More than 50 Moldovan mercenaries are fighting in the east of Ukraine for Russian for the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), reported the Moldovan publication Ziarul de Garda with a reference to data from the Security and Intelligence Service of Moldova (SIS). However, according to unofficial data, the number of Moldovan mercenaries in Donbass is close to 100 people.

As journalists note, mercenary activity in Moldova has intensified with the …

Nurmakhmad Kholov, the Russian Ambassador to Qatar said in an interview with TASS that Moscow and Doha are negotiating on the supply of S-400 anti-air missile systems but that "there’s no final conclusion on the discussion."

The diplomat clarified that Qatar might want to buy the weapons but so far there is "discussion around the question." "Apparently, no steps have been taken, and so this is a matter for the future," Kholov pointed out.

The ambassador said that Saudi Arabia is strongly …

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it had held naval aviation exercises in the Mediterranean Sea for pilots of its Black Sea Fleet. The Ministry’s press service reported that Ka-27PL helicopter crews and the patrol boat Yaroslav Mudry participated in the exercises.

“Pilots of the naval aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet in cooperation with the crew of the ship practiced take-offs and landings on the deck of the ship and also trained to search and track enemy submarines,” the statement …

According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official website, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the improvement of bilateral relations. During the conversation, Lavrov stressed “the unacceptability of the actions of U.S. authorities, who have arrested Russian citizen Maria Butina in the United States on the basis of fabricated charges, and the need for her early release.”

Maria Butina is accused …

The Ukrainian government is pushing for sanctions to be placed on Russia’s Black Sea ports in response to Russia’s blockade of the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan said in a broadcast of the TV channel 112 Ukraine.

“We are negotiating with our European and American partners in order to have the corresponding sanctions placed on Russia’s Black Sea ports due to the blockade of the Sea of Azov and the Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov,” the minister said.

He …

Hungarian diplomats have advised their political leaders to use NATO as a platform for settling scores with Kyiv, and also attempted to prevent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko from attending the alliance’s summit, Ukraine’s ambassador to NATO Vadym Prystaiko told Glavcom news outlet in an interview.

“A critical juncture has been reached. They really tried to keep the Ukrainian president away from the NATO summit. We will not forget this,” Prystaiko said, adding that Poroshenko had the …

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented for the first time on the bill to increase the retirement age , which had its first reading in the State Duma the day before.

According to him, to leave the pension system in its current form would be tantamount to “trickery”, because either the system itself will “give out”, or the budget, which is paying for roughly half of its expenses (3.3 trillion rubles out of 7), will.

“For five pensioners there are six working persons today, and …

The Israeli army evacuated representatives of the White Helmets humanitarian organization with their families from Syria, reported the spokesman of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Emmanuel Nahshon.

"Upon request of the US, Canada and European states Israel has completed a humanitarian effort to rescue members of a Syrian civil organization (“White Helmets”) and families. They were evacuated from the war zone in Southern Syria to a neighboring country, " Nahshon tweeted.

German newspaper Bild …