As Russian producers reap the rewards of import substitution, Austrian exporters are ruing the EU's decision to impose sanctions. Imposing sanctions against Russia was a mistake which has cost Europe as much as Russia, Vienna's former trade ambassador to Moscow Dietmar Fellner told Austria's Kurier newspaper. [...]

Assessing Barack Obama's legacy some US Twitter users labeled the outgoing politician "the worst president ever" and denounced his attempts to deepen the rift between the United States and Russia. The outgoing US President Barack Obama has taken a last-ditch effort to damage America's relations with Moscow by introducing anti-Russian sanctions over what the US mainstream media called "vote [...]

The prime minister promised "to move step by step towards signing of a peace treaty" with Russia. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pay a visit to Russia without delay for further progress in the issue of a peace treaty, he said at the opening of the national parliament's plenary session on Friday. [...]

The breakdown of relations with Russia is a key foreign policy blunder committed by the Obama administration and it will go down in history as such, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said. In fact “US-Russia relations completely fell apart by the end of the second term of the Obama administration,” Medvedev said in a Facebook post. [...]

When former CIA Director Michael Morell suggested in his op-ed for The Cipher Brief that Edward Snowden should be presented as the “perfect inauguration gift” from Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump, Russians seemed offended by this tip. In fact, so much so, that Snowden’s asylum was extended for three more years two just after Morell made his argument. [...]

If NASA intends to continue sending astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) or the moon, the space agency has little choice but to rely on Roscosmos’ Soyuz spacecraft, at least until 2019. On Tuesday, NASA filed a "presolicitation" requesting that private firms reach out to NASA if they can transport astronauts to and from the orbital research platform. [...]

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is legally eligible to obtain Russian citizenship, his lawyer said, after it was announced that his asylum status had been extended for 3 more years. “Essentially, he now has every reason to apply for [Russian] citizenship in the future, in a while, as the law [states] that one needs to spend no less than 5 years on the territory of Russia [to be granted c [...]

A senior Crimean official has told reporters that residents of the region would welcome a visit by French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, as well as other politicians who support Crimeans’ choice of reunification with Russia. [...]

Moscow and Ankara are carrying out their first joint military operation against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the Syrian province of Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry has announced. [...]

Leaders and top officials from the UK, Germany, and France have “grossly interfered” in US internal affairs, “campaigned” for Hillary Clinton, and openly “demonized” Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. [...]

Since becoming the US Commander-in-Chief in 2008, Barack Obama charted a thinly veiled anti-Russia course that many failed to anticipate or appreciate due to the media-generated hype of “hope and change” that accompanied his rise to power. [...]

Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci says US sanctions against Russia have, in fact, united the nation around President Putin and his government, having the opposite effect to that desired by Washington, largely due to the toughness of “Russian culture.” [...]

Iran says it rejects any participation by US representatives at the scheduled Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he believes US and UN representatives should be invited to the meeting. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he has no grounds to attack or protect US President-elect Donald Trump, since he does not know him personally. He added though that those behind the recent allegations against Trump have "no moral scruples." [...]

While the US continues to publicly accuse Russia of numerous hacking attacks without providing any proof, it actually actively uses its own advantages in cyberspace for surveillance and intelligence purposes, Russia’s security chief has said. [...]

German intelligence has accused Russia of systematically undermining relations between Europe and the US, German Spiegel Online magazine wrote, citing a new report prepared jointly by the Federal Intelligence Service and the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. [...]

In the last week of his presidency, Barack Obama extended sanctions against Russia. Next US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the policy of sanctions. However, experts warn that Trump is unlikely to lift the sanctions in the first months of his term. [...]

Russian singer Victoria Tsyganova has sent a parcel to the wife of newly elected US president Donald Trump containing a jacket made of fur and cashmere. It will be delivered to the US by the Russian Post. According to the Russian Post, the parcel was sent to the US on Friday from Sheremetyevo airport on a regular flight to New York. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again "outmaneuvered" US President Barack Obama by refraining from slapping reciprocal sanctions on American government agencies and expelling US diplomats, Earl Rasmussen, Executive Vice President of the Eurasia Center, told RIA Novosti. [...]

True to national emblem, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown bear-like stoicism. As for the presumed American eagle, US President Barack Obama appears more like a trussed-up turkey. Not for the first time, the contrast in character between Putin and Obama was illustrated in the latest diplomatic spat over alleged Russian hacking. [...]

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has posted a scathing Facebook comment on US President Barack Obama’s approval of new anti-Russian measures, arguing Obama’s “bitter” and “helpless” team did a disfavor to the White House’s reputation. Zakharova wrote that the outgoing president did not manage to leave “any” major foreign policy achievements as part of his [...]

The new chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has said he seeks to improve relations with Russia, as there can be no "positive developments" on the continent with the current punitive approach. Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said his country, Austria, will work to "gradually" ease sanctions imposed by the West against Russia in connection with Ukra [...]