Peter Beyer, the German government’s Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation, said that Germany will help Ukraine to upgrade its gas transmission system (GTS).

“It’s not the case that Ukraine is being left on its own. On the contrary, we have obligations, and we will keep them,” Beyer said in an interview on German radio.

He admitted that the agreement between Russia and Ukraine to extend gas transit “is actually shorter than initially imagined”, but an important consideration is that …

Russia is analyzing the situation surrounding the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Due to the threat of US sanctions, the Swiss company Allseas, which was providing its pipe-laying vessels to Gazprom, recently ceased its involvement in the project, halting progress.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia will not fail to respond to Washington’s new wave of anti-Russian sanctions. “Our position is that such sanctions are unacceptable to us,” said Peskov, …

The European Union considers the opening of railway traffic across the Crimean Bridge from Russia to annexed Crimea “yet another violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine by Russia,” said EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Peter Stano, DW reports.

According to him, Russia has taken yet another step towards “the forced integration of the illegally annexed peninsula” and made a new attempt to “isolate Crimea from Ukraine, of which it is a part”.

Stano also drew …

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the Americans attacked oil refineries in the Homs province with drones. The attack, according to him, took place four days ago.

“The United States, using its illegal military base in Al-Tanf, sent unmanned aerial vehicles to Homs and carried out airstrikes on oil refining infrastructure," he said before the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

On December 21, the oil refinery in Homs and al-Rayan Gas station in the center of the …

The series of killings of prominent figures in the Syrian system has been crowned by an attack on National Defense Forces commander Ahmed Ismail, also known as Abou Haidra. His car exploded while moving through one of the districts of Damascus, killing him and his driver.

The Arabic-language media attributes the incident to the general discontent in Damascus, which is manifesting itself through violence and unrest. Something very similar is being observed in the southern provinces of Syria. …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that despite the US sanctions, the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream gas pipelines would be put into operation, reports Interfax news agency. Lavrov also said that Russia plans to respond to the new sanctions from Washington.

US Congress approved the National Defense Authorization Act on December 17. President Donald Trump signed it on December 21. Following the adoption of the budget by Congress, two Republican US senators,Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson, sent …

Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to visit Crimea on Monday, December 23, to participate in the opening of the Kerch Bridge to railway traffic.

Interfax reports that during his trip, the Russian president will meet with bridge builders, and “sector leaders will report to him on plans to develop transport infrastructure”.

The Crimean Bridge is 19 km long. It was opened to light buses and cars on May 16, 2018, and to trucks on October 1. Passenger trains will start using the railway …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow has shown Washington its hypersonic “Avangard” missile, and is also willing to demonstrate its “Sarmat” ballistic missile .

“We are prepared to build these weapons and systems into the existing New START treaty,” he said during a broadcast of the program Bolshaya Igra on Russia’s Channel One, as cited by RIA Novosti.

According to the minister, during their discussion regarding the New START treaty, Russia’s representatives told the US …