The Japanese government has protested a violation of its airspace over the Sea of Japan by Russian bombers, the Japanese news agency NHK reports.

“We cannot allow such actions in our territory,” the country said in a statement delivered through diplomatic channels to Russia and South Korea.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga objected to both Russia’s airspace violation and the warning shots fired by South Korea.

“In light of Japan’s stance on sovereignty over Takeshima, the …

Belarus and Russia must transition to a single currency, said Russia’s Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko in a broadcast of Belarus’s TV channel, ONT.

During a visit to Belarus, which took place four days after Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko spoke to each other in Valaam, Matviyenko said than no one in Russia has even brought up the topic of merging the two countries.

“This is a union of states, but it needs to be a full-fledged union,” she emphasized.

“Full-fledged …

Yesterday evening a report appeared in the Israeli press that an Air Force pilot had inadvertently fired a missile at Syria.

According to the information appearing in the media, the incident took place at the end of June, when the pilot was in the Golan Heights region, not far from the Syrian border.

The pilot said that he was paying attention to a certain suspicious object and, without identifying it, fired a missile at it. The report adds that the pilot fired recklessly, without knowing …

Russia and China have agreed to transition to an international payments mechanism that is independent of SWIFT, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseyev told Reuters in an interview.

A corresponding point was included in the international agreement to develop payments in national currencies that was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June.

At present, China is the most “dollarized” market of all that …

On June 23, The deputy head of the Central Directorate of Military Cooperation and Peacekeeping Operations of the General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine Valentin Levchik said that five peacekeepers from Ukraine joined the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali for the first time, reads the message of Ukrainian Ground Forces on Facebook page.

At the moment, 61 representatives of Ukrainian national personnel perform tasks in UN, NATO and joint peacekeeping …

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin has signed the decree which lifts the sanctions from Eritrea that were introduced by Moscow in 2010. The document was published on the website of legal information and has already entered into force.

Russia joined the sanctions against Eritrea following the UN Security Council resolution of December 23, 2009. The resolution banned the supply of weapons, froze the personal and business accounts. The restrictive measures were a result of the sale of weapons …

The Russian Federation denied UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine access to the annexed Crimea, reports the mission on its Facebook page.

The UN mission visited the Kalanchak and Chongar checkpoints at the administrative border with Crimea. It is noted that such visits and communication with people who cross the border is one of the methods of remote monitoring of the human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.

"The Russian Federation still denies …

According to an initial appraisal, fundamental rights and freedoms were respected at the Ukrainian parliamentary elections, said EU Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Maja Kocijancic in a statement on Monday 22 July. The assessment of the elections was based on the appraisal of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

“Following the presidential elections in March and April, the Ukrainian people have once again given a strong mandate for reform,” Kocijancic emphasized, …