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Open source Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States was wrong to think that it is "powerful enough" to get away with threatening other countries. This mistake, he said, led to the downfall of the former Soviet Union. This is reported by Reuters. Putin made the comments during a press briefing as he spoke about U.S. sanctions against Moscow. He was speaking just days before a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden whose cabinet in April imposed a broad array of sanctions on Russia, including curbs to its sovereign debt market. "We hear threats from the Congress, from other...

President Donald Trump on Thursday told reporters, "you'll soon find out" whether the US will strike Iran as tensions between the two countries ratcheted up. This is breaking news please check back for updates.

Rep. Darrell Issa, saying that “Russia is evil,” said at the California Republican Party convention Saturday in Sacramento that an independent probe of the Trump campaign’s ties to the country is necessary to prevent it from interfering in elections. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article134995114.html#storylink=cpy

American intelligence agencies are to conduct a major investigation into how the Kremlin is infiltrating political parties in Europe, it can be revealed. James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, has been instructed by the US Congress to conduct a major review into Russian clandestine funding of European parties over the last decade [...] Officials declined to say which parties could come into the probe but it is thought likely to include far-right groups including Jobbik in Hungary, Golden Dawn in Greece, the Northern League in Italy and France's Front National which received a 9m euro (6.9m pound) loan...

Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to Western leaders to bury their differences with Russia and jointly strike at the "barbarian" Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Syria, saying Friday's Paris terrorist attack underscored the need for such concerted action. In a condolences telegram sent to French President Francois Hollande, Putin said, "This tragedy is another proof of the barbarian nature of terrorism, which challenges the human civilisation. Clearly, for effective fighting this evil, the entire international community should unite efforts," Tass news agency reported. "I would like to confirm the Russian side is ready for most close cooperation with the French...

RT: Forbes claims that Putin can do what he wants and get away with it. Do you agree that he wields that much power? MM: That is basically what he is doing because he knows exactly how far to go, he knows where the red line is, he isn’t going beyond that red line. He is not going to start a war with the US because Russia would lose it. He is not going to start a war with China because he would lose it. Therefore, in his policies he knows exactly how far to go. And he knows the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Wednesday called for a coalition to combat terrorism in the Middle East. Opening a meeting with Putin in Moscow, el-Sissi said "the Egyptian people" are hoping for broader ties with Russia in all areas, particularly in fighting terrorism in the Middle East. El-Sissi's Russian visit, his second in the past three months, highlights Moscow's attempts to expand its influence in Egypt at a time when Egyptian-U.S. relations have soured in the aftermath of the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia is sending an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine despite urgent Western warnings against using humanitarian help as a pretext for an invasion. With Ukraine reporting Russia has massed 45,000 troops on its border, NATO said there was a "high probability" that Moscow could intervene militarily in the country's east, where Kiev forces are closing in on pro-Russian separatists.

MOSCOW, January 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s electoral rating rose in December, returning to 2000s levels, a new opinion poll by the independent Levada Center showed. Asked whom they would vote for if a presidential election took place next Sunday, 68 percent of respondents said they would vote for Putin, up 10 percent from figures in December 2012. The figures for Putin’s closest possible rival, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, were 11 percent, slightly down from the December 2012 figure of 12 percent.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says Edward Snowden likely received help stealing information from the National Security Agency — and that help may have come from Russian intelligence officials. In a pre-recorded interview for NBC’s “Meet the Press” with David Gregory, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) questioned how the former NSA contractor arranged travel out of the United States before leaking the trove of secret documents and eventually making his way to Russia. “Let me just say this. I believe there’s a reason he ended up in the hands, the loving arms, of an FSB agent in Moscow,” Rogers...

Political links boosted amid China moves, need for Sakhalin's fuels Just 160 km from the northern tip of Hokkaido, Sakhalin is a desolate island that has long been ignored by world powers. Remnants of Japanese shrines are reminders that the island was governed by Imperial Japan until the end of World War II. Now this lonely island, with huge reserves of oil and natural gas, is emerging as a strategic connection between Cold War-era foes Japan and Russia, making them close partners and even potential allies, with their leaders having met four times last year and discussed increased Russian energy...

MOSCOW, December 30 (RIA Novosti) – Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been named International Person of the Year by Britain's The Times newspaper for succeeding in his ambition of bringing Moscow back to the international top table. The paper said Putin, 61, a judo black belt, has hip-flipped US President Barack Obama on the Syrian crisis, wrestled the EU to the ground on Ukraine, tripped up the opposition at home and rescued weaker team players such as President Assad of Syria and Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, who was given asylum in Russia. Also this year, Putin, who served two...

A very merry Christmas to Pussy Riot, Greenpeace and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, not to say to Vladimir Putin. At his somewhat bizarre annual press conference, with 1,300 journalist waving flags to capture his attention, Putin announced that Khodorkovsky, like the others, would be released from prison. Putin may not be a very lovable or gentle creature, but yet again he has shown himself to be unusually cunning, for all that he has been not only derided but consistently underrated. Since the implosion of the Soviet Union, more than 20 years ago, the west has made every conceivable mistake in dealing with...

...The Bizarro World comes to mind as I watch the erosion of the moral foundation of freedom in the United States of America. I grew up believing that the United States of America, with its Christian roots, emphasis on a Natural Moral Law and recognition of inalienable rights which come from God, was a beacon for all Nations. In particular, for those Nations which had succumbed to the lies of atheistic Marxism. That included Russia, once the greatest proponent of atheistic communism. I still hope this is the case. However, we have clearly lost our moral compass as a Nation....

As the United Nations warns that Syria has descended into civil war, Russia continues to back President Bashar al-Assad in the face of growing international condemnation. Konstantin von Eggert, political commentator for Kommersant FM radio in Moscow, looks at why the Kremlin is steadfastly supporting the beleaguered Syrian government. Foreign policy analysts usually tend to explain Moscow's inflexible stance on Syria by evoking arms sales to Damascus (Bashar al-Assad's regime is said to have placed orders for Russian hardware to the tune of $3.5bn) and the Russian naval station in the Syrian port of Tartous. But this alone does not...