Ukrinform reports that Jacek Czaputowicz, The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, has proposed to change the format of the meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Commission in order to bypass Hungary's veto for holding formal meetings.

In Czaputowicz’s opinion, it is necessary to find an opportunity for holding "less formal" meetings between Kyiv and Brussels.

"Perhaps we will find a way out, another, less formal format, so that Ukrainians can participate in this discussion," Czaputowicz said.

On …

Moscow has made a so-called "stop list" with names of politicians, deputies and political scientists from Lithuania, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports.

List figurants are prohibited from entering Russia. The Russian Ministry has called its decision to take such a step a response to Vilnius’ adoption of an analogue to the American Magnitsky Act.

The names of officials are not specified in the Russian Ministry’s statement.

"We warn that the Russian ‘stop-list’ remains open. In the case of …

James Mattis, the United States Secretary of Defense, stated that the United States is open for discussing the possibility of increasing its military contingent in Poland, DW reports. Mattis announced this information during a meeting with Polish Defense Minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, emphasizing that Poland is America’s ally in NATO.

“We are placing troops in NATO in accordance with the requirements of security,” Mattis stated. “Therefore, we are always open to such discussions.”

In 2017, NATO …

Refat Chubarov, Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated in an interview with the Obozrevatel news outlet that Russia should hand over the Crimean bridge “as contribution” to a special “international consortium” which should be established to operate the bridge.

“As the country that annexed Crimea, Russia should hand over the Crimean Bridge as a contribution to the international consortium for damage caused [to Ukraine],” Chubarov stated. “The transfer agreement should contain measures …

"A reduction in the share of ownership [of the company] by a person under sanctions is not necessarily a basis for excluding [the company] from the sanctions list," RBC news agency reports, citing an official US Treasury Department spokesperson.  

According to the source, OFAC (the Office for Foreign Assets Control, a subdivision of the Treasury Department) "conducts a thorough analysis of the facts and circumstances of each request for exclusion [from the sanctions list) and does not discuss …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russian names on the world's maps are being replaced by foreign ones and encouraged people to not condone the "distortion of geographical truth."

"Today, we are faced with a situation where Russian names, which our researchers and travelers gave in the past centuries and decades, are gradually being ousted from the world map," Putin said during a speech at the meeting of the Russian Geographical Society's (RGO) Board of Trustees, quotes Interfax.

The …

US Department of Defense intends to sell combat helicopters and aircraft missiles to Bahrain for an estimated cost of $911.4 million. The Pentagon has delivered the required certification notice to the Congress. The statement emphasizes that the State Department doesn’t object to the supply of such arms.

Bahrain has requested attack helicopters AH-1Z, replacement engines, AGM-114 and APKWS II missiles, as well as radars, communications systems and other equipment. The US Defense Ministry …

Turkey will operate together with the United States in Syrian city of Manbij, as stated by the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The Foreign Minister also added that Ankara is considering a "lucrative offer" to purchase a Patriot system from the US.

A day earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Turkey had agreed to cooperate with Italy and France on the purchase of air defense systems and had also discussed the possibility of acquiring similar …