Новости за 01.01.2016

The European Union is bitterly divided and likely to remain so. Geopolitical tensions and terror threats aren't expected to abate. And the migrant surge will continue to cause political and social challenges. But it could also be the year Europe's sluggish economy turns around.

Ukraine has rung in the new year with a move that has at once deepened ties with the European Union and cut strings to Russia, as Ukraine's free trade agreement with the EU took effect on Jan. 1.

Watch the video here.

Ukraine has officially taken up its duties as a non-permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations as of Jan. 1.

A free-trade accord giving Ukraine tariff-free access to EU markets has come into effect under an association deal between Brussels and Kyiv. Meanwhile, Russia has banned food imports from its southwestern neighbor.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed an ordinance on the size of an export duty on gas supplies to Ukraine for the first quarter of 2016, the official web portal of legal information reports.

Starting from today, January the 1st, 2016 Ukraine has officially assumed its duties as a non-permanent member of UN Security Council for the years 2016-2017.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into a law a bill allowing agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB) to open fire on crowds, possibly without warnings, according to the document published on Wednesday to the government's legal information website.

Ukraine's membership in the United Nations Security Council starts on Jan. 1, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has stated.

More than 25 years after the Berlin Wall crumbled, barriers were being erected across Europe in 2015 amidst a wave of migrants the likes of which the continent has not seen since World War II, shaking the foundations of the 28-nation bloc and raising questions about its very viability.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has endorsed a new security strategy, which points to NATO expansion as a threat to the country.

One of the narratives that has come out of Russia in this past year has been that the country, personified by Vladimir Putin of course, is “standing up to the West” and a strong Russia is being created to challenge the unipolar world order. The problem is that the foundation on which this thinking is constructed is fake. What is it about “the West” that needs standing up to exactly?

Russia has formally initiated legal proceedings against Ukraine over the non-payment of a $3 billion debt, setting the stage for the latest dispute between the two countries to play out in English courts.

The Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine accused each other on Jan. 1 of violating a shaky holiday truce between the warring sides.

Depressurization followed by a spontaneous ignition of the gas torch occurred on the underground section of the Soyuz trunk gas pipeline near the village of Horodylove in Khust district in Zakarpattia Oblast on Jan. 1.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has congratulated the Netherlands on the beginning of a six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree "On Measures in the Provision of Economic Security and National Interests of the Russian Federation in International Cargo Transit from the Territory of Ukraine to the Territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan via the Territory of the Russian Federation."

Russia will file a lawsuit against Ukraine after Kyiv failed to repay a $3 billion Eurobond and $75 million of interest by Dec. 31, the Russian finance ministry said late on Dec. 31.

The Netherlands has taken over the rotating presidency of the European Union, at something of a challenging time. Amid disputes about migration, austerity and strife with Russia, the bloc's solidarity appears stretched.

Russia says it's suing Ukraine for defaulting on a $3 billion Eurobond debt owed to Moscow.

None of Ukrainian servicemen was killed or wounded in Donbas on the last day of 2015, Ukrainian Presidential Administration spokesman for the army operation Col. Oleksandr Motuzianyk said at a press briefing on Jan. 1.

Russia from Jan. 1 has extended food embargo on Ukraine.

President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite has congratulated Ukraine and the European Union on the EU-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement's coming into force from Jan. 1.

At a parliamentary meeting on combating corruption, Ukrainian lawmaker Volodymyr Parasyuk sought to land his own blow against graft—by kicking in the face an official he says owns luxury properties worth much more than a state salary could provide.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in his New Year's greetings to the Ukrainian people has said that Ukrainians have become "not only older, but also wiser and stronger."