Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that U.S. President Donald Trump, during a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin on March 20, proposed a bilateral meeting in Washington.

“If everything goes well, I hope that the Americans will not back out on their proposal to discuss the possibility of holding a summit. When our presidents spoke by telephone, Trump suggested that the first meeting be held in Washington, at the White House,” RIA Novosti quoted Ushakov as saying.

On March 20, …

Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus plan to meet this autumn in Belarus, in the city of Gomel, said Ambassador of Belarus Igor Sokol at a press conference.

On March 27, Petro Poroshenko and Alexander Lukashenko held a phone conversation, in which they discussed, among other subjects, preparations for the First Forum of Regions between Ukraine and Belarus. The meeting is expected to take place at the forum.

“The forum planned in Gomel this autumn will be held under the aegis of …

The Russian Armed Forces in Syria may once again be led by Sergey Surovikin, who is currently the commander-in-chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, as reported by RIA Novosti with reference to a source close to the Defense Ministry.

According to the source, “this possibility is being discussed”. However, the source clarified that if Surovikin goes to Syria, he will remain the commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces, and he will fulfill the role of substitute only temporarily.

Surovikin …

Ukraine, Germany and France will hold a summit devoted to the matter of deploying peacekeepers in the Donbas, the newspaper Kommersant reports, citing sources in Ukraine’s presidential administration. Russia has not been invited to the summit.

The event will be modeled after the Normandy Format, and will involve the heads of state. However, Vladimir Putin will not participate in the event. The meeting of the leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine is scheduled to take place in May in the German …

According to State Statistics data, 22.9% of Ukrainians work in the ‘shadow economy’, or without official registration, UNN reports.

According to the agency, in 2017 the number of informally employed people aged 15-70 years reached 3,695,600 people, or 22.9% of the total number of the employed population of corresponding ages.

Of those working in the shadow economy, 1,514,700 (19.5%) were women, and 2,180,900 (26%) were men.

Informal employment is lower in urban areas—it accounts for 15.3% …

On April 1, the State Border Service reported that two Syrian citizens asked for political asylum in Ukraine in connection with the military actions in their country. The two women appealed to the border guards at the Kharkiv-Passazhirsky checkpoint during border control of train on the Moscow-Kharkiv route, the report said.

The 37-year-old and 22-year-old women explained while being interviewed that they arrived in the territory of Ukraine fleeing the armed conflict in Syria and wanted to …

At a border checkpoint on Saturday evening, March 31, officers of the State Border Guard Service of Lithuania (VSAT) detected excessive radiation levels. A Volvo truck with a Schmitz semi-trailer was passing through the checkpoint, heading to Šalčininkai, in the east of Lithuania from Belarus. As it passed through the checkpoint radiation gates, the transported cargo emitted ionizing radiation levels 7.5 times higher than tolerable levels, immediately alerting the guards.

The incident was …

Latvian deputy Artis Pabriks assured the general public that there was no reason to be afraid of Russian military exercises. "We aren’t afraid of Russian military exercises. We will keep an eye on them, and remain vigilant and confident in ourselves, our state and our freedom. Don’t let them ruin Easter for us," he wrote on Twitter

Russian naval forces informed Latvia that it would conduct training launches of missiles in the Baltic Sea from April 4 to 6. The Russian Federation asked Latvia to …