The head of Russian Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said that Ukraine will have to agree on the construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge, the Kommersant newspaper wrote.

According to Aksyonov, this is due to "international legal norms according to which the Sea of Azov is a joint area of navigation.”

"It is 'unlikely' that we'll get Ukraine's consent,” the official noted, adding that construction of an underwater tunnel would be cheaper and would not require consent from Kiev.

Russia and Ukraine …

Since the beginning of the year, consumer prices in Russia have increased by 2%, as indicated by the Federal State Statistics Service (FSSS) of Russia.

According to the FSSS, inflation reached 1.2% in March, and 7.4% since the beginning of the year.

The agency pointed out that during the period under review, buckwheat has risen most of all, by 1.2%. The prices of tea have gone up by 0.7%, frozen fish by 0.5% and sunflower oil and biscuits by 0.4%.

The prices of fruit and vegetables averaged …

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russian Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, explained that the high prices on medicines and food products in the Crimean peninsula are being driven by speculators. The prices are 30-40% higher than in adjacent Russian regions: Krasnodar and Rostov.

“The prices on food products in specific areas are 40% higher than in the Krasnodar region. The price on pasta products is 46% higher. There are concerns of speculation in half of these cases, a parasitic …

According to the American intelligence and analytical center “Stratfor”, Russia maintains a significant presence at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that the majority of Russian forces would be withdrawn from the war-torn country.

According to satellite images, the airbase in Latakia is currently home to 24 Russian aircraft, including 12 Su-24s, four Su-30s, four Su-34s, and four Su-35s.

Following Putin’s announcement of a withdrawal from …

Ukraine and Japan have ratified a second loan agreement worth $331 million, reported the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance.

A statement issued by the Finance Ministry stated that "Ukraine has received a long-term soft loan worth $331 million from Japan within the DPL II joint project with the World Bank. The credit is granted through the Japan International Cooperation Agency.”

The Finance Ministry also noted that the term of the loan is 20 years with a six-month grace period. The interest rate …

A Russian special forces officer was killed in Syria on Thursday near the city of Palmyra, RIA Novosti reported.

"Near the village of Tadmor, in the performance of a specific task to provide targets for Russian airstrikes against IS [the so-called Islamic State] an officer of the Russian special forces was killed," a representative of the Russian military stated.

The special forces officer was tasked with carrying out a reconnaissance mission to provide coordinates of positions of the so- …

The Prosecutor General’s office of Ukraine has initiated a criminal case against the judges of the Donetsk City Court in the Rostov region and the the Russian prosecutors involved in Nadiya Savchenko’s case, as stated by the Prosecutor, Vladislav Kutsenko, on the TV channel 112 Ukraine.According to him, Russian prosecutors Pavel Filipchuk, Dmitry Yunoshev and Vladislav Kuznetsov, are being investigated for "unlawfully bringing someone to criminal responsibility,” and against Leonid Stepanenko, …

Nadiya Savchenko, who was recently sentenced to 22 years imprisonment in Russia, will be returned to Ukraine in the coming weeks, as reported by Grani, citing a closed-door meeting held by the Ambassador of Russia to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov. Zurabov didn’t specify whether the release would be an exchange of Savchenko for arrested Russians.According to a spokesperson for Grani, who attended the meeting, Zurabov noted that Russia was ready to return Savchenko to her homeland by the 8th of March. …