In an interview with the German news agency Funke Mediengruppe, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on western countries to toughen the sanctions against the Russian Federation and boycott the FIFA World Cup which will take place in Russia on July 14, 2018, DW reports.

Poroshenko said he counted on the support of the new German Government. "I expect that all the coalition partners in Germany will stand for the freedom, democracy and territorial integrity of Ukraine," he said. …

The United States deployed in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and the Persian Gulf warships carrying cruise missiles for possible strikes on the targets in Syria, stated the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Interfax reports.

According to the Head of the Russian General Staff Main Operations Department, Sergey Rudskoy, the United States may strike the facilities of the Syrian government and Syrian troops after accusing Assad of using chemical weapons.

The Washington Post in early March …

The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned Russia's actions in the Crimea and accused the Russian Federation of violating international law.

In a statement by Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser published on the Ministry’s website, Estonia denounced “serious breaches of international law committed by Russia” against the residents of the Crimea, including “forced conscription of locals into the Russian armed forces, imposed adoption of Russian citizenship, seizure of property, and …

In an interview with the telecommunications company of the President Kazakhstan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Special Forces units from the United States, Britain, France and other countries are operating on Syrian territory.  “There are Special Forces on the ground in Syria from the US – they no longer deny it – the UK, France and a number of other countries. Thus, it’s not so much of a ‘proxy war,’ but rather a direct involvement in the war," the Minister said. …

Russia has never carried out any research to develop a chemical substance called "Novichok,"   stated the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova.

"Neither in the territory of the Soviet Union nor during the Soviet times, nor in the Russian Federation has there ever been research named directly or codenamed as "Novichok." The name was not patented; it was not used as some symbol, cipher or code," Zakharova said on Rossiya's 24 TV channel.

According to her, the name itself was …

According to the Russian news agency RIA Krym, a group of "observers" arrived in Sevastopol to monitor the the Russian presidential elections in the annexed Crimea. The elections are being held on the day of the annexation of the Crimea by Russia.

"The representatives of Spain, Italy, Denmark, Ukraine, Israel, Sweden and Great Britain met with the head of the Sevastopol election committee Alexey Petukhov, the senator from Sevastopol, Olga Timofeyeva, and the deputy speaker of the local …

On Saturday, March 17th, the British Ambassador in Moscow, Laurie Bristow was informed of Russia’s response to the expulsion of diplomatic personnel of the Russian Embassy in London. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website announced that 23 staff members of the British Embassy in Moscow should leave the country within one week.

Russia also withdrew its consent to open the Consulate General of Great Britain in Saint-Petersburg and decided to stop activities of the British Council, the …

The foreign ministers of Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Ukraine made a joint statement on the fourth anniversary of the annexation of the Crimea by Russia.

The statement published on the website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry says that "the EU does not recognize the results of the elections held by Russia in the Crimea."

The Foreign Ministers of the eight countries assured that they will not allow the Crimea to disappear from the international agenda. " …