In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow will react to the closure of the Russian consulate in San Francisco and two other diplomatic facilities, as reported on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.

“The Minister expressed regret at the escalation of tension in bilateral relations, which was not initiated by us, and pointed out that Moscow will carefully study the new measures announced by the Americans, …

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced that it was Donald Trump who made the decision and gave the order to close the Russian consulate in San Francisco and the diplomatic buildings in Washington and New York.

“Yes, this decision was made by the president,” she said in response to reporters’ questions at a press-briefing.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the new restrictions with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and said that Moscow will look over the United …

In recent weeks, new evidence has been revealed regarding omissions by Polish officials during preparations for President Lech Kaczynski's Smolensk visit. The evidence has been added to the investigation of what is being called ‘diplomatic treason’ that occurred during the preparation for the visit.

The head of the Polish National Prosecutor’s Office, Polish Deputy Attorney General National Prosecutor of Bogdan Święczkowski, stated this, reports Ukrinform.

"The last weeks and months have …

Russia's new ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said in an interview with Kommersant that Russia is interested in a constructive interaction with the United States. “Unfortunately, Russian-American relations in the past few years have seriously deteriorated because of the actions of the previous US administration," Antonov said.

He believes that the confrontation between Russia and the US is not promising, as there will be no winners in this confrontation. "As President Vladimir …

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, believes that the Russian Federation is using the large-scale Zapad-2017 exercises to demonstrate its ability to conduct a large-scale continental war in Europe.

He expressed this opinion at a briefing in Novy Petrivtsy, where together with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, he handed out keys to new apartments for National Guard employees, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

"The Russian Federation, by …

Possession of the villa of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych at Cape Aya in the Crimea was transferred to the Bereg Company, associated with Gennady Timchenko, Nikolay Shamalov, Sergey Rudnov and Sergey Roldugin: all friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by the Municipal Scanner volunteer project which reports on corruption in Russia .

The former recreational resort at Cape Aya was privatized by the Yanukovych family in 2007 at the same time as Mezhyhirya. After …

The Estonian presidency of the Council of the European Union said that it has a right to deny Russian journalists accreditation if it considers that their actions are aimed at subversive activities, reported EUobserver.

"Estonia reserves the right of not accrediting or considering as media such channels [like those belonging to the Rossiya Today group] whose editorial offices are not independent, who do not follow good journalistic practice," the Estonian presidency stated.

Estonia also said …

Lukoil, the largest private oil company in Russia is studying the possibility of selling Litasco, its trading unit in Switzerland, because the new package of sanctions imposed by the US against Russia will make it more difficult to attract new funding, Reuters reported referring to informed sources.

"One of the reasons for the sale is sanctions. And the sale will also allow them to divert a large amount of working capital from trading to mining projects in Russia," a high-ranking source in the …