German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made assurances that the government will fulfill its obligations to increase defense spending until 2024 to the NATO target of 2% of GDP each year.

She stated this in interviews with the German television channel Phoenix and the radio station Deutschlandfunk, Deutsche Welle reports.

At the same time, she refuted accusations from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) that the increase in defense spending would come from a reduction in social programs." …

The Kremlin-appointed head of the Crimean government, Sergei Aksyonov, has signed the main version of a draft law on the procedure for restructuring debt of the Crimeans on loans taken from Ukrainian banks prior to the annexation of the peninsula. Aksyonov reported this on Facebook on August 14.

"The bill will still be discussed and adjusted, but the main points will remain intact: legal entities and individuals that are in arrears of up to 5 million rubles ($83,478 USD)are completely exempted …

The seventh round of training courses for Ukrainian instructors under the leadership of the Latvian Armed Forces have started on base 184 of the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy of Ground Forces (Lviv Oblast). The training is part of the exercises of the United Multinational Training Group - Ukraine (JMTG-U).

"The Ukrainian military has adopted all the best practices of the European armies and is able to apply the knowledge gained in practice. Our collaboration will be fruitful …

The State Space Agency of Ukraine said that the accusations of Ukraine giving space technology to North Korea are “absolutely baseless”.

“As of today, not a single space project is being realized with states which are not members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, which makes provisions for the transfer of category I goods. Given the above, any accusations of transferring goods or technology to North Korea which would enable the development of the ballistic program are absolutely …

On 30 November 2013 when students were protesting at the Maidan, the first Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, together with Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage went hunting, after which they had dinner and sang karaoke, said Kravchuk on the Batsman Live program on channel NewsOne.

Kravchuk related how in 2013 at Yanukovych’s invitation, he used to go hunting with him and his entourage nearly every Saturday. “A lot of people. 20 people, sometimes 22. For the most part, these were people who …

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested categorically against another wave of political repression and human rights violations by the Kremlin towards Ukrainian citizens in annexed Crimea.

“The Russian occupation authority continues to discriminate according to national and religious attributes in the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, persecuting ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars,” the MFA’s statement reads.

Over the last month at least five …

During an official visit to the training ground in Bulboaca ,the President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, accused the government and parliament of “being influenced from abroad” and threatened that he “would overthrow its authority in every possible way”, reported the office of the President of the Republic of Moldova.

“Together with the people of Moldova, we will direct our efforts to overthrow this authority in every possible way, including convening the Great National Assembly and …

Officers of the FSB in Russia detained four ISIS terrorists who were preparing to commit a series of terrorist attacks in shopping centers and on public transportation in Moscow.

The FSB reported that “members of a terrorist group were detained as a result of a special operation. Among them are the organizer of the attacks, who is an emissary of the Islamic State; an expert in the manufacture of explosive devices; and two suicide bombers.”

The terrorist group consisted of a Russian citizen …