The Russian Foreign Ministry called the sanctions of the EU Council against members of the Russian-controlled electoral commissions of the Crimea and the former Chairman of the electoral commission of Sevastopol “an unfriendly step,” as stated by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

"Russia reserves the right to give a tit-for-tat response to the European Union’s yet-again unfriendly step... The European Union’s new measures once again demonstrate its real attitude to the …

The road section of the Crimean Bridge, which connects the annexed peninsula with the Krasnodar Krai of Russia, has been opened. Traffic of cars and buses will begin on May 16 from both sides of the Kerch Strait, along two lanes in each direction.

Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the official opening ceremony of the bridge.

He drove along the highway in a KamAZ truck, in a column of machinery that was used during the construction of the bridge. The drive from Krasnodar Krai to …

Russia’s intelligence agency attempted to abduct a Russian from Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported. The SBU did not name the citizen in question.

According to SBU, the Russian came to Ukraine in 2014 “as a sign of disagreement with the Kremlin’s aggressive policy”.

For the operation, Russian intelligence agents hired a group of residents of the Kharkiv region headed by a former police officer. The group had worked periodically in Russia. The members of the group were …

The Russian government has already given assistance to sanctioned billionaire Viktor Vekselberg’s Renova Group, and is currently working on financial support measures for Oleg Deripaska’s companies, including Rusal and the GAZ group, as announced on Monday by Russia’s acting  Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

Vekselberg, who asked the government for a total of $5.7 billion, was given assistance last week, Siluanov noted.

“I simply would not like to talk about amounts,” Siluanov responded when …

Russia and the United States have taken a break from discussing the Donbas, stated the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Grigory Karasin.

“We have taken a break. However, Russia expects that it will not be a long break. We are interested in resuming negotiations,” Karasin said.

According to Karasin, “both sides need the desire to resume” in order for talks to restart. So at the moment there are not even approximate dates for the next meetings between the representative of the U.S. …

The EU Council imposed sanctions against five organizers of the presidential election in the annexed Crimea, stated by President Petro Poroshenko on Facebook.

“I welcome the official decision of the EU Council to impose sanctions against five persons responsible for the illegal presidential election held in the temporarily occupied Crimea and Sevastopol. Punishment for any unlawful actions against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is inevitable,” he wrote.

Poroshenko also …

US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell criticized the Nord Stream 2 project during an interview with Funke Mediengruppe.

He stated that many in Germany are concerned about the implementation of the pipeline project. "It's about Russian influence," said the Ambassador.

Grenell added that the US is working closely with Europeans who share the US’ concerns. According to the diplomat, the current pipeline construction strategy is "very problematic."

Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner …

Officials of the Donetsk Regional State Administration called for setting round-the-clock monitoring by the observers of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) at the Donetsk Filtration Station (DFS), which has regularly been shelled by Russia-backed militants, the Administration’s press service reported.

First Deputy Head of the Donetsk regional state administration Evhen Vilinskyi stressed that the systematic attacks have made …