The economic burden of Western sanctions has pushed Russia to the east in search of business opportunities. Judging by the outcome of President Putin’s visit to India - 20 high-profile deals struck – Moscow’s ‘pivot to Asia’ is getting a warm welcome. Russian President Vladimir Putin achieved this during his visit to India spanning 23 hours and 15 minutes and at a summit meeting with [...]

The lack of doctors and medicines in the eastern Ukrainian conflict zone is putting lives at risk says a new World Health Organization report, which describes the situation on the ground as "not just a humanitarian crisis." “No child has been vaccinated in the areas affected by conflict since September 2014, sending polio vaccine coverage down to less than 30-40 percent,” the WHO report rea [...]

When President Putin makes his lightning one-day visit to India, the main thing on his mind will be power. He'll be discussing nuclear cooperation and energy when he meets Prime Minister Modi. “Nuclear energy cooperation is one of the pillars of our strategic partnership. We concluded two inter-governmental agreements in this field in 2008 and in 2010,” Putin said in an interview with India [...]

Former congressman Ron Paul has lashed out at the resolution the House passed against Russia, branding it "one of the worst pieces of legislation ever." It could even pave the way for a potential war with Russia, as it was with Iraq, he warns. Resolution 758 strongly condemns the actions of Russia under Vladimir Putin, for what it describes as a policy of “aggression against neighboring count [...]

Russia is launching a new national defense facility, which is meant to monitor threats to national security in peacetime, but would take control of the entire country in case of war. The new top-security, fortified facility in Moscow includes several large war rooms, a brand new supercomputer in the heart of a state-of-the-art data processing center, underground facilities, secret transport rou [...]

The build-up of NATO forces in Eastern Europe is hostile and destabilizes the Baltic, once the safest region in Europe, a senior Russian diplomat charged. The alliance's chief accused Moscow of conducting aggressive exercises close to NATO borders. The trade of accusations between Russia and NATO continued on Monday ahead of a NATO ministerial meeting this week. [...]

Are the US, NATO and Russia on a mad spiral leading to war in Europe? Is it inevitable? Far from it. The US-propelled vassal Petro Poroshenko, currently starring in the oligarch dance in Ukraine this week advanced the proposition that Ukrainians in the near future, after his “reforms”, will be asked to vote on whether to join NATO. [...]

Ukraine's anti-government CyberBerkut hacker group published documents allegedly showing Kiev's detailed demands for money from the US military, and Washington agreeing to giving them support. According to hacktivists, who made the documents public on Tuesday, the Ukrainian military have recently been asking for and being promised financial support from the United States, worth hundreds of thou [...]

Protesters who went out to Kiev's Maidan Square exactly a year ago have their goal "a deal with the EU " achieved. However, they hardly expected the protest would also trigger a bloody civil war which has already claimed 4,000 lives. RT takes a look at the milestone events of the past 365 days, which brought Ukraine – and the world – to where it is now. [...]

Settlements in yuan between China and Russia have increased ninefold in annual terms between January and September 2014, says the Chinese Ministry of Economic Development. "The settlement in national currencies between China and Russia in bilateral trade amounted to about 2 percent in 2013. [...]

The Russian ruble continued its fight back on Friday to move above 46 against the US dollar, as the price of Brent crude slid over the $80 per barrel threshold. The US dollar has fallen to 45.62 rubles Friday at 3PM Moscow time on the Moscow Exchange. The euro has fallen to 56.69 rubles. [...]

A whole parking lot's worth of luxury Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Mercedes Benzes went up in flames in downtown Moscow in the early hours of morning. Their estimated worth was about $3.3 million... and they may all be owned by the same person. Arson is suspected at this time, according to authorities. [...]

The Western and Kiev governments' commitment to resolve the Ukrainian conflict exists only in words, while their policies are aimed at the escalation of the crisis as the Minsk agreements are not respected, geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser told RT. RT: President Putin said at the G20 summit that the interests of all the people in Ukraine should be taken into account when solving the crisis. I [...]

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has called the US president a 'lame duck.' Commenting on the recent G20 summit in Australia, Gorbachev said he was disappointed in Obama and that he 'thought better' of the American leader. "Obama is a lame duck. One must not finish the job in such a mediocre way. He just decided to throw accusations around. He will be of no avail any more, unfortunatel [...]

The West should not wait for Russia to solve the Ukraine crisis, but should instead try to influence the extreme policies of its "clients" in Kiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Hubert Seipel of the German channel ARD ahead of the G20 summit. Hubert Seipel: Good afternoon, Mr President. You are the only Russian President who has ever given a speech at the Bundestag. [...]

It's astounding that the EU and US don't realize that by limiting Russia's access to international capital, they're actually undermining the financial wellbeing of Ukraine, which is credited by Russian banks, Vladimir Putin told German TV channel ARD. The Russian President said that the country's banks "have currently extended a $25-billion loan to the Ukrainian economy.” [...]

CIS countries should unite in order to resist the vast media and sanction pressure from the West, which is aimed at hampering the integration in Eurasia, a Russian senator says. “Today the area of totalitarian manipulation of the media extends to the Eurasian integration. [...]

Vladimir Putin says the G20 must address global imbalances together, and economic isolation, especially in the case of sanctions, which not only leads nowhere but is a crude violation of international economic law. Here are the Russian president’s top takeaways he gave in an interview to TASS ahead of the G20 summit being held in Brisbane, Australia from November 14-15. [...]

Russia will make financial claims to France if the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers is not delivered by the end of November, an anonymous high-ranking source told RIA Novosti, adding that the sum of the forfeit will be revealed. "We are preparing for different scenarios. We are waiting until the end of the month [the fulfillment of Mistral deal], then we will make serious claims," the s [...]

Doing away with the US dollar and switching to ruble and yuan payments will significantly increase Russia and China's say in energy and financial markets, Vladimir Putin has said, adding that the first deals are already underway. In short the President said the US dollar has no future, and that the ruble and the yuan have better long-term prospects. [...]

The Bank of Russia took another step towards a free float ruble by abolishing the dual currency soft peg, as well as automatic interventions. Before, the bank propped up the ruble when the exchange rate against the euro and dollar exceeded its boundaries. "Instead, we will intervene in the currency market at whichever moment and amount needed to decrease the speculative demand,” the bank’s [...]

Twenty-five years after that embodiment of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, was torn down by ecstatic Germans, the world observes the anniversary as it rushes headlong towards a new confrontation. As the celebration unfolds in Berlin to rejoice in a unified country – and to some extent a unified world – some of the people who shaped the events two-and-a-half decades ago approach the date in a [...]