• US accuses Russia of human rights violations in the Crimea

    The USA accused Russia of suppressing dissent and the oppression of the Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian activists in annexed Crimea as was stated in the Annual Report on Human Rights Standards, published on the website of the US State Department on Wednesday, 13 April.

    Russian authorities have deprived Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars "the ability to express support for their nationality and ethnic origin" and "have systematically suppressed and discriminated against them," as stated by the US …

  • Vladimir Groisman promises to create a Ministry of Crimean Affairs

    The newly appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine, Vladimir Groisman, said that his government will increase attention on the issue of the return of annexed by Russia Crimea under the control of Ukraine.

    "Another issue that the new government will pay extra attention to is a complexity of problems related to the return of Crimea and the temporarily occupied areas of Donbas, the restoration of peaceful life on the liberated territories and the return of displaced persons," Groisman said.

    According …

  • IKEA's Russian central office searched

    On Thursday, April 14th, agents of the Moscow Department of Combating Economic Crimes raided the Central Office of the Russian Division of IKEA on the Leningrad highway, Interfax reported. The employees of IKEA consider what was happening as part of a campaign to seize the land. Earlier a criminal case was mounted against IKEA with the charge of large-scale swindling.

    Company lawyer Semen Shevchenko stated that "We perceive what is happening as a part of the campaign to seize the land on which …

  • The Kremlin supports MoD's position on incident with USS Donald Cook

    According to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin supports the Russian Defense Ministry’s position on the incident earlier this week in which Russian Su-24 aircraft buzzed a US naval destroyer in the Baltic Sea, Eko Moskva reported.

    The Russian Defense Ministry and the Kremlin maintain that the Su-24s flew over international waters and observed all safety precautions.  "The principle of freedom of navigation for the US destroyer, which is staying in …

  • OSCE calls on all parties to ensure the safety of SMM observers

    The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) stated that there are "threats and use of force against the observers" in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, according to the joint statement made by the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Serbia, Ivica Dačićта and Sebastia Kurz from Austria, which was published on the organization’s website on Tuesday, April 12th. Germany currently chairs the organization previously chaired by the Serbian representative; the …

  • Pro-Russian separatists fired on Ukrainian positions while OSCE monitors were in the vicinity

    Pro-Russian separatists opened fire on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Avdiivka in the vicinity of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, the Ukrainian Armed Force’s headquarters stated. Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug was reportedly visiting Avdiivka at the time.

    "On April 15th, during the visit of First Deputy Head of the Special OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug, fighters of illegally armed groups fired on ATO [Ukrainian] positions at the filter …

  • Erdoğan calls on leaders of Islamic countries to show solidarity with Ukraine and the Crimean Tatars

    While speaking at the 13th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to show solidarity with Ukraine and the Crimean Tatar people.

    This was reported by the press service of the Presidential Commissioner for Affairs of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, on Facebook on Thursday, April 14.

    "The address by the President of Turkey, the country that chairs the summit, has ended. President …

  • EU condemns ban of Crimean Tatar Mejlis

    The European External Action Service called the decision of the "prosecutoress" of Crimea an "attack on the rights of the Crimean Tatars."

    The European External Action Service condemned the decision made by Natalia Poklonskaya on the suspension of the Mejlis activities, as stated on the official website of the Service on Thursday. Particularly, it was stated that the decision of Poklonskaya "constitutes a grave attack on the rights of the Crimean Tatars. The decision, taken in the context of …

  • Putin agrees to the deployment of armed OSCE mission to the Donbas

    Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the idea of a deployment of an armed OSCE mission along the contact line. "Recently I had a conversation with Petro Poroshenko: he proposed to strengthen the presence of the OSCE and that the OSCE observers on the contact line should be armed in order to achieve the ceasefire. I think it is the right position, we support it," Putin stated at an open press conference on Thursday, 14 April, as reported by the Ukrainian news.

    According to the Russian …

  • Lawyer: Savchenko has only four or five days

    The lawyer for Nadiya Savchenko, Nikolai Polozov, wrote on his Facebook page that his client has four, maximum five days left.

    “As I expected, Nadiya has been administered intravenous infusions throughout the day. She showed me her hands – all her veins have been pricked, there are no live veins. The doctors searched for veins on her legs as well. Her health status is bad… The lack of water in the body for the ninth day of the dry hunger strike has destroyed Nadiya’s internal organs. Her …