Germany's foreign ministry said that it considers the blackout of Crimea by extremist groups a criminal act. The blackout in Russia's Crimea peninsula is a criminal act that must be investigated, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday. The Crimean blackout began on Sunday, after Ukrainian extremist groups blew up power line pylons on the Ukrainian side of the border. [...]

The Ukrainian government has suspended the movement of cargo between Crimea and Ukraine, citing an initiative put forward by PM Arseny Yatsenyuk. The suspension will be active until a list of goods allowed to be delivered to the peninsula is compiled. The decision was preceded by a request from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday which wanted to look into the possibility of a tempora [...]

On Saturday, Ukrainian police said that power lines in southern Ukraine supplying the Crimean peninsula with electricity were blown up by activists from the group which launched the unsuccessful, Kiev-sanctioned 'food blockade' of the peninsula in September. Sputnik brings you up to speed on the energy blockade and its potential consequences. [...]

Crimean Prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya says the so-called "food blockade" of the peninsula launched by Ukrainian far-right movements is just a futile attempt to cause Russia additional discomfort in the interests of Western opponents. “The so-called blockade does not conform to any norms of international law. [...]

It's almost eighteen months since the people of Crimea voted overwhelmingly in a democratic referendum to join the Russian Federation. President Putin visited Crimea, an event that was greeted with an unexpected Western media reaction. Think back to March 2014, when the Crimean referendum took place. [...]

One of the French parliamentarians visiting Crimea has spoken his mind through fashion. Senator Yves Pozzo di Borgo from the center-right UDI party has acquired a T-shirt with Putin and Obama portraits, the caption saying: "€œObama, you're a schmuck." The senator, currently on a two-day visit to Crimea, was strolling along a picturesque quay when he reportedly came across an article of clothi [...]

There are no grounds to keep Russia sanctions in place, said member of the French National Assembly Thierry Mariani, who heads the parliamentary delegation currently on a two-day visit to Crimea. “As the US is lifting Cuba blockades, I see no reasons for Europe to keep Russia sanctions in place,” Mariani told reporters after speaking at the Crimean Parliament in Simferopol on Thursday. [...]

The US has created a loophole in the sanctions that it implemented against Russia to allow communications software to be sent to Crimea. Washington wants to increase its influence in the area, but critics say the move is a waste of money. A Commerce Department spokesperson, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, "The general license allows personal Internet-based communications – such as so [...]

Kiev will nationalize Russian overseas property as compensation for the losses over Crimea's reunification with Russia, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Justice Natalia Sevostyanova said. The decision is now up to the European Court of Human Rights. Ukraine will be able to use this effective instrument if the European Court of Human Rights rules in favor of Kiev, Sevostyanova told “Channel 5,” [...]

The Russian military has put together nearly 100 units and organizations in the Crimea last year as part of the program of deploying a self-sufficient group of forces at the peninsula, Sergey Shoigu, Russia's Defense minister, said. "In accordance with the presidential order, we were instructed to deploy a self-sufficient combined group of forces in the Crimean Peninsula capable of effectively [...]

Crimean head Sergei Aksenov said that after the establishment of Crimea as a free trade zone, businessmen from a number of European Union member states and Israel have visited the republic and expressed their interest in investing in the region. [...]

A well-monitored vote should be held in Crimea to let the people of Crimea decide if they want to be Russians or Ukrainians, US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said at the annual US-Russia Forum in Washington DC. Crimea's secession from Ukraine took place after a new government was installed in Kiev through a coup in February, 2014, which alienated Crimea's majority Russian-speaking population of [...]

The chief prosecutor of Russia's Crimean Republic says Ukrainian law enforcers threatened her with prison and death for accepting the post, but failed to make her fear them. “Agents from the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office called me and threatened me, said that they would throw me in prison, that they would kill me, tear me into pieces,” Natalya Poklonskaya told TASS in an interview [...]

Two attempted terrorist attacks on the Crimean Prosecutor's Office have recently been prevented by members of the local People's Guard. So-called "prosecutie" Natalia Poklonskaya has also had previous threats. Two members of the guard prevented a couple of terrorist attacks that could have led to multiple casualties at Poklonskaya’s office, Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reported Friday. [...]

Are the US, NATO and Russia on a mad spiral leading to war in Europe? Is it inevitable? Far from it. The US-propelled vassal Petro Poroshenko, currently starring in the oligarch dance in Ukraine this week advanced the proposition that Ukrainians in the near future, after his “reforms”, will be asked to vote on whether to join NATO. [...]

The West should not wait for Russia to solve the Ukraine crisis, but should instead try to influence the extreme policies of its "clients" in Kiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Hubert Seipel of the German channel ARD ahead of the G20 summit. Hubert Seipel: Good afternoon, Mr President. You are the only Russian President who has ever given a speech at the Bundestag. [...]

The chief director of ARD, Germany's largest public TV broadcaster, responded to viewers' criticism and the supervisory committee over its coverage of the Ukraine crisis. He said it conveyed Russian interests "too little" and could question NATO more. [...]

Six people, including two children died after their car fell into a monster sinkhole in the middle of the highway near the Crimean capital of Simferopol. The hole appeared to be 6 meters deep and 8 meters wide. The accident happened on the highway between Simferopol and the village of Nikolaevka on Saturday night, said the Emergencies Ministry’s press service in Crimea. The car with eight pas [...]

Aeroflot's new budget airline Dobrolet announced it is temporarily suspending flights and ticket sales due to “unprecedented pressure” from European partners as a result of economic sanctions. From August 4, due to “unprecedented pressure on Dobrolet from European counterparts, the carrier is forced to stop flights and ticket sales,” Aeroflot said in a statement released on Sunday. Pass [...]