• Kirby: The US will not recognize the results of the Russian election in Crimea

    Washington will not recognize the results of the Russian Duma elections in the Crimea, according to State Department spokesman John Kirby. "The United States does not recognize the legitimacy… [and will not] recognize the results of the elections of the Russian State Duma, which are planned on the occupied territory of the Crimea on the 18th of September," Kirby said.

    According to Kirby, the US position on the Crimea is clear, "the peninsula remains an integral part of Ukraine."

    The …

  • Commission says black boxes from Smolensk plane crash were 'rigged'

    The black box recordings from the Tu-154M that crashed near Smolensk in 2010 were rigged and many of the documents that are relevant to the case were hidden, as stated by experts of the sub-Commission on Investigation of the Smolensk disaster, Polish Radio reported.

    A segment of the Polish registrars was deleted and a segment from a Russian registrar was inserted into its place.  The withdrawn piece contained information about engine problems, as well as issues with generators and radio …

  • Rocket powered by Ukrainian engine launches Google satellite

    The Vega rocket, which has a Ukrainian engine, has successfully put five satellites into orbit, as was reported on the website of the European Space Agency. The rocket was launched at 00:43 Kyiv time from Kourou Cosmodrome, French Guiana, containing four SkySat terra bella satellites owned by Google. Moreover, it also put the first Peruvian satellite PeruSAT-1 into orbit.

    The launch of the Vega rocket was the seventh in its history. On 23 June 2015, the European satellite Sentinel-2A, which …

  • Poroshenko: Ukraine will not sell the Crimea in return for a 'good solution' in the Donbas

    The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, said that the question of the ownership of the Crimea is not negotiable and the option to exchange the Peninsula for the settlement of the situation in the Donbas region is unacceptable.

    "We will never trade the Crimea for a solution regarding the Donbass region.  The Crimea is a Ukrainian territory," Poroshenko said during the 13th Annual Meeting of the Yalta European Strategy, September 16, 2016 in Kyiv.

    According to him, a dangerous precedent …

  • Gates: The West did not fulfill its obligations to Ukraine under the Budapest Memorandum

    The Budapest Memorandum became one of those international agreements which is not implemented in the way that they should be, as stated by the former United States Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, at the YES summit in Kyiv.

    "The Government which was working in the U.S.A. at the time of signing of the Budapest Memorandum, was working without me,” Gates said.

    “But the deal was that if Ukraine abandoned nuclear weapons, their security would be guaranteed.  And if we look at this in the …

  • Kuchma: At meetings of Trilateral Contact Group, Russia is blocking Ukraine's attempts to restore control over borders

    Representatives of the Russian Federation and the self-proclaimed republics of the Donbas are opposing the creation of the fifth subgroup within the Trilateral Contact Group, which would deal with the issue of restoring the Ukrainian government’s control over the border with Russia.  

    According to Interfax-Ukraine, this was said by the representative of Ukraine in the group, former President Leonid Kuchma.

    "It's because they understand perfectly that if the border will be ours, then many …

  • Canada to deploy 455 soldiers to Latvia in 2017

    Canada will send more than 450 soldiers to Latvia in May 2017 within the framework of NATO's efforts to expand its presence in the Baltic region, the AFP agency reported on Friday, September 16.

    The day before, Canadian General Jonathan Vance had confirmed the deployment of 455 servicemen to Latvia. "I think the soldiers will start arriving next spring, around May", Vance told the reporters. According to him, this process should be completed in early fall.

    In July, NATO approved the …

  • Putin says he hopes the US will stick to its commitments in Syria

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hopes the US will stick to its commitments in Syria, Reuters reported. Putin noted that he believes the US and Russia share a common interest in securing a truce in the war torn country.

    While Moscow insists that Russian airstrikes in Syria are carried out primarily against extremist groups, including but not limited to the so-called Islamic State, Washington has accused Russia of targeting US-backed rebel groups.

    Putin told reporters in Bishkek on …

  • Russian and Chinese navies carry out defensive exercises in South China Sea

    The Russian and Chinese navies, as part of the joint Cooperation-2016 exercises in the South China Sea, have so far focused on ship defense, according to the head of the department of information support of the press service of the Russian Eastern Military District for the Pacific Fleet, Captain Vladimir Matveev.

    "The crew members have practiced the elements of anti-submarine-sabotage defense, air defense and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) on unprotected raid. In addition, in the course of joint …

  • Ukraine and Kazakhstan to extract uranium

    Ukraine and Kazakhstan are planning to establish joint ventures to extract uranium in the territory of both countries, as reported by Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine Ihor Nasalik at a "round table" on Thursday, September 15th.

    "We have prepared the documents. On Monday, (September 19th) representatives of Kazakhstan will arrive to sign a memorandum on the establishment of the joint venture for uranium mining in both Ukraine and Kazakhstan,” Nasalik said.

    Earlier, the National Atomic …