It's almost eighteen months since the people of Crimea voted overwhelmingly in a democratic referendum to join the Russian Federation. President Putin visited Crimea, an event that was greeted with an unexpected Western media reaction. Think back to March 2014, when the Crimean referendum took place. [...]

An Israeli ex-IDF soldier fighting alongside rebels in eastern Ukraine has told the Jerusalem Post that she is battling against “pro-Nazi activists” who torture and murder civilians and soldiers alike. Ina Levitan, 37, a Tel Aviv resident who was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, said she has been in the conflict zone near the city of Lugansk since late 2014. [...]

The Global Economy Is Imploding, Bankrupt Greece & China! 3 New Incredible Marc Faber Warnings: Global Economy is "weakening" Greece should default Are Chinese markets an "accident to happen?" [...]

Athens has approved a deal to hand over the operation of 14 airports to a German company. The 40-year contract worth €1.23 billion was awarded to Fraport AG, which currently runs Frankfurt Airport. The airports are not the only things on sale in Greece right now. Other travel hubs like ports and railways, the national lottery, water utilities and even the islands are to be sold off. [...]

The global economy is in for a "catastrophe of historic proportions," says investor Doug Casey. "With these stupid governments printing trillions and trillions of new currency units," says investor Doug Casey, "it's building up to a catastrophe of historic proportions." [...]

The leader of the Polish coalition of Euroskeptic and right-wing parties has approved the recent visit to Crimea by French MPs, and said that he and his allies could soon also pay a visit to the Russian republic. Founder of the Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic Janusz Korwin-Mikke told Russian daily Izvestia that when the French MPs visited Crimea they practically recognized the current [...]

The US and its allies should cooperate with Syrian President Bashar Assad in fighting Islamic State, “a common enemy” of the international community, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview on Sunday. “Our American partners and some countries in the region persistently refuse to recognize Assad as a partner, which is rather strange,” Lavrov said in an interview with [...]

Scotland says it will ban genetically modified crops on its soil. According to officials, the move will protect the environment. They are also taking advantage of new EU laws, allowing member states to decide whether they want to grow the crops or not. Although the EU imports large quantities of GM crops from abroad, it is less sure about growing them on their own soil. [...]

China's central bank has put the Russian ruble into circulation in Suifenhe City, Heilongjiang Province, launching a pilot two-currency (ruble and yuan) program. The ruble is being introduced in the place of US dollar. The announcement was made on Saturday by Jin Mei, deputy secretary for monetary policy at the opening ceremony of a trade exposition in Suifenhe, reported state-run Xinhua news a [...]

Deputy head of the Federation Council’s committee for foreign affairs has said an international court must look into all US wars, in particular the Vietnam campaign that killed thousands of civilians and caused significant damage to many innocent people. Russian senator urges international tribunal into US-Vietnam war Deputy head of the Federation Council’s committee for foreign affairs ha [...]

Following an inquiry, the media authority of Thuringia (TLM) has found no breach of legislation pertaining to the broadcast of RT’s show The Missing Part (Der Fehlende Part) by regional German TV channel Salve.TV. TLM, broadcast regulator of the federal state of Thuringia, stated that it had no objections to Salve.TV airing RT’s The Missing Part. [...]

Sukhoi PAK-FA fifth-generation fighter jet is finalizing tests of its versatile arsenal before deployment next year. Russia's Air Force chief says there will be no such target on the scene of operations that the fighter would not be able to engage. When compared to American F-22 or F-35 5G fighter jets, Sukhoi PAK-FA (T-50) is going to “outperform them in all technical aspects,” the command [...]

Ukraine ceased to function as a state once diverse power forces - oligarchs, political and criminal groups - in Kiev and beyond took control of the various regions, Bruno Drweski of the National Institute of Languages and Eastern Civilizations told RT. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov is seeking to create an alternative government in exile to “help Ukraine out of its problems.� [...]

MPs from the German parliamentary party "The Left" have positively assessed the recent visit to Crimea by French lawmakers and said that they'd also consider the possibility of personal trip to the republic and assessment of the situation there. “I think that the French parliamentarian’s trip was a right thing to do. Being elected by the people it was their duty to tell and show the officia [...]

The flow of immigrants to Europe stems from the Western states’ military interventions in Iraq, Libya and Syria, which have contributed to the emergence of terrorist groups in the Middle East, Czech President Milosh Zeman told local media. “The current wave of migration [to Europe] is rooted in the crazy [US] idea to launch an intervention in Iraq, which allegedly had weapons of mass destru [...]

A senior State Duma MP has said that Russia would look into possibility of the visit to Crimea by the head of PACE'€™s Social-Democratic caucus, Andreas Gross, albeit not within the remit of the Russia-PACE dialogue. Aleksey Pushkov, chair of the lower house Committee for International Relations, told TASS that after Russian delegation withdrew its participation in PACE in protest of the sanc [...]

The United States has imposed further sanctions against Russia over the events in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. Eleven more people and 15 more companies have been put on the sanctions list. Among the newly included firms are affiliate companies of Russian oil giant Rosneft, as well as several organizations linked to one of the country’s major banks - Vnesheconombank. [...]

To varying degrees, Angela Merkel has now managed to alienate the USA, Russia and the rest of Europe. Germany urgently needs to tackle negative perceptions of the country. Oscar Wilde was fond of citing the philosopher George Berkeley. Whether it was because he enjoyed his fellow Irishman’s writings or because Berkeley was a Trinity College Dublin grandee is moot. When I lived in Berlin, almo [...]

One of the French parliamentarians visiting Crimea has spoken his mind through fashion. Senator Yves Pozzo di Borgo from the center-right UDI party has acquired a T-shirt with Putin and Obama portraits, the caption saying: "€œObama, you're a schmuck." The senator, currently on a two-day visit to Crimea, was strolling along a picturesque quay when he reportedly came across an article of clothi [...]

There are no grounds to keep Russia sanctions in place, said member of the French National Assembly Thierry Mariani, who heads the parliamentary delegation currently on a two-day visit to Crimea. “As the US is lifting Cuba blockades, I see no reasons for Europe to keep Russia sanctions in place,” Mariani told reporters after speaking at the Crimean Parliament in Simferopol on Thursday. [...]

When there is peace in Ukraine there is no point to have NATO involved militarily in Ukraine, so there is no motivation to keep peace in the country as it threatens Western military business, geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT. Supporters of the Ukrainian nationalist Right Sector movement gathered in the center of Kiev on Tuesday. They called on Kiev authorities to resign. [...]

A delegation of French lawmakers is coming to Russia to pay a visit to the Crimea - the first such visit since the region's accession to the Russian Federation in March 2014. The head of the mission, MP Thierry Mariani said in an interview with Russian business daily Kommersant that it will consist of nine members of the French National Assembly and one senator. [...]