• Lavrov: Normandy format negotiations might be no more than 'a meeting for the sake of meeting'

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not rule out Russia’s participation in the meeting of the Normandy Four that will take place on November 29. He noted that this meeting should not be just “a meeting for the sake of meeting.”

    “I don’t think that we will be able to agree on all points by November 29 although we will do everything possible for it. However, there is still a serious risk that this meeting will be held again just for the sake of meeting. Anyway, if my colleagues in the …

  • Stoltenberg: NATO's expansion is not a provocation

    The Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, stated on Thursday that he doesn’t agree with Moscow’s opinion that the expansion of the alliance is provocative in nature.

    "No, I don’t understand the opinion that NATO’s expansion in central Europe is a provocative stance as is expressed in Russia," he said, while lecturing at Oxford University.

    Stoltenberg stressed that each country is free to choose its own way.

    "It is not NATO that is expanding, but Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and …

  • Russia sent another humanitarian convoy to separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine

    Russia sent the 58th humanitarian convoy to the occupied part of the Donbas, as reported on the website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation.

    It was reported that the convoy of over 40 cars has already crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border. Cargo with a total weight of over 400 tons is heading to the unloading points in the territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

    The Ministry of Emergency Situations states that “the bulk …

  • Lysenko: FSB is 'juggling with facts' to accuse former Crimean servicemen of espionage

    The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has been juggling the facts in order to accuse former servicemen in the annexed Crimea of espionage or subversive-investigative activities on behalf of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, as stated by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on the ATO, Andriy Lysenko, to Krym.Realii on November 24th.

    "As we had predicted, the Russian FSB is using the databases and personnel files of former servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the …

  • Russian MFA: Deployment of missile systems to Kuril Islands was to strengthen national security

    The deployment of Bal and Bastion missiles to the Kuril Islands was carried out under the framework of scheduled work for national security, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said.

    “With regard to the placing of missile systems on the Southern Kurils: the Russian Federation is carrying out scheduled activities in the framework of defense construction. The goal is the consistent strengthening of national security,” she answered, in response to a question about …