Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant that the restrictive measures that the West has imposed on Russia will remain forever.

"The sanctions are the reaction of the old enemy to our reinforcement. And they will be lifted only if we again become weak," he said.

According to Rogozin, "for Russia, sanctions are a chance to show the best features of its national character."

In response to a question about whether the sanctions hamper the …

The North Atlantic Alliance stopped cooperation with Russia and instead is to strengthening its eastern flank against a “non-existent threat”, stated Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko in the interview  with Izvestiya.

“The leaders of the Alliance like to talk about the importance of de-escalation, prevention of dangerous military incidents ... but they do nothing to restore normal relations in the area of military cooperation [with Moscow],” Grushko said.

Earlier, NATO Secretary …

Czech President Milos Zeman insists on extraditing Russian Evgeny Nikulin, detained in Prague in 2016 at Washington’s request, to Russia rather than the United States, Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikan told the publication Aktualne.

"It is true that there have been two meetings this year at which the President asked me to extradite a Russian citizen not to the United States, but to Russia," Pelikan said. After the publication of the material, right-wing Czech politicians attacked Zeman …

In an interview with the publication Interfax-Ukraine, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yevheniy Yenin said that Kyiv sent an official request to the Netherlands asking "to collect voice samples from Saakashvili." The reason provided was the open criminal proceedings against the former president of Georgia.

Yenin acknowledged that Saakashvili has the right to refuse to provide his own voice sample. "If he refuses, it will once again dispel Saakashvili's myth that he is ready to cooperate …

 The Russian government finally abandoned plans to include Rosseti in the Krymenergo JSC created in the Crimea, reports Kommersant news outlet, citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation.

"The creation of the ‘road map’ for the organization of the joint-stock company is now passing the final stage but the reality is Rosseti won’t be there. This is the final decision," the source said.

Rosseti is Russia's largest operator of power grids. It includes 36 subsidiaries and affiliates. …

Polish President Andrzej Duda accused Ukrainian soldiers and nationalists of committing genocide against the Poles in the village of Huta Pieniacka in 1944. However, he said that the Poles still want good relations with Ukrainians, Evropeyska Pravda reports.

On Sunday at the site of the Huta Pieniacka village in Ukraine’s Lviv province, an official Polish delegation paid tribute to the memory of the Poles who were killed there on February 28, 1944. During the ceremony, state secretary of the …

The state armaments program has already been signed by the President, Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for military-industrial sector, reported.

 This year will be the first year of the implementation of the new state armaments program for 2018-2028. It was reported that its volume will reach 19 trillion rubles (334 billion dollars), which is on annual average value comparable to previous state armaments program.

 "Yes, the document has been signed by the President," he said …

The principal decision to send Russian Su-57 fifth-generation fighters to Syria was made following the results of a closed presentation of the aircraft at the MAKS-2017 air show in Zhukovsky, reported the newspaper Kommersant, referring to a source close to the military.

"Taking into account the declared test program, the Defense Ministry decided to send the fighter to Syria in February, formally timing everything to Defender of the Fatherland Day," the source explained.

The arrival of the Su- …