• Poroshenko and Putin conduct phone conversation

    On Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone.

    Poroshenko’s website reported that the presidents discussed the release of the Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia and the separatist-held territories.

    “The head of the Ukrainian state drew attention to the Ukrainians’ hunger strike, and expressed concern regarding the deterioration of their health. An agreement was reached that human rights commissioners from both countries would …

  • EU rejects Trump’s proposal to bring Russia back into G7

    US President Donald Trump’s proposal to return to the Group of Eight (G8) format, inviting Russia to the negotiations between the seven developed countries as a full-fledged participant, has not found support in the EU.

    Germany, France, Italy and the UK unanimously opposed the motion, advisers to French President Emmanuel Macron told AFP.

    According to them, the European leaders’ stance was agreed upon during talks initiated by France on June 8, the day before the opening of the annual G7 …

  • Russia's Gazprom has filed an appeal in Swiss courts regarding seizure of assets in the Netherlands

    Russian gas company Gazprom has appealed to the Swiss court system regarding the seizure of its assets in the Netherlands.

    Gazprom hasfiled an appeal following reports of the seizure of its property in the Netherlands in response to a legal decision in favor of Naftogaz Ukraine in its dispute with the Russian company. Gazprom has stated that no official notifications regarding the launch of arrest procedures were received.

    In an officially released statement, Gazprom noted that it has filed a …

  • FIFA has not allowed Russia to create an official fan zone in Crimea

    FIFA did not grant the Crimea the right to open an official World Cup fan zone on the peninsula, the “Minister of Tourism and Resorts" of the Crimea, Vadim Volchenko reported.

    "We and the Federal Agency of the Russian Federation for Tourism approached FIFA to obtain permission for public broadcasts of World Cup [matches] and didn't get an answer," R-Sport agency quoted Volchenko as saying.

    "It is a weird situation, there is neither a refusal nor an answer. In fact, it seems like a ban for the …

  • Russia’s airstrike in Syrian Idlib province kills 44 people

    Observers from two organizations, the White Helmets and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), have reported that on the evening of June 7, aircraft from the Russian Air Forces launched an air strike against the Syrian village of Zardana in the province of Idlib, killing at least 44 people.  

    Eleven women and six children are among the dead, say the human rights activists. More than sixty people were injured. The number of victims may increase, as many of the wounded are in critical …