More than 15 tons of fruit from Poland and Spain were destroyed in Russian-annexed Crimea according to the Crimean Office of Rosselkhoznadzor.

"The apples of Polish origin with a total weight of 15 tons and 156 kilograms of Spanish oranges were detected by state inspectors of Rosselkhoznadzor during a joint raid conducted with the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Crimea and services on Land and Phytosanitary Supervision for the Republic of Crimea,” declared the …

Germany’s Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel, hopes to restore an atmosphere of trust and open dialogue with Moscow. According to Deutsche Welle, he said this during an interview with the Russlandkontrovers website.

According to Gabriel, Russia is still the main partner of Germany.

“The strength of German-Russian relations lies in overcoming critical situations and, even in a difficult period, continuing to cooperate,” he added.

Gabriel also …

A Russian diplomat believes that "a time of war is beginning to prevail in our country again" but Putin and his associates "don’t want it to prevail."

Alexander Surikov, Russia's Ambassador to Belarus, stated that a new Russian military facility in Klintsy is allegedly needed to be able to defend themselves from an attack by Ukraine.

"What does that have to do with Belarus? As far as I understand, we have a problem with the Minsk Agreements. Radicalism in Ukraine is intensifying again. More …

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Lubomír Zaorálek, stated in an interview with the Financial Times that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, uses a divide-and-conquer strategy, supporting right-wing populists in Europe. According to him, nationalist and Euro-skeptical movements serve a vital role in Putin’s strategy to weaken Europe.

“This issue is regularly discussed. We have no doubt that Russia is exploring ways for funding this work,” Zaorálek noted. “Russia uses …

Russia is trying to destroy the foundations of the European Union, as stated by the President of Bulgaria, Rosen Plevneliev, on Wednesday, June 8th speaking in the European Parliament, EurActiv reports.

According to him, the crisis in Ukraine shows that Russia "does not support the principles of international order. The Kremlin is trying to destabilize the situation in the EU. He tries to destroy and bring down the foundations of the European Union, such as unity, solidarity and the rule of …

The U.S. Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Daniel Baer, stated during an OSCE Permanent Council meeting that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine has been subjected to a deliberate attempt to ‘blind’ it by blocking or destroying the Mission’s means of surveillance in the Donbas.

“Within one week, militia forces shot down two of the SMM’s long endurance UAVs near Horlivka and threatened to shoot down the other UAVs which were looking for the …

European Union (EU) countries, who support sanctions against Russia, have postponed discussions about their demands until the EU leaders summit in December. This was reported by the Financial Times, citing sources in Brussels.

In addition, and despite signs of some bloc countries softening their attitudes, the EU intends to extend sanctions against Russia for another six months.

The newspaper reports that diplomats fear that this extension may, over the next two weeks, trigger disputes …

The Pentagon has agreed with analysts’ views that Russia could capture Riga or Tallinn in less than three days. This was reported by the Weekly Standard.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Michael Carpenter, has agreed with a report of RAND research center which states that Russian troops would be able to seize the city of Riga in 60 hours or less.

“NATO would have a few options for further action, of which none are good. These options include an offensive action, which is associated …