• US Withdraws Accreditation of 5 Honorary Russian Consulates

    The United States closed five Honorary Russian Consulates in response to the closing of the American Center in Moscow, Interfax reported, referencing the Press Secretary of the Embassy of the USA to Russia, William Stevenson, on Friday, January 22th.

    "This action is taken in response to the continued Russian interference in our diplomatic consular activities in Russia" the American Embassy stated.

    The US withdrew accreditation from five of the six Honorary Consulates in the USA: in California, …

  • Lavrov, Kerry discuss Syrian peace talks

    US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have spoken over the phone about the upcoming UN-sponsored Syrian peace talks in Geneva. The talks will be the largest effort yet to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian Civil War that has raged for almost 5 years.

    Kerry’s call to Lavrov comes three days after a face-to-face meeting between the two in Zurich, following which a joint statement was released saying "particular attention was given to the need to form a …

  • US Loan To Kiev Contingent on Resignation of Ukrainian Attorney General

    According to ZN.ua, the U.S. State Department will consider Ukrainian Prosecutor General Shokin’s dismissal as clear support for the fight against corruption in Ukraine, as well as a main condition for a $1 billion loan to Ukraine.

    This was revealed during the visit to the USA of Deputy Prosecutor General David Sakvarelidze, the Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau Artem Sytnik and anti-corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnitskyi. Ukrainian officials are in the US on a working visit now, where …

  • Ukraine Announces Completion of First Phase of Beskid Tunnel

    The Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Andriy Pyvovarsky, announced on January 21st the completion of the first phase of the new double track Beskidian tunnel construction running from Beskid to Skotarske in the Carpathians. A celebration marking the completion of the first phase was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Gennady Zubko, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Mykola Snitko and the acting President of PJSC "Ukrainian Railways" Alexander Zavgorodniy.

    The most difficult part of the work …

  • Ukraine and Turkey to Strengthen Cooperation in Black Sea Region

    The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov, stated that Ukraine and Turkey have a unique opportunity to pool political, diplomatic, military, technical and economic resources for an effective and coordinated response to the destruction of the balance of forces in the Black Sea region.

    On January 21st, Turchynov met with the Secretary General of the National Security Council of Turkey, Seyfullah Hacimuftuoglu. “The development of bilateral …