According to Berlin and Paris, pro-Russian separatists in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics obstruct the work of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine, under the pretext of protection against the spread of coronavirus, reports Deutsche Welle.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian said they were "very concerned" about the restrictions faced by OSCE SMM staff in Ukraine from March 21, 2020.

"Observers should be able …

On Tuesday evening, a missile strike hit military installations in the eastern part of Syrian Homs province, as reported by the Arab media, including the Syrian government’s news agency Sana.

According to Sana, the Syrian air defenses, deflecting "the Israeli aggression in eastern Homs, shot down some of the missiles before they reached their targets."

Translated from the veiled language of Syrian propaganda, this means that most, if not all, missiles hit the targets.

According to the …

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with the country’s security forces, discussing the response to NATO's military exercises "Defender Europe 2020", reports Belta news agency.

"I wouldn't want us to look at it as saber-rattling. We do not consider NATO exercises, which are conducted in close proximity to our borders, as such. It is also because they [ NATO] have significantly deviated from their original plans," Lukashenko stressed.

He also expressed confidence that …

The Russian authorities have banned foreign nationals from owning land in most of Crimea and Sevastopol, repots Kommersant.

In 2011, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a list of the country's border territories where foreign nationals are prohibited from owning land. On March 20, 2020, Putin signed a decree to amend it, and to list most of the territories of Crimea and Sevastopol.

From now on, foreigners are forbidden to own land in Yalta, Saki, Sudak, Alushta, Dzhankoi, Armiansk, …

On March 28, when it became known that Russian oil giant Rosneft was terminating its operations in Venezuela, Russia’s Federal Agency for State Property Management, Rosimushchestvo, has established a new company, Roszarubezhneft, which will, in particular, be engaged in the production and transportation of oil and oil associated gas.

Interfax reports with reference to Russian Single Register of Legal Entities that the company's share capital is 322.7 billion rubles ($4.05 billion USD). It is …

The Stockholm arbitration ruled in Poland's favor in a five-year dispute with Gazprom over the price of gas, reported Polish state-owned oil and gas company PGNiG.

"The Court of Arbitration considered PGNiG's arguments and confirmed that the gas price under the Yamal contract was non-market and overstated," PGNiG said.

Now the Polish company will pay Gazprom for fuel under a new price calculation formula, "which is directly linked to gas prices in the Western European market.

"The court's …

President Vladimir Putin has not asked US President Donald Trump to lift sanctions imposed on Russia, said the Russian President's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, as cited by TASS.

On March 30, Trump suggested before a phone conversation with Putin that the Russian leader would ask him to lift U.S. sanctions, AFP reported. "He's been asking for it for two years," Trump said.

When asked by reporters whether Putin had asked for the sanctions to be lifted, Peskov said: "No, it's not so."

On …

A serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been killed by a militant sniper in the Donetsk region, reported the press center of the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation on Facebook.

"The armed formations of the Russian Federation once again violated the ceasefire and shelled the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donbas. Unfortunately, today, March 30, Ukraine lost another defender. At one of the positions in the Donetsk region, a soldier of the Armed Forces was killed by enemy …