Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview for Belarusian television that the US and NATO fears over the Zapad-2017 military exercises were just a pretext for the deployment of troops in Poland and the Baltic States.

According to Lavrov, "the West was not so much afraid but tried to use the exercises as an excuse to start hysteria."

"Everyone who wanted to come to these exercises found that everything was transparent. But, amid the growing hysteria, our American colleagues …

Over the past week, three Russians have asked for political asylum in Ukraine because of the persecution by Russian law enforcement, as reported on the website of the State Border Service.

"During last week three Russian citizens 45, 38 and 27 years old, who are being persecuted in the Russian Federation, asked employees of the State Border Service of Ukraine for refugee status," the report said.

Two Russians asked for asylum at the Kyiv Passazhyrsky  checkpoint . They wanted to be recognized …

Russian newspaper Kommersant reports that Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile systems (SRBMS) will be stationed in the Kaliningrad region on a permanent basis in the near future, citing a source close to the General Staff of Russia.

Until now, the newest SRBM systems had only been transferred to the region on a temporary basis.

The publication reports that the Iskanders will be put on combat duty in early 2018. The 152nd Guards Missile Brigade (Chernyakhovsk, Kaliningrad region) will …

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia has announced the possibility of a meeting between the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of the United States and Russia, to occur in Vienna on December 7-8, Radio Liberty reports.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that a meeting in Vienna between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is "being worked out."

The US Department of State previously reported that a meeting between Lavrov and Tillerson had …

The development of the Barguzin new generation railway strategic missile train (BZhRK) for Russia’s Strategic Missile Troops has been put on hold, as reported by journalists from the Rossiyskaya Gazeta – Russian Weaponry project, with reference to a source in Russia’s military and industrial complex.

“The development work on the Barguzin has been done. The experiment with an ejection launch was carried out successfully,” the Rossiyskaya Gazeta notes. At the beginning of this year, President …

President Vladimir Putin has put forward an agreement between Russia and South Ossetia for ratification by the State Duma, outlining the procedure for divisions of the armed forces of South Ossetia joining the Russian Army. The relevant document was published on the State Duma’s online database.

The initial document between Russia and South Ossetia was signed in Moscow on March 31.

In the middle of March, Putin gave the order for a document to be signed which would make it possible for …

On Saturday, the Ukrainian Naval Forces conducted PASSEX type joint training exercises with the US Navy’s James E. Williams destroyer, the press center of Ukraine’s Naval Command reported.

“On December 2, the Ukrainian Naval Forces together with the USS James Williams conducted PASSEX type training exercises. Two Ka-27 helicopters from the Ukrainian Navy were involved in the event,” the report states.

The goal of the exercises was to work on cooperation with partner-states’ ships according to …

President Petro Poroshenko stated at a meeting with business representatives on Friday, December 1 that the launch of the land market will be postponed for at least a year.

"We have so far failed to break through the defense of populists, who vehemently oppose the free circulation of agricultural land but I wish to underline my fundamental political stance. I am in favor of the land market," said the President.

Poroshenko explained that it is still necessary to do related work, such as …