Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodniuk is convinced that Ukraine meets the criteria for joining NATO’s Enhanced Opportunities Partnership program, and has urged NATO to consider and endorse this decision.

“Our NATO partners know that joining the Enhanced Opportunity Partnership Program is an absolute priority for Ukraine. Ukraine has made significant progress implementing alliance standards and already meets the military criteria for joining the program. We are ready, and there is now a …

The Syrian capital is turning into a traditional target for the Israeli military. Barely a week passes without new reports of the Israeli Air Force attacking the outskirts of Damascus, especially its airport.

The Jerusalem Post writes that last night Damascus was once again targeted by Israeli aircraft in a missile strike. The target was reportedly “the arms depots of pro-Iranian armed groups”. Taking into account the number of times Israeli fighters and drones have attacked the area around …

The US has imposed sanctions on three Russian defense companies for violation of the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

As of February 3, sanctions have been imposed on NPO Mashinostroyeniya, Russia’s largest developer of rocket systems, according a report published in the Federal Register.

From now on, the company, which develops the full range of missile and space equipment – from launch vehicles and satellites to cruise and ballistic missiles – is banned from any contact …

The Russian Defense Ministry has decided to develop a new multipurpose long-range interception missile system which will even be capable of intercepting hypersonic weapons, Izvestia reports, citing sources in the ministry.

The news agency writes that, at the military department’s request, theoretical work has already been done on a super long-range air-to-air missile with a splitting warhead, and work is currently underway to determine the characteristics and composition of the prospective …

The Russian Embassy in Turkey has published a tweet suggesting that Turkish citizens ask themselves whether the US is really their ally.

The tweet includes two illustrations. The first shows US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and quotes his statement regarding the death of Turkish soldiers in Idlib, Syria: “We stand by our NATO Ally, Turkey, who lost soldiers in this attack”.

Takdiri size bırakıyoruz pic.twitter.com/wWm31OFMTJ

— RusEmbTurkey (@RusEmbTurkey) February 12, 2020

The other …

Russia is willing to consider the possibility of commercial water deliveries from mainland Ukraine to Russia-annexed Crimea, said Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, as cited by Interfax.

Davyd Arakhamia, leader of Ukraine’s Servant of the People party, had recently suggested that Ukraine supply water to Crimea in exchange for concessions in the Donbas.

However, Peskov remarked that Crimea cannot be the object of any exchanges, including concessions in negotiations on the Donbas.

He …

The Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), which previously fined the French company Engie Energy in connection with an investigation of the Nord Stream 2 project, has requested information from Gazprom. This was noted in a memorandum from Gazprom related to the launch of new eurobonds, reports RBC news agency.

“On January 15, 2020, Gazprom received a notice from the Polish committee on competition requesting information and documents for conducting an investigation,” …

Beness Aijo, a militant from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) who also goes by the name of “Black Lenin”, has been arrested in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region, the Russian news agency Regnum reports, citing Russian Communist Party member Dmitry Saraev.

Beness Aijo is a Latvian national who studied in the UK and has spent several years fighting for the terrorists in eastern Ukraine.

Saraev said that the militant was arrested at around 7:30 PM in the town of Yarensk, where he had gone “to …