US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker will visit eastern Ukraine next week, according to his message on Twitter. "Next week I will visit the east of Ukraine to see the situation on the ground and learn about the humanitarian crisis in the Donbas," he wrote.

This will be Volker's seventh visit to Ukraine in the last eight months of his term as a special representative. Last time, he visited Ukraine in January. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said …

The Russian State Duma has drafted a bill denoting criminal liability, punishable by up to four years of imprisonment, for the implementation of sanctions by foreign states, as well as for assistance in establishing anti-Russian sanctions, in the territory of the Russian Federation, Interfax reports.

"This draft law, which proposes changes to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, will be officially introduced to the State Duma on Monday morning; its authors - the speakers for both …

The Swedish XSAN device for measurement of neutrals and ions, which was developed for the Russian Luna-25 program, will instead travel to the Earth’s satellite on the Chinese station Chang'e-4, RIA Novosti reports, referencing a letter from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF).

 “In 2017, our Chinese colleagues suggested sending the manufactured XSAN flight module on the Chinese Chang'e-4 rover in 2018, an opportunity that we could not miss,” letter reads.

On May 11, IRF reported that …

Interfax reports that the State Duma of Russia is amending the draft bill on counter sanctions to avoid prohibiting the import of drugs from the U.S. that are similar to those which exist in Russia, Ivan Melnikov, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, stated.

“It is planned to exclude from the draft bill the mention of specific industries and specific goods and services and leave only the measures that can be applied,” Melnikov said.

In the first reading of the draft bill, it was …

Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who take part in the military operation in the Donbas, detained the Deputy of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in the Luhansk region, the press-service of the SBU reports.

According to the SBU, a resident of the city of Khrustalny (before – Krasnyi Luch) in the Luhansk region, joined illegal armed groups where he was elected a deputy of the so-called People’s Council.

“Operatives of the special service documented that the perpetrator …

Hajo Seppelt, a journalist of the German television company ARD, was denied the Russian visa needed to travel to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Deutsche Welle reports.

On Friday, May 11, ARD’s press service reported that Seppelt was included in Russia’s list of “undesirable persons.” Details of the decision made by Russia have not been reported yet.

The German media company called Seppelt’s visa refusal “a unique event in the history of ARD sports journalism, and from the point of view of coverage …

Deutsche Welle (DW) reports that the German environmental association Nabu is seeking a decision through the courts to prevent planned work on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on May 10 at a site in the Greifswald Bodden.

"Nabu has requested an interim decree from the Greifswald Supreme Administrative Court in order to enable the court to take a decision on action against the construction of the gas pipeline before May 15," the publication quoted a statement from the …

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to "throw out" Iranian soldiers supporting Damascus, reports The Times of Israel.

“Throw the Iranians, Qassem Soleimani and the Quds forces [General Commanding the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps] out of your country! They are not acting in your interest, they are only hurting you," Liberman addressed the Syrian leader.

On the night of May 10th, the Iranian military, operating in Syria, fired …