Katya Gorchinskaya and Serhiy Andrushko from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service have been looking at the possibility that a former Ukrainian official from the Yanukovych era might be on the lam in alligator shoes:
As former Ukrainian official Mikola Zlochevskiy runs from the new authorities in Ukraine, he might be doing so in his own brand of highly fashionable, exotic-leather shoes.
Zlochevskiy earned a reputation for lavishness while serving as environment and natural resources minister under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. In December, he was placed on Ukraine's most-wanted list for a host of alleged economic crimes.
So when that same month a new upscale shoe and apparel boutique opened in Kyiv, with a trail of ownership that appears to lead back to Zlochevskiy, it raised some eyebrows.
Read the entire report here
It seems Vladimir Putin will be heading to Crimea soon for one of his notorious "action man" stunts:
Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to participate in an archaeological expedition to the annexed Crimean peninsula in the coming weeks, according to reports in Izvestia and other Russian media.
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told RIA-Novosti on July 31 that he could not "yet" confirm the report. However, Peskov was the original source of the news, apparently mentioning it to journalists on July 29.
According to Izvestia, Putin will make the trip under the auspices of the Russian Geographic Society, of which he is the chairman of the Board of Trustees (Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is the president of this "all-Russian nongovernmental organization").
The Russian daily says details of the expedition are being kept secret, but that it will focus on archaeological sites related to the historic Silk Road and an antique shipwreck in the Black Sea.
Read the entire article here
Hmmm... It seems that -- contrary to earlier reports -- a Mistral deal has not been done and dusted after all (from RFE/RL's news desk):
President Francois Hollande has denied claims by Moscow that France has agreed to pay compensation to Russia for cancelling the sale of two Mistral warships.
Earlier on July 31, a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a refund deal was reached between Russia and France.
Hollande, however, told reporters on July 31 that "discussions are under way. I will make a decision in the coming weeks."
The deal was worth $1.3 billion.
The delivery of the two warships was put on hold by Paris in September 2014 in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The contract, which was signed in 2011, was meant to be the biggest arms sale ever to Russia by a NATO country, with the first of the ships due to be delivered to Moscow in 2014 and the second in 2015.
France had come under strong public pressure from its European partners and the United States to abandon the deal.
(AFP, AP, TASS, rian.ru, Bloomberg, BBC)