President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that there should be no people in the country who participated in the fighting in the Ukraine, reported the agency "Belta" on Thursday, 14 January.

Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed a Protocol on setting preferential tariffs for cargo transportation via the Trans-Caspian Transport Route that bypasses Russia, was stated on Wednesday, 14 January, on the site of the Administration of the Seaports of Ukraine.

The common economic space did not help the three countries to maintain the volume of trade with their large neighbour.

Medvedev instructed to build a new pipeline

A new gas pipeline is going to be build through Lithuania to the Kaliningrad region. The corresponding decree was signed by the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The Russian Foreign Ministry once again expressed its concern about the upcoming deployment of heavy weapons in the Baltic countries, as well as in some other states of Eastern Europe. Washington is silent so far, and is not going to withdraw its plans - "Russian threat" is still seriously the top issue in the West. Some commentators even believe that in 2016 Moscow may decide to start an armed conflict with the Baltic States, as the United States will be weakened this year as never before ...

Berlin Friedrich Naumann Foundation, close to the German liberals, carried out a representative survey in the Russian Federation concerning the attitude of Russians towards Europe and Germany with the assistance of the Moscow "Levada Centre". Russian people were asked about their own attitude, and whether Russians consider themselves Europeans and the Russian Federation - an European country.

Ukraine authorities will negotiate the choice of European integration exclusively only with the Ukrainian people, and not with the Kremlin, stated the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in an interview with the TV channel "Inter", reported the correspondent of "Ukrinforma".

The European Commission announced on Monday about taking a range of measures to support the decentralization reform and strengthen local government in Ukraine.

Only 9% of Ukrainians believe that EU needs to give more money for speeding up reforms in Ukraine.

Ukraine is a reliable transmitter

The European Union is not interested in the implementation of the Russian gas pipeline project "Nord Stream-2", stated Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Energy Union.

The Head of the Polish Foreign Ministry called the document outdated

Poland will seek for the withdrawal of the 1997 agreement between the NATO and Russia, stated the Head of the Polish Foreign Ministry Witold Waszczykowski to the Gazeta Wyborcza.

Russia will take countermeasures to strengthen the strategic potential of nuclear forces in connection with the deployment of US missile defence system, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during the ordinary meeting on the situation in the military-industrial complex of Russia, reported the "Expert".

Over 250 military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland will practice in conducting peacekeeping operations at the Lithuanian training centre near Vilnius.

Russia will always defend the interests of compatriots in other countries, in particular in the times of crisis - as in Libya, Syria and Yemen, stated President Vladimir Putin at the Fifth World Congress of Compatriots, reported TASS on Thursday, 5 November.

Leaders of nine countries in the East and Central Europe, as well as the Baltic States, have expressed extreme concern regarding the "aggressive behavior" of Russia and called for the permanent presence of NATO military structures in the region. This is stated in a joint declaration adopted at the meeting in Bucharest, which the Romanian media called a mini-summit of NATO.

For effective complex defence of Latvia, the establishment of a permanent division of the National Armed Forces has started in Latgale, reported the official website of the Ministry of Defence.

On 13 January a concert "Together to the victory" was held in Lithuania, where the audience decided to support Ukraine's defence and donated 110 thousand Euros.

Alexander Lukashenko on 9 January signed a decree № 8 "On the establishment of visa-free entry and exit of foreign nationals." The document establishes visa-free entry to Belarus for a period not exceeding 5 days at the entrance through the checkpoint "National Airport Minsk" for citizens of 80 countries, - reported the press service of the President of Belarus.