• Nadiya Savchenko was expelled from the Batkivshchyna faction

    The Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Nadiya Savchenko, on Thursday, December 15th, was expelled from the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) faction, as reported by the press service of Batkivshchyna. According to the statement, Savchenko was included in the electoral list during the elections in 2014 so as to free the former pilot from Russian captivity. However, "life has shown that the principles and political convictions of Savchenko do not coincide with that of Batkivshchyna," the statement read. The …

  • The European Union has accepted The Hague’s proposed compromise to EU-Ukraine Association Agreement

    The resolution requested by the Netherlands on the introduction of additions to the text of EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was adopted at the European Union Summit, which took place on December 15 in Brussels. In the resolution, agreed upon at the Summit, the European Union legislatively entrenched the provision that Ukraine will not be granted EU candidate country status concurrent with the signing of the Association Agreement.

    The majority of voters in the referendum that was held in early …

  • Russian Ambassador to the EU: Moscow is ready pursue military cooperation with Europe

    Russia's Ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, stated in an interview with Die Welt that Moscow is open to holding intensive mutual dialogue with the European Union on key foreign policy issues and that it is ready for military cooperation.

    “It is possible to imagine that the Russian Army can participate in the operations of the European Union,” the diplomat stated. According to him, Moscow and Brussels are already closely cooperating in missions against pirates in Somalia, operations in the …

  • Medvedev: Russia's food embargo will remain in place until the West's sanctions are lifted

    Russia Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stated that Russia's food embargo will remain in force as a response to the West's sanctions, but the country must be prepared for the eventual resumption of a normalized market for agricultural products, TASS reported.

    "We have retained these counter-moves so far. But all must be ready to see that sooner or later this period will end and an absolutely clean competitive field will appear once again," Medvedev stated.

    "And by this time, it is necessary to …

  • Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has identified 100 people involved in the downing of MH17

    The Ukrainian Prosector General's investigation into Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 which was shot down over the Donbas in the summer of 2014 has identified 100 people involved in the catastrophe, as stated by the First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Dmytro Storozhuk, during a briefing, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported.

    "All 100 people were identified," he said.

    Storozhuk explained that those indentified were allegedly involved in the transportation of the Buk missile system, the crew, who …

  • Ukraine to pay 100,00 euros to Dutch museum for storage of Crimean gold once it is returned

     Ukraine will pay more than 100,000 euros to the Allard Pierson Museum in the Netherlands for the storage of "The Crimea: the gold and the secrets of the Black Sea" exhibition.

    The Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Pavlo Petrenko, commenting on this issue and the decision of the District Court of Amsterdam, told reporters that the money will be paid after the return of the collection to Ukraine.

    "Ukraine is ready to pay for storage at the local museum [in the Netherlands], and we will cover all …

  • Head of Ukraine's National Bank: Ukraine must cooperate with the IMF or our reserves will melt away

    The delay in resumptions of relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) poses a risk for Ukraine’s financial stability, as was stated by the head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Valeriya Hontareva, at a conference in Kyiv, UNIAN reports.

    “I want to tell you that no one has any doubt that if we don’t resume cooperation with the IMF immediately … our reserves will start to melt as well as our market’s possibilities,” she said.

    The Head of the NBU noted that this year the …

  • Canada is ready to participate in the establishment of an Interior Ministry training center in Ukraine

    At a meeting on Tuesday, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, and the Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, Roman Waschuk, discussed the prospect of the establishment of a training center of the Ministry of Internal affairs in Kyiv with support from Canada.

    "The Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine assured Ukraine of Canada’s full support for the reforms of law enforcement agencies. In particular, he indicated Canada’s readiness to participate in the establishment of a training …

  • Lithuanian President: The EU has already decided to extend sanctions against Russia

    Accordingly to Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, the European Union has already agreed to extend sanctions against Russia which are due to expire on January 31st, 2017, TASS reported.

    Upon her arrival at the EU summit in Brussels, Grybauskaite stated, "All member states understand that it is inevitable [the extension of sanctions]."

    "The written procedure is already in place," she noted.

    According to Russia’s ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, "This simple story has …

  • Sweden prohibited Gazprom from storing pipes for Nord Stream 2 in Swedish ports

    The Head of the Island Council’s Technical Board, Tommy Gardell, stated that the Swedish island of Gotland will not give permission to use Slite harbor for pipe storage during the installation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Meduza reported, referencing consultations between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Sweden.

    The Heads of the Ministries informed the representatives of Gotland that keeping pipes in the port could have a negative effect on the country’s …