• Latvian court brings charges against organizer of tours to Crimea

    The Riga District Prosecutor's Office has indicted one person who is accused of organizing tourist trips to Crimea as reported by the Latvian news portal, Delfi, citing the press center of the Prosecutor General of Latvia.

    As it was previously reported in late April of this year, the Security Police (SP) of Latvia appealed to the Prosecutor of the Riga Judicial District to prosecute a person who organized a tourist trip to Crimea. The criminal process was initiated based on the violation of …

  • Despite sanctions banning his entry, Russian Agricultural Minister was admitted to the EU

    Even though the Russian Minister of Agriculture, Alexander Tkachyov, is on the EU sanctions list, French authorities have issued him an entry visa. The press service of the Ministry reported this on the 23rd of May.

    Tkachyov was placed on the list in mid-2014 in connection with Russia’s annexation of Crimea. At that time, he was the governor of the Krasnodar Krai.

    French authorities have not yet given a reason as to why they issued a visa to Tkachyov.

    Tkachyov headed the Russian delegation …

  • Normandy Four supports deployment of OSCE Police Mission in the Donbas

    Negotiations between the Normandy Four leaders were held via telephone

    The Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, posted on Twitter that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko conducted a telephone call with the members of the Normandy Four leaders during which they discussed their support for the deployment of an OSCE Police mission in the Donbas.

    Poroshenko also called on the Russian Federation to release all Ukrainian prisoners including Savchenko, Afanasiev and …

  • The U.S. Defense Attache in Moscow was summoned to the Russian Ministry of Defense

    On the 23rd of May, the U.S. Defense Attaché from the Embassy in Moscow was invited to the Russian Ministry of Defense in connection with an allegedly dangerous flight of U.S reconnaissance aircraft over the Sea of Japan near the Russian border. According to the agency, there was a risk of collision with passenger aircraft because the U.S. aircraft flew at the height designated for civil aircraft.

    The plane, an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, allegedly turned off its transponder and the crew …

  • Herashchenko: Attempts to postpone visa-free regime is a double standard by Europe

    Any attempt to postpone the EU visa-free regime for Ukraine will be an example of double standards. This was posted by the First Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, Iryna Herashchenko, on her Facebook page.

    According to her, certain German and French officials have said that a visa-free regime is not yet relevant and that it is necessary to wait months for it to be so. She has said that these statements reminded her of events in 2008 when Germany and France blocked Ukraine from …