• Ukraine and Russia could be banned from Eurovision for three years

    Ukraine and Russia can be excluded from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest for three years for violating the rules of the contest. This was stated by the Chairman of the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group and the event’s steering committee, Frank-Dieter Freiling in the commentary for the German ZDF.

    According to him, Ukraine violated the rules of the contest by not allowing a participant from Russia, Yuliya Samoylova into the country. "From the Ukrainian point of view, the legal …

  • Moldova summons Russian diplomat over Russian military’s plans to participate in Victory Day parade in Transnistria

    Elena Kopnina, charge d’affairs of the Russian Embassy in Chișinău, was summoned to the Moldovan Foreign Ministry in connection with the intention of military divisions of the operative group of Russian forces stationed in Transnistria to take part in the events on May 9.

    This was announced by the press-service of the Moldovan foreign policy department.

    “The representative of the ministry of foreign affairs and European integration expressed their concern in connection with the intention of …

  • LPR said that Ukraine has cut water supply by 85%

    Ukraine has cut the water supplied by the Zapadnaya Water Treatment Plant to the separatist-held areas of the Luhansk region by 85%, according to the separatist website, Lugansk Media Center, citing reports from the Luganskvoda water supply company.

    “On May 4th at two o'clock in the morning, Ukraine reduced the feed from the Zapadnaya Water Treatment Plant by 85%; as usual, no reasons were given,” the report said.

    Kyiv supplies water to the Luhansk region from two main water intakes - the …

  • Media: Separatists in eastern Ukraine received Osa anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia

    For two days in a row, separatists near Novoazovsk in eastern Ukraine have been firing at the Ukrainian military and targeting the Ukrainian observation drones using Osa (wasp) surface-to-air missile systems. This brainchild of the Soviet defense industry is in service in Russia, Ukrainian TSN news reported.

    Ukrainian military representatives say that the missiles of this system have flown over their heads several times already. "The day before yesterday there were two shots, yesterday two …

  • The Russian Ministry of Defense commented on the presence of Russian aircraft off the coast of Alaska

    A Tu-95MS long-range strategic bomber accompanied by Su-35S multi-purpose fighters carried out a scheduled flight off the coast of Alaska on Thursday, May 4, to RIA Novosti reported citing the Press Service of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

    "In the course of training flights, pilots of Su-35S aircraft performed elements of complex aerobatics, flight along a given route, and piloting of a combat aircraft at extremely low altitudes and maximum permissible altitudes," the commentary on the …

  • Ukraine condemned Russian Foreign Ministry representative’s visit to the Crimea

    In her post on Twitter, the Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Mariana Betsa, condemned the visit of the   representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, to the annexed Crimea.

    "Such visits to the occupied Crimea are unlawful and illegal. They grossly violate international and Ukrainian law and we demand accountability," the press secretary of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry emphasized.

    The Ukrainian foreign policy agency was reacting to …

  • Kremlin called US decision to monitor Russia’s ports ‘a step towards war’

    Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Council (upper house of the Russian Parliament) Konstantin Kosachev said  that the US bill which requires the monitoring of Russian ports to enforce the sanctions on North Korea can be equated to “a declaration of war”, RIA Novosti reports.

    "This Bill, I hope, will never be implemented, because it assumes a forceful inspection of all ships by American navy”, he stated.

    Kosachev stressed that “such a scenario is unthinkable …

  • U.S. may begin to monitor Russia’s eastern ports over North Korean sanctions

    The administration of the White House plans to undertake special monitoring of several Russian ports in Primorsky Krai in light of the implementation of sanctions against North Korea. Such a provision is included in a bill adopted Thursday by the U.S. Congressional House of Representatives.

    If the law is passed, the U.S. president will be obliged to provide congressmen with a full report annually, for a period of five years, on the ports and airports involved in the violation of sanctions …

  • U.S. Congress approves $560 million for Ukraine from federal budget

    After several weeks of political negotiations, the upper house of the U.S. Congress has approved by a majority vote a consolidated draft federal budget in the total amount of $1.1 trillion for the 2017 financial year, which ends on September 30. Voting took place on Thursday.

    79 senators supported the bill, while 18 opposed. The House of Representatives voted on the document the day before. For the budget’s final entry into force, President Trump must sign the document.

    It is expected that …

  • North Korea accuses the US and South Korea of an assassination attempt on its leader

    Pyongyang accused the United States and South Korea of planning an assassination of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Yonhap news agency reports.

    According to the report of the North Korean Ministry of State Security, the US and South Korea entered the country in order to kill Kim Jong-un using biochemical substance.

    North Korea, in its turn, threatened to attack the US and South Korean Secret Services.

    "We will ferret out and mercilessly destroy to the last one the terrorists of the U.S. …