The head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine or SBGS, Petro Tsyhykal announced in an interview with 5 Channel TV that Ukraine has begun negotiations with France on the purchase of 22 patrol ships for the SBGS. 

“We are working on possible options for strengthening our naval units in the Sea of Azov. We have already repaired several of our ships and boats, including the [Ukrainian Command Ship] Donbas. Last year, UMC-1000 motorboats with improved running characteristics were put into …

A large number of Iranian troops and representatives of the Shiite armed groups supporting Bashar Assad are detained in the Russian base in Khmeimim (Syria). The number of detained is in the hundreds, reports Saudi television channel Al-Arabia citing the Syrian center for human rights monitoring. 

Among the detained are dozens of commanders. 

Al-Arabia suggests that the wave of arrests may be in connection with a battle in the Syrian city Sha’ta. 

According to German outlet Spiegel, Moscow …

German representatives refused to participate in the fifth meeting of the heads of Russian and German educational and research organizations that should have taken place in Kazan on February 4 to 6, reported the Russian Foreign Ministry. 

The Ministry noted that the German representatives objected to the participation of the Crimean Federal University’s Principal, Andrei Falaleev at the conference. 

“Just a week before the forum, German Foreign Ministry and the conference of principals of …

 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law (bill No. 9355-5) that provides for the extension of a moratorium on the sale of agricultural land until January 1, 2020, as reported on the Verkhovna Rada's website ,

The moratorium was first introduced in 2001. Since 2002, the moratorium has been acting as a temporary measure to ensure the regulatory settlement of land relations and the creation of land market infrastructure. The Verkhovna Rada has repeatedly extended the moratorium. …

A private jet believed to belong to the Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as “Putin’s chef”, has been flying nearly every month to the Near East and Africa, where Russian mercenaries are known to be fighting, according to an investigation by the Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

The aircraft, a Raytheon HAWKER 800XP with the registration number M-VITO, officially belongs to a company in the Seychelles with an …

US Ambassador to Russia John Huntsman said that the US has given Russia the geographical coordinates and the dates of the tests done with the 9M729 missiles which the Pentagon believes violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

The Russian government has repeatedly claimed that the US has presented no evidence to support its accusations that Russia is in breach of the treaty, which prohibits missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 km.

“Russia conducted flight tests of the …

The State Border Guard Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine prepared a set of measures aimed at strengthening military positions in the Black and Azov Seas. The head of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, Petro Tsyhykal, told the Ukrainian Channel 5  that the border guards had already erected five observation towers on the coast of the Sea of Azov, which will soon be equipped with the necessary means of audiovisual control.

“Now five towers have already been built on …

The West does not want to talk to Russia “as equals” and is responsible for unleashing a new nuclear arms race, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.

According to him, Moscow is “unfazed” by the “arrogance” of western countries, and believes that everything will ultimately be set straight.

The Russian diplomat stressed that Moscow will respond to the US’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, announced by President Donald Trump on 2 February, …