German Chancellor Angela Merkel sees no reason to lift the economic sanctions against Russia, as stated by the German politician on Friday, August 19, in an interview with the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland media group.

According to her, Moscow provoked a severe crisis with the annexation of the Crimea and its military operations in eastern Ukraine. "Europe had to respond to the violation of the basic principles of world order," Angela Merkel said.

According to her, the observance of the …

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova expressed discontent with Russian diplomats concerning recent exercises conducted by Russian troops in the territory of Transnistria.

On 18 August, the Ministry gave a statement indicating that the exercises are "illegal, provocative and inadmissible." The statement notes that the exercises are focused on "undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Moldova.

The Ministry reiterated Chisinau’s demand that Russia withdraw its troops and …

Candidates to the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the PARNAS party will not campaign in the Crimea without Ukraine’s permission, as stated by the Krasnodar branch of the party.

“We will take Ukraine’s advice and will act according to international law. PARNAS will not campaign in the Crimea,” the statement on the official page of the branch stated on the social network, Vkontakte.

Earlier the Ukrainian Director-General of the Directorate General for Policy and Communications, …

Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with the members of the Security Council in the Crimea, accused Ukraine of its "unwillingness or inability" to implement the Minsk Agreements regarding the settlement of the conflict in the Donbas. According to him, this explains Ukraine’s "provocative acts" in the Crimea.

At the same time Putin expressed hope that this is not Ukraine’s "final choice" and that "common sense will prevail."

Putin also stated that Moscow is not going to sever  …

Declassified accounting documents of the Ukrainian Party of Regions were published on Friday. They reflect payments in the amount of 12.7 million dollars to Paul Manafort, head of Trump’s electoral campaign.

Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that Manafort helped the pro-Kremlin party to secretly transfer at least $2.2 million to two Washington lobbies. In an interview with Yahoo News, Manafort said that this information was incorrect.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of …