New sanctions against Tehran

1 The USA — Iran

The US State Department spokesman, Ned Price, stated that the USA will impose new sanctions against Iran if it turns out that the purpose of moving the Iranian fleet to the Atlantic is to transfer weapons to other countries. He added that the USA are ready to impose sanctions «against any state that helps Iran to transfer arms to the Iranian partners, resorting to the use of violence, and the forces that support it». Iran recently stated that the ships of the Iranian navy went around Africa and entered the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, without stopping at any ports to refuel. It was noted that the fleet «will continue its route towards the North Atlantic».

2 Armenia

Electronic voting in the early parliamentary elections started in Armenia. The voting will end on 13th of June, at 20:00. «The voting results will be announced on the main voting day, on 20th of June, after 20:00» — the Central Election Commission stated.

3 Afghanistan — Turkey

A Taliban spokesman Suheil Shahin stated that the Taliban demanded Turkey to pull out their troops along with other NATO countries. «As a NATO member, Turkey must remove their troops from Afghanistan, due to the agreement we signed with the USA on 29th of February, 2020» — the TOLO News quoted the Taliban spokesman. This was the response of the Taliban to the Turkish offer to provide the security for the Kabul airport with the Turkish forces after the withdrawal of the NATO troops from Afghanistan. Earlier, the ’Reuters’ reported that Ankara made such offer to Washington during a meeting of the NATO defense ministers in May, when the USA and their allies discussed a plan to pull the troops from Afghanistan.

4 The USA (Alaska)

Air force exercises ’Red Flag Alaska 21-2’ are taking place in Alaska. The exercises will be held from 10th to 25th of June. They are attended by servicemen from South Korea and Japan, who have arrived to the USA to exchange tactical and technical experience. The exercises will be attended by about 1,500 servicemen and more than 100 aircraft from more than 20 divisions.

5 Russia

The Russian Defense Ministry published archive documents about the bloody battles during the liberation of Lithuania. During those battles for the Lithuanian SSR, 137,200 people were killed. The remains of tens of thousands of Soviet PoWs are also buried there. The ministry underlined that there are 269 memorial signs and graves of the 2nd world war in Lithuania. It was noted that Lithuania doesn’t coordinate the repair and restoration work, and turns a blind eye to acts of vandalism. Lithuania opposes any memorial work on the burial grounds as well. The Russian Defense Ministry noted that the Lithuanian authorities are planning to destroy the monuments to Soviet soldiers, which may become a pretext for the transfer, and even removal of the graves.

6 The USA — Ukraine

The NATO Secretary General’s special envoy, James Appathurai, stated that NATO’s doors remain open for Ukraine. He noted that this position can be repeated during the upcoming NATO summit in Brussels. However Ukraine will have to implement many reforms on the way to membership. According to him — there is no shortcut to the NATO membership. The German Cabinet of Ministers stated that the issue of Ukraine joining the NATO isn’t on the agenda. Earlier in April, the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy stated that «the moment has come» to invite Ukraine to the NATO and the EU. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS