• EU extends sanctions against Russia for another six months

    The EU Council has adopted a decision on the approval of the proposal to extend individual sanctions against 146 Russian and Ukrainian individuals, and against 37 legal entities. These sanctions were extended for six months, until the 15th of March 2017.

    The sanctions apply to people and organizations who the EU considers responsible for the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and who have caused damage to its sovereignty. Sanctions include the freezing of their bank assets in …

  • Poroshenko expects UN to adopt declaration on human rights violations in Crimea

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that he expects the UN General Assembly to adopt a declaration recognizing human rights violations in the Crimea, particularly in regards to Crimean Tatars, Evropeyskaya Pravda reported.

    Poroshenko said as much during his speech at the annual meeting of Yalta European Strategy in Kyiv.

    "For two and a half days, I'll have a lot of meetings at the UN. We hope that the UN General Assembly will adopt a declaration on the violation of core human rights in …

  • Russian commander says Black Sea Fleet is capable of destroying enemy landing forces

    TASS reports that the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, Valery Gerasimov, stated that the Black Sea Fleet of Russia “is capable of destroying enemy landing forces in ports of their landing.” Gerasimov did not specify which ports or what country he was referring to but he noted that enemy landing forces “should not reach the Black Sea coast of the Crimea wherever they are coming from.”

    Gerasimov stressed that the Black Fleet of Russia uses the Bastion coastal defense …

  • Russian Finance Ministry proposes decreasing funding for state media

    The Russian News Agency, TASS, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, Rossiya Segodnya, RT (Russia Today) and the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) may lose part of their subsidies. The Russian Ministry of Finance called these changes preliminary estimates. The government plans to reduce the cost of public media over several years.

    The Russian Ministry of Finance has proposed to reduce funding for public media in the budget for 2017 - 2019, as reported by …

  • Estonian authorities concerned that some of the country's residents don't see Russia as a threat

    The Estonian government may lose control over the northeast region of the country where the Russian-speaking population prevails, in the event of a conflict with Russia. Ilmar Raag, advisor to the government on psychological defense, together with other contemporaries, authored a report that explained the risks.

    In winter, the Governmental Commission for Security was presented with a secret analysis of the situation in Ida-Viru county in the northeastern part of the country. The report spoke …