Aide to the President of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov, who is in charge of the Ukrainian direction and cooperation with the self-proclaimed Abkhazia and South Ossetia, may leave his post as a result of reshuffle in Putin’s administration, RBC news agency reports, citing several sources.

The sources provided different reasons for Surkov’s possible resignation. This may be due to the fact that "the strategy in the Ukrainian direction overall has reached a deadlock, the Minsk …

Russia is trying to press NATO ships out of the Baltic Sea, said Estonian Defense Minister Jüri Luik.

“This is happening in international waters. It is a violation of the good tone rules of seafaring. An active arming of the region is taking place. It is happening absolutely without reason and is evidence of the increase in aggression in our region,” he said.

According to the minister, the Russian Navy is attempting to influence NATO through frequent flights over ships at low altitudes and …

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak stated that the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP), which will deliver gas to EU countries on a route that bypasses Russia, will be officially commissioned on June 12. Anadolu reported on this.

Albayrak said that the Presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev, will participate in the ceremony to launch operations for TANAP. The heads and ministers of other countries will attend as well.

The …

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has handed over proof of the involvement of Russian military personnel in artillery shelling of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast on January 24, 2015 to the International Court of Justice in The Hague,as stated at a briefing by SBU Chairman Vasyl Hrytsak.

"As of today, these materials have been transferred to the UN International Court and sent to 184 Ukrainian institutions abroad," he said.

In addition, evidence about the participation of the Russian army in …

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is investigating the possibility that Russian servicemen were involved in the transfer of weapons to the Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Nadiya Savchenko, stated the head of the Security Service, Vasyl Hrytsak, 112 Ukraine TV channel reports. He added that the Savchenko’s case will be transferred to the court within a few months. Hrytsak noted that it will be investigated within a reasonable time frame.

The alleged weapons transfer is part of the larger …

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will allocate $125 million to Ukraine for the development of Donbas, the organization’s Ukrainian branch stated on Facebook.

According to the statement, the new assistance will be announced during a press conference in Sloviansk by the Assistant Administrator and Chief of Staff for USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, Brock Bierman; U.S. State Department Special Envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker; and the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed deep concern about the repeated violations of ceasefire in the east of Ukraine during the visit to the Italian town of Assisi .

“Ukraine concerns us, and in the ‘Normandy Format’ that unites Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, we try to get the Minsk Agreements implemented. But ceasefire is violated every day; people are dying every day,” she said.

Merkel arrived in Assisi to receive the Franciscan order’s “Lamp of Peace” award for seeking the …

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London reports that at least 27 members of armed groups were killed as a result of Israeli missile strikes on sites in Syria during the night of May 10.

"At least 27 pro-regime [of Bashar al-Assad] fighters were killed: six Syrian soldiers and 21 foreign fighters, including 11 Iranians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Center earlier reported the deaths of 23 people during the strike, without specifying …