Former President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych stated that he did not write to Vladimir Putin requesting that Russian troops be sent to the territory of Ukraine.

“I did not ask for Russian troops in Ukraine. That’s not true,” Yanukovych was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS. According to him, he did not write a letter to Putin; it was a “declaration” intended to “protect the people of the Donbas.” Yanukovych added that he did not betray his people; he simply tried to protect them …

Lithuania will seek to maintain all sanctions against Russia until it withdraws from the occupied territories of Ukraine, as stated by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry on the occasion of the third anniversary of the annexation of the Crimea.

“Lithuania strongly supports the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. In support of Ukraine, we will continue to implement the non-recognition policy of the illegal annexation of the Crimea that began three years ago,” the …

The UN Security Council needs an urgent reform due to abuse of its veto power, said Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin, in regards to the conflicts in Europe.

According to him, the perception of Russia as an effective mediator or impartial peacekeeper is a dangerous myth.

"We need urgently to reform the Security Council in order to remove the veto power abuses. The Security Council should be capable of efficiently addressing ‘bloody conflicts’ regardless of the possible presence of a …

Instead of holding a presidential election in 2018, Russia wants to hold a referendum on the Russian people’s confidence in Vladimir Putin.

As reported by Dozhd TV Channel, the Kremlin is making plans for special procedures for the presidential election of 2018.

“We expect a referendum on confidence in the national leader”…As was reported earlier by Dozhd, the presidential administration does not see any point in making an effort to choose opponents for Putin who have shown an interest in the …

Military cooperation between Russia and the USA remains suspended, as it is enshrined in the country’s laws, Lt. Colonel Michelle Baldanza said, as reported by Interfax.

"The Ministry of Defense has suspended military cooperation with the Russian armed forces after the illegal actions of Russia to annex the Crimea, and this limitation is spelled out legally under the law in the powers specified by the National Defense Authorization Act," - said Baldanza, commenting on the statement of Russian …

54,000 inhabitants of Belarus have paid the “tax on parasitism”.

As reported by the BelTA agency with reference to the republic’s ministry of tax and duties, 16.3 million Belarusian rubles were received into the national budget after the payment of duties (approximately $8.66 million US dollars).

The department noted that many citizens requested through the internet to be exempt from paying the tax due to being abroad.

Earlier the national tax authorities sent more than 470,000 notices about …

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has accused Russia of bribing representatives of local and central government to secretly promote the federalization of Ukraine. This was reported at a briefing by the head of the SBU, Vasyl Hrytsak and by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.

According to them, one of the main objectives of Russian policy towards Ukraine is to secretly federalize Ukraine breaking it onto free economic zones, carrying out elections of the local governors, providing Russian …

RBC news agency reports that, according to Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far refrained from saying whether he will participate in the presidential elections in 2018.

"President Putin himself has repeatedly said that it is premature to make any electoral statements. He has not made any statements yet," Peskov said. "There is still enough time before the start of the election campaign; there is another agenda for now."

Earlier, a federal official …