Interfax has reported that the Russian Defense Ministry has accused the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of illegally detaining two Russian servicemen, and then transporting them out of the Crimea.

“At approximately 1pm on the 20th of November, employees of the SBU illegally detained two Russian soldiers, warrant officer Maxim Odintsov and junior sergeant of contract service Alexander Baranov, and transported them out of the Crimea to the Mykolaiv region,” the Russian agency said.

The …

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy is unpredictable and, therefore, everyone needs to be "ready for anything.” She made the statement on CNN in response to a question regarding her idea of Putin's current plans in foreign policy concerning the Baltic countries.

"We can only guess what the plans of Putin are. I also have guesses, but it will probably be incorrect to share them publicly. As for Lithuania, I can only say that we …

The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko said in his Day of Dignity and Freedom speech that Russia is attempting to destabilize the country in order to ensure early parliamentary elections, strengthen pro-Russian positions in the new Parliament and, in the end, cancel the European course of Ukraine.

“The enemy not only attacks from the outside but also undermines our country from the inside. The Kremlin’s purpose includes constant internal destabilization, anarchy, early parliamentary …

At the closing session of the All-Russia civil forum, the head of the Civil Initiatives Committee and the former minister of finance, Alexei Kudrin, compared the situation in modern Russia with the later period of development of the Soviet Union. According to him, Russia now faces the same risks of decentralization and regionalization of the country, Radio Svoboda reports.

“The USSR collapsed not because of the weak army or the weak committee for state security. It collapsed because of an …

Gazprom’s price for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine may grow by 4 billion dollars a year should Ukraine succeed in the Stockholm arbitration, and be granted the amendment to the contract with Gazprom to adhere to European norms, as was posted on Facebook by the Commercial Director of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Yuriy Vitrenko, on November 19th.

Reiterating Ukraine’s position prior to the hearings in Stockholm which were scheduled for November 21st, Vitrenko also indicated that Gazprom will …

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus, Vladimir Gundyaev, has expressed confidence that the reconciliation and restoration of fraternal relations between Kyiv and Moscow are inevitable, as reported by Interfax-Religion.

According to him, the minority was involved in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the conflict itself hasn’t affected deeper layers.

Gundyaev expressed a special hope that the Russian Orthodox Church and its Sister …

Several localities in the Donbas including Avdiivka and a part of Donetsk are without water due to ongoing fighting. As reported by Ukrayinska Pravda, the Donetsk filter station came under shelling.

According to information from Ukrainian servicemen, separatists fired in the direction of the station. Supporters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic report that localities are without water due to fire from government troops.

In the last day, three Ukrainian servicemen have been …

Russia will deploy Iskander missile systems as well as S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft systems in Kaliningrad district, according to the chairman of the Federation Council Defence and Security Committee, Victor Ozerov, as reported by Russia’s RIA news agency.

According to Ozerov, Russia is strengthening its air defense capability on its western border in response to deployment of the American anti-aircraft system in Europe.

“We have to strengthen our system of air defense in this direction, bring …