• Following visit to Moscow, PACE President announces need for dialogue with Russia

    The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pedro Agramunt, has urged members to maintain communication with the Russian parliament. He said this after a two-day visit to Moscow.

    “Russia is a member state of the Council of Europe. Russia is important because without its active participation, we will be unable to effectively fight against terrorism. We will not be able to find a solution to the crisis in Syria. We will not be able to solve the crisis in Ukraine,” …

  • Yerevan supports placing Russian air defense system in Armenia

    The Armenian Parliament has ratified the government’s decision to combine its air defense system with that of Russia. The governmental proposal was adopted by the Armenian Parliament on the 30th of June despite protests from the opposition. 102 People’s Deputies voted in favor of this proposal while 8 voted against it.

    Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are all members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Moscow strengthened its military …

  • Poland will consider increasing the number of NATO troops in the country if Russia does not change its position

    If Russia's position does not change, the number of NATO forces near the eastern flank of the Alliance may increase as was stated by the head of the National Security Bureau of Poland, Paul Solokh, Radio Poland reports.

    "We expect that at the summit in Warsaw, the decision to increase the presence of NATO forces will not be final. These forces can be increased if the Russian position does not change," Paul Solokh said.

    At the same time, he stressed that the process of preparation for the NATO …

  • EU extends sanctions against Russia

    On July 1, the European Union extendes sanctions against the Russian Federation until January 2017.  This was reported by Radio Svoboda correspondent Rikard Jozwiak on Twitter.

    "The EU has prolonged its economic sanctions on Russia to 31 Jan 2017.The decision will be published in the EU official journal on Sat.," Jozwiak wrote on Twitter.

    The European Union imposes sanctions against Russian as a result of Russian’s involvement in the crisis in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimea. …

  • Shoygu: NATO presence near Russian border forces us to retaliate

    The scale of NATO’s military presence and activity near Russia’s borders has caused Moscow to retaliate. This was said by the Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoygu, at a board meeting of the military department on the 29th of June, Radio Svoboda reported.

    “These actions by the West are undermining the strategic stability in Europe and are forcing us to take retaliatory measures, primarily in a western strategic direction,” Shoygu stated.

    He said that actions for strategic deterrence are …