• 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 …

  • Latvia to halt activities of public organizations that pose a threat to the country

    The Saeima of the Republic of Latvia supported the amendments to the law on associations, according to which, law enforcement agencies have the right to halt the activities of public organizations that pose a threat to security or order in the country, Delfi.lv reported. It is expected that the activities of public organizations that pose a threat to the country could be halted for up to two months according to the prosecutor’s decision.

    On the basis of the conclusions of the State Security …

  • Ukrainian Justice Ministry: $30 billion was stolen during Yanukovych's reign

    The Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Pavlo Petrenko, introducing the draft law on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding the recovery of unwarranted assets, stated that between $20 and $30 billion were stolen over the incomplete four years of Viktor Yanukovych’s regime, Ukrinform reported.

    “According to various estimates of experts and law enforcement agencies, between $20 and $30 billion were withdrawn and stolen from the country’s budget over the incomplete four years of …

  • 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 …

  • US Ambassador to Ukraine: Washington doesn't recognize the legitimacy of Russian elections in Crimea

    The US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, stated on September 15 that the United States will never recognize the Russian State Duma elections in the territory of annexed Crimea.

    “I will remind you of the US position once again: The Crimea is and will always be part of Ukraine despite all possible legal actions of Russia. We will never recognize the Crimea as a part of Russia. We also don’t recognize the elections to the Russian State Duma that are taking place in the territory of the …

  • 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 …

  • A member of the US House of Representatives believes that Ukraine will join NATO

    A member of the US House of Representatives, Marcy Kaptur, stated in her interview with Ukrinform that powerful bipartisan political support of Ukraine from the US Congress and US administration will not deteriorate after the presidential elections in the United States, regardless of the winner. According to her, the issue of Ukraine, Russia and eastern and central Europe is an ongoing issue for the US electoral campaign.

    Kaptur also expressed confidence that Ukraine will become a member of …

  • Klimkin: There wont be negotiations until Russia withdraws from eastern Ukraine

    During a meeting with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany and France, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin, stated that Ukraine needs a guarantee that Russia will implement the Minsk Agreements in order to continue the work in the Normandy format. According to Klimkin, Ukraine wants to see clear and coherent steps from Russia in order for the conflict in the Donbas to be resolved.

    “We fully understand that we need a …

  • 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 …