Norwegian authorities have been refusing to send Syrian refugees home, said Nikolai Burtsev, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, during meeting of the Russian interdepartmental coordination center for the return of Syrian refugees.

According to Burtsev, the Russian embassy in Norway appealed to the Norwegian authorities “regarding the return of Syrian refugees”, RIA Novosti reported.

"According to the response of the Norwegian Minister of Justice, taking into account the …

The Government of Lithuania is planning to allocate about one million euro from the 2019 budget to support Ukraine, particularly settlements in the Donbas which were affected by Russian aggression, stated the Head of the Donetsk Regional State Civil and Military Administration, Oleksandr Kuts after meeting with the Ambassador of Lithuania in Ukraine, Marius Janukonis.

"The Lithuanian Government plans to allocate about one million euro from the budget to support Ukraine. A principle decision in …

The US currently has many packages of sanctions against Russia, and they will increase until Russia starts to collaborate in the search for a resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, the violation of human rights, and so on, said US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker in an interview with the Pryamiy TV channel.

“The sanctions, I believe, are already having an effect. They have not yet changed Russia’s fundamental  policy towards Ukraine or the Donbas. But I know that …

The Belarusian government is asking Russia for a loan of $1 billion in order to repay its foreign debt obligations. As reported by TASS, this was announced on Wednesday by Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Matyushevsky.

Matyushevsky says that in 2019, Minsk will have to pay foreign creditors $3.7 billion, despite the fact that at the end of last year, the country’s central bank had only $8 billion in reserves.

The Belarusian government intends to refinance half of this debt, and …

Georgiy Tuka, Deputy Minister for the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons, said that that Kyiv may ask the UN Security Council or NATO to convoy Ukrainian ships in the Sea of Azov, 112 Ukraine reports.

According to Tuka, two solutions are being considered. The first option is to ask the UN Security Council for ship escorts. “The second option, which is less likely from my point of view, implies the use of NATO forces to escort ships in the Sea of Azov,” Tuka said. …

The OSCE Mission in Moldova expressed its concern that on August 14 and 15, the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Transnistria conducted unauthorized military exercises, including the crossing of the Dniester River in the Security Zone, reported the press service of the Moldovan representation of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM).

Note that in accordance with its mandate, the OSCE deployed its observers to the relevant part of the Security Zone. However, the team was banned from …

British soldiers stationed in Romania intercepted six Russian bombers over the Black Sea, reported the Romanian agency Agerpres.

On August 13, Eurofighter Typhoon fighters took off from the Romanian Mihail Kogalniceanu base due to the presence of six Russian Su-24 bombers flying over the Black Sea near the NATO border towards the Crimea.

"Before the take-off to intercept them, we were warned about the intense Russian air activity, which was observed throughout the night," - said one of the …

Eight Russian citizens have written a letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking to be exchanged for Ukrainian political prisoners, Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova reported.

During her monitoring of the detention centers, Denisova met with the Russians, who gave her their  requests to be exchanged.

“The following asked to be exchanged: Vyacheslav Vysotsky (Cherkasy penal colony No. 62), Valery Ivanov and Alexander Valekhidis (Drohobych penal colony No. 4 …