On Monday, October 17, 2016, the USS Mount Whitney command ship of the US Navy entered the Romanian port of Constanta. According to Pentagon the pupose of the visit was to "strengthen the NATO cooperation in the Black Sea".

"Strengthening alliances through port visits such as this reinforces the shared commitment to promote safety and stability within the region, while seeking opportunities to enhance interoperability with NATO allies and partners.," the statement of the U.S. Department of …

At the EU Council meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU member countries the EU representatives have reached the conclusion that Syrian troops and the Russian Aerospace Forces are responsible for targeted airstrikes on schools, hospitals and other social facilities in Aleppo.

The EU condemned these actions in the Syrian city in a joint statement issued at the meeting.

The statement said that hospitals and schools have become the targets of airstrikes. The EU went on to say …

The possibility of U.S. sanctions against Russia due to the situation in Syria will not go without a response. The response may be symmetrical, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ryabkov, told reporters. "Any hostile actions against Russia will not be left without a response," Ryabkov said, as quoted by Interfax.

Ryabkov also said that "at different stages of the current sanctions policy (against Russia) Moscow has repeatedly warned that they will be answered though …

The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, said that it was the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) that organized the assassination of Arseny Pavlov—call sign “Motorola”—one of the separatist military leaders, vesti.ru reports.

"Today I can state the following: this operation was worked out by the Ukrainian Security Service. I would even say that this is terrorism on a national scale,” Zakharchenko emphasized. According to him, an investigation of …

The Silver Arrow-2016 international military drills began in Latvia on Monday. This was reported on the website of the Latvian Ministry of Defense.

The drills will continue until the 31st of October at a training ground in Ādaži. Over 3,000 servicemen from the NATO member countries of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Albania, the US, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Romania are participating in these drills.

“The purpose of these drills is to improve cooperation between the National …

The Armed Forces of Latvia have again discovered Russian warships near the country’s borders.

The National Armed Forces of Latvia reported this on Twitter.

Ships were recorded twice during the day on Sunday.

“In the Latvian exclusive economic zone, at a distance of 11 nautical miles from the border, on October 16, Parchim-class corvette Kazanets from the Armed Forces of Russia has been identified,” the statement says.

In addition, at a distance of eight nautical miles from the territorial …

The Editor-in-Chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, tweeted on her Twitter page that all accounts of the multilingual Russia Today TV Company have been blocked in the UK.

“All of our accounts have been blocked in the UK. The decision should be subject to review. Long live freedom of speech,” she tweeted.

As previously reported, an investigation into the case against the Kremlin’s English language Russia Today TV Channel, which published inaccurate information about a gas production …

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu announced that the Russian and Syrian air forces have halted all strikes on Aleppo two days ahead of a planned humanitarian pause to allow civilians and rebels to evacuate the war-torn city, RIA Novosti reported.

According to Shoygu, special humanitarian corridors have been set up to facilitate the evacuation.

"We call on the leadership of countries that have influence over armed groups in eastern Aleppo to convince their leaders to stop military action …