• US expands sanctions against Russia

    The US has announced new sanctions on a number of Russian companies and individuals involved in Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and violence in in eastern Ukraine, as reported on the website of the US Treasury. Both Russian citizens and citizens of Ukraine involved in the activities of the LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic) and DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) fell under the sanctions. In particular, the Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Andrey Cherezov, the Director of the …

  • Ukrainian ambassador to Belarus: Ukrainian Donbas talks participants go to Minsk at own expense and are humiliated

    The participants representing Ukraine in the Minsk talks have traveled and still travel to Belarus at their own expense, said former Ukrainian deputy prime minister and current Ambassador to Belarus Roman Bezsmertnyi, as reported by Gordon news website.However, the ambassador noted that the Ukrainian diplomats work on a volunteer basis and experience great humiliation because the government does not care about the people who are negotiating on its behalf.

    “You work, but you have no documents …

  • Ukrainian journalist reveals classified information of the Defense Ministry

    Commenting on the information provided by journalist Yury Butusov that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry plans to purchase modern anti-tank weapons and drones, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that any information on the planned supply of weapons to the Ukrainian army is classified, as reported by LIGA.net.

    The press service of the General Staff stated that the procurement procedures of the weapons and equipment are determined by the state defense program, which is in force …

  • New cyber security center opens in Kyiv

    The Situation Center for Cyber Security, created to complement the Department for Counterintelligence Protection of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), opened in the Kyiv, as reported on the website of the SBU.

    "The key responsibilities of the center will be a system for detecting and responding to cyber incidents and a computer forensics lab that will prevent cyber-attacks, establish their origin, and analyze them to improve the countermeasures," the report said.

    The Situation Center is …

  • Putin promises that Crimea will experience growth in the future

    During a teleconference with universities, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that "the situation around the Crimea is not dramatic," and that the peninsula will experience growth in a variety of areas in the future.

    "To date I do not think that the situation around the Crimea has been dramatic; on the contrary, I am confident that everything will gradually stabilize," the Russian agency TASS quoted Putin as saying.

    As Interfax reports, the Russian president noted that "after solving a …

  • Ukraine to receive $6 million from the US for the demining of Donbas

    The US will allocate $ 6 million to Ukraine for the demining of the Donbas, as reported by the Director of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement of the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs of the US State Department, Stanley Brown, Radio Liberty reports.

    "We have a number of programs in Ukraine. First of all, the USA is implementing the Partnership for Peace program, in the framework of which we are destroying ammunition left over from the Soviet times. At the same time, the US is …

  • Venice Commission disagrees with Hungary's demands for changes to Ukrainian 'law on education'

    The Venice Commission denied Hungary's request to allow Hungarian to be the sole language for teaching in Ukraine, stated the Secretary of the Venice Commission, Thomas Markert during an interview with European Pravda.

    The commission believes that a bilingual mode of instruction is an advantage. Markert stated, "We do not share this position. We believe that the country can move from a strictly Hungarian-speaking system to a mixed one, with part of the hours being taught in Hungarian and some …

  • Ukrainian President thanks Croatia for sharing its experience in reintegration of uncontrolled territories

    Ukrainian President and Croatian Prime Minister satisfied with the work of the working group on Zagreb’s experience with the reintegration of occupied territories

    President Petro Poroshenko and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković are satisfied with the work of the bilateral working group studying Croatia’s experience in the reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, as reported on the Ukrainian President’s website, following a meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of …

  • Russia will only send 169 of the 500 athletes it planned to send to Olympic Games in Pyeongchang

    Russia has approved the final applications for athletes to compete in the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. According to the application, 169 athletes will go instead of the 500 who would have participated were they not disqualified.

    According to R-Sport, all 169 people decide for themselves whether to go to the Games or not.

    The International Olympic Committee dismissed the Russian team from the 2018 Olympic Games due to the doping program, which operated in the country. Clean athletes are …

  • Kremlin: Russia is ready to be disconnected from SWIFT

    The Russian economy is ready to work without being connected to the SWIFT international bank transfer system, stated Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovych at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

    “It can work without SWIFT, at some point SWIFT did not exist. Of course, all of this is a little slower and not as effective, but it can work,” Dvorkovych said, as cited by TASS and RIA Novosti.

    He added that the Russian government hopes that there will be no disconnection from SWIFT, because …