On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented for the first time on the bill to increase the retirement age , which had its first reading in the State Duma the day before.

According to him, to leave the pension system in its current form would be tantamount to “trickery”, because either the system itself will “give out”, or the budget, which is paying for roughly half of its expenses (3.3 trillion rubles out of 7), will.

“For five pensioners there are six working persons today, and …

The Israeli army evacuated representatives of the White Helmets humanitarian organization with their families from Syria, reported the spokesman of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Emmanuel Nahshon.

"Upon request of the US, Canada and European states Israel has completed a humanitarian effort to rescue members of a Syrian civil organization (“White Helmets”) and families. They were evacuated from the war zone in Southern Syria to a neighboring country, " Nahshon tweeted.

German newspaper Bild …

Iran has reacted to American sanctions by warning that the Iranian government will be forced to cut off oil exports from the Persian Gulf if its own exports are cut off.

According to a statement on July 21st, the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has supported Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s proposal to block oil exports from the Persian Gulf. His website states that Rouhani’s statements were “important remarks, which reflect the policy and perspective” of Iran, according to …

The French president Emmanuel Macron and Russian president Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation on Saturday, July 21, according to the Kremlin’s press office. In the conversation, they discussed “a series of current international and regional issues,” with special attention paid to the question of Syria.

In particular, Putin and Macron discussed the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and the implementation of “a joint Russian-French initiative to provide aid for the population of Eastern Ghouta. …

Since the beginning of 2018, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) have received seven intercontinental ballistic missiles, stated the Deputy Defense Minister of Russia, Alexei Krivoruchko.

"Seven intercontinental ballistic missiles, four autonomous launchers, 17 combat duty support vehicles, and eight integral units of stationary systems were received [by the Russian Armed Forces]", the statement reads. In addition, the Aerospace Forces received 11 new and 21 refurbished aircraft, and one …

The Director of Business Development of the Ukrainian company Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, stated that any reconciliation with regards to the ruling of the Stockholm Arbitration Court on the Naftogaz-versus-Gazprom case is impossible. 

“It should have been negotiated before the final decision of the Arbitration Court. Now it is too late to ask for amicable agreement. According to the decision of the Arbitration Court, Gazprom should pay us $2.56 billion, plus $75 million interest, and also cover …

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert stated on Twitter that the results of a referendum offered by Putin in the Donbas would have no legitimacy. “A ‘referendum’ would have no legitimacy,” she wrote. “We continue to support Minsk agreements for solving the conflict in Donbas.”  The Bloomberg Agency reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to hold a referendum in the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk regions. According to the agency, this idea was …

Washington decided to allocate $200 million to Kyiv through the Pentagon to strengthen Ukraine’s security and defense in 2018, as stated in a message on Facebook page of the Ukrainian embassy in the United States.

The allocated funds will be spent on providing Ukraine with military equipment, logistics, and training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as “military services”. This decision to provide financial assistance to Kyiv “shows the resolve of the US to support of Ukraine in …