• Syrian opposition will consider ceasefire invalid if government troops continue attacks

    The moderate Syrian opposition has threatened to recognize the ceasefire agreement as invalid if the Syrian government continues to attack areas controlled by the opposition, Reuters reported.

    According to representatives of the opposition, in some regions of the country, clashes and air strikes continued on Friday.

    "The continuing violation [of the ceasefire] by the regime [Bashar al-Assad], bombings and attempts to attack areas controlled by the revolutionary factions will make the …

  • Lithuania is considering purchasing combat helicopters

    The purchase of combat helicopters for the armed forces is being discussed in Lithuania, as was stated by Lithuanian Defense Minister, Raimundas Karoblis, 15min.lt reports.

    "The discussions are ongoing. We have to admit that, as with the Land Forces, we have some gaps in the Special Operation Forces as well," Karoblis said.

    At present, Lithuania has no combat helicopters. The Lithuanian Army has only five helicopters available: three AS365 helicopters and two Mi-8T’s. All of the Dauphin …

  • Herashchenko: I do not consider Kissinger’s and Pinchuk’s ideas about the Crimea realistic

    The First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, and Ukraine's representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Iryna Herashchenko, has criticized a proposal by the a former U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger and Ukrainian oligarch, Victor Pinchuk, about the "exchange of the Crimea for the Donbas."

    "Colleagues have asked about my attitude towards Henry Kissinger’s position on exchanging the Crimea for the Donbas. With all due respect to Henry Kissinger’s …

  • Turkey will provide Ukraine with money for the purchase of military goods

    On December 30th, Ukraine and Turkey signed an agreement for a military-financial cooperation.

    "The agreement assumes the allocation of 3 million dollars annually for 5 years. The money, allocated by the Turkish side will be used for the acquisition of Turkish military and dual-use goods for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the report of the Ukrainian Embassy in Turkey read.

    In July, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense publically released data about the logistical and humanitarian …

  • As head of the OSCE, Austria will seek to ease the sanctions against Russia

    Austria intends to take advantage of the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in order to ease the European Union’s sanctions against Russia. "We must restore trust in Europe, and transform the sanctions from a system of punishment to a system of incentives," the Foreign Minister of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, said in an interview with Der Spiegel, excerpts of which were published on the website of the edition on Friday, December 30th.

    Since the beginning …