There are forces in Europe that wish to lift the sanctions against Russia and continue trading with the country, according to the former President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.

Replying to the question of whether the UK exit from the European Union could affect the sanctions against Russia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga noted that the sanctions in themselves have always been “a weapon of despair,” delfi.lv wrote.

“The European Union acknowledged the need for sanctions and extended the term for …

The issue of the Black Sea’s security, which is being considered by NATO, cannot be successful without Georgia,a as expressed by the republic's Defense Minister, Tinatin Khidasheli, Interfax reports.

"Today, NATO is actively working on the Black Sea security issue, and Georgia is participating in it. Any decision that will be adopted at the [NATO] summit in Warsaw will be made with Georgia. No matter whether Georgia is a member of NATO or not, this is the direction and challenge; we have …

The United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation, John Tefft, stated that Russia has committed acts of aggression against Ukraine and all of NATO’s follow-up actions have been in response to that.

On 27 June in an interview with Radio Svoboda, Tefft indicated that NATO is a defensive alliance. “It’s not an offensive organization,” he noted.

According to him, NATO will remain the most effective defensive alliance.

“The response that NATO has prepared for the summit...is a direct …

Britain’s exit from the European Union will not affect its support of, and assistance to, Ukraine.

“What does a referendum in the UK mean for our policy with regard to Ukraine?” this was asked on the blog of the British Ambassador to the Ukraine, Judith Gough.

According to her, the UK will continue to stand side-by-side with Ukraine.

“The UK will continue to assist Ukraine in the fight against corruption, in particular by supporting the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Anti- …

The situation in eastern Ukraine has escalated since the beginning of the year with the Minsk Agreements being violated nearly 8,000 times in recent weeks.

Inosmi.ru reported that this was stated by the Deputy Head of the Special OSCE monitoring mission in Donbas, Alexander Hug, during an interview with the Bild newspaper.

“We started this year with a small number of violations of the ceasefire agreement. However, we have seen a steady increase in that number since that time. The largest …

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said that Turkey will not pay Russia for the Su-24 bomber that was shot down over the Turkish-Syrian border in November of last year, Rosbalt reported.

According to Yıldırım, Ankara has only expressed its regret over the incident and has not agreed to pay compensation.

On Monday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan apologized to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the downing of the frontline bomber. …

Turkey has confirmed that its President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin.

“In the letter, he stated that he wanted to inform the family of the deceased Russian pilot that he shares their pain and that he expresses his condolences. Perhaps they will forgive us,” this was said on the 27th of June by Erdoğan’s representative, Ibrahim Kalin, who was quoted by Turkish media.

“Turkey and Russia have agreed on the need to take immediate …

NATO jets escorted Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea on five occasions last week, BaltNews reported with reference to the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense.

On June 23rd, NATO fighters escorted a Russian IL-20 cargo plane flying in international airspace from the Kaliningrad exclave. The aircraft was following its flight plan, but its transponder was turned off. A Russian Tu-134 cargo plane was also intercepted on Thursday for the same reason.

On the same day, a Russian Su-27 fighter …