Washington has boosted its military presence in Syria to ostensibly help local forces fight against Daesh, but former US diplomat and Senate adviser James Jatras told Radio Sputnik that the Pentagon's latest deployment could see the United States get bogged down in Syria. "Frankly, I don't like it. I don't think it's a good idea. As much as anybody else I would like to see Daesh and other te [...]

On Thursday, Germany's populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party presented its pre-election program in Berlin. The main political agenda of the party remains the same: a sharp restriction of immigration and a more resolute expulsion of illegal migrants. The draft of the pre-election program during a joint press conference in Berlin was presented by three party representatives: Albrecht G [...]

Over the past few years millions of people have been forced to leave Syria, a country still gripped by war. Thousands of Russian-speaking women were living in Syria with their husbands and hundreds of them stayed behind when the conflict erupted. Sputnik correspondent Mikhail Alaeddin met with one such family residing in Damascus. The sunny and cozy apartment in Damascus where a woman named Ev [...]

I sometimes wonder what Путин must make of the Western media obsession with him. Do his ears burn each day with all the new articles, broadcasts, social media mentions – the myriad voices, guided by the Western political and media establishments, speculating, characterizing, creating – “Putin”? [...]

The world's first man in space Yuri Gagarin was born 83 years ago, on March 9, 1934. Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first man in outer space when the Vostok-1 spacecraft with the Soviet cosmonaut on board was launched from the Baikonur space center on April 12, 1961, at 6:07 AM local time, marking a new era in human history.  Yuri Gagarin's Birthday First woman in space Valentina [...]

Nearly 150,000 Russian nationals returned to live in Russia in 2016, according to statistics obtained by the Izvestia newspaper from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the agency charged with monitoring migration trends. About 30,000 of them came from EU countries, marking a rising trend. [...]

Berlin is not accusing Russia of interfering in the electoral process in Germany and the creation of fake news, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has told a press conference in Moscow. When asked by a reporter to comment on German media allegations that Moscow was behind the creation of fake news and alleged interference in the country’s electoral process, Gabriel said the government wou [...]

Beijing has called on the US to stop its hacking practices against China and other countries, following a WikiLeaks release which reportedly exposes the CIA’s extensive hacking capabilities and lists Chinese routers as targets. [...]

German Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel, who is in Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, says that Germany fears a new arms race in Europe. “We are concerned that a new spiral of the arms race may emerge in Europe,” he said, as cited by TASS. “It’s too early to say how and in what direction we could advance to prevent this.” [...]

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has branded the claims that Russia poses a threat to Europe “a big scam.” She believes that the real danger is “carrying out a Cold War against Russia and pushing Russia into China’s arms,” she said in a CBS interview. [...]

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has promised to press Washington loosen its economic restrictions on Iran, as it promised to do as part of last year’s nuclear deal. During a public speech during a landmark two-day economic cooperation visit to Tehran, Gabriel said Germany intends to "remind the United States of the commitment to get to an effective dismantling of sanctions." [...]

Russia has delivered over 6 tonnes of humanitarian aid to residents of the Syrian city of Aleppo and Damascus province. Russian servicemen have delivered over 6 tonnes (metric tons) of humanitarian aid to residents of the Syrian city of Aleppo and Damascus province, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation informs in its daily bulletin. [...]

Montenegrin prosecutors' conclusions about Russia's alleged involvement in Montenegro's internal affairs are absurd, to say the least, Russian political analyst Vladimir Kireyev told Sputnik. In an interview with Sputnik, Russian political analyst Vladimir Kireyev slammed Montenegrin prosecutors' allegations regarding Moscow's involvement in Montenegro's domestic affairs as absurd [...]

Western irrational fear of Russia – Russophobia – is no longer a random prejudice. It has become endemic pathological thinking among Western states. Divorced from reality this mindset has become psychotic. [...]

Understanding the intentions of Russian leaders is easy these days, you just have to listen to what they say. This isn’t understood in the West, where policymakers and the media haven’t moved on from the Cold War and foolishly regard Russia as more mysterious than it is. [...]

Vitaly Churkin, who served as Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations since 2006, "died suddenly" in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced. Churkin would have turned 65 on Tuesday. [...]

Solving the ISIS problem must involve a whole lot less US activity in the Middle East, not a whole lot more. Just over a week into the Trump Administration, the President issued an Executive Order giving Defense Secretary James Mattis 30 days to come up with a plan to defeat ISIS. [...]

Russian biologists from Moscow State University have successfully tested a medication that is capable of slowing cells aging. In particular, the researchers proved that the medication has efficiently worked on mice. During the experiment, the researchers divided the mice into two groups: the first group was fed normally, while the second one's fodder contained a SkQ1 molecule, a powerful antiox [...]

Russia decided to validate Donbass residents' documents for humanitarian reasons and the presidential decree will remain in force until the Minsk peace deal is implemented, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday. [...]

US President Trump has yet to articulate his foreign strategy, Russian political analyst Alexei Martynov said, commenting on the White House's "mixed signals" on Crimea. Apparently therefore new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's statement on the peninsula's status was rather ambiguous. [...]

A Gallup poll has revealed that citizens of four NATO nations would sooner count on Russia to defend them rather than the United States, Bloomberg reported on Friday, reflecting the changing perceptions of the US's role in global security. Between October and December 2016, WIN/Gallup International asked around a thousand people in 66 countries who would be their go-to ally if attacked. [...]

Russia will not be talked to from a position of strength, only as an equal partner, the Russian defense minister said, commenting on the latest remark by his US counterpart. It comes as senior military commanders of the two nations are about to meet. [...]