Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar expressed his concern regarding the growth of Russia's influence on Hungary.

"Politically, I can assume that Moscow's influence on Budapest is, unfortunately, growing and that this is a threat not only to Kyiv but also to Europe, to NATO unity and to the understanding of how Russia acts in a hybrid way," said Vasyl Bodnar in an interview with Radio Liberty.

According to Bodnar, Hungary is using its NATO membership to pressure Ukraine in the …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on the television channel NTV on Saturday that the threat to Turkey in Syria comes primarily from its strategic partners.

"The U.S. sent 5,000 trucks loaded with weapons to northern Syria. We cannot buy weapons from the US for money, but they and the coalition forces can supply these weapons and ammunition to terrorist groups for free. So, from whom does the threat emerge? Primarily from our strategic partners," the Turkish leader said.

Erdogan …

Latvian Defense Minister, Raimonds Bergmanis, stated that Latvia expects explanations from Russia regarding two scheduled training missile launches planned by Moscow in the Latvian exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea. Despite being planned, the launches did not go through.  

The Minister emphasized that the airspace over the Baltic Sea is heavily used for air travel. Therefore the predictability of such exercises is an important factor for air safety.

 “We want information from the …

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad returned to France his National Order of the Legion of Honor medal that he received from former French President Jacques Chirac in 2001, Le Parisien reports. According to representatives of the Syrian administration, it was returned because of France's participation in the "trilateral aggression" against Syria.

The Syrian leader pre-empted the French authorities who had announced earlier that they would start the procedure for recalling the award from President …

Gazprom was unable to reach an agreement with Naftogaz on gas transit through Ukraine and sent a request to the Stockholm Arbitration for termination of the existing gas transit and supply contracts.

“Gazprom was ready to negotiate with Naftogaz of Ukraine on gas transit after 2019. However, Ukraine must justify the economic feasibility of transit through its territory,” said Gazprom's Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors Alexey Miller.

On February 28, the Stockholm Arbitration Court …

Russia has decided to block Durov’s messenger Telegram in response to founder Pavel Durov’s plans to launch his own cryptocurrency, reports RBC news agency,citing an internal letter of the Federal Security Servicen (FSB).

“The story is not about terrorism. Pasha Durov decided to become a new Sergei Mavrodi [a Russian financial fraudster],” the letter reads. “After such cryptocurrency is laucnhed in Russia, we would have a completely uncontrolled financial system. It is not Bitcoin for a …

Shortly before the USA and its allies sent missile strikes against Syria, Russia identified areas of the Arab Republic considered to be “the red lines” for Russia, stated the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov.

“Even before the plans of the attack of ‘the Western three’ [the USA, Great Britain, France] started to materialize, the Russian Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said clearly that if combat actions of the so-called ‘coalition’ harm Russian servicemen, we will …

60 members of the European Parliament called on EU member states to boycott the FIFA World Cup in Russia, DW reports.

The initiator of this appeal is a representative of the Green Party, Rebecca Harms. She believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be a host of the World Cup while the war continues in Syria and Ukraine. She also pointed out that Russia supports right-wing extremist and anti-democratic parties in the EU and has been trying to influence elections.

Overall, the …