Russia has begun establishing a permanent contingent in Syria’s Tartus and Hmeimim military bases, said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu during a conference call on Tuesday.

“Last week, the supreme commander-in-chief [Putin] approved the structure and staff of the main bases in Tartus and Hmeimim. We have started establishing a permanent group there,” Shoygu stated.

According to Shoygu, 59.5% of Russian troops in Syria are equipped with modern weapons and the combat readiness of all the …

On Monday, December 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the activities of "some companies" in social networks to be monitored during the upcoming presidential elections. He also called for an assessment of the extent of their involvement in domestic politics.

He did not directly name any of the companies, nor did he differentiate any particular concerns between the activities of foreign or local firms. However, Putin’s call comes in the aftermath of accusations by the United States …

On Monday, December 25, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation denied oppositionist Alexei Navalny’s registration as a presidential candidate in the 2018 elections. The meeting of a group of voters in support of Navalny’s self-nomination to the Russian presidential elections was within the law, said Central Electoral Commission head Ella Pamfilova; however, she said, Navalny cannot run due to undischarged previous convictions.

Commission member Boris Ebzeyev pointed …

The Kremlin declared that Moscow has made no decision concerning the supply of defensive weapons to the separatist-controlled territory of the eastern Ukraine following the US decision to supply Kyiv with such weapons.

"No decisions have been made regarding this," Russian President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on December 25. According to him, the Kremlin has a negative attitude toward the US decision to supply Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank complexes.

On December 23, US State Department …

The first vice-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the President's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the issues of the Donbas, Iryna Herashchenko spoke with journalists on the night of December 25 after meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

In answer to questions from the journalists of 112 Ukraine TV, she declared that currently, 170 citizens of Ukraine are being illegally detained in separatist-held Donbas. Ukrayinski Pravda published several details about the …

A German political scientist claims that many facts indicate that North Korea’s successfully launched missiles were actually produced in China and Russia.

Joachim Krause, a German political scientist and the head of the Institute for Security Policy in Kiel made these assertions in an article for the German edition of Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Krause claims that Moscow poses as a level-headed mediator in the conflict but plays a double game, so the West should ask Putin how Pyongyang provoked an …

Paweł Józef Stańczak was appointed to the post of chairman of Ukraine's gas network operator, PJSC Ukrtransgaz, according to ZN.ua with reference to sources in the NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine.

Stańczak, a Polish specialist was elected to the post of president of Ukrtransgaz as early as August 2017 with a reported one-year contract. A little later, it became known that the SBU would be delaying his appointment as head of the company.

"The SBU did not give a definitive answer about the admission …

The Head of the Central Election Commission or CEC of the Russian Federation, Ella Pamfilova claimed foreign interference in the elections of the President of the Russian Federation, which the CEC had already faced.

Pamfilova stated during her interview in Itogi Nedeli (Results of the Week) on Russia’s NTV Channel that the meddling is "very diverse," RIA Novosti reports.

"They take a situation; interpret it completely differently from reality. Then it starts disseminating...  And powerful …