Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a “commensurate reaction” for the deployment of NATO bases near Russian borders.

Speaking at a meeting of Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives in Moscow on Thursday, the President called such actions “aggressive steps”.

In his opinion, the guarantee of security in Europe is based on constructive cooperation in the European space.

Putin also urged Western countries to exert influence on Kyiv in the implementation of the Minsk agreements. …

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel has urged two key Senate committees to hold hearings on the possibility of placing new sanctions on Russia in order to prevent the Kremlin’s interference in future US elections, Voice of America reports.

McConnel has asked the leaders of the foreign relations and banking committees to “facilitate Congress’s efforts to formulate a state-level response to interference by Russia, or any other country, in our elections in 2018”.

Republican Senator Lindsey …

Abdul Qayoum Kochai, an ambassador of Afghanistan in Russia, stated during a meeting of the Afghanistan ambassador with LDPR party in the Russian lower house of a parliament that Kabul expects the Russian authorities to apologize for deploying Soviet troops in Afghanistan in 1979.

Qayoum Kochai said that what happened in 1978-1979 was a mistake. “The Left party came to power [in Afghanistan] in 1978 but it wasn’t a real left-wing. The only thing they wanted was power,” RIA Novosti quotes him …

John Barrasso, Senator from Wyoming and a member of the Republican Party of the USA introduced a new bill to Congress providing sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as reported on Barrasso’s website.

According to the Senator, sanctions against the pipeline would allow NATO countries to avoid political manipulation and coercion by Russia. “Countries like Germany should be reducing the amount of natural gas that they buy from Russia, not increasing it. But that’s what this Nord Stream 2 …

Congressmen who lead the support group for Ukraine in the US Congress urged US President Donald Trump "to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our NATO allies in the face of continued threats from Russia and its aggression in Ukraine."

Radio Liberty reports that the joint statement by Congressional Democrats Marcy Kaptur and Sandy Levin and Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick was motivated by the outcome of the joint press conference of Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

" …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated on his Facebook page that following consultations with Kyiv the representatives of the European Union decided to impose individual sanctions against six Russians involved in the Crimean Bridge construction.

According to him, “the ambassadors of the EU member states have decided to impose individual sanctions against six people involved in the illegal construction of the Kerch Bridge.” The decision was made at the Ukraine-EU summit.

As emphasized by …

Ukraine believes that all Russian citizens in the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in the Donbas are Russian intelligence agents, stated Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, as reported by Radio Liberty.

“When I tell European friends about the OSCE mission, they ask: why are the mission’s patrols sometimes detained? I say, let’s look at the statistics: our boys detain the patrols only if there are Russians there. Because they come, and within 15-20 minutes the firing begins. We are …

In an interview with the newspaper Kommersant, Russian ambassador to Tehran Levan Jagarian said that Moscow does not recognize US sanctions against Iran.

“We do not recognize one-sided US sanctions. From our point of view, they are illegal”, Jagarian said, answering the question whether Russia will continue to purchase Iranian oil after November.

The ambassador said that Iran firmly adheres to its obligations under the nuclear agreement, which was confirmed by the IAEA. In his opinion, when …