The measure could yield a needed increase in the country’s birth rate, Valentina Matvienko believes State-sponsored apartments should be provided to families once they give birth to a third child, the speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, Valentina Matvienko, has said.

Kiev will continue supplies to Austria even without a transit contract with Moscow, senior official has claimed   Russian gas will flow through Ukraine to Austria even if the current transit contract between Moscow and Kiev isn’t extended, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishina pledged on Thursday, speaking to Austrian broadcaster ORF.

Russia and Ukraine had been ready to make peace, but Kiev refused to sign the final deal at the urging of Washington, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Speaking with the national Radio Kossuth, Orban agreed with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that it was the US that scuttled the Istanbul peace talks…