OSCE refuses to say if it will send observers to elections in Crimea

The head of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Jan Petersen, has refused to answer the question of whether the observers will be sent to the occupied Crimea.

As a UNIAN correspondent in Russia reported, at a press conference in Moscow, Petersen said, “We are currently working on where our observers will be sent, so at the moment I'm not going to answer this question... We can't say anything specific about where the observers will be sent," …


Lithuanian Foreign Minister: Sanctions against Russia should continue

Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius believes that the West should continue sanctions against Russia. He detailed his opinion in his Twitter account, recalling the anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war.

“Eight years ago, Russia's war in Georgia had to be a lesson to the world. Russia annexing Crimea showed it was not the case. Sanctions must continue,” Linkevičius posted.

The Russo-Georgian war of 2008 was an armed conflict between Georgia on one side, and Russia with …


Lavrov: Russia would be open to holding 'Normandy Format' talks on sidelines of G20

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that Ukraine offered to hold a regular summit of the “Normandy Four” on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which will be held in Hangzhou, China, in early September.

According to Lavrov, the “Normandy Four” should be responsible for implementing decisions agreed on within the framework of the Normandy format.

“If our German and French partners, as well as the Chinese hosts, agree with Kiev’s proposal to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 …


Passengers at Kerch crossing complain of long lines and wait times

Passengers complain that the waiting time in a queue on the Kerch ferry crossing takes up to 7-10 hours. People are actively discussing the collapse on the Kerch crossing in social media, posting photos of car queues on the ferry crossing. According to them, they have to wait for several hours in collector. Huge traffic jams were reported in front of collectors.

“We drove a car into the first collector at 1:00 PM, waiting fifth in line. We were informed that it would take 1.5 to 2 hours to …


The Netherlands and Germany to carry out anti-ballistic missile tests in Crete

Germany and the Netherlands will conduct joint tests of air and missile defense systems with the use of Patriot missiles in October on the Greek island of Crete. These tests are aimed at developing a model for deployment of air and missile defense systems in Poland and the Baltic countries, German General Michael Gschossmann stated in his interview with Reuters.

General Gschossmann, the Commander of ground-based units of Germany’s Air Force reported that joint operations should help NATO to …