• Putin receives message from Kim Jong-un

    Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea Kim Yong-nam sent a message from head of state Kim Jong-un to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin replied by inviting the leader of North Korea to Russia,reported TASS.

    "I have the honor to convey to you sincere greetings from Kim Jong-un," said the Korean politician.

    At the meeting, Putin mentioned the summit between the leader of North Korea and U.S. President Donald Trump, saying that this meeting staved off the …

  • A separatist fighter detained in Ukrainian city of Sloviansk after having hidden in a church for 4 years

    Sloviansk policemen detained a resident of the district for taking part in illegal armed formations on the territory of the Donbas, the report of the website of the National Police states.

    "In the spring of 2014, a resident of the Slavyansk region left his wife and four children and joined the separatists. A 38-year-old man confessed to law enforcers that he was digging trenches and carried out illegal activities: identifying pro-Ukrainian citizens and checking motor vehicles and luggage," the …

  • The appeal provision of the Ukrainian anti-corruption court law was secretly amended

    Appeals for cases of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) which have already been submitted will be considered by the courts of general jurisdiction, not by the new Anti-Corruption Court.  

    This rule appeared in the text of the law promulgated on Wednesday.  

    The amendment addressing the appeal provision was not read out by the Head of the Committee on Legal Policy and Justice, Ruslan Kniazevych, in the session hall. Prior to the adoption of the law, this amendment was not …

  • Ukraine calls on Russia to hand over control of the Donetsk Filtration Station

    Ukraine called upon the Russian Federation to help to ensure the transition of the Donetsk Filtration Station to Ukraine's control according to the Minsk agreements,reported Darka Olifer, the press secretary of Leonid Kuchma, the Ukrainian representative in the Trilateral Contact group.

    She recalled that there continued to be systematic shelling around the station. In this case, Olifer noted, "Russia still does not provide sufficient safety guarantees for the Donetsk Filtration Station's …

  • European Parliament approves allocation of 1 billion euros in macro-financial aid to Ukraine

    On Wednesday, June 13, the European Parliament (EP) voted to allocate a new program of macro-financial assistance in the amount of 1 billion euros to Ukraine.

    Radio Liberty correspondent Rikard Jozwiak reported that 527 members of the EP voted in favor of the aid disbursement, while 124 voted against it.

    The first tranche of 500 million euros may be delivered in September.

    “The absolute majority of the deputies have just voted in favor of the proposal of the European Commission to allocate a …

  • Ukraine denies entry to trains carrying Russian liquefied natural gas

    On June 13, the Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) office denied approximately 160 tanks carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) access to entry via the Russian-Ukrainian border crossings. Enkorr news outlet reported that this incident is connected with the entry into force of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) sanctions list, citing sources at Ukrzaliznytsia.

    The tanks, which were banned from entering the country, belong to Russian companies named on the sanctions list.

    On June 7, …

  • Media: Erdogan offered to produce S-500 missile systems together with Russia

    On Thursday, during an interview with 24 TV, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that he offered Russian President Vladimir Putin to jointly produce S-500 surface-to-air missiles.

    Erdoğan did not reveal Putin’s response, nor did he mention when exactly the two presidents conversed.  

    Anadolu news agency released an extract of Erdoğan’s interview for 24 TV. “Russia provided us with a loan for S-400 on acceptable terms,” the agency cites Erdoğan as stating. “In the second and third …

  • Netherlands issues stamp with soccer player shooting down MH17

    The Netherlands’ national mail operator, PostNL, has printed stamps depicting a connection between the FIFA World Cup in Russia and the MH17 aviation catastrophe of 2014, Dutch News outlet NOS reports. The stamp depicts a person kicking a ball so that it collides with a passenger plane. Below the image, the stamp reads “FIFA World Cup RUSSIA 2018”.

    The stamps were ordered through PostNL’s website, where anyone can design and order stamps with a personalized image. The company confirmed that an …

  • Ukraine will spend $35 million on the railway in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

    During a government meeting on Wednesday, June 14, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the project for the reconstruction of the railway from Vilcha station to Yaniv station in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone that will cost 908 million hryvnia or $35 million.

    Reconstruction of the railway track will enable the construction and operation of the Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility (CSFSF) and storage facilities for intermediate storage of highly radioactive waste that will be returned from the …

  • Sweden explains why it consented to construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline

    In an article published on the Ukrainian news site European Pravda, Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine Martin Hagstrom explained why his country authorized the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in its exclusive economic zone.

    The diplomat explained that, according to the project specifications, the gas pipeline would be laid outside of Sweden’s territorial waters, i.e. in international waters. In this regard, the government of the Scandinavian monarchy had to comply with the UN …