In an interview with the telecommunications company of the President Kazakhstan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Special Forces units from the United States, Britain, France and other countries are operating on Syrian territory.  “There are Special Forces on the ground in Syria from the US – they no longer deny it – the UK, France and a number of other countries. Thus, it’s not so much of a ‘proxy war,’ but rather a direct involvement in the war," the Minister said. …

Russia has never carried out any research to develop a chemical substance called "Novichok,"   stated the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova.

"Neither in the territory of the Soviet Union nor during the Soviet times, nor in the Russian Federation has there ever been research named directly or codenamed as "Novichok." The name was not patented; it was not used as some symbol, cipher or code," Zakharova said on Rossiya's 24 TV channel.

According to her, the name itself was …

According to the Russian news agency RIA Krym, a group of "observers" arrived in Sevastopol to monitor the the Russian presidential elections in the annexed Crimea. The elections are being held on the day of the annexation of the Crimea by Russia.

"The representatives of Spain, Italy, Denmark, Ukraine, Israel, Sweden and Great Britain met with the head of the Sevastopol election committee Alexey Petukhov, the senator from Sevastopol, Olga Timofeyeva, and the deputy speaker of the local …