Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

The Russian Ministry of Defense is considering banning the use of "modern means of cellular communication" at all levels in the armed forces, including in military units and governing structures, reports Dnevnik. 

Ukraine security service official Igor Guskov told Ukrainian television on Friday that at least seven Serbian mercenaries were fighting in eastern Ukraine as part of a private Russian military unit, called Wagner, one of whom was now dead.

On the Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula, unusual school activities were held - children were taught how to handle mines, Nova TV reported.

Engineering troops showed about 100 students, the smallest among them at the age of 12, how to put and dispose of bombs, and what are the features of self-contained explosive devices such as belts with explosives and bombs hidden in other objects.

The United States and Europe clearly see that the current Ukrainian authorities are trying to provoke a collision in the Donbass. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference on the activities of Russian diplomacy in 2017.

Russia is ready to surrender to Ukraine the warships and air transport from Crimea, but they are in a desolate state and Moscow is ready to allow Ukrainian specialists to use non-transport ammunition, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, according to RIA Novosti, quoted by Focus News Agency .

The border management of FSB for Crimea has signed a contract with the Start-7 Production and Installation Center (Zarechnyy, Pensen district) to build a 50-kilometer fence on the border between the Crimean Peninsula and Ukraine, Interfax reported.

The contract price is 204 million (nearly $ 3.5 million). Funding is from the federal budget of Russia.

Kiev has welcomed the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution on human rights in Crimea, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Serbia voted against the passing of the resolution, tabled by Kiev, Sputnik writes on Wednesday.

Serbia was the only country in the Balkans to back Russia over a UN General Assembly resolution put forward by Ukraine, which condemns the human rights situation in Russian-annexed Crimea and calls Russia an "occupying power".

Serbia voted against the passing of the resolution, tabled by Kiev, Sputnik writes on Wednesday.

The resolution calls upon Russia to fulfill 12 recommendations in order to "urgently put an end to all human rights violations in Crimea."

The Russian and Serbian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Aleksandar Vucic, oversaw the signing of a number of agreements, including one allowing Serbia to re-export Russian gas, in Moscow on Tuesday.