On Sunday March 18, a US strategic RQ-4B Global Hawk drone spent several hours flying along the demarcation line in the Donbas and approached the Russian border several times, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

After taking off at the Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy, the American drone spent 11 hours flying along the demarcation line between Ukraine and the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), remaining in Ukraine-controlled airspace.

On at least seven occasions …

Observers at the Russian presidential elections have reported numerous violations at the voting sites, Deutsche Welle writes.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, whose application to register as a candidate in the elections was rejected, gathered more than 33,000 observers for the elections. His observers report that the most typical violation was the transportation of people in vehicles for mass voting.

At one site in the Moscow province, buses brought in staff of Russia’s National …

Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained and deported to Russia the journalist of Russia-24 TV channel, Natalia Goncharova. According to SBU’s statement, she was preparing to shoot an anti-Ukrainian video showing an untrue image of Ukraine, misinforming the audience and harming the international image of Ukraine.  

SBU states that the journalist “was preparing a media provocation about the Russian presidential elections in Ukraine”. Goncharova was banned entry to Ukraine for …

The attempt on the life of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the British town of Salisbury threatens Gazprom’s business in the UK, the Russian edition of DW writes.

The publication notes that Britain is Russia’s fourth largest gas export market. Moscow has considered the country one of the most promising and important for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, speaking on March 14 in Parliament in response to the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter, also …

In an interview with the German news agency Funke Mediengruppe, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on western countries to toughen the sanctions against the Russian Federation and boycott the FIFA World Cup which will take place in Russia on July 14, 2018, DW reports.

Poroshenko said he counted on the support of the new German Government. "I expect that all the coalition partners in Germany will stand for the freedom, democracy and territorial integrity of Ukraine," he said. …

The United States deployed in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and the Persian Gulf warships carrying cruise missiles for possible strikes on the targets in Syria, stated the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Interfax reports.

According to the Head of the Russian General Staff Main Operations Department, Sergey Rudskoy, the United States may strike the facilities of the Syrian government and Syrian troops after accusing Assad of using chemical weapons.

The Washington Post in early March …

The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned Russia's actions in the Crimea and accused the Russian Federation of violating international law.

In a statement by Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser published on the Ministry’s website, Estonia denounced “serious breaches of international law committed by Russia” against the residents of the Crimea, including “forced conscription of locals into the Russian armed forces, imposed adoption of Russian citizenship, seizure of property, and …

In an interview with the telecommunications company of the President Kazakhstan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Special Forces units from the United States, Britain, France and other countries are operating on Syrian territory.  “There are Special Forces on the ground in Syria from the US – they no longer deny it – the UK, France and a number of other countries. Thus, it’s not so much of a ‘proxy war,’ but rather a direct involvement in the war," the Minister said. …