The General Intelligence Directorate reported that Ukraine has informed the representatives of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine about the placement of prohibited weapons in the regions of three settlements: Lobachyov, Bezymyannoye and Jubileynoye.

“The situation in the ATO zone remains challenging. Pro-Russian militants shelled Ukrainian positions 20 times using small arms and grenade launchers,” the report said. Intelligence officers noted that they provided information about …

In an interview with the Ukrainian News, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be able to reform within five years in order to fully comply with NATO standards. According to Poltorak, it will take three years to reform the Ministry of Defense.

“How long will it take to reach the military standards and principles required to qualify for NATO membership? I believe that we can reform the Ministry of Defense in three years. We will need funding to …

Gangs suspected of being accomplices to the terrorist Evgeny Wagner were recently found in occupied territory in the region of Ozeryanovki near Horlivka. The ATO press-center reported this discovery, citing a source living in militant-controlled territory. Wagner is a Colonel in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and has taken part in many conflicts since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Ukrainian military belives that groups are involved in the elimination of pro- …

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Grigory Karasin, expressed Moscow’s concern over the lack of progress in the negotiations on the Transnistrian issue, stating that the Ukrainian position has a negative impact on the situation in the region.

"The change of Kiev's position on the Transnistrian issue supports the delay of an appointment of a new Ukrainian representative in the "5 + 2" negotiation that was supposed to happen in May of 2015. We are concerned about the …

 Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) agents and Roskomnadzor’s employees found two batches of pears at the Troitsk checkpoint in the Chelyabinsk region. The shipment of pears falls under the Presidential Decree issuing retaliatory sanctions, the Rosselkhoznadzor press service reported.

Fresh pears from Belgium were imported to Russia by two cars from Kazakhstan. Kazakh certificates, indicating Serbia as the country of origin, were attached to them. The total weight of the two batches was 40 …

The conflict is rapidly developing in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), both in terms of skirmishes with Ukrainian forces and internal power struggles. Certain DPR military units, under the auspices of the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB), have been engaged in “mop up operations” of other militant units, effectively removing belligerent commanders, Tyzhden.ua reported.

“We observed the arrival of unknown special units in Dokuchaievsk, apparently for disciplining several …

The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski, stated in a radio interview that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, initiated by the Russian Federation, is one of the main threats for Poland in 2016. “It wasn’t Poland that created the ice age, nor was it responsible for attacking other countries and it was not us who sent little green men to other countries in order to take away part of their territory,” Waszczykowski said.

“Therefore, if we are talking about problems, they …

Russia suspended the visa-free policy with Turkey effective the 1st of January 2016. The Presidential decree suspending the visa-free policy with Turkey is now in force. As noted by RSN Ankara, in response to Moscow's decision, Turkey is now refusing visas for Russian citizens. The bilateral visa-free agreement has been in place since 2011.

As previously reported, Russian authorities announced the abolition of the visa-free regime after a Russian Su-24 bomber was shot down by the Turkish Air …