US President Barack Obama said that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have a common stance on sanctions against Russia because of its policy with regard to Ukraine: sanctions can only be lifted if Moscow fulfills the conditions of the Minsk Agreements. Obama said this on April 24th at a press conference in Hannover, after a meeting with Merkel as part of his 6-day trip abroad."Sanctions against Russia can and should be lifted only if Russia fulfills its commitments within the framework of …

Nine Cossacks of the Kuban Cossack Army received awards personally from Sergey Aksyonov, the de facto head of Crimea, on the 25th anniversary of the rehabilitation of the Cossacks. During a parade in Krasnodar, honorary watches were presented to them for the protection of the "referendum" in the annexed Crimea, TASS reports.

Aksyonov presented the honors "for the conscientious execution of the official duties and active participation in ensuring of law and order during the preparation and …

The headquarters of Ukrainian military operations in the Donbas reported that on April 23rd, Russian-backed separatists fired at Ukrainian military positions more than 41 times. This is more than double the number of attacks by separatists on April 22nd, when there were only 19 recorded.

"The most active was the Donetsk area where the gunmen fired towards Avdiivka using 82 mm and 120 mm caliber mortars. Kremlin supporters also ignored the ceasefire in areas near the Ukrainian positions in …

The leaders of the so-called People's Donetsk Republic (DPR) stated that any armed OSCE mission in eastern Ukraine will be viewed as military aggression against the self-declared republic.

This position was stated by the leader of the so-called DPR, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, at a media briefing. It was later published by separatist media sources.

"If they dare to show up here armed, I will consider it to be a military invasion. They only have a mandate to be a monitory mission," he stated. …

The US Air Force has sent F-22 Raptors from the UK to Romania to participate in exercises in the Black Sea region, Reuters reported.

Two of the 5th generation stealth fighters and one KC-135 tanker were sent to the Mihail Kogălniceanu Airbase in Romania in order to participate in exercises to support the eastern NATO member states.

Earlier, the US European Command (EUCOM) reported that the US Air Force had transferred the F-22s to the UK for exercises.

The US first deployed the multi-purpose …

The question of creating an OSCE monitoring mission in the Crimea will be discussed when the Organization’s Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, visits Ukraine, Krym.Realii reported.

According to the First Secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJU), Sergey Tomilenko, the issue was discussed at the congress of the European Federation of Journalists in Sarajevo.

“Dunja Mijatović will soon visit Ukraine and the mission in the Crimea will be a key issue in the …

The American corporation General Electric is ready to offer the Ukrainian state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, new rolling stock and upgrades for existing stock. LIGA.net reports that the new opportunity was announced by the head of GE in Russia and CIS, Gokhan Bayhan.

"We offer Ukrzaliznytsia new rolling stock and upgrades to existing ones. We are ready to provide our most advanced technologies," Bayhan stressed. The representative of the U.S. corporation also noted that General Electric is …

The financial ombudsman of the Russian Federation, Pavel Medvedev, has declared that he doesn't see prospects for growth of the Russian economy any time soon. In his opinion, the "junk" rating assigned by Moody's agency is not politicized and therefore is quite reasonable.

Medvedev explained his position in an interview with the Govorit Moskva radio station.

"It is considered that their ratings are politicized, but it seems to me that this opinion isn't very reasonable. The matter is that …