At a meeting with cabinet members, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for increasing the amount of high-quality but inexpensive Russian products on the market. Putin said that profiteering has led to a decline in living standards in the country, and has produced an unjustified increase in the cost of products, goods, and services.

“Today, unreasonable, frankly profiteering price hikes on goods and services are leading to lower living standards. We need to use all market instruments …

On Friday night, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed legislation allowing for foreign troops to participate in military exercises on Ukrainian territory next year.

239 deputies voted in favor of the draft submitted by President Petro Poroshenko.

"The adoption of the law will ensure the implementation of tasks in the sphere of security and defense in the entire context of fulfilling the foreign policy priorities of the state," the bill’s summary reads.

The document states that Ukraine will host …

The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE said that armed members of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic did not allow observers to go past the main street of the village of Kominternove during the mission’s investigation on Thursday.

The SMM had been trying to reach the village for two days to follow-up on reports that DPR militants had occupied the village. The mission had not been able to investigate due to security concerns, and was denied access by armed DPR militants at a …

Santa Claus visited the soldiers of the 42nd Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Thursday. The battalion is stationed near the city of Horlivka, which is currently occupied by fighters of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.

The Chairman of "Freedom to Ukraine", Vadim Dmitruk, decided to raise the spirits of the Ukrainian soldiers by having a volunteer dressed as Santa hand out more than 500 boxes of chocolate. Volunteers also brought the soldiers more than 200 kilograms of Olivier …

A prisoner exchange between the Ukrainian government and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) won’t happen before the New Year, despite the fact that the two sides agreed on the need carry out an such an exchange during a video conference on November 24th.

At the time, both parties agreed on the need to complete this process by late 2015, according to Daria Olifer, spokeswoman for Leonid Kuchma, Kiev’s envoy to the negotiations. “First, the exchange should take place for the most …

The Russian Defense Ministry’s Strategic Missile Forces announced that a Topol RS-12M Intercontinental Ballistic Missile was successfully test fired on Wednesday. The warhead was launched from the Kapustin Yar test site in the Astrakhan region in southern Russia and hit its designated target at the Sari-Shagon test range in Kazakhstan.

The RS-12M is Russia’s latest mobile intercontinental ballistic missile system.  The 45,000 kilogram, 20 meter long rocket has a range of 10,500 kilometers (6,50 …

On Wednesday, Russia’s Central Bank released a new 100 ruble banknote dedicated to the Crimea.

The design features an image of the famous Crimean castle Swallow’s Nest on one side, with the other side showing the Monument to the Flooded Ships in Sevastopol.

The Central Bank said it plans to print 20 million copies of the new banknote.

The Crimean peninsula was occupied and incorporated into Russian territory by Russian forces in early 2014. At the time of the annexation, a 100 ruble banknote …

According to Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Volodymyr Yelchenko, the UN has done very little to solve the Ukrainian conflict. During an interview with European Truth, the new ambassador, appointed two weeks ago,  stressed that he will put forth every effort necessary to make the international community pay more attention to the situation in Ukraine.

"For example, look at the role of the UN Secretary General in resolving our conflict.  Frankly, it is close to zero," Yelchenko said. …