US State Department

The US State Department expressed its strong opposition to the Turkish-Russian TurkStream gas pipeline saying that together with the Nord Stream 2 they undermine the European energy security and serve only the Russian interests.

The US State Department rejected Turkey's claims that the two sides are discussing the formation of a joint working group to discuss the issue of sanctions that Washington imposed on Ankara over its purchase of a Russian air defense system.

American sanctions on Turkey's top defense procurement and development body Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) for purchasing Russian defense systems will not affect "current, valid, non-exhausted licenses and authorizations," the US State Department has said.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Friday he hoped that all parties involved in a dispute in the eastern Mediterranean Sea will act according to international law and that there will be no conflict.

Romania's Minister of the Interior, Marcel Vela, on Friday announced the arrest and extradition to the US of an alleged human trafficking kingpin wanted by the US for eight immigration-related charges.

An official with the US State Department has reiterated Washington's belief in the protection of the "complex multi-religious history" of Hagia Sophia, the UNESCO World Heritage site in Istanbul and former Greek Orthodox patriarchal cathedral.

The fugitive Moldovan tycoon Vladimir Plahotniuc, who is now in the US, has filed a lawsuit against the US State Department and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after being banned from the US on January 13 "due to his involvement in significant corruption".

In its annual International Religious Freedom Report, the US State Department notes that senior US government officials have continued to publicly and privately express to Turkish officials their view that Hagia Sophia, a former Orthodox Christian cathedral in Istanbul, is a monument of exceptional significance that must be preserved in a way that respects its religious history.

The US State Department has called the Turkey-Libya memorandum of understanding (MoU) relating to maritime zones "provocative and unhelpful."

Answering a question posed by the Hellas Journal website, a State Department spokesman noted that the agreement cannot affect the rights or obligations of third states such as Greece.

The US State Department has blacklisted Amir Zukic, a disgraced former high-ranking official of the main Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, SDA, for being involved in corruption.