Polish Foreign Minister: Sanctions against Russia will be extended

The largest EU states have agreed that sanctions against Russia should be extended.

This was said by the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski, before the start of the European Council meeting in Brussels.

“It seems that the sanctions will continue,” he said.

According to Waszczykowski, the leaders of the largest EU states agreed on this at an informal meeting held in Hannover two weeks ago. The sanctions will be extended as Russia has failed to comply with the Minsk …


Zakharchenko: Ukrainian political parties will not participate in the primaries in the Donbas

According to the head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, Ukrainian parties will not participate in early voting in the region.

“Under no circumstances will Ukrainian parties participate in the primaries in the DPR. I know that today’s reports on early public voting has caused excitement in the Ukrainian media and has resulted in a wave of false insinuations. It is untrue that we are supposedly waiting for Ukrainian parties to participate in our elections,” …


OSCE monitoring equipment was turned off by separatists in Donetsk

The leader of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, ordered the cameras to be disabled

According to a report by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission for the 20th of May, OSCE monitoring equipment was turned off in the Donetsk region.

"Armed DPR members stopped work on the SMM’s remote monitoring equipment at the Donetsk airport, … SMM found out that they had disconnected the power supply to the SMM equipment in Donetsk city, claiming they had an order to do so by Mr. Alexander Zakharchenko," the …


Switzerland sends humanitarian aid to the Donbas

Two convoys with medicine and materials for water purification were delivered from Switzerland to the east of Ukraine, as announced by the Swiss government.

As the government explained, a train carrying supplies for water treatment went from Switzerland to Donetsk on Sunday morning.

"The goods are intended for water pumping stations in the Donbas region which provide drinking water to the population on both sides of the line of contact," the message states. In addition, medical supplies, in …


Large-scale NATO exercises to be held in the Baltics

The Baltic countries will host the large-scale NATO exercise Saber Strike 2016 in June, Evropeyskaya Pravda reported. 10,000 soldiers from 13 member states and partner countries will participate in the exercise.

“The exercises are aimed at improving interaction between member countries in the conduct of a wide range of military operations,” the Estonian Ministry of Defense stated, as cited by Postimees.

As stated on the US Army-Europe’s website, “Saber Strike 16 features allied and partner- …