The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, Victoria Nuland, has said that sanctions against Russia will continue until the Minsk Agreements are implemented. She stated that Russian sanctions related to the annexation of the Crimea will also continue.

“We have assured the Ukrainian President and the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs of these continuations, which were discussed during a meeting in Hanover with US President …

The Minister of National Defense of Poland, Antoni Macierewicz, signed the documents necessary for the creation of territorial defense forces. The first units will be created in 2016 and will be placed in the east of the country. As he stated on April 25th, 18,000 people will be integrated into three brigades of territorial forces.

It is expected that they will not have weapons and that their mission will be to assist in the implementation of security measures during public events, protection …

Lawyers of Boris Nemtsov's family appealed to the Investigation Committee of Russia, demanding that seven more alleged suspects be charged with the murder of the Russian opposition politician. They allege that the following participated or had some role in the murder: an officer of the Chechen battalion, Sever Ruslan Geremeyev, his brother, Arthur, and Chechen Senator Suleiman Geremeyev, as well as employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic—Alimbek Delimkhanov, Aslanbek …

Russian Prosecutor General Yuriy Chaika has referred to the release of the Panama Papers as “carefully planned and coordinated by authorities of the western states”. He said this while at the Federation Council of Russia on the 27th of April.

According to Chaika, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office had sent a request to Panamanian authorities to verify the information in the documents. “We are part of an information war and there will be no secrets,” Chaika said.

On the 3rd of April 2016, …

According to preliminary data from the monitoring mission, the OSCE has confirmed the deaths of four civilians at the Elenovka checkpoint in the Donetsk region last night. This was reported by the UNIAN news agency.

OSCE observers arrived at the Elenovka checkpoint at approximately 10 am in response to media reports about the deaths. The observers then conducted a preliminary analysis which determined that “three vehicles were damaged, four civilians were killed and an unconfirmed number of …

As reported by the Association of International Road Carriers, Russia received documents from Kiev approving the transit of goods through Ukraine.

The Association noted that the documents have several limitations. In particular, the approval does not include cargo transportation through Ukraine to Italy or Turkey, and some of the permits are not valid for delivery of cargo to Germany.

Carriers can get permits in designated offices. The Association of International Road Carriers recommends …

The Acting Head of the OSCE, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier, expressed concerns over the increase in ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine including incidents involving OSCE observers.

“The SMM is a civil, unarmed mission. It plays an important role in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. SMM observers’ security should be guaranteed by both sides. The persons responsible for threats and use of force against observers must be brought to justice,” …

Smolensk customs officials have destroyed 97.7 tons of Polish apples and pears that were smuggled into the region. This was reported to Interfax by the department’s Chief State Inspector, Vladimir Safonov. According to him, the fruit was buried at the RudnyaKomUslugi waste disposal site.

Safonov also reported that the department had destroyed a total of 189 tons of sanctioned goods in April. These consisted of apples, pears and cabbages.

"All of these Polish items were officially imported as …