• Media: Financing of the Kerch Strait Bridge construction has been suspended

    The financing of the Kerch Strait Bridge construction, conducted by Arkady Rotenberg's Stroygazmontazh LLC (SGM Group), is suspended, as reported by Forbes citing a letter from the head of the contracting company, Andrey Kirilenko, to the Russian Ministry of Transport.

    The letter states that the last time Stroygazmontazh received money for the construction of the bridge was in December 2015. The payment of nearly 65.5 billion rubles scheduled for 2016 has not been made yet, according to the …

  • Estonian Prime Minister: Ukraine and Georgia should get visa-free regime as soon as possible

    Ukraine and Georgia have fulfilled all of the requirements to liberalize their visa regime with EU countries. They should now be allowed a visa-free regime without any additional conditions, as stated by Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas at a meeting with the Prime Minister of Latvia, Māris Kučinskis.

    “Georgia and Ukraine have met the established criteria and should therefore receive a visa-free regime as soon as possible. The credibility of, and trust to, the EU are at stake,” Rõivas said. …

  • Mogherini: The EU doesn’t recognize the annexation of Crimea

    Speaking at the meeting of the UN Security Council that took place on the 6th of June, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, broached the topic of the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol. The UN press service reported Mogherini as saying that the cessation of the Ukrainian conflict is one of the main priorities of the European Union.

    “The European Union will continue to advocate for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and won’t …

  • Nuland: Sanctions against Russia are a powerful tool

    US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said that economic sanctions continue to be a powerful tool against Russia. According to her, these measures have disrupted Russia’s attempts to take more territory in eastern Ukraine, Radio Svoboda reported.

    "We have deterred further land grabs in Ukraine, and that was a real risk when we first started with sanctions - that they would try to run all the way to Kiev and Kharkov," Nuland said.

    "I will tell you …

  • OSCE: The situation in the Donbas continues to deteriorate

    According to the Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug, the situation in the Donbas continues to deteriorate, especially in Avdiivka, Yasynuvata and the Donetsk Airport, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported.

    Hug stated that many people in these areas are often times forced to seek shelter in cellars and basements to escape the exchange of fire.

    In other areas of eastern Ukraine, however, the situation has improved, but it still cannot be …