Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that, if necessary, Russia is able to reinforce its positions in Syria within several hours, "although this would not be desirable", TASS reports.

He also reported that the Russian Air Defense System will remain on permanent combat duty in Syria. These forces will be used for any threat posed to the military of the Russian Federation.

"Our bases in Syria's Tartus and Hamim are reliably protected from land, sea and air. The personnel of these bases will …

On the night of March 17th, pro-Russian blogger and journalist Graham Phillips, who was arrested during the events at the Freedom Monument, was deported to Russia. According to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Latvia, Rihards Kozlovskis, Phillips was also included on the "black list.”

The Minister stressed that Phillips is a citizen of the EU, so he is prohibited from entering Latvia for 3 years. Taking into account the fact that Phillips arrived in Latvia by car, he could not be deported …

The European Commission (EC) will present a proposal for visa liberalization with Ukraine in April. This was reported by the chairman of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, after a meeting on Thursday,  March 17th in Brussels with the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. The President of the European Commission said that both sides are interested in facilitating travel for their citizens. He noted that Kiev has opened the way for the liberalization of the visa regime by undertaking …

According to a spokesman for the Ukrainian Border Guard Service, Oleg Slobodyan, Russian troops have carried out a show of force by transferring military equipment along the administrative border between Crimea and mainland Ukraine, as reported by Krym.Realii.

As Slobodyan explained, border guard officers of the Berdyansk and Kherson squadrons noticed a movement of Russian military equipment within 1 kilometer of the administrative border.

He stated that a column of seven Grad artillery …

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to pardon 148 convicts, including political prisoners. This was reported Grani.ru with reference to Minval.Az. 137 of those pardoned were serving prison sentences, six were in corrective labor facilities, and five were to pay fines. 16 are foreign citizens.

The head of the Society for Women's Rights, Novella Jafaroglu, said that there are only 14 political prisoners among those who were pardoned, and dozens of political prisoners remain in …

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on a telephone conversation between the presidents of the US and Russia, in which Barack Obama urged Vladimir Putin to release Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, as Interfax reported.

According to Peskov, Putin rebuffed Obama’s request, saying that he was interfering in the trial.

“The President [Obama] has been given multiple clarifications on this matter, as have other colleagues abroad on other levels of government, since we are speaking about …

The Co-Chairman of RPR-PARNAS (Republican Party of Russia), Boris Nemtsov, was killed in Moscow in February of 2015. A few months before his death, in the fall of 2014, he filed a report with the police in Yaroslavl indicating he had received death threats, as reported by the Russian Federal News Agency, Rosbalt, citing the case reports filed in connection with the murder.

Nemtsov’s assistant during his time as the Deputy of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma told investigators about this report …

The results of a poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (RPORC) have shown that 64% of Russian citizens would vote for preservation of the Soviet Union in a hypothetical referendum.  Only 20% of those polled would vote against the USSR.

The greatest support of the Soviet State was observed in citizens who are more than 45 years of age. Among Russians between the ages of 18 and 44 years old, only a quarter supported preserving the Soviet Union if it still existed today. …