Opera singer Vasyl Slipak was killed in the Donbas region, as reported by a representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, Dmitry Kuleba, on Twitter.

"Vasyl Slipak, the Ukrainian opera singer, who left the French Opera in order to protect Ukraine, was killed in eastern Ukraine," he wrote. Journalist Yuri Butusov reported on his Facebook page that Slipak died in the Donetsk district.

"He chose the pseudonym ‘Myth.’ It was shortened from Mephistopheles from the opera Faust. He was not a …

The scale of NATO’s military presence and activity near Russia’s borders has caused Moscow to retaliate. This was said by the Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoygu, at a board meeting of the military department on the 29th of June, Radio Svoboda reported.

“These actions by the West are undermining the strategic stability in Europe and are forcing us to take retaliatory measures, primarily in a western strategic direction,” Shoygu stated.

He said that actions for strategic deterrence are …

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the food embargo on Western products.

“To extend the action of separate special economic measures from the 6th of August to the 31st of December 2017, envisaged by the Presidential Decree of 6th of August 2014 № 560 ‘On the use of special economic measures in order to ensure security of the Russian Federation’ and extended by the Presidential Decree № 320 of June 24th” a statement issued by the Kremlin read.

Russia imposed an embargo on …

The Liguria Regional Council in northern Italy has voted in favor of a resolution which calls on the government and parliament to review the EU’s policy towards Russia and Crimea. This was reported by Genova24.

The Regional Secretary of the Northern League and the author of this initiative, Edoardo Rixi, said that all members that were present at the meeting voted in favor of the resolution. These included representatives of the center-right majority.

“The unanimous approval for our …

Criminal punishment for denial or distortion of Russia’s positive role in maintaining peace in Transnistria has been introduced in the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), as reported by the press service of Transnistrian president Yevgeny Shevchuk.

According to the press service, the relevant amendments to the Criminal Code have been approved by the head of PMR. Earlier in June, they were approved by the parliament on the initiative of Chairman of the Supreme Council of the …

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the lifting of sanctions against Turkey should be done gradually so as not to detrimentally affect Russian manufacturers and business partners, RIA Novosti reported.

"According to the order [to lift sanctions on Turkey], we have to prepare proposals to amend the relevant decisions, that is, an adjustment of the decree and the government resolution. We will act in stages,” Medvedev said.

“Here it is necessary, on the one hand, to lift these …

The Ukrainian TSN News channel reports renewed heavy fighting on the front line in eastern Ukraine.  According to the news channel, the separatists attempted to advance in the area of Debaltseve in the Donetsk region.

The separatist attacked the Ukrainian positions in the early morning on June 29. According to the reports of the Ukrainian volunteers from Pravyi Sektor (Right Sector), the separatist used heavy artillery and armored infantry vehicles. The Ukrainian forces repelled the separatist …

The SOVA Center for Information and Analysis reported the tightening up of measures for those speaking out on the internet.

A report by the center’s expert, Natalia Yudina, released on Tuesday by Mediazona, states that in Russia, there have been 194 convictions for statements on the internet that were recognized as extremist, (84 per cent of the total number of similar sentences), whereas in 2014 there were only 138.

The Russian human rights organization, Agora, also noted the increasing …