The Minister of Finance of Ukraine, Natalie Jaresko, held a meeting with Canada's Federal Minister of International Trade, Chrystia Freeland, where she asked for Canadian support in the trade dispute with Russia within the World Trade Organization (WTO). RNS reported that the meeting took place at the Davos World Economic Forum, and the details were posted on Jaresko’s Facebook page.

"Today I had a pleasant meeting with the Minister of International Trade of Canada and my good old friend …

The Russian Defense Ministry announced a significant expansion of staff of their ground forces "in response to the increasing intensity of the NATO countries’ training." There are currently no Russian ground troops in Crimea.

The Russian Federation ground forces will be strengthened by combining existing sections of the Army into four new divisions, said the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday, January 22nd. "In 2016, three divisions will be formed in the Western territory and one in the …

Gazprom claimed that the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has no authority to regulate the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine. This was reported by Interfax, citing the press service of Gazprom on Friday, January 22nd. The Russian gas giant said that the decision of the AMCU to impose a $3.47 billion fine upon Gazprom was an "attempt to exert pressure."

"This arouses extreme surprise, because Gazprom does not carry out any business activities on the territory of Ukraine by passing …

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, agreed on the need to develop a transit route that bypasses Russia.

The Presidents were pleased to learn about the successful departure of the first container train from Ilyichevsk that will follow the Ukraine-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan–China route. Poroshenko and Aliyev’s coordinated efforts need to work further in this direction, according to the press service of the …

The Russian investigative committee is asking the court to extend the house arrest of the Director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, Natalia Sharina, for another three months, her lawyer Ivan Pavlov reported.

"On January 27th, the Presnensky Court of Moscow will consider the extension of the house arrest of Natalia Sharina. The investigative committee asked the court to extend this period for another three months," Pavlov said. According to him, the court will begin hearings …

The United States closed five Honorary Russian Consulates in response to the closing of the American Center in Moscow, Interfax reported, referencing the Press Secretary of the Embassy of the USA to Russia, William Stevenson, on Friday, January 22th.

"This action is taken in response to the continued Russian interference in our diplomatic consular activities in Russia" the American Embassy stated.

The US withdrew accreditation from five of the six Honorary Consulates in the USA: in California, …

A court in Simferopol arrested Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev in absentia and placed him on the Russian Federation’s wanted list. Dzhemilev was one of the organizers of the blockade placed against the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

According to his lawyer, Jamil Temishev, Dzhemilev is suspected of violating Russian law on three counts, though he did not elaborate which articles exactly Dzhemilev is suspected of violating.  The warrant for the arrest of the former Leader of the Crimean …

An extended embargo on newly listed banned goods from Russia will take effect in early February as stated in the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers decision № 28 from 20 January. Added to the extended list of banned goods approved on December 30th 2015 were onions, green tea, prepared or preserved fish, white chocolate, pellets, candies containing alcohol, chewing gum, marmalade and jelly, corn flakes, biscuits and crisp breads, soya and tomato sauce (ketchup).It is worth noting that the list of …