A group of news portals related to the so-called "troll factory" has become the largest media holding in Russia, as stated by the RBC news outlet.

This holding now consists of 16 media outlets, two of which are devoted primarily to Ukraine (nahnews.org and KyivSMI). The largest portal of the group, the Federal News Agency (RIA FAN), in February 2017, had an estimated audience of 11 million people, the whole group has an estimated audience of 36 million people per month. This is more than the 28 …

President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte said that the ships of the Russian Navy are welcome to freely enter the waters controlled by Manila, RIA Novosti reported.

Duterte also announced that Russian ships are allowed to moor off the coast of the Philippines as long as they notify the authorities about their plans in advance. Similar terms now apply to Chinese Navy vessels as well.

In January, Duterte visited the Russian Navy’s large anti-submarine ship, the Admiral Tributs, which was …

In his interview with Lenta.ru, State Duma Deputy Ruslan Balbek called for restrictive measures against Ukraine after Kyiv’s decision to ban singer Yuliya Samoylova from entering the country. She was to represent Russia at Eurovision 2017.  

“The incident involving Samoylova speaks to the need of reciprocal action against Kyiv. It is necessary to consider a number of sanctions against the Ukrainian state,” said the parliamentarian, stressing that the situation is “an insult to Russian pride.” …

The Supreme Allied Commander of Europe and the Commander of the United States European Command, U.S. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti said that Russia may be helping the Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan, which is fighting against the U.S.-backed government.

At a hearing in the Senate Committee on Defense Forces, he said he saw evidence that Russia was stepping up efforts to influence the Taliban and, according to him, "perhaps even supply” this group, Radio Liberty reported. The general did not …

Russia’s TASS news agency reported that a snap check of combat readiness began on March 23rd in the Kantemirovskaya tank division in the Moscow region, where more than 1,000 servicemen are taking part. This was reported by the press service of the Western Military District.

"On March 23, a number of units of the Kantemirovskaya Tank Division of the Western Military District were brought to the highest degree of combat readiness. More than 1,000 servicemen and about 300 combat and special …

The Turkish Foreign Ministry told Sergey Panov, Russia’s charge d’affaires to the Foreign Ministry, of its “serious concern” over the death of a Turkish soldier as a result of shooting from the territory of Syria.

This was stated by Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu, as reported by TASS.

“Yesterday, our soldier was killed as a result of the actions of a sniper. The shooting came from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, where Russia is responsible for enforcing the …

During the night of March 23 in a military depot in the city of Balakliia, located 95 km from the city of Kharkiv, a fire occurred which caused the detonation of ammunition. The warehouse area is 680 hectares. Ammunition was delivered from the depot to the war zone in the east of Ukraine. There are no casualties among the military and civilian population, but a 54-year-old woman received shrapnel wounds.

The fire occurred at several sites where artillery shells of 125 and 152 mm caliber were …

Denis Voronenkov, former deputy of the Russian State Duma, was killed in the center of Kyiv on March 23. He moved to Kyiv in October 2016, when he gave evidence in the case of high treason against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. In December 2016, Voronenkov received Ukrainian citizenship.

The killer shot Voronenkov while he was leaving the Premier Palace Hotel with a bodyguard. The former deputy died on site from his wounds. The bodyguard has been hospitalized (according to Yuriy …