Without waiting for MH17 crash investigators’ conclusions, NATO chief is eager to blame anti-Kiev forces, thus “exerting pressure” on the international team while providing no evidence to back the claims, Russia’s mission to NATO said. The Russian mission to NATO has said that the bloc's Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen “decided not to wait until the end of #MH17 investigation [...]

The Ukraine crisis is just one pretexts being used by NATO to create tensions with Russia as the alliance seeks a reason to exist, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. As NATO expands, it tries “to drive” all Europeans under its “roof,” he said. NATO “is looking for a new sense of existence,” Lavrov told Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency in an interview. “Russia turned up. If there [...]

Kiev keeps deploying missile launchers, including SS-21 (Scarab) and multiple rocket systems Uragan and Smerch in Donetsk as it "wants to continue the war" in eastern Ukraine, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The Ukrainian army continues deploy Tochka U [which NATO refers to as SS-21 or Scarab], Smerch [the BM-30 Tornado] and Uragan [the BM-27] missile complexes to Donetsk. [...]

US officials have confirmed Swedish media reports of a mid-July incident in which an American spy plane invaded Sweden's airspace as it was evading a Russian fighter jet. The maverick plane was spying on Russia when it was intercepted. The incident, which happened on July 18, went public last Wednesday after a classified document from Sweden’s Defense Ministry was leaked to the press. [...]

The turmoil gripping the Middle East is a direct result of the provision of cash, weapons and surveilla's "helpless detachment" is just for show, the Intercept's Glenn Greenwald writes. In a bold examination, the former Guardian journalist reveals the amazing contrast between what the United States says publicly, and what it does behind the curtain. [...]

More than 400 Ukrainian troops have been allowed to cross into Russia after requesting sanctuary. It's the largest, but not the first, case of desertion into Russia by Ukrainian soldiers involved in Kiev's military crackdown in the east of the country. [...]

Russian border checkpoint at the Gukovo crossing was shelled from the Ukrainian side twice on Sunday. OSCE observers and journalists were working at the checkpoint when it was attacked. The first shell exploded at Gukovo at around 13:55 Moscow time (0955 GMT), Russian border guard spokesman Vasily Malaev told Itar-Tass news agency. [...]

US steps to increase military cooperation with Ukraine, providing its National Guard arms and training amid Kiev's military operation, can be considered complicity in war crimes, Russian MP Irina Yarovaya believes. “In a situation, when the National Guard of Ukraine is leading punitive operations in the Donbass, the US promises to allocate $19 million for training and equipping this military [...]

In the latest step by Washington to increase the pressure on Russia's border with Ukraine, the Obama administration has informed Congress that the US will train and arm the Ukrainian National Guard next year, the Pentagon said. "The Defense Department and State Department have notified Congress of our intent to use $19 million in global security contingency fund authority to train and equip fou [...]

Israel gets signals from the US that it can do whatever it wants, so Tel-Aviv keeps refurbishing its weapons so that it could kill more Gazans, independent researcher and writer Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich told RT. It seems that we are having incremental ceasefires for an incremental genocide. One has to understand the thinking that is behind all this as much as one does regret a single death; I do [...]

An old Soviet Tu-143 reconnaissance drone allegedly deployed by the Ukrainian army has crashed near Donetsk, with local militia - obviously not aware of what that monstrosity was - claiming in the video to have downed Kiev's weapon of mass destruction. The YouTube video of the downed drone claims the archaic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down “at approximatly 13:30 local time near Sh [...]

The US has accused Moscow of violating a 1987 INF Treaty banning short and medium range ballistic and cruise missiles. Experts speculate whether Washington is nudging Moscow to pull out of a treaty to create a new "nuke bogey" and offer aegis to the EU. Washington says Russia has tested a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile thus breaching the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signe [...]

So Obama, Merkel, Cameron, Hollande and Renzi – let’s call them the Fab Five - got on a video conference call to muster their courage and “increase pressure” asking for a cease-fire in Gaza. Later in the day, Bibi delivers his answer, in plain language. He remains dead set on achieving his version of a Final Solution to Gaza. With or without “pressure”. [...]

No sooner than the White House condemned the shelling of a United Nations-operated school in Gaza on Wednesday did news break that the Pentagon will supply the Israeli military with new ammunition to further their campaign on the war-ravaged city. [...]

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has said Britain was not going to "launch a European war or send the fleet to the Black Sea" over the Ukraine crisis, applying economic pressure instead. Mr. Cameron, was addressing a Q&A session with staff at the headquarters of United Utilities in Warrington when he said that the West had to stand up to Russia. [...]

Comedian Russell Brand used his web series The Trews to blast Fox News’ Sean Hannity for “using intimidation, bullying” and overall hypocrisy during a segment in which the conservative host berates a pro-Palestinian guest about Israel’s offensive on Gaza. A recent segment on Hannity's show is prefaced with the host asking why “is America’s largest Muslim so-called civil rights group [...]

Two days of shelling in Gorlovka, in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine, have resulted in 31 civilians being killed there, local authorities say. Ukrainian troops and anti-government forces are blaming each other for the bloodshed. The town of Gorlovka witnessed more shelling Tuesday morning, RIA Novosti news agency reported. [...]

In the past two days Kiev's forces have launched several short-range ballistic missiles into areas in east Ukraine controlled by self-defense forces, CNN reports, citing US government sources. The move “marks a major escalation” in the Ukrainian crisis, CNN said. [...]

Inspectors who came to check the state of Russian troops along the Ukrainian borders have found no violations, Russia's Ministry of Defense said. This came as a response to the US alleging 15,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area. “It has come to our attention that new allegations by top US officials as to the alleged amassing of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border have been voice [...]