The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has frozen the NATO-Russia Council until the end of the year, reports the newspaper Izvestia, citing Russian diplomatic sources.

It is noted that the pretext for such a step was the Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 exercises, which took place from September 14-20 at a training area in Belarus, as well as in the Kaliningrad, Leningrad, and Peskov oblasts in the Russian Federation.

“The Russia-NATO Council will be frozen until the end of this year, at the …

A decision on the provision of lethal weapons support to Ukraine is now at the White House. Joseph Dunford, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, announced this during a Senate hearing, reports Radio Liberty. At the same time, he did not name a deadline for the adoption of the decision by the White House.

“The US Department of Defense and State Department have officially recommended the provision of lethal weapons to Ukraine,” noted Senator Roger Wicker during the …

The Simferopol District Court, which is under the control of the Russian authorities, found Ilmi Umerov, deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, guilty of calls for separatism and sentenced him to two years in prison in a colony settlement, reported his attorney Mark Feygin.

The prosecutor’s office asked that Umerov be given a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentenced.

Umerov was arrested in Simferopol on May 12, 2016. An hour before his arrest, he posted information on his …

Russian businessman Alexander Grinberg, as well as nine persons connected with him were detained in the Spanish resort town of Marbella as well as in neighboring Mijas.

The representative of the Spanish Civil Guard (Gendarmerie) reported to DW (Deutsche Welle) on Tuesday, September 26th that the detainees are suspected of laundering money from the "Russian mafia," in particular, the Moscow organized crime group (OCG) Solntsevskaya, as well as the creation of a "criminal community" in Spain. …

Observers from Ukraine assessed the joint Russian-Belarusian exercise Zapad-2017 as "partially open." This was reported by the press service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces or Ukraine.

According to the Staff, part of Zapad-2017 where international observers were allowed was not sufficiently open. "They did not allow representatives of the invited countries to make sure that the declared objectives of the exercises corresponded to the current norms and methods of the usage of troops," …

Canada may join the construction of an ammunition plant in Ukraine, according to the Minister of Defense, Stepan Poltorak, as indicated in a press briefing, RBC-Ukraine news agency reports.

"We looked at the prospects for Canada to be included in the State’s e armament and equipment manufacturing. We also discussed the purchase of equipment and facilities from our Canadian friends and also discussed the accession of Canada to the ammunition plant construction in Ukraine," Poltorak said. …

Facebook may stop its work in Russia in 2018 if it does not comply with the law on the localization of personal data, said the head of Roskomnadzor (Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) Alexander Zharov, reports Interfax.

"The law applies to everyone. In any case, either we will accomplish the law’s implementation, or the company will cease working on the territory of the Russian Federation, as, unfortunately, was the case with  …

The Russian-controlled Border Service of the Federal Security Service for the Crimea announced the purchase of 49.5 km of a fence for installation near the administrative border with annexed Crimea, Kryminform news agency reports with reference to the website of state purchases of neighboring Russia.

According to the document, 212.9 million rubles ($3.6 million) were allocated for the purchase and installation of a full-profile fence. "The engineering barrier is intended for use as a part of …