The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine (TCG) called for the parties in the conflict in the Donbass region to agree to a ceasefire beginning on December 23rd.  The last meeting of the year between Ukraine, Russia and OSCE ended on Tuesday in Minsk.

According to Daria Olifer, Press Secretary for former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, "There is an agreement on a full and unconditional silence starting at midnight on December 23, 2015. This initiative is needed primarily for the civilians in …

The press center of the ATO reports that mine disarming operations by Ukrainian forces have continued a few kilometers away from the conflict in the Mariupol region.

"In the direction of Mariupol, it has been relatively quiet for the last two days. This makes it possible for the Ukrainian military to actively dispose of mines. Recently, explosions were constantly heard in the vicinity. Taking advantage of a partial cessation of hostilities in the area, the Ukrainian military have begun to …

Russia's Erebuni Airbase, located in Armenia, has received a new batch of helicopters. This was reported in a Southern Military District press release that was received by Lenta.ru.

"Six units of modern combat Mi-24P and Mi-8Mt transport helicopters that belong to the aviation army were transported from a military airport in the Krasnodar region," stated the press release. The flights will begin in the first quarter of 2016.

Russian reinforcements in Armenia are due to the aggravation of the …

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that connecting the EU sanctions to the regulation of the conflict in the Donbass is “groundless.”

"The fact that the EU binds their sanctions to the settlement of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine is artificial and groundless. This conflict was started not by Russia, but by the current Ukrainian government," the Ministry said.

"The lack of logic in the behavior of the European Union is obvious. It's trying to 'punish' Russia for something that it has no …

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, stated that on December 20th 200 civilians were killed during Russian airstrikes in the Syrian province of Idlib.  The Ministry has accused the Russian Federation of the murder of more than 600 Syrian citizens as a result of these air strikes, as reported by the Turkish Press Agency Anadolu. Cavusoglu also noted that 90% of the areas bombed by Russian aircraft are held by the Syrian opposition and include residential neighborhoods. …

In the occupied city of Dzhankoy, the Federal Security Bureau of the Russian Federation illegally detained and tortured a Crimean Tatar, trying to persuade him to cooperate. The Commissioner for the President of Ukraine for the Affairs of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, wrote about this incident on his Facebook page.

"On December 16, 2015 a resident of Dzhankoy, Enver Crosh, born in 1991, was illegally taken to the district police station of Dzhankoy and then transferred to the FSB in the …

The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) composed of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia do not support Russia abandoning the free trade zone with Ukraine, which operates within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as reported by Viktor Khristenko, the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Union, after the meeting of the Presidents of the EEU member states in Moscow.

"Within the next six months the legal mechanisms that allow national governments to …

According to India's autonomous auditing agency Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the Russian Sukhoi SU-30MKI jets suffer from poor serviceability. The CAG report presented to Indian Parliament on Dec.18 notes that the operational readiness of the Russian jet was too low due to high rate of “Aircraft on Ground”, low serviceability and less achievement in flying hours. The unacceptable rate of AOG (Aircraft on Ground) means that out of 210 SU-30MKI with the Indian Air Force, more than 120 …