• John Kerry welcomed the release of Nadiya Savchenko

    The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, welcomed the release of the former Army pilot in the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Nadiya Savchenko, and her return from Russia to her homeland. In his statement, he called Savchenko’s release an important element of Russia’s implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

    Secretary Kerry called on Moscow to meet its other obligations to these agreements, namely the release of prisoners and hostages, withdrawal of troops and restoration of Ukraine’s control …

  • New evidence emerges in Nemtsov murder investigation

    Evidence in Boris Nemtsov’s murder indicate that those accused of the crime made phone contact three times before the murder, and destroyed their phones after it was committed.

    A source close to the case told Rosbalt that after studying mobile phone calls made in the area surrounding Nemtsov’s house, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (Sledcom) were able to identify the phone numbers used by the accused. Up until the 14th of February 2015, the suspects were using two SIM …

  • Putin noted the fragility of the ceasefire in the Donbas

    More and more cases of ceasefire violations have been noted, and the Kremlin says the frequent violations are a threat to the continued truce in eastern Ukraine, Radio Liberty reports.

    "The issue is very serious. More and more cases of violations are being noted. Unfortunately, this threatens the ceasefire. This truce is a cornerstone of the Minsk Agreements. And of course, this concern was expressed by Russian President Putin," the Press Secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, said. …

  • General Pavel: NATO will respond to future Russian aggression in Ukraine

    The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel, has said that if Russia takes any aggressive action against NATO members in the East, the Alliance will have to respond. Pavel was referencing Russia’s actions against Crimea and Ukraine.

    On the 24th of May, Pavel told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the increase of the Alliance’s military forces on its eastern flank is in direct response to Russia’s military actions towards Georgia, Ukraine and Syria.

    General Pavel, who …

  • Russian Supreme Court signs bill making it illegal to dishonor the national anthem

    The Russian Supreme Court approved a bill criminalizing any dishonor of the national anthem. The document indicates that insulting the Russian anthem is equated to insulting the national coat of arms or the flag.  According to the bill, any violation is punishable by up to one year in prison. 

    “As specified in Article 9 of the Federal Constitutional Law ‘On the National Anthem of the Russian Federation’, it contains a direct stipulation for punishment in accordance with Russian legislation in …