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NATO fighter jets make record number of flights due to Russian Air Force
In 2016, NATO fighter jets were scrambled 780 times from military bases in Europe in order to visually identify and escort planes from the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). This is a record number of such incidents since the time of the Cold War, news outlet DPA reported, citing representatives of the Ramstein US Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
About 90 other such flights were made on account of the military planes of other states, passenger liners or other transport aircraft, …
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U.S. authorities deny ExxonMobil cooperation with Rosneft in circumvention of sanctions
The U.S. Treasury announced that it would not make an exception for ExxonMobil, which asked for a temporary lifting of sanctions that prohibit the implementation of joint projects with Russian corporation Rosneft.
"In consultation with President Donald J. Trump, the Treasury Department will not be issuing waivers to U.S. companies, including Exxon, to authorize drilling prohibited by current Russian sanctions," Voice of America quoted Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin as saying.
Oil giant …
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US State Department representative will visit Ukraine to discuss military assistance programs
The U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, will visit Ukraine next week to discuss military assistance programs, the State Department said in a message.
The report says that Kaidanow will visit Germany, Estonia and Ukraine on April 23-29 to discuss a number of international security issues.
"In Estonia and Ukraine, Ambassador Kaidanow will meet with civilian and defense officials to discuss a wide range of political-military issues, …
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Syria and Russia hold negotiations about new arms shipments
Syria and Russia are holding negotiations about new shipments of arms, including anti-air defense weapons. Damascus is interested in latest generation systems, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“Yes, this always happens before war and during it. Of course, we need more weapons after the war and on account of expending them, this is a part of everyday relations between the Defense Ministries of Russia and Syria,” he said, when asked whether concrete …
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A US Federal Court sentenced the son of a Russian deputy to 27 years in prison
The Federal District Court in Seattle sentenced Russian citizen, Roman Seleznev, the son of a State Duma deputy from the LDPR party Valery Seleznev, to 27 years in prison in a cyber fraud case.
In August last year, Roman Seleznev was convicted of fraud, computer hacking, possession of illegally acquired credit cards and theft of personal data.
In a written statement made by Seleznev and read out by his lawyer, Igor Litvak, the convict called the verdict "equivalent to a death sentence" and " …