Two new divisions will be set up in the Western Military District while one division will be set up in the Southern Military District. Russia will set up two new divisions in its Western Military District and one division in its Southern Military District to counteract NATO buildup near its borders, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday. [...]

The US has long relied on financial sanctions as a preferred weapon against its adversaries. However, in Russia's case, it turned out to be an “outright failure” and the West should admit this. Let’s have a look why. Washington’s favorite economic power tool has been so overused, it’s becoming ineffective and, in some cases, even counterproductive [...]

There are at least four reasons why Washington should not ban Russian RD-180 engines, Loren B. Thompson and Constance Baroudos of the Lexington Institute pointed out. Whether US Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, likes it or not, Washington is unlikely to ban Russian RD-180 rocket engines anytime soon, and with good reason. [...]

The U.S. government doesn’t want to admit that its heady “unipolar” days are over with Russia no longer the doormat of the 1990s, but Washington’s arrogance risks war, even nuclear annihilation, explains Gilbert Doctorow. In Moscow, the preparations for the May 9th Victory Day parade began in the middle of the final week of April. [...]

A few decades ago, Russia's Aeroflot was notoriously considered to be among the world's worst airlines. Now it ranks among the world's best. The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten took a closer glance at the miraculous transformation. Today, Aeroflot's fleet consists mainly of new and modern Boeing and Airbus aircrafts, the average age being just 4.5 years. [...]

More and more the Western media is acknowledging that Russia is emerging as a great power and its economy is far from being “in tatters”, as was earlier suggested by President Obama. “The unthinkable has become a reality. Russia, seemingly finished after its defeat in the Cold War, is now emerging as a prospective great power challenging the West   [...]

Damascus and Moscow have signed nearly a billion dollars worth of agreements to rebuild war-torn Syria, according to the Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi. The two countries intend to develop energy, trade, finance and other sectors of the economy. [...]

No side wins from the sanctions introduced by the European Union against Russia, it is necessary to find a way that would lead to the removal of most of them, Austrian President Heinz Fischer said Wednesday. Fischer arrived on an official two-day visit to Moscow on Tuesday at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation. [...]

Syrian moderate opposition has failed to withdraw from areas controlled by Al-Nusra Front terrorists, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, blaming the US for failing to exert influence on the opposition and questioned its claims of being moderate. Washington has itself earlier raised the issue of moderate opposition forces, who are part of the ceasefire agreement in Syria, being present [...]

Chief of the General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Othmar Commenda said that Russia for Austria is much closer than other great powers. The Austrian Armed Forces are ready to develop cooperation with Russia, despite recommendations of other world powers, the Chief of the General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Othmar Commenda said Wednesday. [...]

Russian President Putin appeared on top of his game as he fielded questions from across Russia in his annual Q&A event which focused on concerns about the economy, as Gilbert Doctorow describes. Anyone watching Russian state television in the past weeks would have been keenly aware that Thursday was D-day, the day of the annual marathon Q&A session of President Vladimir Putin with the n [...]

Appearing at the XXIV Assembly of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council on April 9, 2016, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov openly said the country was adopting a polycentric paradigm for its foreign policy: “…one can observe the general trends, and we are trying to reflect them in our basic doctrinal documents, including the National Security Strategy, the Foreign Policy Concept w [...]

To answer the dilemma whether “Panama papers” are part of the informational war, we need to look at the list of directly or indirectly mentioned persons. Who is and who is not mentioned in the papers? And who was financially assisted this operation? Because, “Consortium of Investigative Journalism” does not work for free? Or it just works for the ideals of the world freed of tax havens and [...]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has accused the West of breaking promises made after the fall of the Iron Curtain, saying that NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe violated commitments made during the negotiations over German reunification. Newly discovered documents from Western archives [...]

Despite Western media dominance, the U.S. government wants to stop the world from hearing the “other side” on foreign disputes by “countering” or discrediting those voices, explains Jonathan Marshall.  By Jonathan Marshall  “[Russia] is conducting an intensive propaganda campaign [...]

A minor incident in the Baltic Sea has the Pentagon up in arms over what they’re calling a "simulated attack" by Russian jets. While sailing through the Baltic on Tuesday, the USS Donald Cook reported that Russian aircraft performed repeated flybys within 30 feet of the destroyer. [...]

The Obama administration plans to prevent Russia from selling its Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighters to Iran by vetoing the approval for the possible deal at the UN Security Council, but the US president could well cross his latest self-imposed "red line" like he's done in the past, Washington Times columnist L. Todd Wood asserted. "I doubt that the Kremlin will be stopped in their desire to ear [...]

The Russian companies will be given a priority in the restoration of the country following the civil war, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader Halqi said Sunday as quoted by a Russian lawmaker. In March, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Damascus would lean primarily on Russia, China and Iran in rebuilding the country after five years of destruction. [...]

That integrity is a foreign land where Washington is concerned is an inarguable fact. In the latest example, the failure to complete the construction of a nuclear disposal plant agreed with Russia once again leaves Washington’s credibility in tatters. Underlying this issue is the attempt by the US federal government to alter the terms of the agreement it signed with Russia in 2000 [...]

While Putin has amazed the internet with an impromptu interpretation for a German politician in St. Petersburg, that is only one of many episodes when Russia’s president proved he could break any language barrier to convey a message or discharge tension. Thursday’s incident at a St. Petersburg forum, which saw Putin casually translating for former State Secretary of the German Defense Minis [...]

NATO and Russia will meet for the first time since the military bloc suspended all cooperation with Moscow in 2014. Ukraine, Afghanistan, and military relations will be among the topics discussed at the meeting set to be held within the next two weeks. “Following consultations with Russia, we have agreed to hold a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at Ambassadorial level,” the bloc said in [...]

The Russian president has surprised the audience at a forum in St. Petersburg, by allowing his German language skills to shine. He stepped in as translator for the former West German Defense Secretary Willy Wimmer. Wimmer had something to say on the topic of the national idea and value system that identifies Russia. [...]