The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, said that Russia tries to intimidate Ukraine with use of its military force, thereby artificially exacerbating the situation in order to achieve its own geostrategic goals.

According to him, Russia is conducting a disinformation campaign, claiming that Ukraine is preparing an offensive on the Donbas. The purpose of this campaign, Khomchak says, is to discredit Ukraine in the international arena, to stir …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine by phone, reported Putin’s press service.

During the telephone conversation, Putin outlined to Erdogan "Russian approaches to resolving the internal Ukrainian crisis." The Russian side stressed that it considers the Minsk "Complex of Measures", which was adopted in 2015, as an alternative basis for resolving the conflict.

Putin in his usual manner accused Ukraine  of evading …

The U.S., in accordance with the Montreux Convention, notified Turkey that two warships would pass through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles in the direction of the Black Sea.

RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, that the American warships will enter the Black Sea in a week and will stay there until May 4.

A Pentagon source told CNN the day before that the U.S. plans to send a naval flotilla to Russian shores.

According to him, at the moment, the navy …

Russia is building a new military camp near Voronezh, close to the Ukrainian border, said the head of the Conflict intelligence Team (CIT) Ruslan Leviev in an interview with BBC Ukraine.

"People took a walk in the forest and, when they reached the field, they saw a large number of heavy equipment, including tanks," Leviev said, adding that the 3-by-4 km field is filled with military equipment.

In a video taken by the local residents, CIT investigators also saw a tent city, a kitchen and a …

The return to the United States of Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, who was recalled on March 21 after a series of harsh statements by President Joe Biden, is postponed indefinitely.

“Antonov will not return to Washington in the near future,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti.

The decision will be made "depending on what steps will be taken by Washington on the bilateral track," he explained.

"We expect that they will still be able to demonstrate a desire for …

U.S. policy towards Ukraine precludes this country from joining the "Normandy format" negotiations to resolve the situation in the Donbas, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, RIA Novosti reports.

"With the approaches that Washington demonstrates and applies, it has no business in the Normandy format," Ryabkov said, commenting on the words of Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Reznikov that Kyiv is interested in involving the United States and Poland in the negotiations. …

While the Russian Foreign Ministry urges countries in Asia to abandon dollar and calls on China to say "no" to Western payment systems, the Russian SWIFT alternative, which was established five years ago, still can not attract a significant number of banks from China.

The Financial Messaging System of the Bank of Russia (FMS), which was established in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea and the collapse of relations with the West, was designed to ensure uninterrupted payments in the event of a …

Russia will stand up for the residents of the Donbas if it is forced to do so, said Dmitry Kozak, the deputy head of the Russian presidential administration.

The decision, he said, will be made "depending on the scale of the conflict."

Kozak said that Russia intends to protect Russian citizens in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, where the Kremlin issues Russian passports en masse.

Back in 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on granting Russian …