President Vladimir Putin will survive Western sanctions as well as falling oil prices, but the Kremlin chief has brought such stagnation that Russia could eventually collapse, the former tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky said on Thursday.Russia's richest man, who was arrested in 2003, after quarreling with Putin and released in 2013, told Reuters that Putin could indeed survive oil prices of $45 per barrel, but the longer he stays in power, the greater risks will be for Russia.He said that Putin, …

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence believes that two high-ranking Russian generals are overseeing the military activities of pro-Kremlin separatists in Eastern Ukraine. According to the Main Directorate of Intelligence, the two masterminds are Colonel-General Sergey Istrakov, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Russia and Lieutenant-General Mikhael Teplinskiyare, Chief of Staff of the Center of regional forces of the Southern Military District.

According to Ukrainian Intelligence, at the …

While Russia and Turkey accuse each other of violating basic international rules and threaten each other with rigorous sanctions, we tried to understand what the long-term consequences of the SU-24 crash would be. How strongly tied are the economies of the two countries? Immediately after the crash, the Kremlin stated that the status of the relationship between the countries was undermined at that time. Both parties stand to suffer losses should the relationship deteriorate further. Turkey is …

As reported by Turkish state-run Anadolu News Agency, Russian warplanes bombed a Turkish truck convoy at the Syrian border on Wednesday.The trucks belonged to IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, an Istanbul-based humanitarian organization with connections to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

Seven people were killed and ten others injured in the air strike on the convoy of 20 trucks delivering supplies to refugees.

Meanwhile, a US official said he was "aware of reports that a convoy of …

Barack Obama signed U.S. 2016 defense budget that among other things will provide a $300 million assistance for Ukraine.

The revised law signed on November 25, 2015 assigning $300 million for Ukraine forces, includes $50 million that may be used for lethal defensive arms.

As a reminder, the budget stipulates $300 million in defense and security assistance to Ukraine. These funds may be used to train Ukrainian servicemen, to transfer intelligence data, non-lethal or lethal weapons.

Ukrainian …

The terrorist group Islamic State posted a recent video on the Internet in which it listed Ukraine together with 60 other countries as enemies – reported Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

ISIS militants added to the list countries that have no connection to the conflict in Syria. Among them are Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, and Lithuania among others. The Polish Edition wrote that the video, which was eventually deleted from YouTube and Vimeo, shows a list of countries who are alleged members of …

Political expert, Olesya Yahno, stated that possible renewal of military actions east of the country, as well as the unpredictability of Russia and its internal processes, poses a threat to Ukraine. “Potential risks apply not only to former Soviet countries but the whole Asian territory and Central Asia in particular. Kurdistan is not simply a problem for one particular country; it’s a problem for other nations as well,” stated Yahno.

On the other hand, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey are all …

Ukrainian authorities announced the temporary suspension of road and rail freight shipments to and from Crimea. Earlier, Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers to halt the movement of goods between Ukraine and Crimea. At the same time, the Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, began to work out the list of goods which will be allowed to import to the peninsula in future. On the one hand, the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to stop freights to Crimea was …