Novichok agent

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been entered in the register of terrorists and extremists, Russian media reported, based on data from the Financial Monitoring Service.

The bank accounts of those included in the register are frozen. They can be investigated and convicted in extremism cases.

This time, the Russian president, who does not normally express emotions during state meetings, gave Merkel a bouquet of pink flowers.
Although the topics of conversation are difficult, especially due to the crisis in Afghanistan, which affects the whole world, during the meeting, photos of a rather cordial conversation between the two statesmen were taken.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has blamed the European Union for having suspended "the mutually beneficial architecture of cooperation" and for pushing to "shut Russia out," following a meeting with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva in Moscow.

The BBC has been lively commenting on the Bulgarian trace in the explosion of ammunition depots in the Czech Republic in 2014. The media reported that one of the people who stored in Vrbetica ammunitions that were meant for Ukraine was the Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, who six months after the explosion became the target of an assassination with an unknown nerve agent in Sofia.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced during a shocking press conference that the Czech security services have clear evidence of the involvement of GRU's specialised 29155 unit, which is believed to be tasked with sabotage, subversion and assassination, in the explosion. Prague will expel 18 embassy staff who it says are members of the Russian secret services.

CNN has broadcast a report on the latest spy affair in Bulgaria, which resulted in two Russian diplomats being expelled from the country, BGNES reported.

Until 1989, Bulgaria was one of the most loyal members of the USSR-led Warsaw Pact. According to Western analysts, now as a member of NATO and the European Union, the country is a favorite target for Russian espionage.

The United States on March 2 imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials in a coordinated action with the European Union as U.S. intelligence concluded that Moscow orchestrated the near fatal poisoning of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

The news was confirmed from the hospital where he worked, writes Klix.ba and adds that it is Dr Sergej Maksimishin, who was the deputy chief doctor of the hospital in Omsk. However, the exact reason for this 55-year-old doctor's death has not been announced yet.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Feb. 4 said it was essential to continue dialogue with Russia despite its "huge mistake" in jailing opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Macron has long pushed for a working relationship with Russia under President Vladimir Putin and renewed his commitment to the strategy during a question and answer session with the Atlantic Council think tank.

EU foreign ministers are to consider how to react following the jailing of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny and mass detentions at demonstrations across the country.

Three Baltic states are calling for sharper EU sanctions on Moscow, but most member states seem minded to wait a little longer before resorting to more restrictive measures ahead of Monday's talks.