The Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sebastian Kurz, speaking on June 19th, stated that he believes that the European Union should change its sanctions policy against Russia, Deutsche Welle reports.

“I think that we should gradually arrive at a stage where every move toward fulfilling the Minsk Agreements is met with the progressive removal of sanctions,” Kurz said.

According to him, it would be a "clear demonstration of a step towards" Moscow, the politician believes.

"I hope, it will …

The Chairman of the Ukrainian Delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Volodymyr Ariev, went on the air on Ukraine TV Channel 112 where he criticized the possible return and participation of the Russian delegation in PACE meetings. Ariev reported that Ukraine sent a serious force of diplomats to the current PACE session because a serious desire for the return of the Russian delegation was expressed during the Bureau meeting in May.

According to Ariev, this decision …

The Russian side believes that Ukraine does not show any will to fulfill the Minsk agreements.

The Press Secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, believes that there are currently no preconditions for a new meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Quartet, as reported by the Russian RIA Novosti news agency.

Peskov noted that even though the “Normandy Four” states  would like to have this meeting there are not preconditions for it.

“There could be preconditions if the …

According to German experts, the so-called Islamic State is unable to carry out complex hack attacks. According to Der Spiegel, the truth is that Kremlin’s hackers are behind the cyber-caliphate.

So-called cyber-caliphate of the Islamic State terrorist group may be a Russian invention. German security experts believe that the so-called Islamic State isn’t yet able to carry out complex spy and sabotage attacks over the internet, Der Spiegel reported on the 18th of June with a reference to its …

The Chairman of the SPD Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag, Thomas Oppermann, stated that Germany is concerned about the behavior of Russian fans during the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup that will be hosted by Russia, Deutsche Welle reported.

“Russia, as a future host country to the FIFA World Cup was disgraced from head to foot. Bullies from Russia became the heroes of the headlines and even received applause from Moscow after the fights,” Oppermann said.

According to him, the International …

The advisor to the Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine, Yuriy Tandit, said that Ukraine is negotiating the early release of 25 Ukrainian prisoners held in the Donbas. This was reported by Interfax-Ukraine with reference to the ICTV channel.

"We are ready to compromise and the exchange of 25 hostages for 50 is now being discussed," Tandit said. According to him, Kiev is making a maximum effort to release the prisoners.

Recently, there had been no progress in the negotiations on the …

The British newspaper The Guardian reported that riots involving Russian fans in France could have been authorized by the Russian government. According to Interfax, on Sunday, June 19th, the Russian President’s Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said it was “Russophobian hysteria.”

"It does not require any reaction. This is another example of how someone can come to such an extent in his Russophobian hysterics," Peskov said.

Earlier, The Guardian reported that according to high-level sources in …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande want to hold a meeting in Minsk with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to revive the process of implementing the Minsk Agreements, reported the German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung, citing sources in the German government.

According to the newspaper, serious efforts are being made to arrange a new Minsk meeting. The newspaper quoted Merkel, who said at a recent meeting with the Prime …