Human Rights Watch, a prominent human rights organization, has called for a political boycott of the opening match of the World Cup, which will be held on June 14 in Russia. Kenneth Roth, the Executive Director of the organization, announced this in a special statement on Tuesday, May 22.

"World leaders should signal to President Putin that unless he changes track and acts to end atrocities by Russian and Syrian forces in Syria, they won’t be in their seats in the VIP box with him on opening …

Information regarding the failed tests of Russian nuclear cruise missiles, which was disseminated earlier by American media, may not reflect the real situation, as stated by the member of the expert council of the Military and Industrial Commission, Viktor Murakhovsky. According to him, the US could have taken the “missile drop tests,” during which the main engine stops working, for a malfunction.

“They have no idea about the testing program or the testing phases,” Murakhovsky said. “Those …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has stressed the necessity of stopping the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project from being realized.

“Nord Stream 2 is not an economic project, it will harm European unity and must be stopped,” the president tweeted.

As Ukrinform reports, at a joint press conference with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, Poroshenko said that Ukraine is prepared to give every guarantee concerning the reliability and effectiveness of gas transit through Ukraine.

“Ukraine …

Germany has decided to resume the upgrading of Leopard 2 tanks to the new 2AV7 series, reports Die Welt.

The designation number of the latest modification of the Leopard 2 tank - Leopard 2A7V - is similar to the designation of the German A7V tank used during the First World War. Only twenty such tanks were produced in 1917-18. The new tanks will weigh 60 tons and have a maximum speed of 70 km/hr.

After 1991, the Bundeswehr sharply reduced the number of combat vehicles in service. However, the …

The Ukrainian military has fired the  first training shots of the American Javelin anti-tank systems. President Petro Poroshenko was present at the tests. He emphasized that the systems are defensive in nature, and will only be used if the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are attacked. A video of the tests was published on Poroshenko’s personal Facebook page.

“Finally this day has arrived!” the video clip on the Ukrainian president’s Facebook page is titled. “Today for the first …

The lower house of the Russian parliament, in the third and final reading, passed a bill on counter sanctions. 

In the final version of the bill, there is no mention of specific areas to which sanctions may apply. The law enables the government to ban the importation of any product or raw material, with the exception of necessary goods that are not produced in Russia.

Additionally, restrictions cannot be applied to goods imported for personal use, both by Russians and foreigners.

The bill …

The commander of the Israeli Air Force, Amikam Norkin, said that Syrian anti-aircraft systems fired more than 100 missiles at Israeli warplanes, which struck Iranian military facilities on the night of May 10.

All the planes involved in the largest-ever operation against Iranian forces safely returned to their bases. Along the route, they fired on the anti-aircraft systems that shot at them, including Russian-produced Pantsir and Buk systems which were recently imported to Syria.

“In the …

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry is considering all possible courses of action to ensure the release of Ukrainian filmmaker and social activist Oleg Sentsov from Russian prison, said Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mariana Betsa at a briefing on Sentsov’s hunger strike, RBC-Ukraine reports.

Notably, when asked whether it was possible that Sentsov could be exchanged for Kirill Vyshinsky, the head of RIA Novosti Ukraine who was arrested on charges of high treason, Betsa said, “Anything is possible”. “ …