Russia & CIS

Russia has been receiving signals from NATO indicating its desire to restore some channels of bilateral cooperation, Russia’s envoy to the Western defense alliance said on Wednesday.

A vast global ocean of water exists between the icy crust and core of Saturn’s 6th largest moon Enceladus, NASA’s Cassini Mission data reveals.

Two famous Russian pranksters claim to have made a prank call to singer Sir Elton John in which they pretended to be Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A Mi-24 helicopter crash-landed at an airfield in Central Russia.

Argentine sailors have arrived in Russia to get four ice-class tugboats of the Neftegaz type.

The General Director of ‘Uralvagonzavod’ Corporation, Oleg Sienko, said that the cost to mass produce the T-14 Armata will be 250 million rubles (3.7 million dollars).

The summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) finished in Dushanbe. Russia is concerned about the current state of affairs in Afghanistan and the lack of results despite the presence of NATO in the country. At the CSTO summit, Putin offered to strengthen the military presence in Central Asia

The Syrian refugee crisis could become the perfect excuse for a “humanitarian intervention” by a Washington-led coalition, but Russia is in a position to prevent such developments, writes former Indian ambassador to Uzbekistan and Turkey and columnist for Asia Times Melkulangara Bhadrakumar.

Keeping a balance between resource development of the Arctic region and the conservation of its fragile ecosystem is a key priority for Russia, the country's president, Vladimir Putin, said Wednesday.

On Saturday, John told the BBC that he would like to meet with Putin to discuss his attitude to gay rights. Earlier in the day, the musician thanked Putin “for reaching out and speaking via telephone” in a message on his account in Instagram.

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin is always open for dialogue with his US counterpart Barack Obama.

The Russian Defense Ministry initiated the ninth regimental combat unit of the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system during a ceremony in Astrakhan region.

Earlier, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Davis said that the US military is seeing movement of people and equipment, which may indicate that the Russians are planning to set up a base south of Latakia.

The burning projectile fired by Russia’s TOS-1A heavy flamethrower system during a recent drill near Volgograd is capable of making life a living hell for the enemy, a US science and technology magazine wrote.

Russia supports the Syrian government in the fight against terrorism and promised that Moscow would continue providing military assistance to Syria. "We support the government of Syria in confronting the terrorist aggression. We provide and will provide all the necessary military and technical assistance to the government of Syria," Putin said

Four parties may count for success at next year's elections to the State Duma (Parliament) of the Russian Federation: United Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party, Just Russia and the Communist Party. So-called smaller parties have a chance too. The demand for the opposition in the elections is being met with the help of CPRF, LDPR and Just Russia

In the near future, the Russian Navy may receive a large and powerful destroyer. The main objective of such a vessel will be to create an "umbrella" above the sea. The project of the Russian destroyer is known as the "Leader". According to experts' estimates, it will be the largest, most expensive and state-of-the-art Russian vessel since 1989

I was on Huffington Post Live this afternoon, speaking on a panel about the rapidly expanding Russian military presence in Syria. Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video directly on the blog, but it can be found at this link.

Russia is seriously engaged in national politics, but does not have an objective to create a melting pot. Every nation has its right to its culture, religion and language. Russia has not experienced any religious war. Russia has created a model of the relationship of world's leading religions and civilizations

Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul explained why US President Barack Obama did not want to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the UN General Assembly in New York. McFaul explained the reason with the help of a screenshot from Russian TV show "Vesti Nedeli" ("News of the Week")