Only Russian performers who “understand that the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of the Donbas is a crime” should be allowed to participate in the Eurovision contest in 2017, according to a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the Narodny Front, Anton Herashchenko. He said this on the 15th of May while at the Govorit Moskva radio station.

According to him, Kiev “does not see any obstacles” for contestants who “do not speak out in support of Russia’s aggressive policies” and who “do not …

The European Union, in partnership with the Danish Refugee Council and the Danish Demining Group, gave the Ukrainian State Emergency Service (GSCHS) 200,000 euros worth of demining equipment for use in the Donbas, RBC-Ukraine reported.

"This is class 4 body armor, Kevlar helmets. This equipment is very necessary to us,” a representative of the GSCHS, Oleh Bondar, stated.

The equipment can locate mines at a depth of 3 meters.

“We must ask the aggressor country [Russia] when they will stop …

According to an estimate of the Ministry of Finance, Lithuania intends to increase defense spending by 150 million euros next year, up to 725 million euros, Kauno Diena reported.

The current Lithuanian military budget is 575 million euros, approximately 1.48% of the country’s GDP. It is expected that next year's defense spending will rise to 725 million euros, or 1.77% of GDP.

According to Lithuanian Minister of Defense Juozas Olekas, the country plans to spend 2% of GDP on defense in 2018. …

The Estonian daily newspaper Postimees reported that the Estonian Minister of Defense, Hannes Hanso, favored the deployment of NATO heavy military equipment near the country’s borders.

“We want NATO heavy military equipment to be deployed closer to Estonia rather than a thousand miles away from it. For our part, in alliance with Latvia and Lithuania, we will do our best to ensure simplified transportation of the units across the state border and provision of weapons to our allies,” Hanso noted. …

According to a survey by Amnesty International, almost two-thirds of Russians are opposed to the settlement of refugees in the Russian Federation.

The Head of the Amnesty International representative office in the Russian Federation, Sergei Nikitin, reported at a talk at the anniversary conference of the Moscow Helsinki Group that “a statistical review by Amnesty International about the attitude of authorities and population toward refugees from other countries will be released in a week. …

The head of the EU delegation in Ukraine, Jan Tombinski, congratulated the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, on Jamala’s victory at Eurovision 2016, with the performance of the song "1944" dedicated to the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Soviet authorities in 1944. “I didn’t watch the Eurovision contest but I have already congratulated our friends from the Crimean Tatar organizations, Mr. Chubarov, on Jamala’s success,” Tombinski said.

He added that Ukraine’s …

A Ukrainian court has refused to recognize Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. This was reported by the initiator of the case, and human rights activist, Stanislav Batrin. He is also head of the “Open Court” project.

According to Batrin, this decision was made by the Shevchenko district court of Kiev on the 12th of May after nearly two years of judicial proceedings. It was also noted that the court had twice refused to open proceedings on the lawsuit. Batrin then went to the appeals …

As was stated by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, Robert Work, the Pentagon is concerned about statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding threats against Russia due to the placement of U.S. ABM systems, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“We would like to ask Russia to think about what they are saying, because we intend to cooperate with them wherever possible. However, such threats are highly problematic and of serious concern to us,” Work said.

On the 13th of May, Work …