Crimea

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said that Washington would never recognise Crimea’s decision to rejoin Russia.

A Russian court sentenced a man to eight years in prison on Thursday after finding him guilty of state treason for allegedly handing over secrets to China, the TASS news agency reported.

The European Union is set to impose travel bans and asset freezes on allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin in March, possibly in the run-up to an EU summit, after a meeting of envoys gave approval for punitive measures, diplomats said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia needed to ensure that its parliamentary vote scheduled for September is free of foreign meddling following mass protests calling for the release of one of his fiercest critics.

Ukraine’s parliament on Friday approved a bill intended to speed up the approval of COVID-19 vaccines, which also bans the approval of vaccines made in Russia.

NATO must think harder about how to handle China and its military rise, though Russia will remain its main adversary during this decade, according to a report to be published on Tuesday on reforming the Atlantic alliance.

Arms control advocates are urging Joe Biden to extend the last U.S.-Russian treaty limiting deployed strategic nuclear arms for five years, but some experts argue the U.S. president-elect should go for a shorter period to maintain leverage over Moscow.

A nationwide vote on April 22 was supposed to finalize sweeping constitutional reforms that would allow him to stay in power until 2036, if he wished. But after the coronavirus spread in Russia, that plebiscite had to be postponed — an action so abrupt that billboards promoting it already had been erected in Moscow and other big cities.

Vladimir Putin has formally signed off on constitutional amendments that would allow the Russian leader to run again for president in 2024.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is holding talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv to stimulate commerce between their countries.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday for talks set to focus on flashpoints in the Middle East.

The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukraine International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff on Wednesday, January 8, just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces in Iraq.

Russian President Vladimir Putin observed test launches of nuclear-capable Kinzhal and Kalibr missiles on Thursday in the Russian-annexed Crimea region, state media reported.

Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have started an all-for-all prisoner swap, after which all remaining prisoners of the five-year conflict should return home, the office of Ukraine's president said on Sunday.

Ukrainian authorities and Russia-backed separatists in the war-torn east of the country prepared to swap dozens of prisoners on Sunday in a frontline operation that has stirred controversy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law requiring all smartphones and computers sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software.

Ukraine’s president on Monday renewed his denial of a quid pro quo with Donald Trump over military aid, despite a growing case against the US president in impeachment proceedings in Washington.

A 19-year-old student in Russia’s Far East opened fire in his college Thursday morning, killing one classmate and injuring three other people before shooting himself, investigators said.

People in Poland are voting in a parliamentary election that the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) is favoured to win, buoyed by the popularity of its social conservatism and generous social spending that have reduced poverty.

The United Nations reports human rights violations in both government and separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine continue with impunity. The report, which was examined by the U.N. human rights council this week also documents violations perpetrated by the Russian occupiers of Crimea.

President Donald Trump's administration has released $250 million in military aid for Ukraine, U.S. senators said on Thursday, after lawmakers from both parties expressed anger that the White House had held up money approved by Congress.

The US internet companies Google and Facebook on Monday rejected Moscow’s allegations that they had interfered in Russian elections by running political ads during the voting day.