The future head of the Austrian government, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sebastian Kurtz, promised to adhere to the current policy regarding EU sanctions against Russia, as stated during a speech in Vienna on Saturday, December 16th, DW reports.

At the same time, his partner in the coalition, chairman of the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria, Heinz-Christian Strache, said that he would personally prefer that sanctions against Russia be canceled, but if the majority in …

Russia has warned of its intent to withdraw its officers from the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) for issues related to the ceasefire and the stabilization along the contact line, as stated in a message from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM).

"On 14 December, the Ukrainian Armed Forces representative to the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) in the JCCC headquarters in government-controlled Soledar (79km north of Donetsk) shared with the SMM a letter …

In 2018, Ukrainian authorities intend to start airing to the annexed Crimea several Ukrainian television channels and seven national radio stations, all via two towers, according to a recent post on Facebook written by Serhii Kostynskyi, a member of the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine.

Kostynskyi illustrated his post with a picture of the launch of broadcasting from a transmission tower in Chaplynka in Kherson oblast, not far from the Russian border. “The opening …

The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko will pay an official visit to Portugal on December 17-18.

The press service of the head of state has informed that he will meet with the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Costa, and the Chairman of the Assembly of Portugal, Eduardo Ferrero Rodrigues. A number of bilateral documents are expected to be signed that will contribute to the intensification of cooperation between Ukraine and Portugal in …

The Senate of Poland (upper house of parliament) has adopted, without amendment, two controversial laws on changes in the country’s judicial system that will affect the Supreme Court and the National Council of Judicial Proceedings, reported TVN24.

60 senators voted in favor of the law on the National Council of Judicial Proceedings, while 26 voted against it; one abstained. The law on the Supreme Court was supported by 58 senators; 26 voted against it, and three abstained.

There were shouts …

Viktor Bondarev, head of the Federation Council committee on defense and security, said that Russia will help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad oppose attempts to destabilize the country. Bondarev made a statement to this effect when commenting on the topic of US instructors training militants in Syria, RIA Novosti reports.

“I am convinced that Bashar al-Assad has enough forces to oppose this, not to let anyone at all plunge the country back into chaos. For its part, Russia will help,” Bondarev …

Former Georgian president and leader of the Movement of New Forces Party Mikheil Saakashvili has written a letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asking for reconciliation, Insider sources reported.“Through the EU ambassador he is offering to stop the marches and take down the tents in exchange for de-escalation,” an official source told the news outlet.

According to the source, the reason for the change in Saakashvili’s rhetoric is that he was threatened with extradition to Georgia. …

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin met with UN Secretary General António Guterres in New York to discuss the prospects of a UN peacekeeping mission to the Donbas, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Oleh Nikolenko told Ukrinform.

According to Nikolenko, they also discussed matters of human rights protection and collaboration in the humanitarian aspect.

“Pavlo Klimkin and UN Secretary General António Guterres discussed the prospects of bringing a UN peacekeeping mission into …