Merkel on the G20 summit: There will be no decisions on Ukraine without Kyiv
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the press service of the Ukrainian leader said.
They discussed the situation in the Donbas and coordinated their positions regarding the implementation of the Minsk Agreements in preparations for the G20 summit in Hamburg and, in particular, the meeting between Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Angela Merkel assured Petro Poroshenko that …
Media: IMF ready to close eyes to land reform in Ukraine
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is ready to leave the adoption of pension reform as the main condition for the allocation of the next tranche of the loan to Ukraine. This means that the adoption of land reform will be excluded from the requirements, reported by Interfax-Ukraine, citing a source that is close to the negotiations.
According to the news agency, the IMF made this decision in view of the fact that there is no agreement between the Fund and the Ukrainian government with regard …
Russia to supply equipment and helicopters to Egypt’s Mistral helicopter carriers
Russia is entering into two contracts with Egypt: one relating to ship systems for the Mistral helicopter carriers, and the other relating to the Ka-52K helicopters which the ships will be equipped with, Rosoboronexport Director General Alexander Mikheev told Ria Novosti in an interview.
According to him, the Mistral helicopter carriers which Egypt purchased from France need to be retrofitted with additional systems in order to make use of Russian helicopters.
“This will be a separate …
Iran puts Russian S-300 anti-missile systems into operation
Iran has put the S-300 surface-to-air missile systems into operation, announced by General Amir Farzad Esmaili, commander of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, as reported by TASS.
The commander announced that the S-300 have been “placed on combat duty and are operational”, but did not specify in which region the systems were deployed. The general also spoke of the preparation and testing of the Iranian-developed Bavar 373 missile system towards the middle of March 2018. According to the him, …
NATO provided Ukraine with equipment to strengthen cybersecurity
The head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Hrytsak, states that as part of the Ukraine-NATO trust fund for cyber security, Ukraine has received technical equipment and software worth a million euros.
According to him, in the near future this equipment will be installed "as directed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs".
The Deputy Secretary General of NATO for new security challenges, Sorin Ducaru, said that training will be provided for Ukrainian experts, as well as technical support …