Italy, which currently holds the presidency of the Group of Seven (G-7), favored the return of Russia to the summit, which would once again make the group the G8, Corriere della Sera reported.

The G-7 summit will take place on May 26th-27th, in Taormina. The number of the forum members hasn’t been confirmed yet. However, according to the edition, the Italian authorities are discussing Russia’s participation in this forum.

This issue was also raised at the meeting between the Head of the …

The Russian export of goods excluding oil, gas, and oil products decreased by another 10% in 2016, as reported by the Central Bank of Russia.

Despite the authorities' statements about success in the development of non-mining sectors of the economy, the volume of non-oil exports totaled $128.3 billion, the lowest since 2009.

According to the Federal Customs Service of Russia, over the past 11 months the export of machinery fell by 1.5%, mechanical equipment by 29%, chemical products by 23.7%, …

In Kyiv, five employees of the Berkut special police force who are accused of shooting Euromaidan activists in 2014 are being tried. Despite this, Russia and the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) have included them in the prisoner exchange list. The Russian Federation has also granted citizenship to another ten who are wanted in Ukraine. 

Advisor to the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Yuriy Tandit confirmed that the DPR wants to exchange the accused Berkut special police members through …

On January 16, Ukraine filed a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice in The Hague accusing Russia of terrorism and discrimination in connection with its aggression against Ukraine. 

Deputy Foreign Minister for the European Integration Olena Zerkal reported that Ukraine's interests in the lawsuit will be represented by the international law firm Covington and Burling LLP. Legal fees will be paid from the state budget; the amount of payment will depend on the scope of work such as the …

Russian authorities have extended former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee Edward Snowden’s residence permit in the Russian Federation for two more years, as stated by the Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, on her Facebook page.

"The funny thing is that the former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency doesn’t know that Snowden’s residence permit in Russia has just been extended for two more years," …

Russia agreed to providing the OSCE observers with small arms in the Donbas although it believes that having an armed police mission in the region contradicts the Minsk Agreements, as stated by the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, Interfax reports.

"We are ready to increase the number of monitors at the contact line and weapons storage facilities, to have this presence around-the-clock, and to give observers the ability to carry their personal small arms," Lavrov said. …

Naftogaz of Ukraine has confirmed the receipt of Gazprom’s $5.3 billion invoice for the gas that the company had neither ordered nor received during 2016. However, the company does not intend to pay for it until the decision of the Stockholm arbitration. This was reported to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency by the press service of Naftogaz.

"In its explanation of the bill, Gazprom refers to the take-or-pay form of gas delivery. At the same time, Naftogaz has no plans to pay the bill until the …

According to websites that track the flights of military aircraft , planes of the U.S. Air Force, Swedish Air Force and the German Navy conducted reconnaissance missions near the sea borders of the Kaliningrad region on January 18, as reported by Russia’s Interfax news agency.

According to their information, an RC-135W strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. Air Force with tail number 62-4138 and call sign LAVIC45, took off from an air base in Mildenhall, UK. It approached the coast of …