In a statement released on October 3 on the website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands that Russia cancel conscription for military service in annexed Crimea.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its strong protest over the intention of the Russian Federation to draft citizens for military service in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and in the city of Sevastopol," Ukrainian diplomats …

The National Court of Spain approved the extradition to the US of a Russian citizen accused of creating a mass network of computer "bots" that were sending millions of spam emails a year.

According to the decision made by the National Court of Spain, a special court that considers requests for extradition, Russian Pyotr Levashov should be brought to trial in the US where law enforcement regards him as one of the most infamous criminal spammers. It was reported that he has the right to appeal …

The new US Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, while presenting his credentials to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he would work to restore confidence and strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries, Radio Liberty reports.

The American diplomat added that he intends to "seek out Russian people from all walks of life to share perspectives, [and] to relay American values."

During the formal ceremony of presenting credentials at the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin noted that …

One of the Southern Military District’s (SMD) missile units, equipped with Iskander missiles, has been put on high readiness state in order to carry out command and staff exercises in Stavropol Krai, SMD spokesperson Vadim Astafyev announced.

“One of the SMD’s missile units, deployed in North Ossetia, has been placed on alert for training purposes, in order to carry out command and staff exercises at the Sernovodsk training ground in Stavropol Krai,” he said.

According to him, the quick …

The United States of America called on Russia to release Ilmi Umerov, deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People.

“The United States is deeply troubled by the September 27, conviction and two-year prison sentence for Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov in Russian-occupied Crimea. He was convicted for his opposition to Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and given a harsher sentence than the Russian occupation prosecutor requested. This compounds past injustices in the case, …

One of the Russian soldiers who were captured in Syria by ISIS terrorists fought previously in the Donbas in the ranks of the LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic), and another is connected to the so-called “Domodedovo” military brotherhood, as reported by Russian blogger Anatoly Nesmiyan (El Murid) in his LiveJournal.

As evidence, he released a photo which may shed light on Roman Zabolotny’s connection to the LPR, and Gregory Tsurkanov’s connection to the Domodedovo military brotherhood.

Nesmiyan …

During September, 30 cargo ships illegally visited annexed Crimean ports, the Ukrainian Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons reported.

“During the period between September 1 and October 1 this year, the visits of 30 violating vessels to occupied Crimean ports were recorded. Overall, these vessels made 79 visits in the ports of Kerch, Sevastopol and Feodosia. 23 of them were under the flag of the Russian Federation, and 7 were under the flag of other …

In September 2017, steel production in Ukraine reached the highest recorded volume in the last eight months. This was reported by UAprom, referring to the data of the Association of Enterprises of Ukrmetallurgprom.

The average daily steel production in Ukraine increased significantly. The country produced 64,500 tons in September, bringing the year-long production output to a total of 526,200 tons. At the same time, the average daily production of pig iron continues to grow, topping out at 488, …