72-year-old former CIA officer Michael Kostiw could replace former US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, reports UNIAN news agency.

Kostiw worked for the CIA for ten years, he was also an employee of one of the largest oil and gas companies,Chevron, and since 2011 has served as Vice President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. And since January 2017 he is also the adviser to the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates.

Earlier, media reported that Kostiw …

Testing of the new Drel (Drill) bomb may not be completed in 2019, reports Interfax, citing Techmash CEO Vladimir Lepin.

Journalists asked Lepin if the tests of the Drel would be completed this year. The head of the defense concern answered vaguely, citing bad weather.

"It's aviation. See what the weather is like? And it's getting only worse," Lepin said.

The Techmash press service previously reported that Drel tests are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The Drel is a 500 kg …

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said during the talk show “Freedom of Speech by Savik Shuster” that in the future new Ukrainian government plans to resume railway traffic with areas of the Donbas that currently are not controlled by Kyiv.

Discussing restoration of the bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska (to the North of Luhansk), Prystaiko assured that car traffic will be resumed on the bridge in a month and a half. He said, there will be other bridges, new crossing points. "Perhaps there …

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak expressed the opinion that the gas pipeline from Crimea to Europe could be built in the future, but the Russian government is not considering this idea now, reports TASS news agency.

"The Energy ministry has not thought about it. But in the future, such projects can be discussed," said Novak at the Russian Energy Week forum.

The Minister added that to date, Russia's actions on the Peninsula were aimed to ensure reliable energy and gas supply to the …

Even though Russia is armed with thousands of nuclear weapons, as well as systems of a nuclear retaliatory attack, a decision to respond may take a significant amount of time.

Anatoly Nestechuk, chief of staff of the 15th Russian Aerospace Forces Army, said during  broadcast of Radio station Echo of Moscow that the decision to respond to a nuclear attack would take more that several dozens of minutes. The countdown will begin immediately after the early warning systems of a nuclear attack …

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on the Russia 1 TV channel that Russia would find ways to help Cuba to get oil.

The TV presenter asked whether Russian warships would escort tankers that deliver oil to Cuba.

"I think we will find other ways to help Cuba get oil and oil products... Today, by the way, we talked about it and agreed that we will create a work plan for the energy supply to Cuba, including traditional energy sources, hydrocarbons, and some other opportunities that exist," …

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club said that Russia is helping China to create a missile warning system. According to him, only Russia and the United States have this technology now, reports Interfax news agency.

"I probably will not reveal a big secret, it will become clear, anyway, that now we are helping our Chinese partners to create a system of the early-warning radar system," said Putin.

The system, which includes ground-based radars …

Abdurahman Mustafa, who is affiliated with Syria's interim government, said that moderate opposition groups that are loyal to Turkey and that are fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army have united, therefore, now rebels have a single command, reports Turkish Anadolu News Agency.

The army will try to "liberate all Syrian lands" and keep the country from splitting, said Mustafa. It is reported that the opposition's Defense Ministry will control the army.