• Ukrainian President signs the law on Anti-Corruption Court

    President Petro Poroshenko announced via Twitter that he signed the Anti-Corruption Court Law, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, on June 7.  

    “Today, on this historic day—the anniversary of the visa-free regime—I sign the law ‘Law on the High Anti-Corruption Court’,” Poroshenko wrote. “It’s a key milestone of completion of creating an independent anti-corruption infrastructure in our country!”

    Establishment of the anti-corruption court is a key requirement of the western creditors. The …

  • Russian social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki in Ukraine’s top 10 most visited sites

    In May, the five most visited domains in Ukraine were Google, Youtube, Facebook, VKontakte and Ukr.Net.

    The daily average and monthly coverage of the Ukrainian audience for VKontakte were 18% and 35% respectively of those included in the poll.

    The Russian social network VKontakte, banned by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), has remained in fourth place, and the other Russian social network Odnoklassniki remains in the top ten most visited sites. These were the results of a …

  • Lawyer: Russia illegally detains 4 Ukrainian sailors in the Crimea

    Russian security officials have not brought any charges against sailors from the Ukrainian vessel YMK-0041, which was detained near the annexed Crimea. The Ukrainians are thus being held illegally, stated the lawyer Edem Semedlyaev, Radio Liberty reports.

    "Four sailors, with the exception of the captain, are at the border agency in the city of Balaklava. They have not been charged with anything; their status as of today is unknown. They are not permitted to see lawyers. They are being held …

  • Ukrainian official: Crimea drying out completely

    Crimea, which used to live off water from mainland Ukraine, is completely drying out, Deputy Minister for the Occupied Territories Yuriy Hrymchak said in a comment for Obozrevatel news outlet.

    “We monitor using satellites that photograph Crimean territory. Today, more than 70% of the previously normal vegetation is drying up. Put in understandable language, steppe Crimea, which lived off water which came from Ukraine, is drying up completely, it’s true,” Hrymchak said.

    When asked whether …

  • Ukraine and Moldova pledge further military cooperation

    During a meeting in Odessa, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak and Minister of Defense of Moldova Eugen Sturza agreed on further cooperation of the two countries in the area of defense, as reported on the website of the Ministry of Defense.

    “First of all, it involves conducting joint exercises both bilaterally and in cooperation with NATO and individual allies, developing cooperation at the headquarters level for the types of armed forces of the two powers, joint actions in the …

  • Head of DPR Zakharchenko agrees to deploy peacekeepers in the Donbas on Russia’s terms

    The head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko is ready to consider the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission to the Donbas on terms previously voiced by the Russian authorities.

    "If this is conducted within the format voiced by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, my position does not change. I am ready to consider and submit to the People's Council a proposal to ensure the security of the OSCE mission and to put the OSCE patrols, which will be protected by the UN, on the line of demarcation with us. …

  • Poland wants to be a mediator in the US-EU conflict

    The Polish government intends to take the position of an intermediary between the European Union and the United States in the conflict that erupted after the G7 summit over trade tariffs, said Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Moravetsky in an interview with Gazeta Polska.

    "Everybody probably noticed that today, the paths taken by the EU and the United States began to diverge and now [the situation] depends on whether Poland [can mediate] the two sides or remain in the uncomfortable position of …

  • US introduces sanctions against Russian companies with FSB links

    The US Treasury Department has imposed new sanctions against three Russian citizens and five Russian enterprises suspected of involvement in "malicious cyber-enabled activities."

    "One of the designated entities is controlled by and has provided material and technological support to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), while two others have provided the FSB with material and technological support," a US Treasury statement, released on June 11, stated.

    The press release noted examples of …

  • Estonia: over the past week NATO Air Forces escorted Russian warplanes 12 times over the Baltic Sea

    Estonia's Ministry of Defense reported that over the last week, NATO fighters had scrambled eight times to identify and escort Russian military aircraft.

    According to the BNS agency, this time, a total of 12 aircraft of the Russian Federation were intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

    The latest incident was recorded on June 9, when the NATO air police accompanied Russian planes on three different occasions: an Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft, an An-26 freighter and a Su-24 …

  • European Parliament may call for boycott of World Cup in Russia

    Deputies of the European Parliament are going to introduce a resolution, related to human rights in Russia, for a diplomatic boycott of the World Cup by officials of EU countries. The tournament will soon start in Moscow.This was reported by Rikard Jozwiak, Brussels correspondent for Radio Liberty.

    “The European Parliament is likely to call for a diplomatic boycott of the 2018 World Cup in a resolution on human rights in Russia that is set to pass on 14 June,” the reporter wrote on Twitter. He …