Russia is holding naval war exercises and surface-to-air missile drills in the Black Sea region amid tensions with Ukraine and a U.S.-led alliance over the capture of three Ukrainian naval vessels and their crew off the coast of Moscow-annexed Crimea last month, the Kremlin’s defense ministry reportedly announced on Tuesday.
The Russian military has deployed additional S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries in its Dzhankoy airbase in Crimea amid heightened tensions with Ukraine.
The Border Guard Service of Ukraine announced a ban on Friday on male Russian nationals between the ages of 16 and 60 entering the country for the duration of martial law, currently scheduled to last 30 days.
Ukraine’s parliament has voted to support the president’s motion to impose martial law in the country for 30 days.
Russia on Monday refused to return three Ukrainian ships seized in the Black Sea on Sunday during a confrontation in which Ukraine said the Russians fired upon its vessels and injured six sailors.
The naval conflict this weekend between Russia and Ukraine was not a sudden development. Pressure has been building between the two nations for a long time, arguably even before Ukraine broke away from the disintegrating Soviet Union in 1991.
Russia alarmed the world on Sunday by reportedly seizing Ukrainian vessels in the Sea of Azov, attacking Ukrainian assets and blocking some of its most important port cities through its illegal command of the Crimean peninsula.
Contents: Ukraine counters Russia’s military buildup in the Sea of Azov; Ukraine prepares to challenge Russia in the Sea of Azov; Violent school massacre in occupied Crimea kills 19 people
An 18-year-old allegedly massacred his fellow students with a shotgun on Wednesday at a vocational school in Crimea, the Ukrainian territory Russia annexed in 2014, killing 19 and injuring more than 50 others before committing suicide.
The Russian government reacted with outrage on Wednesday following a declaration from the State Department confirming that Washington would never legitimize Moscow’s illegal invasion and annexation of Crimea, Ukraine.
The media are not interested in Russia. They are only interested in taking down Trump. Hence the free pass for Obama and friends.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western powers on Thursday against deepening military alliances with Georgia and Ukraine, asserting that Russia would “respond proportionately” to “aggressive moves” against it.
Columbus Dispatch journalist Randy Ludlow claimed on Twitter, Thursday, that he would “love” to see his Marine son “ship out to Crimea” for a war with Russia.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump will hold a globally-anticipated one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump went right to work in Brussels at the NATO summit Wednesday morning, taking truculent Germany to task for coming to the United States for defence, while simultaneously paying billions of dollars to the Russian Federation for energy.
Contents: Russia’s actions in Sea of Azov raise fears of another invasion of Ukraine; Ukraine’s Donbas war continues, as US supplies Javelin anti-tank missiles
“Well you know, you have to ask President Obama because he was the one that let Crimea get away, that was during his administration,” Trump said during a press conference with reporters at the G7 Summit in Canada.
President Donald Trump suggested Friday that Russia be allowed back into the annual G7 summit of world leaders.
Contents: Russia builds bridge over Kerch Strait to Crimea, blocking commercial traffic to Ukraine; Ukraine threatens seizure of ships in Sea of Azov travelling to and from Crimea
Contents: Syria, Russia, Iran conduct full-on mass extermination of civilians in Eastern Ghouta; Russia rejects 30-day ceasefire in United Nations Security Council; North Korea insults South Korea with selection of Kim Yong-chol head of Olympics closing ceremony
Contents: Special prosecutor Robert Mueller issues farcical indictment of Russian trolls; How the Russian trolls do their jobs; Russian trolls are Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons; Comparing Russian trolls to Chinese hackers
Author and sociologist Frank Furedi claims globalist activists working for billionaire financier George Soros bragged about toppling governments at a private lunch.
Contents: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad steps up use of chemical weapons on his own people; UN Security Council is worthless as Syria uses chemical weapons with impunity
Contents: US, Canada sponsor international North Korea meeting to send signal to China, Russia; North Korea’s Olympics publicity stunt gains widespread media adoration
Contents: US sending anti-tank missiles to Ukraine as East Ukraine violence surges; Violence surges in East Ukraine as Russia withdraws its monitors; Russia objects to weapons sale with laughable statement
Obama’s complaint about the “19th century” echoes a similar complaint made by his administration. In 2014, then-Secretary of State John Kerry complained that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behaving in a “19th century fashion” rather than obeying the niceties of 21st century diplomacy when he invaded Crimea.
Contents: The colorful Mikhail Saakashvili ‘invades’ Ukraine from Poland and threatens revolution; Saakashvili to ‘march on Kiev’ and challenge Poroshenko government
Contents: Putin says that North Korea would rather ‘eat grass’ than end its nuclear program; North Korea threatens the United States with ‘gift packages’
Russia’s RIA Novosti, a state-run Russian-language outlet, published a story on the occasion of Ukraine’s Independence Day to celebrate the annexation of Crimea as “the first step in the reunification of Russia.”
According to two Reuters reporters who said they personally witnessed the delivery, Russia has transferred two more gas turbines to Crimea, in defiance of sanctions imposed after Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Speaking at a security forum in Slovakia on Sunday, a member of the Russian parliament suggested his country’s military would resort to nuclear weapons to repel a U.S. or NATO incursion into Crimea or eastern Ukraine.
President Donald Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at the White House on Wednesday.
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia’s main state television channel said Thursday it was dropping the Eurovision Song Contest from its schedules after Ukraine banned its performer from entering the country to take part.
At a meeting with NATO ministers in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared that “American and NATO support for Ukraine remains steadfast,” and the allies “stand firm in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Contents: Russia denies reports of Russian special forces in eastern Libya; Russian intervention comes as fighting between Libya’s militias increases; E-mail problems
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has extended for six months sanctions against 150 Russia-linked people over the territorial disputes in eastern Ukraine.
Contents: New fighting between Ukraine and Russia flares up in eastern Ukraine; Thousands of US troops in Poland conduct joint drills with Polish troops
Contents: Poland welcomes biggest deployment of American tanks and troops in decades; US troop deployment in Poland angers Russia
Contents: Ukraine still on track to host Eurovision song contest in 2017; Ukraine war: fighting just to carry on fighting; EU agrees to grant visa-free travel to people of Ukraine and Georgia
Ukraine’s missile tests in the Black Sea have reportedly prompted Russian forces to go on “high alert.” Kiev proceeded with the tests despite Russian threats to shoot the missiles down.
