• Ukraine and Turkey hope to sign free trade deal before the end of the year

    Following a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that Ukraine and Turkey should complete the negotiation process on the creation of the Free Trade Zone between the two States and finalize the agreement, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

    “We attach great importance and a high priority to ensuring that the Agreement on the Free Trade Zone can be signed this year,” Erdoğan noted, speaking at the joint press conference in Ankara.

    The …

  • Russian media confirmed that the EU will remove only deceased individuals from sanctions list

    Only three people will be removed from the EU sanction list- people who have died since the sanctions were first imposed.  These sanctions were placed on individuals and organizations who were found guilty of violating the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine.

    This was reported by Interfax, citing its own sources in the EU.

    According to the news agency, the EU Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) will meet on Wednesday in Brussels.  They will then approve the decision to extend …

  • Russian judge refuses to allow doctors to examine Savchenko

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that doctors will not be allowed to examine Nadiya Savchenko in the midst of her dry hunger strike because of her behavior in court on Wednesday, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported.

    According to the press service of the Russian authorities, this information was conveyed during a phone conversation between Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin.

    During the phone call, Klimkin raised the issue of allowing doctors to examine Savchenko after six …

  • Poroshenko urges Turkish Parliament to recognize deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on the Turkish Parliament to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1942-1943 as a genocide, as reported by the President’s spokesman, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, on Twitter.

    The protection of the rights of the Crimean Tatars is one of the issues being discussed by Poroshenko with Turkish leaders during his visit to Ankara.

    Moscow has faced criticism over reports of human rights abuses against Crimean Tatars following Russia’s annexation of the …

  • French fighters escorted two Russian Tu-160 bombers flying over English Channel

    According to the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, General André Lanata, Chief of Staff of the French Air Force, announced that on February 17th two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers flew over the Channel Tunnel and were immediately escorted by French fighter planes in order to avoid further incident.

    "The aircraft remained over international waters.  They turned back without entering French airspace," Lanata reported.  The General said that the Russian bombers were escorted by Rafale and …

  • Poroshenko and Erdoğan: We cannot accept the transformation of the Crimea into a Russian military base

    The presidents of Ukraine and Turkey affirmed their opposition to what they called the transformation of the Crimean Peninsula into a Russia military base, Interfax reported.

    “We discussed in detail the situation in the occupied Crimea, and consider it unacceptable that, as a result of the temporary occupation of the Crimea, it has in fact turned into a military base,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated at a press conference in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan …

  • Journalists and human rights activists attacked on road from Ingushetia to Chechnya

    Photo: RIA Novosti

    Members of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture as well as Russian and foreign journalists were attacked while travelling on a road from Ingushetia to Chechnya, as reported by Dozhd.

    According to a member of the human rights organization, Dmitry Utukina, a van was attacked that was carrying human rights activities and journalists from Russia, Norway, and Sweden.

    Utukina told a Dozhd reporter that two employees of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture were …

  • Estonian Politician: Russia uses the migration crisis as part of its hybrid war

    A member of the Estonian National Defense League, Ants Laaneots, speculates that Russia is using the migration crisis in the European Union as part of its hybrid war and has been trying to worsen it in line with the long-term strategy of the State.

    According to Laaneots, Russia is trying to strengthen its influence with the help of radical parties. “Putin’s aim is the disintegration of the European Union and NATO, if possible,” he stated, alleging that Russia is trying to develop “ …

  • Members of the European Parliament urge the EU to impose sanctions against Putin

    Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have urged the European Union to impose personal sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and 28 other people involved in the illegal treatment of Nadiya Savchenko – a citizen of Ukraine, military pilot and deputy of the Verkhovna Rada.

    57 deputies sent an appeal to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini. "We, the deputies of the European Parliament believe that the EU should …

  • Meldonium found in several other Russian athletes

    Several other Russian athletes have also tested positive for meldonium.  The drug has been banned since the 1st of January.

    Meldonium has been found in test samples taken from: Alexander Markin, a member of the Russian men’s volleyball team and a bronze medalist of the 2015 European Games; Pavel Kulizhnikov, a speed skater and five-time world champion; and Semen Elistratov, a short-track speed skater and an Olympic champion.

    On the 7th of March, professional tennis player Maria Sharapova, who …