• Bellingcat: 20 Russian Soldiers Involved In Downing of MH17

    The founder of the Bellingcat group of experts, Eliot Higgins, announced that the company has further narrowed the list of people thought to be involved in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Twenty Russian servicemen are included on the newest version of the list. In an interview with the Dutch magazine NOS, Higgins stated that the Bellingcat report with the names and pictures of suspects was handed over to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Netherlands.

    The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed …

  • Poltorak: US Military Base Not Allowed On Ukrainian Soil

    According to Ukrainian News, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said that Ukraine has no plans of allowing a US military base on its territory.

    "We are not considering such a possibility. Ukrainian legislation doesn't allow such an occurrence. All we have is a close cooperation that allows us to learn from each other and share experiences," he said.

    The Minister explained that the country has high hopes for establishing a Ukrainian-Polish-Lithuanian brigade. Conducting joint exercises as part …

  • Poltorak: Ukrainian Armed Forces will meet NATO Standards within Five Years

    In an interview with the Ukrainian News, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be able to reform within five years in order to fully comply with NATO standards. According to Poltorak, it will take three years to reform the Ministry of Defense.

    “How long will it take to reach the military standards and principles required to qualify for NATO membership? I believe that we can reform the Ministry of Defense in three years. We will need funding to …

  • Moscow: Kiev is aggravating the situation in Transnistria

    Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Grigory Karasin, expressed Moscow’s concern over the lack of progress in the negotiations on the Transnistrian issue, stating that the Ukrainian position has a negative impact on the situation in the region.

    "The change of Kiev's position on the Transnistrian issue supports the delay of an appointment of a new Ukrainian representative in the "5 + 2" negotiation that was supposed to happen in May of 2015. We are concerned about the …

  • 40 tons of Belgian pears destroyed at Russian border

     Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) agents and Roskomnadzor’s employees found two batches of pears at the Troitsk checkpoint in the Chelyabinsk region. The shipment of pears falls under the Presidential Decree issuing retaliatory sanctions, the Rosselkhoznadzor press service reported.

    Fresh pears from Belgium were imported to Russia by two cars from Kazakhstan. Kazakh certificates, indicating Serbia as the country of origin, were attached to them. The total weight of the two batches was 40 …