The largest EU states have agreed that sanctions against Russia should be extended.

This was said by the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski, before the start of the European Council meeting in Brussels.

“It seems that the sanctions will continue,” he said.

According to Waszczykowski, the leaders of the largest EU states agreed on this at an informal meeting held in Hannover two weeks ago. The sanctions will be extended as Russia has failed to comply with the Minsk …

The Baltic countries will host the large-scale NATO exercise Saber Strike 2016 in June, Evropeyskaya Pravda reported. 10,000 soldiers from 13 member states and partner countries will participate in the exercise.

“The exercises are aimed at improving interaction between member countries in the conduct of a wide range of military operations,” the Estonian Ministry of Defense stated, as cited by Postimees.

As stated on the US Army-Europe’s website, “Saber Strike 16 features allied and partner- …

The Riga District Prosecutor's Office has indicted one person who is accused of organizing tourist trips to Crimea as reported by the Latvian news portal, Delfi, citing the press center of the Prosecutor General of Latvia.

As it was previously reported in late April of this year, the Security Police (SP) of Latvia appealed to the Prosecutor of the Riga Judicial District to prosecute a person who organized a tourist trip to Crimea. The criminal process was initiated based on the violation of …

The Ukrainian Navy plans to dramatically upgrade its fleet by 2020 by building an additional 30 warships and boats, Rosbalt reported with reference to the Ministry of Defense.

"Ukraine's Armed Forces are taking measures to strengthen the Navy and its combat capabilities. Currently… units of the Navy are involved in the fighting in the conflict zone of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and therefore are ready to repel armed aggression from the sea. Fleet capacities are being expanded,” the …

Even though the Russian Minister of Agriculture, Alexander Tkachyov, is on the EU sanctions list, French authorities have issued him an entry visa. The press service of the Ministry reported this on the 23rd of May.

Tkachyov was placed on the list in mid-2014 in connection with Russia’s annexation of Crimea. At that time, he was the governor of the Krasnodar Krai.

French authorities have not yet given a reason as to why they issued a visa to Tkachyov.

Tkachyov headed the Russian delegation …

Negotiations between the Normandy Four leaders were held via telephone

The Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, posted on Twitter that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko conducted a telephone call with the members of the Normandy Four leaders during which they discussed their support for the deployment of an OSCE Police mission in the Donbas.

Poroshenko also called on the Russian Federation to release all Ukrainian prisoners including Savchenko, Afanasiev and …

On the 23rd of May, the U.S. Defense Attaché from the Embassy in Moscow was invited to the Russian Ministry of Defense in connection with an allegedly dangerous flight of U.S reconnaissance aircraft over the Sea of Japan near the Russian border. According to the agency, there was a risk of collision with passenger aircraft because the U.S. aircraft flew at the height designated for civil aircraft.

The plane, an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, allegedly turned off its transponder and the crew …

Any attempt to postpone the EU visa-free regime for Ukraine will be an example of double standards. This was posted by the First Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, Iryna Herashchenko, on her Facebook page.

According to her, certain German and French officials have said that a visa-free regime is not yet relevant and that it is necessary to wait months for it to be so. She has said that these statements reminded her of events in 2008 when Germany and France blocked Ukraine from …