Russia continues to record a sharp acceleration of natural population decline and double-digit increase in mortality on a scale that official statistics have not seen for more than 70 years.

As of March, 191,320 people died in the country, Interfax reports, citing data of the Federal State Statistics Service, Rosstat.

Compared to February, the mortality rate increased by 18,648 people, or 10.7%. The increase in mortality was 25.3% annually and compared to February it accelerated by 4.7 …

Military targets in Syria were attacked by Israeli warplanes at around 2 a.m., reported the Syrian new agency SANA.

According to SANA, “some of the enemy's missiles have been shot down."

"The Israeli enemy carried out air aggression from the side of Latakia at several targets in the coastal zone," Sana reported.

According to the Syrian military, "Israeli aggression resulted in the death of a civilian and six injured, including a child and his mother, in addition to some material losses, …

The permit for the construction of Nord Stream 2 in Germany economic zone in the Baltic Sea has been suspended, reports Interfax citing German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH).

The permit, which was in effect until the end of May and applies to a 16-kilometer stretch of pipeline under construction, has been suspended due to a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, said a representative of BSH.

In April, Germany's Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) tried to challenge …

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin said that Ukrainian companies, which lost profits and assets due to Russia's annexation of Crimea, have already filed lawsuits in international courts for more than $4.5 billion. 

"We actively encourage our enterprises, which have lost their property, lost their income, to go to arbitration and to fight again and again with the Russia for all that they have lost," said Yenin on air of the TV channel "Dom".

According to Yenin, lawsuits from …

Russia is working to minimize damage in the event it loses access to international financial instruments, but, for now, the Kremlin considers the possibility of being disconnected from the SWIFT interbank payment system as hypothetical, stated the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in an interview with RT.

"The possibility of being disconnected from SWIFT is still considered as hypothetical. Nevertheless, inter-minsistry work is underway to minimize the risks and economic …

Two fortified areas of the Russian 102nd military base have been established in the Syunik region, in the south of Armenia, said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

"This is an additional guarantee to ensure the security not only of the Syunik region, but also of Armenia," he said. According to Pashinyan, the Armenian-Russian joint grouping of troops is defending all the borders of the republic.

The Syunik region borders, among other things, with the areas of Nagorno-Karabakh, which were captured …

The U.S. is provoking an arms race by developing a global missile defense system, said the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova.

"The increase in the potential of the U.S. global missile defense system can and is already leading to serious security consequences. It disrupts the strategic balance of power in the world, and provokes an arms race, including missile," she said.

"Moscow has repeatedly drawn Washington's attention to the dangerous consequences of the unrestricted …

The U.S. administration is ready to supply some types of weapons to Ukraine in the future within the framework of existing agreements, Interfax-Ukraine quotes U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan as saying.

"We are ready to act within the existing framework. In the past, we have organized deliveries to Ukraine. And we will be ready in the future to consider its requests and supply some types of military products," Sullivan said at the online forum of the Aspen Institute.

He also noted …