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. [...]

Moscow and Tehran are holding talks on digging a ship canal from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, said Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanai, speaking to students in St. Petersburg. Any canal linking the two has to go through Iran. "Yes, this issue is being discussed", said the ambassador on Thursday without specifying details, quoted by TASS. [...]

Beijing is ready to transfer some of its shipyards as well as chemical and steel plants to Russia’s Far East. Russia is interested, but says this can only be done in full compliance with local environmental laws. "We are ready to accept Chinese enterprises to establish joint export-oriented production in the Far East territory", said a spokesman for the Far East Development Department Rustam [...]

The Austrian President Heinz Fischer says the EU has to find a way to lift sanctions against Russia. "I always say that sanctions are disadvantageous for both sides," Fischer said at Wednesday’s meeting with Russia's State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin. "It is important to find a way to lift them in the near future." [...]

Washington is behind the recently released offshore revelations known as the Panama Papers, WikiLeaks has claimed, saying that the attack was “produced” to target Russia and President Putin. On Wednesday, the international whistleblowing organization said on Twitter that the Panama Papers data leak was produced by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), "which targets [...]

Washington seems to agree with Russia that the Syrian people should decide whether President Bashar Assad remains in power. During a briefing, US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said it is up to the Syrian people to decide the future government. [...]

Austrian armed forces are ready to cooperate with Moscow as “Russia is much closer to Austria than other major world powers,” chief of the Austrian General Staff said in Moscow, according to TASS. Vienna’s top military figure noted that one of the reasons for his visit to the Russian capital was to disobey others’ orders. [...]

Obama’s nuclear summit in Washington has been overshadowed by the absence of Russia. It is an absence that stands as an indictment of the lack of harmony and cooperation that continues to exist despite the growth of international terrorism. [...]

U.S. politicians love the “silver bullet” of economic sanctions to punish foreign adversaries, but the weapon’s overuse is driving China and Russia to develop countermeasures, as British diplomat Alastair Crooke explains. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told a large group of people in the holy city of Mashhad on Sunday that “The Americans did not act on what they promised in the [I [...]

Russia’s decision to deploy advanced coastal missile systems on the Kuril Islands and explore the possibility of setting up a permanent naval base for its Pacific Fleet on the island chain is a signal to the US that its 'Pivot to Asia' will have severe limitations, according to a former Indian diplomat. [...]

“One day they sell energy, the next they blow up power lines,” said Crimea's First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Sheremet, adding that the peninsula is done with energy supplied from Ukraine. "We have definitely decided to abandon supplies of Ukrainian electric energy. We do not need it. [...]