Italy’s Deputy PM Matteo Salvini has said that an investigation into a “Ukrainian group’s” plot to kill him was what led to a major seizure of weapons, including an air-to-air missile and neo-Nazi memorabilia, by police this week. [...]

A British writer and journalist Edward Lucas, one of the pioneers of the theory presenting Russia as an existential threat to the US and the European Union, several years ago coined the term of “whataboutism.” The term is supposed to denote the inclination of Russian media to question the moral ground of Western accusations against Russia by pointing to the West's own failures: "What ab [...]

The US erodes global security and seeks “absolute superiority,” but Beijing won’t follow the “beaten track” of big powers in seeking hegemony, focusing instead on having a “world-class” army, says a new Chinese military document. [...]

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the Nord Stream-2 and Turkish Stream gas pipeline projects would be implemented on time, regardless of the new US law that expands sanctions against Moscow. Political analyst Alex Zubets told Radio Sputnik that Brussels is well aware of its own interests and is likely to back the project. [...]

If the iconography and tone of Hong Kong protests and the support from US diplomats weren’t enough, Washington’s words of concern sure seem to suggest that the months-long demonstrations amount to a ‘color revolution.’ [...]

Russian MP and former chief prosecutor of Crimea, Natalya Poklonskaya, has said she is ready to testify in court on the events of 2013-2014 in Ukraine, which she called “the assassination” of the country by its current leaders. Poklonskaya was commenting in Moscow on the ruling of a Kiev court that allowed Ukrainian prosecutors to continue her trial in absentia. [...]

Russian mobile operator MTS has teamed up with Chinese tech giant Huawei for a 5G pilot scheme in Moscow and Kronshtadt, where for the first time the super-fast network will cover almost the entire city. The agreement between the two parties was signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia in June, when he met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and took part in the St. [...]

In the follow up to the results of the Catalan referendum on independence and the stern crackdown of the Spanish central government against voters, Czech Communist MEP Jaromír Kohlíček told Sputnik Czech that Madrid is likely to have more problems as it has other autonomous communities which desire more sovereignty. [...]

The resounding success of two anti-immigrant parties in the Austrian elections, with the right-wing Freedom Party (FPO) delivering one of the strongest performances in more than a decade, is a direct result of Europe’s open border policies, analysts say. According to the preliminary results published by the Austrian interior ministry, Kurz’s conservative People’s Party (OVP) has taken a clea [...]

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Nitze, armed with surface-to-air and Tomahawk cruise missiles, was redeployed off the northeast coast of Saudi Arabia, as part of the US effort to “plug the holes” in its ally’s air defenses. [...]

The US’ obsession with “proving” alleged “Russian meddling” in the 2016 election and America’s subsequent institutional destruction as a result will go down in history as representing the suicide of this former superpower’s soft power. [...]

An unlikely road meeting of US and Syrian troops was captured in northern Syria as the American vehicles were retreating from the Kurdish-held town of Kobani, while the Syrians rushed to protect it from the Turkish-led offensive. Getting American and Syrian government forces into a single image is quite a difficult task despite the protracted – and illegal – US military presence in the war-tor [...]

This is how an EU-funded group of arms experts went to Iraq and Syria to explore Islamic State’s well-oiled manufacturing machine, only to find that the US routinely violated arms control clauses. [...]

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden – who, back in the good old Obama administration days, lobbied for the arming of ‘moderate’ rebels in Syria – slammed Trump for downgrading the US military to an oilfield occupation force. “Leaving troops behind like [Trump’s] doing now – he says that what he wants to do is we’re going to occupy the oil fields and we’re going to take [...]

The number of crimes committed by “foreigners” in Austria increased to 40 percent of the total in 2016, a new government report says. Interior Minister Herbert Kickl says a “strict asylum policy” is needed to tackle the issue. [...]

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will not abandon the Russian S-400 air defence systems in order to buy American Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a statement that Ankara may insist that the US leave Incirlik air base if Washington goes ahead with the sanctions it has threatened in response to Turkey's purchase [...]

About 1.5 million refugees have arrived in Germany since 2015, prompting local authorities to allocate huge sums for migration-related issues. Speaking to Sputnik, Professor Bernd Raffelhuschen from the University of Freiburg specifically focused on the long-term costs of pensions and sickness insurance for migrants. [...]

Chelsea Manning is being subjected to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, constituting torture by the US government over her refusal to testify against whistleblower website WikiLeaks, a top United Nations official has said. UN special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer accused the government of torturing Manning in a November letter, which was just released on Tuesday. In the letter, Melzer [...]

The US' determination to maintain its presence in Syria is primarily about crude and pipelines, not security issues, geopolitical analyst Phil Butler told Sputnik. Meanwhile, it appears that the Turks may undermine the US' plans. Following the defeat of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL), Washington continues its proxy war in Syria, Phil Butler, a geopolitical analyst and author of "Putin's Praetorians: Confession [...]

Central banks around the world will continue printing money as long as it’s necessary, says legendary investor Jim Rogers, calling it “madness.” He talks to RT’s Boom Bust about the state of the global economy and what could be over the horizon. Never before in world history have interest rates been so low, Rogers says. The US’ central bank, the Fed, increased its balance sheet by over 5 [...]

Anti-Russian sanctions have achieved nothing other than placing a significant burden on the German economy, prime ministers of two German federal states have argued, calling on fellow regional leaders to demand their lifting. [...]

As many heads of state skipped WEF-2020, most discussions focused on business and the economy. But Wednesday’s panel meeting on Russia turned into a heated debate, with its participants arguing about bias and outdated stereotypes. Relations between Moscow and the West dominated the agenda at the “Strategic Outlook on Russia” – a World Economic Forum panel discussion, which also focused on [...]