Russia conducts exercises in Crimea, airborne units participate
Helicopters from the airborne unit of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet conducted exercises that were designed to find enemy submarines that might be in the Crimea. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry.
“Scheduled training exercises of the crews of Ka-27 and Mi-8 helicopters were held in the Crimea with the participation of servicemen and local personnel of the air commandant’s office together with the regiment of Naval Aviation of the Black Sea Fleet,” stated the …
Syrian opposition withdraws from negotiations on Syria
Syrian opposition suspended its participation in the talks on Syria that are taking place in Astana, Interfax news agency reported citing an opposition representative.
"We left the meeting because even as we sat down at the negotiating table, the hostilities in the vicinity of Homs and Daraa continued, and there was no clear agenda," said a member of the delegation, Osama Abu Zeid.
He noted that the opposition delegation would not return to the negotiating table, "until the fighting stops and …
Putin and Erdogan agree to mutual lifting of sanctions with the exception of the ban on tomatoes
During the meeting in Sochi on Wednesday, May 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to lift virtually all mutual trade restrictions.
The only exception was the ban on the import of Turkish tomatoes in Russia. According to Putin, this will be lifted once Russian producers recover the investments caused by the closing of the market.
Putin emphasized that he and Erdogan had achieved an agreement regarding the “complex resolution of all the problems …
The decision of the authorities to terminate the power supply to the separatist-held territories of Ukraine is purely political in nature
Author: Dmytro Snegiryov, Head of Prava Sprava public initiative.
On the evening of April 25th, the National Power Company, Ukrenergo, halted the power supply to the Luhansk region. "Tonight the power supply to the temporarily uncontrolled territories of the Luhansk region was completely stopped," the head of the company, Vsevolod Kovalchuk, said.
The suspension of electric service to the separatist-held territories of the Luhansk region was confirmed on Channel 5 by the head of the Luhansk …
Updated US draft budget envisages $560 million for Ukraine
The consolidated bill on US budget appropriations for the 2017 fiscal year, presented in Congress, envisages an allocation of at least $560.465 million to support Ukraine, as stated on the draft Appropriation Act published on the official US Congress site.
“Of the funds appropriated by this Act under titles III and IV, not less than $410 million must be available for aid for Ukraine,” paragraph 7046 of the bill states.
Furthermore, paragraph 9014 indicates that from the US budget, $150 …