As was reported by the MFA press service, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly protests the conviction of Ukrainian Citizen Sergey Litvinov who is being illegally detained in Russia and was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months imprisonment in a maximum security penal colony.

"The illegal judicial decision was based on fabricated and false evidence received after he was subjected to psychological pressure and torture. It has become obvious that Russia wants to sentence all illegally …

If Ukraine's integration into the European Union negatively affects Russian interests, then Moscow will assume balancing measures, reported the Russian President's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.

"It is a subject which concerns, most likely, the European Union and Ukraine. As much as it concerns Russian-Ukrainian relations and the economic relations of Russia, we will trace the possible negative consequences very attentively," RIA Novosti quotes Peskov.

According to Peskov, Moscow is …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held a telephone conversation with European Council President Donald Tusk, during which Poroshenko explained the deterioration of the situation in the Donbas as well as human rights abuses in the Crimea, Krym.Realii reported.

"The head of state informed [Tusk] of the continuing deterioration of the situation in the Donbas because of provocation of pro-Russian militants, as well as the increase of human rights abuses in the occupied Crimea. The President …

Deputy National Security Adviser, Ben Rhodes, stated that the White House is concerned by recent information indicating that Russia is transferring more weapons into Syria.

“We are concerned that Russia is transferring military equipment into Syria,” Voice of America reported, citing the statement of Obama’s Deputy Adviser at the press conference in Riyadh.

According to Rhodes, on March 14th, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a public statement regarding the withdrawal of Russian troops …

The European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, stated on the 21st of April that the European Union has expressed its readiness to provide the second tranche of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine. It is about 600 million Euros. At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine has to fulfill certain conditions in order to receive the money.

According to Hahn, it is first necessary to make every effort in the fight against corruption, in …

Moscow believes that the emergence of a U.S. destroyer vessel near its borders is an attempt to put military pressure on the state. Reuters reports that the appearance of the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea near Kaliningrad marks what the Russians call an attempt of Washington to exert military pressure on Moscow. This was stated by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to NATO, Alexander Grushko.

Grushko made the comment after completion of the first session of the NATO-Russia …

The international non-governmental organization, Reporters Without Borders, published the results of its Press Freedom Index, which assesses both freedom of speech and freedom of the press in 180 countries.

The freest media by continent, according to the report, is in Europe (19.8 points), followed by Africa with 36.9 points.  This is the first time the African continent bypassed North America and South America (where the index is at 37.1 points).  Asian countries scored 43.8 points.  The …

The new Minister of Finance of Ukraine, Alexander Danyluk, announced a review of bilateral tax treaties. This will be done to address deoffshorization.

Ukraine, within the framework of deoffshorization, plans to review bilateral tax treaties, reported the Minister of Finance Alexander Danyluk.

"Only three agreements between Ukraine and other countries meet the requirements. In addition, we will improve transfer pricing rules and the related reporting," Danyluk wrote on his Facebook page on …