Russia

18 Dec 2018; DW: The Russian foreign minister claimed that Ukraine was planning an "armed provocation" in the coming weeks. Moscow-Kyiv relations have continued to deteriorate after Russia seized three Ukrainian ships at sea.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday said it would "return" more than 10 warplanes to Crimea, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. /TASS/. President of Syria Bashar Assad praised efforts of Russia and Iran to restrain the Western interference in the process of the political settlement of the Syrian conflict, SANA news agency reported on Monday.

According to the agency, during a meeting in Damascus on Sunday with Senior Adviser to the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari, President Assad "stressed the importance of efforts exerted by the friendly and allied countries of Syria, particularly Iran and Russia."

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Missile defense facilities of the United States in Europe are located within a reach of Russia’s effective striking forces, Strategic Missile Force Commander Colonel-General Sergei Karakayev said in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

"We must not forget that the European missile defense facilities are located within the reach of other [not nuclear] effective striking means of our Armed Forces," Karakayev replied to a question regarding the deployment of US missile defense facilities in Romania and Poland.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Anton Siluanov has signed a directive requesting state-run companies move to locally-produced software by 2021, Vedomosti business daily wrote on Monday with reference to the document’s copy.

The Russian-US standoff in Syria has been intensifying, thus stonewalling efforts on stabilizing the situation to the east of the Euphrates River and in the south near Al-Tanf controlled by Washington, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said in a message to his US counterpart Jim Mattis last week, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.

MOSCOW (AP) — Alarmed by the growing popularity of rap among Russian youth, President Vladimir Putin wants cultural leaders to devise a means of controlling, rather than banning, popular music.

Putin says “if it is impossible to stop, then we must lead it and direct it.”

But Putin said at a St. Petersburg meeting with cultural advisers Saturday that attempts to ban artists from performing will have an adverse effect and bolster their popularity.

NEW DELHI /India/, December 13. /TASS/. The level of cooperation between India and Russia in military technology transfer is ‘unprecedented’ and Moscow is ready to develop military and technical cooperation with Delhi on a long-term basis, Russia’s Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday.

"The intensity and the depth of military and technical cooperation speak about the unprecedented level of trust between our countries," Shoigu said at a meeting with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman.

MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. The negotiations between Russia and India on some military and technical cooperation deals vital for ensuring India’s defense capability and national security are at the final stage, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Thursday.

The diplomat who spoke at the 3rd Russia-India forum of the heads of research centers said that during the visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to New Delhi in October this year a major contract had been signed for the delivery of S-400 air defense missile systems to India.

MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has speculated that the European legislators who voted for the resolution against the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project must be pinning their hopes either on global warming or firewood.

"Some countries are closing down nuclear power plants. Also, they plan to stop using Russian natural gas. Will they opt for firewood? But the place where firewood can be obtained is well known," she told a news briefing on Thursday.

MOSCOW (AP) — Two Russian cosmonauts were preparing to venture outside the International Space Station Tuesday to inspect a section where a mysterious leak has been discovered.

The leak was spotted on Aug. 30 in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station. The crew quickly located and sealed the tiny hole that created a slight loss of pressure, and space officials said the station has remained safe to operate.