SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) - The suggestion of Ukrainian Ambassador to Berlin Andriy Melnyk to ban German nationals from visiting Crimea is nonsense and an act of interference in Germany's internal affairs, Andreas Maurer, the head of Die Linke party group of the Quakenbruck parliament, told Sputnik. [...]

The Syrian Army and its allies have liberated dozens of villages, towns and farms from jihadist terrorists in Eastern Ghouta, once considered the jihadists’ main bastion in the war-torn country. Government forces, while combing liberated neighborhoods in the town of Ain Tarma in the Eastern Ghouta suburb, located nine miles east of Damascus, have discovered a tunnel network running under houses [...]

Known as one of the most effective jammers in the world, the Russian helicopter-based radio electronic warfare system Rychag-AV is capable of protecting the entire vehicle by "blinding" all enemy warplanes and missiles within several hundred kilometers. A photo of what looked like the Russian Mi-8MTPR-1 helicopter equipped with the radio electronic warfare system Rychag-AV in Syria has emerge [...]

The pilot's death, preliminarily ruled a suicide, has reopened claims about his possible role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in the summer of 2014. Vladislav Voloshin, the Ukrainian combat pilot which some Russian investigative journalists have accused of responsibility for the MH17 disaster, allegedly shot himself Sunday at his home. [...]

The new trade war announced by US President Donald Trump is seeing some immediate and effective blowback in the form of a refusal by Beijing to lift its ban on the import of foreign garbage. Amid fears of a potentially devastating trade war between the US and China, Washington has urged Beijing not to implement the ban on US garbage and recyclable materials that Asia’s giant threatened to impose [...]

A former pilot with the Ukrainian military, who was once accused of shooting down MH17 plane in 2014, has died in an apparent suicide. He was flying his Su-25 on a combat mission on the day of the tragedy. Vladislav Voloshin, the 29-year former pilot, died in his apartment in the city of Nikolayev on Sunday from a gunshot wound. [...]

After accusing the Kremlin of being behind the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal, the UK government expelled 23 Russian diplomats from the country. Moscow, in turn, has strongly denied the "baseless" claims and responded with tit-for-tat measures. "Therefore, the British Government has violated its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by denying consular access for the Em [...]

Poisoned double-agent Sergei Skripal was of zero value to Moscow after he was handed over by Russia to Britain, Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s press-secretary, said in an exclusive interview with RT. The press-secretary also pointed out that Russia had no motive to target Skripal, who was found unconscious with his daughter in Salisbury earlier in March. [...]

From the MH17 case to chemical attacks in Syria to the Skripal poisoning, the West only throws accusations against Russia without giving any proof, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding that such an approach “will not work.” [...]

If you were running for the presidency of a country, and about to host a major international event – would you poison a defector, who many years earlier was in your possession, with a toxic substance that leads right back to you? It seems the Russian cookie monster always leaves a convenient cookie crumb trail – or so the Western audience is led to believe. All symptoms of a provocation are [...]

We are currently witnessing truly remarkable developments in Syria, as the country’s army and allies liberate more districts of Eastern Ghouta. Almost 80,000 people have been evacuated, with more still streaming out. [...]

Jeremy Corbyn has demanded that Russia be given a chance to verify the nerve agent used against Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The Labour leader said that, despite recent events, the UK must maintain “robust” ties with Russia. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One program, Corbyn said: "I asked the Russians be given a sample so that they can say categorically one way or the other." [...]

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s extremely polite letter of congratulations to Vladimir Putin on his election win has enraged Britain’s Twitterati and other senior EU officials. Jean-Claude Juncker’s call for positive relations and a security deal proved too much to swallow for many commentators who want to see Russia punished over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skrip [...]

Chemical weapon production facilities have been discovered in the areas liberated from militants in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry says. More than 40 tons of chemical weapons were abandoned by retreating militants in the war-ravaged country, the ministry said on Wednesday. [...]

US Strategic Command's apprehensions were reportedly shared by President Donald Trump, who reportedly expressed concerns over Russia's new 'invincible' intercontinental cruise missile and nuclear torpedo during a telephone call with President Vladimir Putin. [...]

The 2003 US invasion of Iraq had devastating consequences not only Iraq itself, but for the region as a whole. Speaking to Sputnik, Iranian political scientist and diplomat Seyed Hadi Afghani recalled how the US invasion undermined the security of Iraq's eastern neighbor, and set the stage for the rise of Daesh.* [...]

This is not the first episode involving the attaché, who has been summoned by Austria's Foreign Ministry, as he had previously posted a photo of his grandfather in a Nazi uniform with a swastika on social media. Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has summoned Juergen-Michael Kleppich, an attaché from the country's embassy in Israel, "to clarify the circumstances and to submit to a legal pr [...]

The Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian Defense Ministry have jointly delivered a statement after a meeting with foreign envoys amid the scandal surrounding the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal. According to Vladimir Ermakov, head of the non-proliferation and arms control department at the Russian Defense Ministry, "either the British authorities are unable to protect from a terrorist attack o [...]

With scores of Syrians still leaving the Damascus suburbs of Eastern Ghouta via humanitarian corridors, the mainstream media continues to issue allegations about the fate of all those who fled the area. Eastern Ghouta resident Abdel Rahman Awad has rejected reports by many world and regional media outlets claiming that those civilians who flee Eastern Ghouta are then killed or bombed by the Syr [...]

If Russian natural gas exports to Italy stop, the country will have only 15 days before the emergency situation, according to La Stampa. What is the scale of European dependence on the Russian gas? Can the US replace it? In Italy, the share of Russian gas imports is about 37 percent. [...]

The announcement came as Petro Poroshenko visited Ukrainian military personnel in Kramatorsk. In his speech he stressed that now the country will be ready for war with Russia. Some users, commenting his post on Facebook, expressed skepticism concerning his promises. [...]

Twitter lit up with sarcastic remarks and genuinely concerned commentary over Boris Johnson's latest allegations against Moscow in the Sergei Skripal poisoning case. Johnson lashed out against Moscow on Monday, calling Russia's increasingly adamant denials that it anything to do with the Skripal case "increasingly absurd." [...]