The growth of Russia’s military presence in occupied Crimea and its use of the peninsula as base for military operations in Syria and other parts of the region will create far-reaching consequences for Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Near East.

A statement to this effect was made by Ukraine’s permanent ambassador to the UN Volodymyr Yelchenko at a session on the militarization of annexed Crimea, Ukrinform reports.

“The occupation and the subsequent militarization of Crimea has far- …

Marines from the Black Sea Fleet subdivision with cover provided by army aviation from the Southern Military District disembarked on an unequipped stretch of the coast using large landing ships Orsk and Azov,  as stated on the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

While disembarking the marines used a non-standard approach with militray forces coming from various directions, both from the water and air, that allowed them to seize a foothold and equip a fortified area.

More than 200 …

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko asked Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin to conclude negotiations with the North Atlantic Alliance on the implementation of a special trust fund that will ensure safe maintenance and effective protection of ammunition storage facilities, the Ministry of Defense’s press service reported on Tuesday, October 9.

The recent ammunition depot explosion in Ichnya, Chernihiv region that cost hundreds of millions of dollars in …

The Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who is currently being held in a Russian prison, has begun work on the screenplay for an upcoming film, according to reports in the Russian media which cite Valery Maksimenko, head of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN).

“He has already started writing the script for a future film. It will be a story about life in prison and the prisoners. Inspiration hasn’t left him,” Maksimenko reportedly said.

According to Maksimenko, Sentsov is currently …

Inspired by the military campaign in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to assist another ally, this time in Libya.

Russia has already begun to deploy special forces and GRU troops with orders to train personnel for Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar, a Libyan military leader who opposes the government supported by the UN, US and EU.

Under the guise of the Wagner Private Military Company, Russia has established military bases in Tobruk and Benghazi on Libya’s north-east coast, and …

Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stated that the European Union "invites Ukraine to sabotage the Minsk Agreements" and that Russia ends up paying for it. At a meeting with his Italian colleague, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, Lavrov accused Ukraine again of not implementing the Minsk Agreements, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.

Lavrov still denies that the Russian Federation violates the Minsk agreements. He accused Ukraine of not conducting a dialogue with the Russian-backed DPR …

Evropeyskaya Pravda reported that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Bureau rejected the proposal to postpone a review of the “Russian question” at the current session.

Another proposal consideration to amend the regulations should be conducted at this session. The main thesis of it is to make the renewal of sanctions against any member states as difficult as possible. These changes concern Russia, whose delegates will be able to return to work at PACE only after these …

The S-300 anti-air missile systems sent to Syria by Russia could be taken out by American F-22 Raptors using electronic warfare and strikes targeting the radars specifically, Professor Sergey Sudakov of the Academy of Military Science told RIA Novosti.

In the expert’s opinion, a possible scenario of F-22 Raptors being used against anti-air systems in Syria would involve one or more such fighters coming into range of the enemy’s radar installations, accompanied by their own electronic …