Experts from NATO Regional Airspace Safety Program (RASP) and officials of Ukrainian Air Forces met on the 23rd of February under the guidance of Rene van der Heiden.  This was reported by the Press Service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine.

Thr key issue discussed was the technical-operational study of the implementation of the RASP project with regard to the security of the airspace in Ukraine.

"The implementation of the RASP project will provide Ukraine with the possibility of cross- …

According to a representative of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Russian President Vladimir Putin may visit the Crimea to attend the Caucasus 2016 military exercise, as reported by Glavnoe.

The SBU’s representative said that Putin may even participate in certain activities during the military drills.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu is also expected to travel to the occupied Peninsula for Caucasus 2016.

As stated by Shoygu last month, “allow me to focus on preparations for the …

On Tuesday, February 23rd, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg began to consider a claim by Rosneft against the British authorities. The Russian state company claims that London has interpreted the EU sanctions too broadly, as reported by Deutsche Welle.

The Court of Justice will consider the legality of the sanctions imposed against Russia in 2014. The Court will clarify the meaning of certain concepts contained in the EU sanctions regulations. According to Rosneft,  the United …

The freedom of the Russian media “was severely restricted” in 2015, according to an Amnesty International human rights report entitled “Human Rights in the Contemporary World”.  The Russian presentation of the report was held in Moscow in the Rosbalt Media Center.

According to Sergey Nikitin, the Director of the organization in Russia, the number of independent media sources in Russia “can probably be counted on one hand”.

“With regard to the freedom of the media, it is no secret that it has …

Russia intends to request US permission to conduct observation flights over the United States.  They hope to do this with the use of aircraft which will be equipped with powerful digital cameras.  American intelligence and military sources have warned that such flights will help Moscow gather intelligence about the United States.

Russia and the US have both signed the Treaty on Open Skies, which allows making observation flights with aircraft with no weapons over the territories of all 34 …

In an open letter to the leaders of PARNAS and the Yabloko Party, prominent Russian public figures, human rights activists, and scholars called on the two parties to unite in the forthcoming State Duma elections. The activists published a second appeal to the general public, calling on them to support such cooperation. Both were published together in Novaya Gazeta on Tuesday, February 23rd.

The authors expressed alarm over the impending chaos in Russia due to the current political …

The Tartu District Court in Estonia has convicted three people for crimes against the state.  The Public Prosecutor’s office reported that all three convicts “illegally cooperated with Russian intelligence services”.

According to Interfax, two sentences were passed in October 2015 and the third one was passed last week.

In February, Maxim Gruzdev, a 32-year-old Estonian citizen, was sentenced to four years in prison.  He was recruited in the second half of 2013 in the Pskov region.  Before he …

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili will visit Baku in March. According to the press service of the State Committee for Work with the Diaspora (GKRD) of Azerbaijan, the Georgian President will attend the fourth Global Baku Forum, organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center.

The forum, entitled “Towards a Multipolar World”, will take place on March 10th and 11th.  Discussion in Baku will be center around the role of interreligious dialogue in conflict prevention, migration, …