The Ministers of Defense of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stated that improvement of relations between NATO and the Russian Federation in 2017 is unlikely, the ERR.ee portal reported. The representatives also agree that work will continue according to the OSCE Vienna document.

The ministers signed a traditional communiqué on cooperation, noting that next year will have strategic importance for the region because NATO military forces will be deployed there.

“The next year will be extremely …

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) claims that they have established a representative office in the Italian city of Turin. This information was confirmed by the Italian team of Stopfake.org project, which addresses and refutes false information about events in Ukraine. Stopfake confirmed that this information is accurate.

"We have learned that the official opening of the DPR’s representative office in Italy would be held on December 14 at 6.30 p.m. on the premises of the …

The Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, stated that Serbian authorities plan to purchase aircraft from the Russian Federation and helicopters from the European Union in 2017, thus strengthening its air force. Serbia has formed an agreement with Russia that includes six previously donated MiG-29 fighter jets, which have served the Serbian Air Force for two years. Serbia will fund a major overhaul of these fighters, Reuters reported.

According to Vučić, the total cost of the deal will be …

Ukraine decided to release 15 separatists who are on the exchange list for the "DPR" and "LPR" as a “goodwill gesture.” Nine of them are seriously ill, and the others are women, as reported by the representative of Ukraine to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Iryna Herashchenko, on Facebook.

"In order to advance the process of releasing hostages before the New Year holiday, as part of the Minsk group we announce the transition of 15 of the 228 people who were requested …

An alleged participant in a coup in Montenegro, Nemanja Ristić, was seen in a photo with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, during his visit to Belgrade.

This was brought to the media’s attention by N1, a Serbian news agency.

As the Associated Press notes, Ristić himself has explained that he got into this photo "accidentally."

The photo also contains members of the Zavetniki movement, whose representatives told Radio Liberty’s Balkan Service that Ristić had no affiliation with their …

During the EU summit, the possibility of strengthening the sanctions against the Russian Federation was discussed, according to the Prime Minister of Poland, Beata Szydło.

"The first initiative came from the British Prime minister Theresa May. She offered to discuss the possibility of imposing new sanctions related to the events in Syria. This initiative has long been discussed but has not found enough support. But I am sure that we will return to this issue," the Polish Prime Minister said. …

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 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 …