The Russian authorities of the annexed Crimea and a delegation from Syria signed a Memorandum of Intent totaling 62 billion rubles or about one billion dollars, as reported by Interfax.

The news agency cites the Prime Minister of the Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, who says that a part of the projects with Syria is possible "even in the first approximation."

"The economic benefit for the peninsula is obvious, regional ports will be loaded,” Aksyonov added.

The Crimea had looked forward …

After the annexation of the Crimea, it is possible that in early 2016, the Russians deployed nuclear weapons to the territory which is not controlled by Ukraine. According to People's Deputy of Ukraine Mustafa Dzhemilev, six nuclear warheads are located on the territory of the peninsula.

"First of all, this is a gross violation of the Budapest Memorandum because Crimea is the territory of Ukraine. We [Ukraine], a non-nuclear state became a nuclear state again. I appealed to the Ministry of …

The head of the Center for the Protection of Russian Schools, Alexander Gaponenko was arrested in Latvia, on April 21, reports Delfi news outlet.

According to Delfi, Gaponenko is also the leader of the social movement "The Congress of Non-Citizens" in Latvia.

“The purpose of my arrest is to stop the fight to defend Russian children and their right to education," Gaponenko said.

During the court hearing, which was closed to the public, the pro-Russian activist accused the Latvian law …

An employee of one of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine’s strategic enterprises was detained in the workplace in Kyiv and accused of spying for Russia.

On April 21, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported the detainee is a native of Russia and a retired Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.  

“In July 2017, during his stay at his close relatives in Russian Federation territory, he was recruited by a career intelligence officer of the Russian military intelligence,” the SBU stated. “ …

According to the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Neil Walker, the UN humanitarian agencies have only 3 percent of the required amount of funds for providing humanitarian aid to residents of eastern Ukraine in 2018. The statement was published on Saturday, April 20, on the website of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

OCHA estimated that $187 million is required to help residents of the Ukrainian eastern regions.

“ …

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar expressed his concern regarding the growth of Russia's influence on Hungary.

"Politically, I can assume that Moscow's influence on Budapest is, unfortunately, growing and that this is a threat not only to Kyiv but also to Europe, to NATO unity and to the understanding of how Russia acts in a hybrid way," said Vasyl Bodnar in an interview with Radio Liberty.

According to Bodnar, Hungary is using its NATO membership to pressure Ukraine in the …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on the television channel NTV on Saturday that the threat to Turkey in Syria comes primarily from its strategic partners.

"The U.S. sent 5,000 trucks loaded with weapons to northern Syria. We cannot buy weapons from the US for money, but they and the coalition forces can supply these weapons and ammunition to terrorist groups for free. So, from whom does the threat emerge? Primarily from our strategic partners," the Turkish leader said.

Erdogan …

Latvian Defense Minister, Raimonds Bergmanis, stated that Latvia expects explanations from Russia regarding two scheduled training missile launches planned by Moscow in the Latvian exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea. Despite being planned, the launches did not go through.  

The Minister emphasized that the airspace over the Baltic Sea is heavily used for air travel. Therefore the predictability of such exercises is an important factor for air safety.

 “We want information from the …