The U.S. and the EU agreed to extend sanctions against Russia until full compliance with the Minsk agreements is reached. This information was confirmed by the Coordinator of Sanctions Policy at the U.S. Department of State, Daniel Fried.

The last defining element of all the Minsk agreements – the Minsk Protocol, Minsk Memorandum and Minsk set of activities – is for Kiev to regain control over its internationally recognized border with Russia in Eastern Ukraine, Fried explained, speaking at …

The Russian Head of the Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, indicated that Crimean authorities have imposed sanctions against Turkey.

"Turkish citizens will not be able to work within the territory of the Crimea, all investment contracts will be terminated, and goods imported into the territory of the Crimea by the Turkish Republic will be banned.  I should mention that the volume of Turkish products exported to the Crimea is insignificant and this will not have a significant impact on development in the …

The NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, stated that NATO can apply article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which will provide military response to all Alliance members, even in case of hybrid attacks on one of the country-members. Stoltenberg noted that the heads of NATO Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed on a possible application of the Article in any particular case. The hybrid attack can be understood as an armed conflict with the use of terrorist threats and information warfare.

However, …

 Russian officer, Vladimir Starkov, detained in the Donetsk region in July, was exchanged for the Ukrainian soldier, Andrey Grechanov, who has been detained by DNR (Donetsk People’s Republic) separatists. Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, signed a decree to pardon Russian Major, Vladimir Starkov, sentenced to 14 years in prison for participation in hostilities against Ukraine. This was reported on the first of December in the statement published on the Ukrainian President’s website.

The …

A Russian Air Force aircraft violated the airspace of Turkey last Tuesday and did not respond to numerous warnings, stated Elizabeth Trudeau, Press Office Director for the U.S. Department of State, during a briefing in Washington.

“Information including evidence from the Turkish side and our own sources indicates that the Russian aircraft violated the air space of Turkey. We also know that the Turks issued repeated warnings to the Russian pilots, but received no response,” said Trudeau. …