While Russia was paying tribute to the deceased pilot Roman Filipov, a sharp escalation in the armed conflict began in Syria. Judging by the reports in the Russian, US and Arabic media, the forces loyal to Russia’s ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decided to attack the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Assad’s partners were reportedly trying to capture a gas fields controlled by SDF.

They did not have to wait long for the US response. As reported by the press service of the Operation …

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation on Friday.

The Kremlin’s press service reported that the Heads of State discussed the situation in Ukraine "with an emphasis on the need for full implementation of the [Minsk Agreements]”, among other things.

Later, Elysee Palace releases statement confirming conversation occurred.

"In connection with the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the President of the Republic noted that implementation of the …

Citing the publication Tasnim, the Iranian news agency Fars has reported that three militants affiliated with the group Hezbollah, as well as several militiamen and ‘several Russian military advisers’, were killed on Wednesday as a result of a strike by the coalition forces against supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad the vicinity of the Hasham gas field in Deir ez-Zor province.

The report discusses the attack by Assad supporters, whom the Pentagon earlier claimed approached the zone …

The European Union (EU) has begun work to revise sanctions against former Ukrainian officials that are scheduled to expire on March 6. This concerns the fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych in particular, UNIAN reports, citing an EU Council representative.

"Work on the latest review has begun. As usual, the decision will be made before the expiration of the decision that currently exists," the agency's source noted.

On March 6, 2014, the European Union imposed sanctions against former …

Moldovan President, Igor Dodon, criticized the Republic’s Parliament for adopting a declaration in which Russia is accused of interfering in the country’s “information security.”

In his opinion, “all these systematic and intentional provocations are aimed at forcing Russian to take equivalent actions against our country.”

He also added, “I really hope that today’s hasty decisions won’t have serious impact on our relations with Russia.”

As previously reported, the Moldovan parliament adopted …

A Russian diplomat warned Israel about approving a proposed bill on the official recognition of the Holodomor in Ukraine as genocide, as indicated in a comment to a local radio station by the Deputy Russian Ambassador to Tel Aviv, Leonid Frolov, Radio Liberty reports.

"This is not the best time to discuss this proposal ... It will be bad, it will be a wrong step," he said.

Earlier, a bill to recognize the Ukrainian Holodomor as genocide was filed for consideration by the Israeli parliament ( …

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary has debunked information that a political dialogue between the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Vasyl Bondar, and the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs of Hungary, Levente Magyar, has yielded agreement on issues related to the language norms of the law On Education, as reported by Radio Liberty.

“There has been no agreement on the education law, Ukraine still has not complied with the recommendations issued by the Venice Commission,” said …

Former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Volodymyr Zamana testified as a witness in the high treason case against ex-President Viktor Yanukovych before the Obolonskyi District Court of Kyiv, Ukrainska Pravda reports. During questioning, Zamana said that in February 2014, the Defense Ministry, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor General's office   tried to convince him to send the army to suppress the protesters on the Maidan.

"During that week, attempts …