One of the creators of the nerve agent Novichok, Vil Mirzayanov, apologized to the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned a few weeks ago.

"I apologise deeply to Navalny for being involved in this criminal business to develop this substance that poisoned him," Mirzayanov said on air of the Russian TV channel Dozhd.

Vil Mirzayanov, who has lived in the United States since 1995, added that after relocating to the U.S. he devoted his life to the fight against the use of …

Strategic military exercises Kavkaz 2020 began in Russia. About 80,000 military personnel take part in them.

"The strategic command-staff training "Kavkaz-2020" has been launched in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," reads the statement on Russian Defense Ministry’s website.

The exercises will be held from September 21 to 26 in the Southern Military District under the leadership of the Chief of the General Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister Valery Gerasimov.

The main drills will …

Russian aircraft resumed massive strikes in northwestern Syria after a nearly six-month hiatus.

On Sunday, Russian warplanes bombed the western outskirts of the city of Idlib, while heavy artillery shelling from nearby Syrian army outposts was carried out in the mountainous district of Jabal al-Zawiya, Reuters reported, citing a Syrian opposition source.

According to him, about 30 air raids took place during the day, which was the largest operation of Russian forces in Syria since the …

Russia had to start developing hypersonic weapons after the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the honorary general director, honorary general designer of the NPO Mashinostroyenia ,Herbert Yefremov.

"We had to create these weapons in response to the deployment of the U.S. strategic missile defense system, which in the long term would be able to actually neutralize all our nuclear capabilities, Putin added. The …

Russia will carry out tests of a newly-built small ship Grayvoron equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles in the Black Sea, reported Interfax with reference to the press service of the Russian Navy.

"The missile ship, built for the Black Sea Fleet, carries out the first exit to the Black Sea to undergo factory tests. This ship will be the fourth small missile ship with Kalibr cruise missiles," the press service of the Russian Navy said in a statement.

It is noted that the ship’s purpose is the …

Hundreds of British paratroopers parachuted in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region on September 18 as part of the Joint Effort 2020 exercise. It is the largest amphibious exercise for Great Britain in more than 20 years, reported BBC.

The British paratroopers parachuted from several C-130 Hercules aircraft, which took off from a military airfield in Britain. Soldiers of the 16th Air Assault Brigade of Great Britain, heavy infantry weapons and equipment were on board the aircraft.

According to the …

Local elections in the territories of the Donbas, which are not under Ukrainian control, are possible only after “full de-occupation, settlement of all security issues and compliance with OSCE standards”, said the head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Yermak on the air of the program "Freedom of Speech with Savik Shuster".

Responding to the question of the presenter whether the Ukrainian Parliament is going to make changes to the decree on local elections in Ukraine, which, according …

On Friday, September 18, Cyprus for the second time blocked the sanctions of the European Union against Belarus, vetoing the draft punitive measures at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU countries in Brussels, reports Deutsche Welle.

Cyprus explained that its opposition to the sanctions against Belarus is because it wants the EU to enforce the punitive measures against Turkey, which conducts gas exploration in the disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean. …