On Saturday, Ukrainian police said that power lines in southern Ukraine supplying the Crimean peninsula with electricity were blown up by activists from the group which launched the unsuccessful, Kiev-sanctioned 'food blockade' of the peninsula in September. Sputnik brings you up to speed on the energy blockade and its potential consequences. [...]

Members of the military bloc are anxious about the purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems by Turkey. Here is why. NATO fears "Moscow's eyes" on the territory of its member states, as the maintenance —400 anti-aircraft missile systems purchased by Turkey will require Russia's assistance, German Spiegel magazine wrote. [...]

This week, the top US diplomat announced fresh sanctions against four Chinese officials accused of “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy,” and said that the Trump administration was “not finished yet” in increasing pressure on the Chinese “Marxist-Leninist monster.” The Global Times, a newspaper which is an offshoot of the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated People’s Daily, has [...]

A Russian Su-24M tactical bomber was brought down over Syria by a Turkish Air Force fighter jet on Tuesday. Moscow and Ankara have put forward conflicting versions of what happened, and the circumstances of the crash remain under investigation. This is what is known so far. “Today at 9:30 the Russian aircraft, which performed combat counterterrorist missions was shot down by an aircraft of th [...]

US Senators have voted to block the sale of F-35s to Turkey, slamming their NATO ally for plans to buy Russian S-400 missile batteries. Ankara warned of “an alternative” should the deal be called off. The first of the 100 US-made F-35 fighter jets were to be delivered to Turkey on June 21 but now the whole deal might be off as the US Senators voted to kill the sale. [...]

After pandemic-related delays, Russia’s first electric car, called the Zetta, is set to enter serial production in late 2020, the country’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has revealed. The Zetta will roll off the production line in the city of Tolyatti, one of the major centers of Russia's automotive industry. The cars will first be sold on the domestic market, but the initial [...]

It’s been said, sometimes you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s taken away. So today, especially in light of the mayhem and confusion borne of continuous mass lies and deception from mainstream media, I am thankfully awake. Anyone who is awakened to the worldwide horrors the US, ISIS and their allies are imposing on the rest of humanity knows that the thing that makes these horror [...]

US President Donald Trump has demanded that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries do more to stop the surge in global gasoline prices. "The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up and they are doing little to help. If anything, they are driving prices higher as the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s. [...]

Over the past 15 years, RT has become indispensable by offering an alternative perspective on world events, newsmakers from all over the globe said, as they sent congratulations to the broadcaster on its anniversary. RT went on-air for the first time on December 10, 2005, from its studios in central Moscow. Since then, it has grown into a global news network, broadcasting 24/7 in English, Ara [...]

As Vice President, Dick Cheney was a prime architect of the worldwide torture regime implemented by the U.S. government (which extended far beyond waterboarding), as well as the invasion and destruction of Iraq which caused the deaths of at least 500,000 people and more likely over a million. [...]

Russia has commenced work on the Soyuz-5 rocket, expected to become an ultra-heavy vehicle for future space exploration missions, Roscosmos head has announced. A number of Russia’s flagship research and development centers began working on Soyuz-5 project, Roscosmos’ Director-General Dmitry Rogozin said on Twitter. [...]

GENOA, Italy - The report in the medical journal The Lancet on the safety and efficacy of the Russian vaccine against the novel coronavirus has put Sputnik V among the world's top vaccines, David Livermore, a member of the scientific advisory board on Sputnik V, said in an interview with Sputnik. On Tuesday, peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet published an interim analysis from the [...]

Britain must join forces with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin to defeat Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL), London Mayor Boris Johnson wrote in his weekly newspaper column. Johnson has also said the government’s claim there are 70,000 moderate rebel ground troops willing to work with British armed forces may be “exaggerated.” These troops, he wrote, ma [...]

The two powers have pledged to join forces amid renewed tensions with western nations in recent months, including further financial support from sanctions and concerns about state sovereignty. Beijing will boost cooperation with Russia as western countries slap further sanctions on Moscow, it was reported on Monday. [...]

The American middle class is shrinking. For the first time in more than four decades, middle-income households have lost their majority status in the U.S., according to new findings, and are now outnumbered by their counterparts on opposite ends of the income spectrum. [...]

While Joe Biden has vowed to "press" Moscow on human rights issues in Geneva, he may be given a dose of his own medicine one day given Washington's record of human rights abuses both at home and abroad, according to economist and author Dr. Paul Craig Roberts. President Joe Biden has vowed to bring up human rights issues during an upcoming meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Put [...]

Amid the nation’s terrorism fears, President Barack Obama's approval rating has plummeted to nearly a record low. It now stands at 43 percent, as seven in 10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent poll. [...]

A recently leaked study reveals the extent to which the British government wants to manipulate public opinion in the Balkan countries. And there are no prizes for guessing who is getting portrayed as ‘the bad guy’… Among a tranche of leaked UK government documents related to covert actions in the Balkans is a fascinating secret study, conducted by professional services firm WYG and pol [...]

An annotated version of Hitler’s infamous “Mein Kampf,” banned in Germany for decades, will hit the bookshelves in January. Now it will become part of the school curriculum to “immunize” teenagers against fascist ideas, the German Teachers’ Association says. [...]

A court in Austria has sentenced a teenage refugee from Afghanistan to 30 months in prison, of which he is only obliged to serve 10 months after he sexually abused a girl, age seven. The victim was awarded €500 in compensation. On Wednesday a court in Ried, Upper Austria reached a verdict concerning the shocking case of an Afghan teen who had lured a seven-year-old neighbor to a basement be [...]

Official Washington says it welcomes freedom of thought, but there is a startling absence of diverse opinions especially on key foreign-policy topics, such as Russia’s President Putin. In those cases, shallow “group think” prevails and belligerent “information warfare” rules, as Gilbert Doctorow observes. [...]

Moscow has announced that it will completely suspend the operations of its mission to NATO, two weeks after the US-led bloc expelled eight Russian diplomats for alleged 'undisclosed espionage' at its Brussels headquarters. Speaking on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also revealed that the NATO information bureau in Moscow will be forced to shut down as part of retaliatory measu [...]