Linas Linkevicius

"No one is forcing Hungary to be part of the European Union," said the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday, October 25. Thus, the EU's top diplomat responded to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's words that The European Union is a "bad modern parody" of the USSR.

Turkey's foreign minister held phone conversations with his Hungarian, Lithuanian and Bulgarian counterparts on Aug. 13, according to a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto discussed recent matters related to the Eastern Mediterranean.

NATO allies plan to send patrol aircraft and missiles to strengthen Ankara's air defences on its border with Syria, officials said on Nov. 1, following Turkey's shooting-down of a Russian bomber. 

Mourners for slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov prepared to gather for his funeral in Moscow on March 3, as Polish and Latvian officials said they had been barred from entering Russia on the eve of the ceremony in retaliation for EU sanctions over Ukraine.
      

The EU bans the import of goods made in Crimea, reports RIA Novosti. 

The agency quotes the Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevicius who said the EU foreign ministers reached an agreement in principle on the matter. 

The measure is part of the EU policy of not recognising the annexation of Crimea.

Romania will support any sanctions proposed by the European Union against Russia following the controversial referendum in Crimea, President Traian Basescu said on Monday.

Basescu is to join a meeting of EU heads of state and government on March 21 in Brussels, where European leaders are to piece together a response to the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.

The EU and the US have imposed travel bans and asset freezes against a number of Russian and Ukrainian officials.

The sanctions are targeting figures that are seen as having a key role in the March 16 referendum in which Crimea's population has voted in favour of seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia.