A diplomatic spat between the U.S. and Russia has resulted in the removal of two American and two Russian diplomats. The United States expelled two Russian officials in response to a video-taped incident of an American diplomat being attacked by a policeman in Moscow in June. After the decision was announced, the Russian government said on Saturday that it had declared two US officials persona non grata, according to Russian state media. The decision to expel each other’s diplomats comes within an increasingly tough relationship between the two nations.

On 20 April, for the first time in 2 years, a NATO-Russia Council was held again. Earlier all civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia was suspended, following the annexation of Crimea by Russia. While the talks lasted about 90 minutes more, the meeting was characterised by differences, and the two did not get closer. One of the reasons were differences on Syria and Ukraine. When it comes to Ukraine, Russia still frames the conflicts in the Donbass region of Ukraine as a civil war, although being the main player in destabilizing the region. NATO has urged Russia to adhere to international law, and as long as it does not do that, cooperation would be impossible. What both sides did agree on however, that implementation of the Minsk II Agreement is essential. It is unclear when and if a new Council meeting will take place.

As expected, the former Chief of the Parliament Volodymyr Groysman has become the new Prime Minister of Ukraine. The move follows the resignation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk earlier a few days ago, the latter which had recommended Groysman to become the new head of the government. The new Prime Minister has vowed to tackle corruption and strengthen ties with the EU, as many of his predecessors has done before him. Groysman himself, who is to become the youngest Prime Minister ever in Ukraine with 38 years old, is a close ally of Poroshenko, coming from the same political party ''Solidarity''. The appointment, that some consider as horse-trading for power by oligarchs in the country, comes along with the replacement of the technocrat finance and economy ministers Natalie Jaresko and Aivaras Abromavicius.

On April 6, a referendum on the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which was held in the Netherlands, resulted in a victory of the opposition. However, it has been revealed that the Commission still intends to propose visa-free travel for Ukrainians later this month. "It may look as if we’re ignoring the Dutch voters, but we have to keep our word to Ukraine, which has met the required conditions", a European source stated. The prospect of the proposal is yet uncertain as it must be approved by a qualified majority of EU Member States and by the European Parliament.  

On 10 April 2016, the once popular post-revolution Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced he would resign. The move followed an earlier vote of no-confidence, which he narrowly survived. Yatsenyuk furthermore already lost the support of several coalition parties, leaving him to govern without a majority in the Parliament backing him up. Yatsenyuk claimed he had stepped down for the sake of political stability. The negative Dutch referendum has been mentioned as a possible reason. Some however see it as part of a bigger game for power in Ukrainian politics. Yatsenyuk himself claimed the crisis had been created artificially and stated that ''the desire to change one person has blinded politicians and paralyzed their will to bring about real changes in the country''. Following his resignation, Yatsenyuk recommended Volodymyr Groysman, the current Chairman of the Ukraine Parliament and close ally of President Petro Poroshenko to succeed him. It is another phase of the political instability of the country.

On 5 April 2016, President Vladimir Putin announced a National Guard would be established. It would take over the functions of the current Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Russian special police units (OMON) as well as the rapid response units (SOBR), that compose the special police forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The goal of the new body would be ''the protection of public order''. According to Putin it would have to tackle terrorism and organized crime, which was repeated by Sputniknews and Russia Today, two pro-Russia outlets. The new army would be headed by Gen. Viktor Zolotov, a close ally of Putin since the 1990s and the former head of the security service of Putin.