Karadag Nature Reserve, one of the most beautiful and mysterious places in the south-eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula, covers 28.7 square kilometers of land and aquatic areas. It was established in 1979 to preserve the region's unique topography of landforms and cliffs, as well as to protect and study rare species of diverse flora and fauna. [...]

The Russian-Egyptian deal on the sale of Ka-52K attack helicopters has reportedly reached the final stretch. Talks on the price of the choppers, to be used aboard Egypt's Mistral amphibious assault ships, are expected to begin later this month. Military expert Alexander Sitnikov explains how Russia ended up winning on the Mistral deal after all. [...]

As competition for the Arctic mineral wealth heats up and NATO continues to build up its military presence near Russia’s western borders, the Northern Fleet is becoming key to ensuring the country’s national security and economic interests. [...]

At this stage, you have to ask, is there anything Russian left for Ukraine to ban? Since 2014, they’ve blacklisted movies, flights, TV stations, cultural figures and even a disabled Eurovision entrant. Now, it’s social networks, search engines, and anti-virus software. Sure it’s a country where many want to re-align westwards after centuries of Moscow influence, but the methods are becomi [...]

The Russian Investigative Committee has launched criminal cases against Ukrainian servicemen and officials responsible for indiscriminate use of artillery in the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic that resulted in civilian casualties. [...]

Putin Laughs at NATO Bobbleheads Video Felix mendez He is right. Those NATO knuckleheads dont know the first thing about real war as all they have done in their existence is to bomb, threat and murder poor peasants in Third World countries. At the first shot fired in a real war they will be all scampering away, running back home calling their moms, EL Donald the first. Putin Laughs at NATO [...]

As Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen prepare to face off in the runoff on May 7, Western mainstream media have started vigorously blaming Russia of attempting to orchestrate a cyberattack on Macron's campaign. Pierre Curien, an expert on cybersecurity explained to Sputnik France why these flimsy claims fall apart at the slightest scrutiny. [...]

The S-500 Prometey isn't merely a next-generation Russian missile system; it can be seen as as a whole set of measures to turn the Russian air defense system into a single information space, according to the Russian news network Zvezda. The Russian news network Zvezda described the S-500 Prometey as a whole set of measures aimed at turning the Russian air defense system into a single inform [...]

No preparations are being made for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the Kremlin spokesman said, commenting on media reports that the Russian and US presidents would meet in May. “This isn’t the case,” Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said when addressed on the issue by journalists on Thursday. [...]

In the end, there was hardly a reset; rather a sort of tentative pause on Cold War 2.0. Interminable days of sound and fury were trudging along when President Trump finally decided NATO is "no longer obsolete"; still, he wants to "get along" with Russia. Just ahead of meeting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin had stressed on Russian TV that trust (betwe [...]

Russia’s brazen confidence in its victory in propping up Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s once-failing regime grows day by day, as evidenced by Moscow’s latest oil deals with the Syrian government. Sputnik news reports that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin visited Damascus in November to get the ball rolling on the fossil fuel deals. [...]

When deciding to suspend supply of electricity to the Lugansk People's Republic, Kiev seems to have failed to heed Russia's readiness to lend its shoulder to the de-electrified region, Ukrainian politician and rights activist Vladimir Oleynik told Sputnik. In an interview with Sputnik, Ukrainian politician and rights activist Vladimir Oleynik commented on Kiev's recent decision to suspend el [...]

The collapse of Russo-American collaboration over flight safety in Syria turned out to be a painful experience for the US, Russian academic Nikita Danyuk suggested in an interview with Radio Sputnik, adding that it is unlikely that Washington will continue to infringe on the Syrian state. [...]

The UK, which recently said it could launch a preemptive nuclear strike “in the most extreme circumstances,” runs the risk of being “wiped off the face of the Earth,” the deputy head of a Russian upper house committee said. [...]

Russia strongly backs Iranian membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), now that UN Security Council sanctions have been lifted from the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Iran is ready to become a full-fledged member of the organization, Lavrov said Friday during an SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana. [...]

Fighting in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun will cease when experts arrive to investigate the alleged chemical attack, the Russian Ministry of Defense has said in a statement. [...]

In the aftermath of Thursday's Tomahawk cruise missile attack on the Ash Sha'irat airbase in Homs, Syria, Moscow vowed to strengthen its air defense umbrella over the country. Experts have already explained which systems need to be deployed to ensure Syria's safety against future US attacks. [...]

With Russia’s hopes for détente with President Trump dashed by his missile strike on Syria, the Kremlin looks askance at visiting Secretary of State Tillerson who it feels played the Colin Powell role for his boss, says Gilbert Doctorow. Secretary of State Tillerson Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow was supposed to prepare the way for a Trump-Putin summit either as a self- [...]

President Trump’s hasty decision to attack Syria may have lightened political pressure at home but Russia’s retaliation – suspending a key “deconfliction agreement” – left Secretary of State Tillerson as supplicant at the Kremlin, reports Gilbert Doctorow. The Russian media offered no complete account of what may have been accomplished during Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s [...]

Russia appears to have drawn a "red line" by suspending the air safety agreement, which Moscow and Washington reached in October 2015 to prevent aerial accidents in Syria's crowded skies, Director on geopolitical studies at the Brussels-based European Institute for International Relations (IERI) Pierre-Emmanuel Thomann told Sputnik. [...]

Moscow will continue to support Syrian Army troops in their anti-terrorism effort, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, after being asked whether Russian policy had changed following a reported chemical attack in the Idlib province.   [...]

Russians responded with relative calm to the lethal terror attack on St. Petersburg’s metro but stressed that the incident underscored the need for counter-terror cooperation despite other disagreements, writes Gilbert Doctorow. Russia’s reaction to Monday’s terror attacks on St. Petersburg’s subway system stands in stark contrast to what we have seen in public behavior in Paris, Berlin [...]