Breaking News, 20th of April, 2018

Dmitry Peskov made a statement that the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, discussed with the assistant secretary of state of the United States, Wess Mitchell, a step-by-step plan of retaking the Donbass and Crimea under the control of Kiev. Peskov reminded about the existence of Minsk agreements, and therefore the problems of Donbass can be solved only by the common consensus, and by implementing aforementioned agreements. Also, Peskov called inappropriate the mention of Crimea in Avakov’s plan. «Crimea is a region of Russia. The fate of Russian regions can’t be discussed by other states» — Peskov underlined.

Alexander Zakharchenko made a statement that the latest inhuman shelling of the Donetsk filtering station makes it clear that Kiev is ready to resume hostile activities. He notes that the destruction of infrastructure is the first sign that Ukraine is preparing for offensive actions and Kiev is ready for a war. Zakharchenko recalled that the law on «reintegration» came into force in Ukraine, which allows for the seizure of power in the Donbas.

After the missile strike on Syria by the US — Russia no longer has a moral obligation to not supply the S-300 missile defense systems to Damascus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced. «We had moral obligations. We promised not to do this, about 10 years ago, at the request of our well-known partners, and we took into account their argument that it could lead to destabilization of the situation in the region, even though S-300 are purely defensive. But, nevertheless, we have heeded to that request. Now we have no such moral obligation anymore.» — RIA NEWS quotes Lavrov.

SIS militants fired mortars at Damascus, killing 4 people and injuring 52 others. Among the victims were children. The shelling was carried out from Yarmuk and Hajar al-Aswad, the areas controlled by the terrorists. The shells hit Kadam, Maidan, Tadamun and Zakhra neighborhoods.

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that the Russian military will soon show the evidence that the Syrian air defense systems have shot down some of the missiles launched by the United States and their allies. Sergei Lavrov added that the Russian General Staff «Has a very clear picture. We watched everything happening in the real time, so the HQ is ready to provide the statistics» — RIA News reports. «At the very least, the evidence that our statements, our calculations, our arithmetic are not groundless will be presented by our military, as I understand it, very soon.» — said Sergei Lavrov.

In Washington, a meeting on the state relations between USA and Russia has been held between the US National Security Adviser, John Bolton, and the Russian Ambassador, Anatoly Antonov. «Bolton confirmed that it is in the interests of both the United States and Russia to improve their relations.» — the White House press service said. He noted that this would require discussing of Washington’s concerns about Russian «interference» in the presidential elections in the USA during 2016, the «reckless use of chemical weapons» in the UK, and the situation in Ukraine and Syria.