Free Republic

Russia has reportedly announced it will close a crucial strait in the Black Sea to foreign warships, including the Royal Navy, for the next six months. -snip- Now sources in Ukraine report that the Russian Federation has announced it will close the Kerch Strait, from next week until October 2021, "for warships and state ships of other countries under the pretext of military exercises". -snip- The Kerch Strait connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east.

On Monday, June 21, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that his recent meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels opens a "new era" in diplomatic relations between the two countries. According to Erdogan, there are no problems in relations between Turkey and the United States that cannot be solved, and there are much more areas for cooperation. Biden expressed the hope that countries can make real progress. At the same time, the parties did not agree on problematic issues, such as the acquisition by Turkey of Russian S-400 anti-missile systems, violation of...

An American destroyer is sailing to the Black Sea to conduct naval exercises with Ukraine to demonstrate “solidarity” in response to a clash with Russia that has a top U.S. admiral furious. “The whole episode in the Sea of Azov was extremely bothersome to me,” Admiral James Foggo, commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa, told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference over the weekend. Russian forces fired on three Ukrainian naval vessels that attempted to pass through the Kerch Strait, the narrow waterway that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, and...

Crisis averted — or crisis revealed? According to a Ukrainian official, Russians have reversed the closure of the Kerch Strait, more than a week after opening fire on three Ukrainian ships and taking dozens of sailors hostage. However, the Russians have only returned to the status quo ante in which they interfere with shipping and other naval traffic between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, in what everyone else considers international waters: Ships have begun heading through the Kerch Strait again towards two key Ukrainian ports, a Ukrainian minister has said, nine days after Russia opened fire...

The peace talks are underway behind the scenes in Qatar, but the war in Afghanistan continues with 30 civilians killed in a US airstrike in Helmand province Wednesday..... The President's son-in-law Jared Kushner is set to receive Mexico's top award today..... His wife Ivanka Trump will help represent the United States at the inauguration of Mexico's incoming President.... Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Ukraine deliberately staged the incident in the Kerch Strait last Sunday.... A prosecutor in Argentina launched an investigation of Mohammed Bin Salman as the Crown Prince arrived there Wednesday for the G20 summit..... The US Senate...

The Ukrainian president has proposed the imposition of martial law after Russian forces shot at and seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in the Black Sea, injuring six crew members according to Kiev, in a major escalation of tensions between the two countries. On Monday, Ukrainian MPs will vote on whether to declare nationwide martial law in response to the attack following an emergency war cabinet held by the president, Petro Poroshenko. He said that the imposition of martial law would not imply a declaration of war and is only intended for defensive purposes. Ukraine has also requested an emergency UN...