• 600 foreign merchant ships have docked in the Crimea in the last two years

    Over the last two years, 602 foreign ships that had visited the annexed Crimea were added to Ukraine’s “black list”. This number was provided by journalists of the “Schemes” TV program through a special journalistic investigation titled “Crimean corsairs”.

    The journalists were able to determine that most of these vessels had a Russian registration or a Russian flag. However, European ships were also trading with the Crimea.

    These journalists reported that over the last two years, 24 ships …

  • Herashchenko: Separatists threaten Ukrainian detainees with up to 30 years imprisonment

    Pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region transferred the Ukrainian hostages to jail and threatened them with up to 30 years of imprisonment, as written on Facebook by the President's Humanitarian Envoy at the Minsk peace talks regarding the War in Donbas, Iryna Herashchenko.

    "The prisoners are still in jail, even in the worst conditions, because they were transferred to a pre-trial detention center and threatened with up to a 30-year imprisonment," Herashchenko said.

    "In April, when the …

  • Special Presidential Envoy: The US will not include Russia in the coalition against ISIS

    The Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, Brett H. McGurk, denied the possibility that the Russian Federation would be included in the coalition, Sky News Arabia news agency reported.

    "Washington doesn't trust Moscow, which supports the Syrian government, both materially and in military fields," the agency reported, quoting President Obama’s representative.

    According to McGurk, Russia and the United States coordinate actions in carrying out strikes against the …

  • Latvia detects another Russian Navy ship near its border

    On the 24th of July, Latvian soldiers spotted another Russian warship near the border, the Bira supply ship of the Russian Armed Forces, Delfi reported.

    “The Bira supply ship of the Russian Armed Forces was identified in the Latvian exclusive economic zone, 12 nautical miles from the territorial waters of the National Armed Forces of Latvia” the statement said.

    According to the Ministry of Defense of Latvia, Russian military aircraft and ships approached the borders of the Republic more than 2 …

  • Bulgaria accuses Russia of repeatedly violating its airspace

    The Minister of Defense of Bulgaria, Nikolay Nenchev, stated that Bulgarian airspace has been increasingly violated by Russian aircraft—actions that can be interpreted as provocation against Bulgaria and its Air Force, Reuters reported. According to Nenchev, four cases of flights of military aircraft and six cases of flights of passenger liners through Bulgarian airspace were recorded in June.

    Nenchev claims that Russian aircraft entering Bulgarian airspace switch off their transponders— …

  • Russian MoD: The West is to blame for the strikes against the US garrison in Syria

    Russian Defense Ministry blamed the U.S. anti-terrorist coalition for the air strikes on the Anglo-American base in Syria. The Russian military is not well informed about the location of the bases of the Syrian opposition forces, the speaker of the Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, said on Saturday, July 23, 2016.

    He said that Russia has repeatedly asked for the coordinates of the bases used by Syrian opposition forces. According to Konashenkov, a "joint action" against the extremists will …

  • US Anti-Doping Agency criticizes decision to allow Russia to participate in Olympic Games

    The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency called the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow the Russian team to participate in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro an enormous blow against clean athletes.

    “Many people, including clean athletes and informants, demonstrated strong character and strength in the fight against the culture of doping and corruption in Russia. However, unfortunately, the International Olympic Committee didn’t take on the role of leader at a crucial moment for …

  • So-called Luhansk People's Republic postpones local elections

    The head of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), Igor Plotnitsky, has announced the decision to postpone the local elections in the occupied territories of the Luhansk region. The elections were to be held on July 24 and have been postponed to November 6, reports the Luhansk separatist websites.

    The date of the local elections has been repeatedly postponed by the Luhansk and Donetsk separatists.

    Recently, a representative of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Denis …

  • Ukrainian Defense Minister: Tensions continue to rise in the Donbas

    Ukraine has noticed an upward trend in tensions in the military-controlled region of Donbas, where “weapons, ammunition and military equipment are being supplied daily”. Interfax-Ukraine reported that this was said by Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, Stepan Poltorak, in his speech at the opening of the active phase of the Ukrainian-American exercises in Odessa.

    “These exercises are being held at a time when the situation in eastern Ukraine is deteriorating. However, they are an important …

  • Fitch confirms Russia's 'BBB-' investment rating

    The international credit rating agency Fitch has given Russia the lowest possible investment grade, a BBB-, Rosbalt reported. Fitch also gave Russia a negative growth outlook.

    "In line with the updated guidance contained in Fitch's revised Sovereign Rating Criteria dated July 18, 2016, Russia's credit profile does not support a notching up... This reflects Fitch's view that neither of the two key factors cited in the criteria that support upward notching of the LTLC IDR [long-term local …