• Russian border guards seize Ukrainian fishing vessel in the Black Sea

    On Friday, May 4, Russian Border Guard service detained a Ukrainian fishing boat in the Black Sea, the press service of the Russian Border Guard of the FSB of Russia in the Crimea reported.

    "On May 4, west of Cape Tarkhankut in the waters of the Black Sea, the ship Ametist of the Border Service of the Federal Security Service of Russia in Crimea detained the Ukrainian fishing vessel YMK-0041 (port of registration - Ochakov, Ukraine), which was engaged in illegal fishing of flounder with …

  • Moldova calls on Russian troops not to participate in the Victory Day parade in Transnistria

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova called on so-called Operational Group of Russian Forces (OGRF) not to participate in the Victory Day military parade in Transnistria on May 9, Deschide news agency reports, citing a statement by the Moldovan Foreign Ministry.

    According to the statement, information about the organization of the military parade on May 9 was published in the local press.

    The Ministry stated that "it disapproves of the decision and the attitude …

  • Russia to deploy additional S-400 missile systems in annexed Crimea

    This year air defense units in the Crimea will be equipped with S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile systems, said the commander of the Russian Southern Military District, Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov.

    "We managed to significantly strengthen security on the western flank, including through forming the new units in the 150th Motorized Rifle Division and 22th Army Corps stationed in the Crimea," said Dvornikov, adding that “strengthening defense on the …

  • Russia blocks expansion of OSCE mission to entire Donbas border

    The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its disappointment that the Russian Federation remains the only OSCE member that "aggressively blocks" the expansion of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) mandate to cover the entire stretch of the border adjacent to the separatist controlled territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

    The Ministry released a statement detailing its position in response to a decision by the OSCE Permanent Council to extend the mandate of the OSCE SMM at …

  • Russia postpones launch of power plants in Crimea by half a year

    Russian Deputy Energy Minister Andrey Cherezov announced on May 3 that the preliminary start of operations for the first group of Thermal Power Plants (TPP) under construction in Simferopol and Sevastopol is scheduled for October. The second block is scheduled to launch operations in November.

    "These are the preliminary dates for the stations, and those of us in the government will, first and foremost, make adjustments; it [the launch] will be October-November. The first blocks will be put …