The UN Security Council was ready to begin deployment of UN peacekeepers in Donbas, but Russia rejected virtually all important provisions, as stated by Volodymyr Yelchenko, the permanent representative of Ukraine in the United Nations, in an interview with Yevropeyskaya Pravda.

“The Security Council was ready to begin work on the mandate of the peacekeeping operation, but Russia rejected virtually all important provisions and returned to its idea of a strange operation where UN peacekeepers …

Oyub Titiev, head of the Memorial, a regional advocacy organization in Chechnya, has been charged according to article 228 of the Russian Criminal Code (illegal storing, acquisition and preparation of narcotics), Titiev’s lawyer told Novaya Gazeta.

Yekaterina Sokiryanskaya, director of the Analysis and Conflict Prevention Center, claims that the narcotics were planted on Titiev.

The press service of the regional Interior Ministry office in Chechnya told Interfax that “a polymer package with a …

Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov has been prohibited from spending more than €20,000 per month. This restriction was imposed by a ruling of the Nikosia District Court (Cyprus) to freeze the businessman’s assets as part of the Ukrtelecom case, Tsenzor.net reports.

The court ruling specifies that the defendants can “use and administer a monetary amount of 20,000 euros per month to cover their own court expenses”.

The court’s ruling against Akhmetov and nine other persons was adopted on …

The Russian Defense Ministry stated an American reconnaissance aircraft in the area of Khmeimim at the time of the attack on the Russian bases in Syria, reports RIA Novosti.

It was reported that a Poseidon aircraft was patrolling over the Mediterranean Sea between Tartus and Khmeimim at an altitude of seven thousand meters for over four hours. The Russian Defense Ministry called this “a strange coincidence.”

Concerning the easy access to the purchase of UAVs, the Ministry stated that “it is …

In an interview with Radio Liberty, first Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk claimed that First General-Secretary of the CPSU (Communist Part of the USSR) Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev literally forced Ukraine to take the Crimea in 1954.  According to Kravchuk, the residents of the peninsula met Khrushchev in tears prior to the adoption of this decision.

"’Nikita Sergeyevich, we cannot live here, we do not know how to work here, it's not ours, take us away from here.’ Khrushchev, …

About 10,000 Crimeans were called for military service in the Russian army over the past three years, as evidenced by the data published in a report by a Crimean human rights group.

“The number of Crimeans called up for service in the Russian army significantly increased in 2017.  In 2016, about 3,100 people and a little less than 5,000 recruits from the Crimea were sent to the Russian military in 2017. The total number of recruits called up by the Armed Forces of Russia is about 10,000 …

In an interview with the WarGonzo project, the president of the self-proclaimed South Ossetia, Anatoliy Bibilov, admitted that during almost every trip to the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) he visits the front line and advises "volunteers" on the front line.  

"As for my visit to the front line... I actually go there on almost every visit, especially when it concerns those guys from South Ossetia, and neighbors [in the Caucasus region] overall. Of course, I care about Ossetians. I'm …

The former first president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk said in an interview with Radio Liberty that in order to stop the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine, a direct agreement is needed between the leaders of both states.

"It is necessary, first of all, no matter how difficult it is, to achieve a meeting at the level of the Russian and Ukrainian authorities, one on one. What is happening in the Donbas is the hand of the Kremlin, and until we agree with Russia... [about what] we can do, …