Russia & CIS

Thousands of Muscovites arrived at the French embassy to lay candles and flowers in memory of the Paris attack victims.

The Russian Embassy spokesperson said that the embassy to the United States has stepped up measures to ensure its security following Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

As the investigation into the downing of Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula continues, the cancellation of international flights into Sharm el-Sheikh is taking a major toll on the tourism industry. A number of Egyptian resorts are placing dozens of staffers on “unpaid leave,” and more temporary layoffs could soon follow.

Although relatively small in scale, Russia’s military operation in Syria has highlighted some major improvements in Russian military capabilities.

Beyond its purely geopolitical goals, Russia’s operation in Syria has been designed to test improvements in Russian military capabilities that have resulted from the military reform carried out over the last seven years and to highlight these improvements to potential adversaries. While the jury is still out on how successful the operation will be in helping the Syrian government turn the tide against its various opponents, it has already shown that the military reform has resulted in a significant increase in Russia’s warfighting capability.

Compared to the 2008 Georgia War, which was the last time the Russian Air Force operated in a combat environment, the Russian military appears to have made great strides in increasing operational tempo and improving inter-service integration. It has also made significant advances in its ability to carry out expeditionary operations and showcased its recently developed stand-off strike capability.

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Originally published by the Lowy Institute Interpreter. Click here to read the rest of the article.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the APEC summit that will take place on November 17-18 in the Philippines. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will go to the summit instead. The reason for the decision has not been specified. Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the change in the Russian delegation for the APEC summit

The arrest measure on Arif Yunus, Expert of Peace and Democracy Institute has been changed.

The United States has yet to respond to Russia's call to intervene in the case of jailed Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.

US ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills considers the readiness of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to meet by the end of the year to be a positive step.

Russia and the US lack a positive agenda in bilateral relations which are now at their lowest in decades, leading Russian analysts said during a recent roundtable in Moscow.

The draft law “On science”, which was discussed for years in Azerbaijan and approved in the first reading at the latest session of the parliament, will be put into discussion for the next time.

An Armenian civilian was repatriated today in an operation carried out under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The issue of terrorial concessions in the context of Karabakh conflict was not discussed during Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Yerevan.

The XIII International Conference of Ombudsmen devoted to the 20th anniversary of the national Constitution, and the 70th anniversaries of the UN and one of its agencies UNESCO, today kicked off in the capital of Azerbaijan, AzerTag reports.

A Russian manufacturer has designed an advanced new system protecting any channels of telephone communication against wiretapping, media reports said on Thursday.

The Moscow Regional Court has found a former Russian policeman guilty of espionage over selling Russian state secrets to the CIA, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday.

“Azerbaijan’s security system is in safe hands"

"Rules and norms have been reflected in our Constitution."

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France – met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, US co-chair James Warlick tweeted on Nov.12.

The government of Great Britain has published the list of dangerous and partially dangerous countries.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the real question regarding the Syrian crisis is that of the Syrian people in general and not specific individuals such as President Bashar al-Assad, Press TV reports.