On Tuesday, June 9, a telephone conversation took place between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. They discussed the Donbas and negotiations in the "Normandy format”, as reported on the Kremlin's website.

It is noted that the conversation took place at the initiative of the German leader. Mekrel was concerned about the lack of progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the decisions of the December Normandy Four summit.

Putin and Merkel …

The Kremlin plans to issue Russian passports to 600 to 800,000 residents of the territories of Donbass outside of Ukraine's control by the end of the year, stated the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs Viktor Vodolatsky in an interview with TASS.

He said that more than 180,000 residents of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics have already received Russian citizenship under the simplified procedure, and about 100,000 more will receive …

The Ukrainian government is making the first concessions to Hungary. The Ukrainian Ministry of Community and Territories Development has unveiled new zoning projects in the Ukrainian regions, which stated that a new Beregovsky region is going to be established, writes Ukrainian publicist Andriy Lyubka in the "Point of View" column on Radio Liberty.

The majority of the population in the area will speak Hungarian, and the region is located along the border with Hungary.

The Hungarians for …

Turkey has concluded an agreement with Russia for the delivery of the second batch of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, said the Undersecretary for Turkish Defense Industries İsmail Demir in an interview with the Turkish TV channel NTV.

According to him, Ankara and Moscow have reached an "agreement in principle" on the supply of the second batch of missile defense systems.

Demir noted that the agreement will soon be implemented, and "technical work remains to be carried out on the transfer …

The court in the Netherlands in the case of the downed Boeing flight MH17 over the Donbas in 2014 intends to include into the case materials an interview of one of the former commanders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Igor Girkin, with Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon, reports Deutsche Welle, citing the presiding judge, Hendrik Steenhuis.

This is an interview that Gordon posted on his YouTube channel on May 18.

In a nearly four-hour conversation with the journalist, Girkin …

On Monday, June 8, the court hearings in the case of the flight MH17 downed over the Donbas have resumed in the Netherlands.

"As planned, the criminal case of MH17 will resume on Monday, June 8. However, due to the current coronavirus and relevant national guidelines, the court hearing block has been amended to allow a limited number of people to attend the courtroom at Schiphol Judicial Complex. Naturally, everyone can follow the hearings live," the court said in a statement.

In addition to …

Iran has almost completed its investigation into the crash of the Boeing-737 Ukraine International Airlines airliner, which killed 176 people, said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand, Alarabiya reports.

"The investigation is almost finished, and there is no ambiguity, we know what happened," the deputy minister said.

According to him, the analysis of the flight recorders of the Ukraine International Airlines aircraft is the only remaining …

The Baltops international exercise, which involves 19 NATO countries, kicked off in the Baltic Sea on Sunday, reports err.ee.

3,000 servicemen from 19 countries, 29 ships and 29 aircraft will take part in the drills. Which will last until June 16.

The drills are carried out exclusively at sea out f precaution for the health and safety of the participants.

Estonia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, …