Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has rejected US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s push to limit his country’s contacts with Russian and Chinese firms and grant a nuclear power plant construction contract to an American firm. Russia and China pose a threat to Czech energy independence, Pompeo said during his visit to Prague on Wednesday. The top US diplomat warned of what he described as [...]

Beijing has cautioned against further US naval operations in the South China Sea, claiming that recent activities by the American side create conditions for an unintentional military confrontation. A spokesman for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) said on Friday that a US warship entered Chinese territorial waters without permission. [...]

The new US policy of trying to force internal change in China and confronting Beijing with a US-backed alliance in Asia is generating distrust of Washington, former US Assistant Defense Secretary Chas Freeman, who accompanied President Richard Nixon to Beijing in 1972, said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spelled out the new policy in a speech at the Nixon Library in California on 23 July [...]

During a recent meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi US President Donald Trump suggested that most American servicemen will be "leaving [the country] shortly" but failed to give a definitive timeline. Several groups within Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) have threatened to attack US positions in the country should its leadership not negotiate a withdrawal of its tr [...]

On 4 August, a massive explosion took place in Beirut, killing over 200 people and decimating the city's infrastructure. The massive blast was caused by improper storage of explosive ammonium nitrate in the Beirut port. Sputnik is live from Beirut as the Lebanese capital, devastated by an explosion in early August, has re-imposed a lockdown amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The new measu [...]

The US ambassador to the United Nations has described the lack of support from Washington’s allies in Europe as “disappointing,” after the US attempted to restore UN sanctions against Tehran. “This matter is so important that we cannot wait until the arms embargo [against Iran] runs out on October 18,” Kelly Craft, US envoy to the UN, told German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an intervi [...]

Beijing has warned the US against deploying its ground-based missiles in the Asia Pacific region, promising to take "countermeasures" and threatening any states that host such weaponry with consequences. "The US attempt to deploy land-based, medium-range missiles is consistent with its increasing military presence in the Asia Pacific and so-called 'Indo-Pacific strategy' over the past years, a typ [...]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said he will be the first person in the country to take Russia’s recently announced Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine when it arrives.“I am pleased that Russia will be the first country in the world to vaccinate its population,” Maduro said in a televised address on Sunday. [...]

The emergence of the first vaccine against the coronavirus infection has sparked interest across the globe, as the drug promises not only an end to COVID-19-related deaths, but also a path to restoring a country's economy. After almost half a year of the battle against the coronavirus, a real ray of hope has appeared with the announcement of the first COVID-19 vaccine being registered in [...]

Lebanon's government stepped down on Monday night in the aftermath of a deadly blast that shattered the country's capital on 4 August and claimed the lives of more than 200 people. International observers have discussed whether the Diab cabinet’s resignation will help fix the situation and what forces could take the reins. The tragedy reignited nationwide anti-government protests, with [...]

Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday morning that Russia has registered the world's first vaccine against coronavirus. He says the dose is effective in forming immunity against the deadly pathogen which has spread globally. As far as I know, a vaccine against the coronavirus infection has been registered this morning (in Russia) for the first time in the world,” the President told members of th [...]

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has warned the United States not to interfere with the completion of the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, stressing that Europe has the right to choose its own energy sources. “Sanctions between partners are definitely the wrong way to go,” Maas said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, addi [...]

With the summer holiday season in full swing, some tourists seem to have taken coronavirus with them to the coast. That's prompted Crimea to search for more doctors as infections in crowded resorts are overloading local hospitals. With Russia's international borders partially closed, the Black Sea peninsula is experiencing a mass influx of travelers looking to have a domestic warm-weather beach h [...]

The explosion that devastated Beirut has been linked to a mishandled ammonium nitrate cargo confiscated from a foreign ship. Now a former crew member tells RT the vessel, owned by a dodgy businessman, was a disaster in the making. Some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate – a highly explosive fertilizer – went up in a terrifying blast in Beirut on Tuesday, Lebanese officials have said. [...]

Donald Trump is withdrawing US troops from Germany to ‘punish’ Berlin for buying Russian gas and for not contributing enough to NATO, but a fresh survey shows that people in that country are actually glad that’s he doing so. Around 47 percent of participants in research conducted by pollster YouGov on behalf of DPA news agency, said they were in favor of the Pentagon’s decision to pull out [...]

Videos obtained by RT show areas around Beirut’s port reduced to rubble and ruins after explosions near the city’s docks destroyed nearby buildings and blew out windows more than 10 kilometers away. Free-lance journalist Owen Holdaway sent videos from Beirut Thursday evening showing the aftermath of the blasts. "A large part of the area has been completely devastated," Holdaway said in a video [...]

New Delhi (Sputnik): Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to India in February, the US State Department approved the sale of integrated air defence weapon systems to India at a cost of $1.867 billion. Experts have said India wants to fortify its airspace with American systems along with the soon-to-be inducted S-400 missile defence system. In a major setback for the Trump administ [...]

European prices for natural gas would drop by about one quarter if the Nord Stream 2 pipeline connecting Russia to Germany were completed, the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie said in a report on Friday. “If Nord Stream 2 remains unfinished, European benchmark TTF gas is expected to average about $4 per million British Thermal Units next year. But if the project can be completed as its backers hop [...]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is calling for “an alliance of democracies” to confront China. It amounts to a new Cold War in which nations are being forced to side either with Washington or Beijing. It’s a classic tyrannical power-play by Washington, yet ironically it is the Americans who are accusing Beijing of being the “new tyranny” in the world. [...]

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the pharmaceutical group ChemRar have started exporting the drug Avifavir against COVID-19, Belarus has already received it, and deliveries to Kazakhstan are expected to start soon, RDIF said on Thursday. "In June, the medication was delivered to 35 regions across Russia and to the Republic of Belarus. Avifavir will soon be delivered to the Re [...]

The main takeaway from Russia’s ‘national vote’ on a series of amendments to the constitution is one a lot of people won't want to hear: Most Russians want the country to plow its own furrow, regardless of what outsiders think. In the end, the margin was huge. Exit polls suggested around 70 percent of voters had said ‘yes’ to 206 amendments to their constitution, with close to 30 percent [...]

Huawei’s addition of the HERE WeGo map app to its app gallery shows that Donald Trump’s crackdown on the Chinese tech giant may be not that effective and could in fact inflict greater harm on American companies. When Donald Trump took aim at Huawei last year, his plan was to fire a ‘kill shot’ at the Chinese communications firm. [...]