• Financial Times: EU sanctions against the Kremlin will be extended for another six months

    European Union (EU) countries, who support sanctions against Russia, have postponed discussions about their demands until the EU leaders summit in December. This was reported by the Financial Times, citing sources in Brussels.

    In addition, and despite signs of some bloc countries softening their attitudes, the EU intends to extend sanctions against Russia for another six months.

    The newspaper reports that diplomats fear that this extension may, over the next two weeks, trigger disputes …

  • Pentagon: Russia would be able to capture Riga or Tallinn in 60 hours

    The Pentagon has agreed with analysts’ views that Russia could capture Riga or Tallinn in less than three days. This was reported by the Weekly Standard.

    The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Michael Carpenter, has agreed with a report of RAND research center which states that Russian troops would be able to seize the city of Riga in 60 hours or less.

    “NATO would have a few options for further action, of which none are good. These options include an offensive action, which is associated …

  • Russia holds military exercises in the Black Sea

    The Russian Federation is conducting military exercises aimed at the conditional destruction of NATO ships in the Black Sea, as announced by a representative of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate during a briefing on Thursday, June 9th, as reported by RBC-Ukraine.

    "The Russian Federation continues activities to increase the ability of the aerospace forces to conduct large-scale offensive operations in the Black Sea region," Skibitsky said. He added that the purpose …

  • Russian Foreign Ministry: The presence of US warships in the Black Sea will lead to retaliation

    The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's European Cooperation Department, Andrey Kelin, said that the presence of US warships in the Black Sea will lead to retaliation, RIA Novosti reported.

    "From time to time, US vessels enter the Black Sea. Obviously, we do not appreciate it and, undoubtedly, this will lead to retaliatory measures," Andrei Kelin told the Russian state-run news agency.

    On June 6th, a US Naval destroyer, the USS Porter, entered the Black Sea to conduct exercises with …

  • European Commission President to meet with Putin in Russia

    European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week during an economic forum in St. Petersburg, as reported by Reuters with reference to an EU spokeswoman.

    Juncker will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday and Friday of next week and will hold his first meeting with Putin since November of 2014.

    The EC President has called for further cooperation with Russia and said in October that the EU’s stance towards …

  • Kiev calls on France to refrain from easing sanctions on Russia

    The call of the French Senate to gradually ease the sanctions against the Russian Federation may indicate that its senators have not understood the depth of Russia’s violation of international law. This information was mentioned in the comment of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning the resolution of the French Parliament on June 8th.

    “We understand that this document is declarative and non-binding. At the same time, we should note that respect for sovereignty and territorial …

  • The United Nations believes that conflict in the Donbas was called an anti-terrorist operation in vain

    The United Nations believes that the interpretation of the conflict in the Donbas as an anti-terrorist operation has resulted in considerable confusion, as mentioned in the report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions, Christophe Hynes, following his official visit to Ukraine in September 2015.

    According to UNIAN, the report was submitted by the UN General Assembly Secretariat to the UN Human Rights Council. The 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council …

  • Belarusian Ambassador in Kiev: There will be no aggression against Ukraine from Belarus

    Valentin Velichko, the Ambassador of Belarus to Ukraine, stated that there will never be aggression against Ukraine from Belarus. According to him, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has repeatedly stated this, Radio Svoboda reports.

    “An unambiguous direction has been given to the heads of our state: there will never be aggression from our country. Moreover, any third party will not be allowed to commit aggression against Ukraine. Belarus has repeatedly shown support for Ukraine’s …

  • Report on crimes in the Donbas region was presented in the Polish Sejm

    On Wednesday, a report about Russian crimes in Donbas in 2014 was presented in the Lower House of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. The report was based on over 60 interviews of prisoners, conducted by Ukrainian and Polish volunteers. UKRINFORM reports that the document was presented by the Deputy Head of the Sejm Commission for Foreign Affairs and one of the initiators of its creation, Małgorzata Gosiewska.

    "I hope that criminals will be punished as the war crimes have no statute of …

  • Transparency International calls for trying Yanukovych in absentia

    The Executive Director of Transparency International, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, stated at a briefing that the international organization Transparency International Ukraine calls on authorities to initiate a trial in absentia of the former President Viktor Yanukovych in the autumn of this year.

    "We hope that...we will witness the conviction of Yanukovych and key figures of his regime, albeit at the initial stage...We will do everything to ensure proceedings begin this autumn," Yurchyshyn said.

    He …