Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has said he did not know whether the letter sent by Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland asking Putin to pardon Ukrainian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov had reached the Kremlin, but noted that "in the view of Russian legislation it is not a basis for any legal action," Peskov told this to reporters on Tuesday, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

"It must have been sent through diplomatic channels. I have not seen this letter yet, …

Ukrainian Border guards refused entry to Evgeny Primakov, a Russian journalist, TV presenter, adviser to the speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and head of the Civic Chamber's Commission on media issues. Primakov himself reported this on Facebook.

He was also banned from entering the country for a period of five years. "I was not allowed into Ukraine. They said that I represent a threat to the security of Ukraine and announced that I was banned from entering the country for …

Oleksandr Turchynov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, said that the system of territorial defense which is being established in the country will make it possible to train 500,000 soldiers as reservists for the army.

Speaking at a training ground in the Chernihiv province where territorial defense drills were taking place, the NSDC secretary said that the reserve training system developed by the General Staff should provide Ukraine with “a powerful half- …