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Stoltenberg: NATO is considering strengthening its presence in the Black Sea
The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, stated that NATO is seriously thinking about strengthening its presence in the Black Sea region, as quoted by digi24 news portal. “Currently, we are reviewing the possibility of ensuring our presence on the Black Sea by means of naval and air forces. We are discussing this problem mostly with coastal States – Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey,” Stoltenberg explained.
The Secretary General of NATO noted that, “ …
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Russian Energy Minister: No more Russian-Ukrainian-EU format gas talks planned until the end of the year
There will be no trilateral gas talks in the Ukraine- Russia- EU format for the supply and transit of Russian gas until the end of the year.
This was announced on Saturday by the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Alexander Novak, as Interfax reports.
The resumption of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine, which stopped in the fall of 2015, now depends only on Naftogaz’s prepayment.
"If the money is paid, the supply will resume. We have no dispute over the price, they have no debt. No …
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Heavy fighting erupts near Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine
According to the December 18th evening summary of the Ukrainian Military command, five Ukrainian servicemen were killed and six wounded in the fighting along the Svitlodarsk arc.
“Starting at 5:50 am, in the vicinity of Svitlodarsk arc, after a continuous large caliber artillery and mortar fire, the separatist army units attempted to push Ukrainian forces from their positions. The enemy, using a considerable manpower, attempted an encircling maneuver. The Ukrainian forces discovered this …
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UK extends Ukrainian military training program for another year
British military experts’ training of the Ukrainian Army will be extended for another year, until the beginning of 2018, as was stated on Sunday, by the UK Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon.
"The extension of Great Britain’s training of the Ukrainian armed forces will send a clear signal that we support Ukraine and remain firmly committed to its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity in the face of a more hostile Russia," the Secretary said.
In 2015, Fallon approved …
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Herashchenko: Location of 58 prisoners in the Donbas has been determined
Ukraine managed to determine the location of 58 Ukrainian hostages who were illegally detained in the Donbas, as stated by the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament), and the Ukrainian representative to the Minsk negotiations, Iryna Herashchenko, in an interview on Channel 112 Ukraine.
"It was very difficult for Ukraine to establish the location of 58 people who are being held in the territory controlled by separatists. 52 people are in the Donetsk territory and 6 in …
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Azerbaijan to purchase Israeli Iron Dome air defense system
The Minister of the Defense Industry of Azerbaijan, Yavar Jamalov, stated that Israel and Azerbaijan have reached an agreement on the purchase of the Iron Dome air defense system. According to him, the agreement was reached between the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and his Israeli counterpart. The Minister also drew attention to the growing capacity of the Azerbaijani defense sector.
“Currently, military plants, where military products (1160 items) are manufactured, operate as a part of the …
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Russian agency proposes maintaining strict record of Ukrainians in the Crimea
The Russian Federal Agency for Nationalities Affairs has offered to maintain strict records of individuals who enter the territory of the Crimea from mainland Ukraine, as stated by the Deputy Head of the Monitoring, Analysis and Forecast Department of the FANF, Andrey Komissarov, TASS reports.
Komissarov believes an immigration regime in the Crimea should be established "taking into account its strategically important location and the conflict between neighboring Ukraine.”
"Just on December 13 …
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Spiegel: Russian hackers were not responsible for leak of Bundestag documents
Secret documents of the Bundestag committee responsible for investigating large-scale surveillance of the American National Security Agency (NSA) came to Wikileaks from a person working in the German parliament. On Saturday, December 17, Der Spiegel weekly published the information, citing sources from the German secret services.
Earlier, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported that investigators considered it possible that confidential files appeared at Wikileaks due to …
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Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed to hold talks on Syria
The foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran, Sergey Lavrov, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Mohammad Javad Zarif respectively, discussed the situation in Syria against the backdrop of eastern Aleppo being occupied by government troops and the evacuation of the civilian population out of the city.
The Ministers previously agreed to hold a meeting to discuss the Syrian conflict, as evidenced by a press release issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 17.
The document does not …
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Italy has blocked the extension of sanctions against Russia
At the EU summit in Brussels, Italy blocked the attempt to extend sanctions against Russia for one year. Rome was also against the extension of sanctions for alleged crimes committed by Russia in Syria.
This was confirmed by the participants of the summit.
"We had a discussion, which, fortunately, ended without considering the option that would be, in my opinion, erroneous. That is to respond to the situation in Syria and Aleppo with the EU sanctions against Russia", the Prime Minister of …