Planes with former detainees landed in Moscow and Kiev, concluding the long-awaited prisoner swap. The action was hailed as the first step in mending the ‘dead-end’ relations between the neighbors and was praised internationally. [...]

Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan Chase has told some of its staff to ensure that they do not refer to Hong Kong, Macau or self-governing Taiwan as separate countries. [...]

It’s better not to be a “more normal country” if that means being as prone to invasions and coups as the United States, top Russian ministers have said, firing back at bizarre remarks by a new Pentagon chief. [...]

The psychological condition known as Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostages irrationally sympathize with their captors, could well be applied to European leaders when it comes to US bullying. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the leading role of the West is coming to an end, and no serious international group makes much sense anymore without economic juggernauts like China and India. [...]

A chief author of US President Donald Trump’s still under-wraps Middle East peace plan, Jason Greenblatt, will leave his post in government after the contentious deal is unveiled – though it’s unclear why. [...]

Moscow offered Washington the chance to purchase Russian hypersonic weapons instead of developing its own, Vladimir Putin has revealed. The US, however, is seeking to create analogues. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin had called his US counterpart George W. Bush two days before the 9/11 attacks in 2001, warning about an imminent terrorist plot coming from Afghanistan, a former CIA analyst has revealed. [...]

Germany takes its own approach to relations with China and won’t bow to US demands and pressure over unrest in Hong Kong, analysts told RT, as Chancellor Angela Merkel heads to Beijing to talk trade. [...]

The US State Department is openly using organized crime tactics, including bribery and extortion, in an effort to bend Iran to its will after its usual allies refused to get sucked into a coalition to 'police' the Persian Gulf. [...]

The India-Russia special partnership is strategic. It is growing in new directions, with implications for both China and the United States. The twentieth annual summit between India and Russia on September 4 could have been ignored as a ho-hum affair. [...]

The trade war between the world’s two largest economies entered a new phase on Sunday, as US tariffs targeting Chinese-made products and Beijing’s retaliatory hikes on American imports both kick in. [...]

The Israeli military has reportedly engaged in a cross-border exchange of fire, after an anti-tank missile – said to have come from Lebanon – landed near an Israeli border town. [...]

While Israeli officials have yet to directly confirm that Israel has carried out attacks against Iraq, Iraqi lawmakers claimed Tel Aviv was “absolutely” responsible for a spate of strikes against pro-government Popular Mobilisation Unit militia, adding that Baghdad was preparing to submit its evidence to the UN Security Council. [...]

It is alleged that the phone call, in which Chinese officials invited their US counterparts to resume trade talks, didn’t happen the way Donald Trump described it did. The POTUS has yet to comment on the speculation. [...]

The US-German friendship has taken a nosedive. A recent survey commissioned by Atlantik-Brücke and conducted by the polling firm Civey found that 85 percent of respondents rate relations between the two countries as poor to very poor. [...]

Ankara is holding talks on purchasing the newest Su-57 jets from Moscow, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Turkey was forced to seek jet fighters elsewhere after the US refused to sell it F-35 warplanes. [...]

Russian mobile operator MTS has teamed up with Chinese tech giant Huawei for a 5G pilot scheme in Moscow and Kronshtadt, where for the first time the super-fast network will cover almost the entire city. The agreement between the two parties was signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia in June, when he met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and took part in the St. [...]

Lebanon has accused Israel of being behind a drone strike on the office of Hezbollah near Beirut on 25 August, followed by another on Palestinian militant positions in eastern Lebanon. [...]

‘The End Times of Western Hegemony’, I wish this were written by Macron although it might as well have been. He said exactly this after the G7 gathering which could be summed up in Shakespeare's words as “much ado about nothing.” [...]

The US Congress has moved forward with legislation to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project in defiance of criticism from Washington's allies in Europe, as the joint venture brings together Russia’s Gazprom, Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall, Austria’s OMV, France’s Engie, and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell. [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in Russia for a working visit to hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. [...]