• Russian State Duma proposes a ban on foreign education for children of state officials

    The draft law prohibiting children of state officials to study abroad has been submitted for consideration to the State Duma (Russian parliament), as reported by Rosbalt. If the draft law is adopted in the State Duma, under-age children of separate officials and public, civil and municipal servants will not be allowed to study abroad.

    An exception will be made for cases where parents have been working abroad for more than a year, as the explanatory note to the project states. The author of the …

  • Russian military receives inflatable tanks to use as decoys

    Inflatable tanks and missile systems are being used as a deception technique. The dense fabric does not repel an enemy attack, but it is successful in causing confusion. As the manufacturer states, add a little air, straighten the cannon, and you won’t be able to distinguish it from a real one.

    "From a height of about 10 stories, if an inflatable is next to a real weapon, it is difficult to distinguish between the two. Our inflatable machines emit heat. They also reflect radio waves and light …

  • Polish Territorial Defense Force will increase to 53,000 soldiers by 2019

    Poland’s Minister of National Defense, Antoni Macierewicz, has said that the country’s Territorial Defense Force will consist of 53,000 soldiers by 2019. This was reported by Polskie Radio.

    According to the Macierewicz, the second reading of the bill on the establishment of the Territorial Defense Force will take place this week.

    He said that the document will contain information on the size, financing and organizational structure of these units.

    He added that three brigades and four …

  • Peskov: Putin and Trump did not discuss the Crimea or Ukraine during phone conversation

    According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump did not discuss the Crimea or the war in eastern Ukraine during their phone conversation on Monday, TASS reported.

    Responding a question of whether Putin and Trump discussed Ukraine and the Crimea, Peskov answered, “No, it was not discussed.”

    “Once again, it was a very constructive conversation,” Peskov stated. “The whole tone of the conversation largely corresponded with the …

  • The US imposed sanctions against six Duma deputies in the Crimea

    The United States imposed sanctions against Russian State Duma Deputies who were elected in the annexed Crimea, as reported on the website of the US Treasury.

    The sanctions list indicates the names of six Crimean Deputies: Ruslan Balbek, Dmitry Belik, Ruslan Baharev, Svetlana Savchenko, Andrei Kozenko, and Pavel Shperov.

    On November 9th, the European Union included the Deputies elected in the occupied Crimea to the State Duma on the anti-Russian sanctions list. At September's parliamentary …

  • US Air Force plane again flew close to Russia's border over the Baltic Sea

    An RC-135W strategic reconnaissance aircraft from the US Air Force made another approach towards the Kaliningrad region on Monday on a reconnaissance mission, according to sites that track the movement of military aircraft, Interfax reported.

    A US military aircraft, with the tail number 62-4139 and call sign WOMP17, reportedly left the Mildenhall airbase in the UK at 9:40 am Moscow time, and approached the border of the Kaliningrad region from the Baltic Sea side at nearly 1:00 pm, while …

  • Lavrov reminded Kerry that the United States has not yet separated the opposition from the terrorists in Aleppo

    Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov conducted a telephone call with the secretary of state of the United States, John Kerry.

    As reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, a conversation initiated by the United States took place. Lavrov noted that illegal armed groups in eastern Aleppo and its so-called local council refuse to cooperate to resolve the situation.

    “It is emphasized that the Russian Aerospace Forces and Syrian Air Forces have not …

  • Putin approved the establishment of joint Armenian-Russian group of forces

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the proposal by the Russian government to form an​ Armenian-Russian joint group of forces. The corresponding document was published on November 14 on the official website of Russian legal information.

    On June 30, 2016, the Armenian parliament ratified the government’s decision to join Russia’s air safety system.

    Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). …

  • Russian Economic Minister Alexey Ulyukaev is under investigation for allegedly taking bribes

    The Investigative Committee initiated a criminal investigation against the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Alexey Ulyukaev about allegedly receiving a $2 million bribe. The Committee reported that the criminal case relates to the Rosneft deal involving the purchase of the state-owned block of shares of Bashneft Oil Company.

    The Ministry of Economic Development should have concluded the contract. “It is about extortion of bribes from the representatives of Rosneft in …

  • Putin and Trump agree that international terrorism is the common enemy

    On November 14, Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation contacted his future colleague, the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump by telephone by mutual agreement, the Presidential Administration of Russia reported.

    According to the Kremlin’s website, Putin and Trump agreed on the extremely poor current state of U.S.-Russian relations. They also favored active joint work towards normalization of these relations and working towards constructive cooperation. …