In order to secure a supply of Russian combat aircraft, including the Su-30 fighters, Iran needs the UN Security Council’s decision to lift sanctions on certain arms contracts. This was communicated to RIA Novosti on November 26 by the former head of the international treaty directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant General Yevgeny Buzhinsky.

Minister of Defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hossein Dehghan said in an interview with the Tasnim news agency two days earlier that Iran …

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said that, no matter how relations between Turkey and Russia may normalize, Ankara condemns the annexation of the Crimea.He said this at a press conference with journalists in London, Anadolu reports.

According to him, the Crimea and Crimean Tatar issues are important for Turkey, which is closely monitoring the situation on the peninsula.

“We declare at all levels that from the very beginning we have condemned Russia’s position regarding the …

Deputy Minister for the Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons Heorhiy Tuka does not believe that Russia will return the Crimean peninsula in the coming years.

“I find it impossible [that Russia will] return the Crimea in the next 3-5 years. Let me explain why. My personal view is that Crimea [will be returned] to Ukraine when the economic forces begin moving again in Russia. Now it may seem nonsense and a fantasy, but you can watch the news from the mid 90s, how the …

As of Friday, November 25th, it has been one year since Ukraine last imported gas from Russia, as reported by the press service of Naftogaz Ukraine.

"It’s a landmark date for an independent Ukraine, as three years ago gas was the main symbol of political and economic dependence of our country on our northern neighbor. This dependence was ensured through high volumes of gas deliveries and prices for Russian gas that forced Ukraine to make political and economic concessions," the company stated. …

International reserves of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) fell by USD 6.3 billion from November 4 to November 18.

This is evident from data provided by the Bank of Russia, TASS reports.

Donald Trump winning the presidential election in the United States led to the strengthening of the dollar and the reduction of the cost of US Treasury bonds, which make up a significant proportion of reserves of the Bank of Russia, experts say.

This led to a negative revaluation of international reserves. …

Ukraine agreed with the European Union to hold additional consultations to consider granting permission to Gazprom to increase gas volume through the OPAL pipeline bypassing Ukraine. If negotiations at a political level do not yield results, Naftogaz may file a claim against the European Commission, as the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, stated during a recent briefing.

"We raised the issue related to the Nord Stream pipeline, particularly to the recent …

Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded that Israel explain why Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was presented with a Spanish drone.

According to El País, on November 10, the Russian prime minister visited the Agricultural Exhibition in Tel Aviv. In addition to fruits and vegetables, a Sniper drone produced in Spain was demonstrated to him.

It was noted that Medvedev was so interested in the drone that the head of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, Uri Ariel, decided to give it …

During exercises in Finland, unidentified drones were observed near military facilities, as reported by YLE citing Colonel Vesa Mäntylä from the Defence Forces’ operations division of the General Staff of Finland. He did not say what type of drones or whether they were Russian.

 As reported by YLE, military exercises in Sweden were stopped earlier due to the emergence of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).

In May, Poland reported that in 2015, Russian drones violated the air space of the country …