by the participants from the LPR and the DPR. Martin Saidik noted that the lift of the blockade could be a «huge breakthrough». Boris Gryzlov, the representative from Russia, confirmed the negotiations on the withdrawal of the blockade. He reported that an economic subgroup was assigned to make a plan. Later, the ex-president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, expressed his concern about such intentions. He demanded from the current Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, to explain on what basis he gave such directives to the Ukrainian delegation. On Monday, the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky re-appointed Leonid Kuchma as Ukrainian representative at the negotiations on the tripartite contact group on Donbas.

In Smolensk, the joint work of the Investigative Committee of Russia and the authorized investigative staff from Poland on the circumstances of the crash of the Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski has been completed. The airliner crashed near Smolensk back in 2010. The investigative work was once again initiated by Poland. As it was told to the TASS by the press service of the investigative committee of Russia — the evidence from the investigation unconditionally points at the erroneous actions of the aircrew — they continued to approach the runway despite the absence of visibility. Earlier the investigative committee reported that since 2010, the Polish representatives came to Russia 12 times to work with the physical evidence. Their last visit took place in the fall of 2018. The fragments of interest were repeatedly and thoroughly studied by both the Russian and the Polish experts.

The Pentagon and the US State Department informed the American Congress of a potential arms deal worth of $2 billions of dollars to Taiwan — Interfax reports while citing Bloomberg. According to the Bloomberg — the best American tank M1A2 is planned to be included in the deal for the first time. The deal involves the sale of 108 tanks, 1240 ‘TOW-2’ anti-tank missiles, 409 ‘Javelin’ anti-tank missiles, and 250 ‘Stinger’ anti-aircraft missiles. Bloomberg noted that if this deal does go through — it will cause a strong negative reaction in Beijing. China strongly opposes the supply of arms to the Taiwan regime, and their military cooperation with the United States. Back in March, the US approved the sale of 60 F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan.