Saudi Arabia threatened to use military force against Qatar if Doha purchased Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, reported the French newspaper Le Monde.

According to the newspaper, the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud sent a letter to Paris asking the President of France, Emmanuel Macron to increase pressure on Qatar in order to prevent it from purchasing Russian S-400 missile systems.  

The letter expressed the readiness of Saudi Arabia to carry out “military  …

The Press Service of Office of the President of Estonia has reported that Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid called for consideration of the conflict in eastern Ukraine as a war. Kaljulaid, who visited the combat zone in the Donbas last week, said this on June 1st at a dinner for participants of the 12th annual Lennart Meri Conference.

"In Ukraine, during the last week alone, four people, including a 15-year-old girl, have been killed in shellings, and another 15 people have been wounded. …

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) prohibited all financial institutions of the country from accepting Russian currency bills and coins depicting objects in the Crimea, UBR.ua news outlet reports, citing the regulation of the NBU.

It is reported that a hundred-ruble bill dedicated to the FIFA World Cup 2018 and also a 3-ruble coin that was put into circulation in March this year have been banned.

The NBU explained that the territory of the Russian Federation with annexed Crimea is depicted on …

Russia is only creating the appearance of assisting the local population in the territories of the Donbas; in truth, the “humanitarian convoys” simply mask the transportation of materials for military purposes, stated the Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of the US Mission to the OSCE, Harry Kamian, in an address to the OSCE leadership.

Kamian said that the OSCE Monitoring Mission recorded the arrival of the 75th Russian white-truck convoy into Ukrainian territory on May 24.

 “OSCE Monitors at the …

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin sent letters to his colleagues from different countries, asking them to exert pressure on Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners.

The Minister stressed the extreme importance of freeing Volodymyr Balukh, Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko, who all announced that they would go on hunger strike.

"I sent letters to fellow ministers around the world and asked them to apply pressure on Russia and demand everyone’s release. It …

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed his intention to make an official visit North Korea and hold a meeting with the country's leader Kim Jong Un, reports the South Korean agency Yonhap.

"I am determined to visit the DPRK in the future and to meet with the Supreme leader, Kim Jong Jong," said Assad while receiving the credentials of the new ambassadors.

The Syrian president also noted that, thanks to the policy of the leader of the DPRK, the Korean peninsula has seen positive changes.

" …

In addition to the existing forces, NATO intends to create a 30,000 strong rapid response force in Europe in case of a Russian attack, writes the German news outlet Welt am Sonntag (WamS).  

Representatives of 23 EU governments have signed a declaration on their intentions to participate in a “permanent structured security and defense collaboration”. The final decision is scheduled to be made in December.

There are plans for the rapid response forces to have several hundreds of military …

RIA Novosti correspondent in Lithuania Irina Vysokovich said that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) tried to recruit her. This supposedly took place on June 1 in Kherson, where she had gone to cover the trial of Kirill Vyshinsky, head of RIA Novosti Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports.

According to Vysokovich, unknown persons in civilian clothes approached her at the entrance to the court hall, after which one of the women started accusing her of working for the First Baltic TV channel, which is …