The legislative assembly of the Italian province of Tuscany has unanimously backed a resolution urging the lifting of the EU’s sanctions against Russia, following in the footsteps of several of the country’s other regions. The vote at Tuscany’s Regional Council, where the majority is held by the ruling Democratic party, took place on Wednesday. [...]

Russia is not a threat to Europe; on the contrary, Washington is attempting to provoke Moscow into fighting a 'civil war' with Ukraine. That's according to renowned German playwright Rolf Hochhuth, who laid down his views on relations between Russia and the West in an interview with Germany's Hessische/Niedersachsische Allgemeine newspaper. [...]

Russia has become the first member of the Treaty on Open Skies to be allowed to use digital surveillance equipment during its observation flights. Moscow, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, will be able to maintain this technological advantage over Canada, Italy, France, the UK and the US, who still use analog cameras, for several years. [...]

Britain’s stunning referendum vote to leave the European Union has thrown a cat among the pigeons, not least in Washington, where it is feared that the “Brexit” could scupper its anti-Russian policy. That tacit policy is a foundation of the postwar international order whereby Washington – thanks to its trusty British acolyte – has been able to exert hegemony over Europe. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has received a letter in which his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized for the death of the pilot who was killed when a Russian jet was downed over the Syrian-Turkish border last November, the Kremlin said. [...]

As the U.S. and NATO mount provocative military maneuvers on Russia’s border, the West is oblivious to how these threatening gestures ratchet up prospects of thermonuclear war that could extinguish civilization, says Gilbert Doctorow. In his eulogy to Mohammed Ali at the Louisville memorial service, Rabbi Michael Lerner reminded us all of the distinguishing feature of “The Greatest,” that [...]

Russia 'is poised to release emails from Hillary Clinton's private server', report claims Kremlin is ready to give green light on releasing the emails, report says Clinton has maintained no emails were intercepted by foreign sources But OilPrice.com cites US intelligence sources saying that they were Clinton would be at risk of violating Espionage Act if foreign governments or sources accessed cl [...]

Andreas Maurer, chairman of the Die Linke party branch in the town of Quakenbrück in Lower Saxony, became the first German politician to publicly advocate recognizing Crimea as a part of Russia. Maurer, who recently returned from his trip to the Crimean Peninsula, told Sputnik that because [...]

Siberian scientists have created an artificial heart they claim will be up to five times cheaper than its western alternatives. Doctors hope to test the first implants on animals this autumn. The new artificial heart design created by a team of cardiologists from the Novosibirsk State Research Institute of Circulation Pathology was unveiled at a medical forum in Novosibirsk on Thursday. [...]

Germany has no alterative than to reconcile itself with NATO's strategy, experts say, commenting on Berlin's plans to include Russia in its top ten major threats list. However, it is unlikely that NATO will use Germany as a 'battering ram' against Russia, they say. [...]

Over the past 10 years US companies have invested $5.8 billion in commercial real estate in Russia, the biggest among other foreign investors, according to consulting company Knight Frank. Overall foreign investments to Russian commercial real estate over the past 10 years have reached $15.9 billion. US companies account for 36.5 percent of the total sum. [...]

The Head of the Crimean regional German national-cultural autonomy of Crimea, Yury Hempel, criticized the new defense doctrine of the German authorities in which Russia is viewed as a global threat. Earlier, German newspaper Die Welt, citing governmental sources, reported that Germany's new defense doctrine, which is currently in the final stage of its preparation, will view Russia as one of th [...]

The US strategy in Europe is aimed at strengthening its control over EU and NATO states, selling more military equipment to its European allies to make super-profits for its military-industrial complex and to isolate Russia, political author Diana Johnstone told RT. [...]

The Central Bank of Russia became the world's leading purchaser of gold when it bought 356,000 ounces of the precious metal in February, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China took second place; its Central Bank purchased about 320,000 ounces of gold in February, according [...]

The Europeans have let themselves to be drawn into an ‘insane march on Russia’ by concentrating the largest amount of military hardware on Russia’s borders since the Second World War, putting Europe at risk of a hot conflict. However, if there is one spark, Europe will be the first victim, according to Danish author Jens Jorgen Nielsen. [...]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out with her approval for the creation of a common economic zone between the European Union and Russia. The chancellor made the statement during a congress of the regional branch of the Christian Democratic Union in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. [...]

With Washington undertaking the greatest military expansion in world history, oblivious to the global ramifications of its sheer arrogance and audacity, the time is ripe for Russia to make a symbolic gesture in America’s backyard. At the time of this writing, three US B-52 Stratofortress Bombers have just departed from a US airbase in North Dakota, [...]

In the upcoming government security policy guidebook currently being prepared by the German Defense Ministry, Russia will be designated one of 10 major challenges on par with terrorists, migrants and global climate change, reported Die Welt. The so-called White Paper is to be released sometime after the British referendum on EU membership, [...]

Four illegal oil production facilities controlled by the terrorist group Daesh, also known as IS/Islamic State, have been destroyed by Russian fighter jets. "Russian air force jets destroyed four targets of illegal oil extraction, located to the northwest of Raqqa and controlled by Daesh militants," Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement. [...]

Investors from Russia and Saudi Arabia have cut their combined holdings of US securities by more than $50 billion between mid 2014 and 2015, reports the Financial Times. Over the period, Saudi Arabia reduced its holdings by $26 billion, according to an annual US Treasury survey published earlier this week. [...]

The belief that Vladimir Putin single-handedly “manufactured” the current conflict with the West to win domestic support, spark a surge in Russian patriotism and hold on to power at any cost, has been a staple of mainstream Western analysis of Russia since the Ukraine crisis began. That same belief — that Putin manufactures crises or otherwise inserts Moscow into them to distract an antsy [...]

Almost uniformly, the western think tankers and media types who comment on Russia purport to be strongly concerned with freedom. After all, the central tenet of their anger with the country’s rulers is what they perceive as a lack of democracy. The usual charge goes something like this. Putin is a “dictator” who is suppressing the liberty loving Russian people and crippling their hopes and d [...]