On Thursday, Germany's populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party presented its pre-election program in Berlin. The main political agenda of the party remains the same: a sharp restriction of immigration and a more resolute expulsion of illegal migrants. The draft of the pre-election program during a joint press conference in Berlin was presented by three party representatives: Albrecht G [...]

Over the past few years millions of people have been forced to leave Syria, a country still gripped by war. Thousands of Russian-speaking women were living in Syria with their husbands and hundreds of them stayed behind when the conflict erupted. Sputnik correspondent Mikhail Alaeddin met with one such family residing in Damascus. The sunny and cozy apartment in Damascus where a woman named Ev [...]

When the global military empire takes money from programs that poor people depend on and gives it to rich military contractors - it is a theft and looting of the national budget, says Brian Becker, the National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition. [...]

I sometimes wonder what Путин must make of the Western media obsession with him. Do his ears burn each day with all the new articles, broadcasts, social media mentions – the myriad voices, guided by the Western political and media establishments, speculating, characterizing, creating – “Putin”? [...]

The world's first man in space Yuri Gagarin was born 83 years ago, on March 9, 1934. Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first man in outer space when the Vostok-1 spacecraft with the Soviet cosmonaut on board was launched from the Baikonur space center on April 12, 1961, at 6:07 AM local time, marking a new era in human history.  Yuri Gagarin's Birthday First woman in space Valentina [...]

The extent of WikiLeaks' latest exposure is surprising and shocking, Australian researcher David Glance told Radio Sputnik, suggesting that the leak has dealt a heavy blow to both the CIA's image and US national security. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks signals that it has released less than one percent of its damning Vault 7. [...]

Nearly 150,000 Russian nationals returned to live in Russia in 2016, according to statistics obtained by the Izvestia newspaper from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the agency charged with monitoring migration trends. About 30,000 of them came from EU countries, marking a rising trend. [...]

WikiLeaks is holding a press conference following the release of the first part of 'Vault 7,' the largest archive of CIA-related classified documents yet. Follow the live feed to find out more. Notice that there seem to be interruptions with the stream. [...]

Watching Washington attack one sovereign state after another since the collapse of the Soviet Union prompts the question: Are we Americans behaving out of some inherent aggression, or is this just old-fashioned empire building by a global superpower? [...]

Oil prices continued to fall on Thursday after substantial losses the previous day, dragged down by a surge in US inventories. The major benchmarks were down over a dollar with Brent crude trading at $51.87 per barrel. [...]

FBI Director James Comey has warned that absolute privacy does not exist in the US, noting that a judge can compel anyone to testify about their communications – and even their memories. There is no such thing as absolute privacy in America," Comey told a cybersecurity conference in Boston on Wednesday, while speaking about the rise of encryption since whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed Na [...]

The WikiLeaks ‘Vault 7’ data dump allegedly detailing CIA hacking tactics has again thrown the privacy of electronic devices into focus. One viral video showing an Amazon Echo refusing to confirm a link to the US spy agency is summing up people’s fears. [...]

Berlin is not accusing Russia of interfering in the electoral process in Germany and the creation of fake news, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has told a press conference in Moscow. When asked by a reporter to comment on German media allegations that Moscow was behind the creation of fake news and alleged interference in the country’s electoral process, Gabriel said the government wou [...]

Beijing has called on the US to stop its hacking practices against China and other countries, following a WikiLeaks release which reportedly exposes the CIA’s extensive hacking capabilities and lists Chinese routers as targets. [...]

German Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel, who is in Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, says that Germany fears a new arms race in Europe. “We are concerned that a new spiral of the arms race may emerge in Europe,” he said, as cited by TASS. “It’s too early to say how and in what direction we could advance to prevent this.” [...]

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has branded the claims that Russia poses a threat to Europe “a big scam.” She believes that the real danger is “carrying out a Cold War against Russia and pushing Russia into China’s arms,” she said in a CBS interview. [...]

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has promised to press Washington loosen its economic restrictions on Iran, as it promised to do as part of last year’s nuclear deal. During a public speech during a landmark two-day economic cooperation visit to Tehran, Gabriel said Germany intends to "remind the United States of the commitment to get to an effective dismantling of sanctions." [...]

Russia has delivered over 6 tonnes of humanitarian aid to residents of the Syrian city of Aleppo and Damascus province. Russian servicemen have delivered over 6 tonnes (metric tons) of humanitarian aid to residents of the Syrian city of Aleppo and Damascus province, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation informs in its daily bulletin. [...]

Montenegrin prosecutors' conclusions about Russia's alleged involvement in Montenegro's internal affairs are absurd, to say the least, Russian political analyst Vladimir Kireyev told Sputnik. In an interview with Sputnik, Russian political analyst Vladimir Kireyev slammed Montenegrin prosecutors' allegations regarding Moscow's involvement in Montenegro's domestic affairs as absurd [...]

Western irrational fear of Russia – Russophobia – is no longer a random prejudice. It has become endemic pathological thinking among Western states. Divorced from reality this mindset has become psychotic. [...]

NATO needs to change its mission and the NATO-Russian Council should be revitalized, said former Pentagon official, Michael Maloof. Defense analyst, Ivan Eland, said Russia would like to know it is not facing a hostile alliance right on its borders. [...]

Understanding the intentions of Russian leaders is easy these days, you just have to listen to what they say. This isn’t understood in the West, where policymakers and the media haven’t moved on from the Cold War and foolishly regard Russia as more mysterious than it is. [...]