Russia is concerned about the increase in military spending by Donald Trump’s administration within NATO by 40% in 2018, Russia's permanent representative to the alliance Alexander Grushko said on the television station Rossiya 24.

“What worries us right now is that the Trump administration asked for $4.8 billion for next year for the so-called Allied Reassurance Initiative. This year, the funding amounted to $3.7 billion. This means a 40 percent increase,” he said.

According to Grushko, this …

Tehran is not in favor of the U.S. military participating in guarding de-escalation zones in Syria, said Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.

“No,” he said in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant in answer to a question about whether Iran would have agreed to America participating in guarding de-escalation zones.

Shamkhani stressed that “Syria has a government, and only it can decide who has the right to be present in their territory….The Americans, who …

The North Atlantic Alliance will maintain its presence on the eastern flank at least until 2022, said Polish President Andrzej Duda at the briefing at the end of the NATO summit.

“Currently we’re talking about 2022,” he pointed out in response to the relevant question. “NATO’s activity there is needed. The situation in the area of security is changing,” he stressed.

According to Duda, nobody is calling into question the principle of collective defense. “There was no vote to stop supporting …

The commander of U.S. air operations in the Middle East said that the United States and Russia are now more actively exchanging information through an established “hotline,” as the airspace over the territory controlled by ISIS is becoming more crowded.

“We had to increase the amount of work to eliminate conflict situations, which we are doing together with the Russians, given the limited airspace in which we are now operating,” U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigan told the media …

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko gave instructions to issue Ukrainian passports to the residents of the Crimea and the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR. He said this during a meeting on the preparation for the entry into force of the visa-free regime with the European Union, 112 Ukraine TV reports.

"If problems with issuing passports are objectively raised to those who are in the occupied territory (the territory of the Donbas which is not controlled by the authorities of Ukraine – Ed.), or in …