The delegation of Ukraine has sent an official letter to the President of the UN Security Council in which they expressed deep concern over the blatant illegal activities of the Russian occupation forces in Crimea against Crimean Tatars.  These activities resulted in mass illegal searches and the groundless detention of 13 Ukrainian citizens on the 11th and the 12th of February.  All of the detainees are Crimean Tatars.

This was reported by the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. …

The Court of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)  has given out the first death penalty in the self-proclaimed republic. As reported by Interfax on Friday, February 12th, the ruling was made by Lyudmila Strateychuk, Judge of the Supreme Court of the so-called DPR and acting Chair of the Court Martial.

She did not specify who was subjected to the exceptional penalty of capital punishment. “There are cases under consideration and they also may result in such a penalty. These are murder …

The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has submitted a package of three laws to the Verkhovna Rada which are aimed at helping Ukraine comply with the requirements for the introduction of a visa-free regime with the European Union (EU).  This was reported by the presidential press service.

According to the report, one of these laws was named "On amendments to the law 'On Prosecutor's Office' concerning ensuring transparency in the organization of work of the Specialized Anti-Corruption …

American company Orbital ATK, the world leader in aerospace and defense industry, has signed an eight-year contract with NASA worth approximately 1.5 billion dollars to provide six commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2019.  The flights will use the Ukrainian launch vehicle (LV), Antares.  In the framework of the signed contract, Orbital ATK will use the modernized LV Antares for cargo flights to the ISS in addition to using the LV Atlas-5 of the American United …

A member of Russia’s Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, stated that no Russian ground forces are active in Syria. Kosachev told this to a Deutsche Welle reporter on Friday at the International Conference on Security Policy in Munich. The diplomat also rejected the possibility of a future Russian-led ground operation in the war-torn country.

Kosachev specifically denied allegations of the presence of Russian soldiers and artillery units in the Syrian province of Latakia.

Der Spiegel has …

At the beginning of the year ten mercenaries were arrested in Moldova who fought on the side of the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.  Two of them have already been sentenced to three years of imprisonment, as announced by the Acting Prosecutor General of Moldova, Igor Popa, Radio Liberty reported.

Popa noted that the investigation against eight other suspects continues.  They are all between 26 and 32-years-old and all of them are Russian speaking natives from the south of …

Ben Cardin, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed concern about the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, which are designed to reduce tensions in eastern Ukraine.  Completed a year ago, the Minsk Agreements represent a package of measures related to security and policy, agreed to by Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia, to resolve the conflict in the Donbas region.

"Thursday was the first anniversary of the Minsk Agreements.  While all parties expressed the …

The Tver Court of Moscow refused to accept the claim of the founder of the Fight against Corruption Fund, Alexei Navalny, against Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Friday, February 12th, the decision of Judge Tatyana Molitvinaya appeared on the court's web site. It says that in accordance with the Constitution, "the Russian president has immunity."

As the judge indicated, in the scope of administrative legal proceedings, no requirements can be made of the head of the State "because it would …