"Belarusian refineries process our raw oil. There is no other oil there and it is unlikely to appear, that is why we need to align their receiving our oil with the requirement of using our infrastructure," as said by President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on transport infrastructure development for the northwest Russia which was held on Wednesday, August 16th, in Kaliningrad, as reported by RIA Novosti.

Belarus has two oil refineries in Mozyr and Novopolotsk. Russia agreed to supply 24 million …

Valeriya Lutkovska, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, has initiated the opening of a case regarding the confiscation of $1.5 billion belonging to the entourage of former President Viktor Yanukovych, due to the delay in the publication of a judgment by the Kramatorsk City Court. This was stated in a message published on Facebook by the Ukrainian office of the non-governmental international organization anti-corruption Transparency International.

The message states that a …

Despite sanctions, Russia exports significant amounts of meat to Ukraine, LIGA news website writes. For example, the "State Unitary Company" established in 2015 by the separatist LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic) is listed as a Ukrainian legal entity according to Russian documents, although there is no company with this name in the register of the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice.

In Russia, all operations with companies registered in Donetsk and Luhansk have the status of official export or import …

Lithuania received permission to send observers to the Russia-Belarus exercise Zapad-2017, which will be held on September 14 to 20, reported Delfi. Lithuania will observe the exercises in Belarus and the Leningrad region of the Russian Federation.

"Lithuania... together with other states of the region received an invitation from Russia and Belarus to observe Zapad-2017 exercises," the representative of the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense, Asta Galdikaitė said.

She said that …

Three Su-24M front-line bombers were sent from neighboring Russia to the annexed Crimea, as indicated by the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry. The front-line bombers will reinforce the air squadron of the assault aviation regiment of the Black Sea Fleet.

"The aircraft arrived in the Crimea after the planned plant repairs were completed on the Russian mainland. It is expected that in the future, the aircraft will undergo modernization at military facilities of the regiment, which …

By the end of the year, Ukraine is exploring the establishment of a NATO Center for Doctrine and Tactics within the Navy , as reported by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Navy for Euro-Atlantic integration, Andriy Ryzhenko. "Consideration is being given to the establishment of a NATO doctrines and tactic center by the end of 2017 to adapt national directives based on the relevant NATO ones," he said in an interview with the Ukrainian publication Dumska, while commenting on the results …

During a live broadcast on Facebook, former governor of Odessa Mikhail Saakashvili announced his intention to return to Ukraine in September.

"I will return to Ukraine. I will arrive on September 10 from Poland through the Krakovets checkpoint," he said. Saakashvili stressed that he plans to return in an exclusively legal way and does not intend to violate Ukraine’s current legislation.

Saakashvili also announced his intention to challenge in court the loss of his Ukrainian citizenship. He …

In an interview with Polish Radio, The Minister of National Defense of Poland, Antoni Macierewicz, said that the current threat from Russia requires a resolute response.

“Only decisiveness and strength can stop the strengthening of Russian aggression,” he said, adding that because of this, the decisions made at the NATO summit in Warsaw to strengthen the eastern flank of the alliance were very important.

The Polish minister stressed that tensions in the region have increased since Russia …