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The Crimean Peninsula "is of huge importance for the Russian nation, just as the Temple Mountain is for people of Jewish faith," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday in an attempt to defend Russia' annexation of the formerly Ukrainian region. .... "The west wanted to run Yugoslavian scenario in Russia. Just as Hitler failed to destroy Russia with his misanthropic ideas, everybody should just remember how these things end. Our army crushed the Nazis and liberated Europe," Putin said Continuing with his World War Two analogy, Putin said that there was also a need to cooperate to prevent such large...

Russian state-run media behemoth Rossia Segodnya's interview with a former leader of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was edited to remove references to his work in Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and chaos among the rebels, his interviewer says. Igor Girkin, known as "Strelkov," said in the interview that he is an "FSB colonel" and that rebel commanders in eastern Ukraine "were fighting with one another," according to a transcript published by interviewer Aleksandr Chalenko. The redacted version of the interview published on December 1 by Rossia Segodnya omits both comments. Chalenko said in a Facebook post that the text...

During the Cold War CIA and U.S. Air Force pilots risked life and limb to spy on the Soviet Union. Today, we too can peer behind the former Iron Curtain, all from the comfort of our personal computers. Intriguingly, such virtual exploration has revealed abandoned military bases in the far reaches of Russia that – even today – house the rusting remnants of the feared Soviet bomber force. Littered with at least 18 gutted Tupolev Tu-22M Backfires of the 444th Heavy Bomber Regiment, Vozdvizhenka air base resembles a post-apocalyptic landscape. Entering this barren place, located near Ussuriysk in the Primorsky...

Sat rusting away in a field 555 miles east of Moscow, these relics are all that's left of a bygone era of Soviet innovation in military and civilian aircraft. Among them are some of the former Communist regime's greatest achievements in air travel, that have since been superseded many times and rendered redundant. Nine thousand of the hulking Cold War wrecks can be seen at the vast plane and helicopter graveyard at Russia's largest aviation museum in Ulyanovsk, in the Middle Volga region. Each off the exhibits had to make their last flight here, touching down at the Ulyanovsk-Central airport,...

On Sept. 30, the U.S. Army unceremoniously stood up a new headquarters—the 1st Special Forces Command—at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The division-level unit brings together more than 15,000 Green Berets and other special troops in a single new organization. Previously, the Army’s Special Operations Command had directly controlled all of these troops plus others on a wide range of missions. The idea behind the new HQ is to assemble a force specifically tailored for dealing with what the Pentagon calls “hybrid warfare.” Simply put, hybrid warfare is a blend of straight-up traditional combat—with infantry, tanks and artillery—and secretive insurgency. Probably...

A former Russian insider says he was there when Putin began openly planning the present invasion of Ukraine back in 2003. At a conference in Brussels this week, Andrey Illarionov, a Russian economist and former economic advisor to Vladimir Putin informed that the invasion of Ukraine has been in official planning since at least 2003. [more at link] “Since 2003. I can say that certain questions relating to the future war with Ukraine were discussed in my presence. I didn’t think the talks would really lead to a real war,” he said. In an anguished response to the Orange Revolution...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has a concrete plan of invading Europe, taking it under his total rule. The covert plot was exposed by Germany's well-known newspaper, the BILD, citing credible sources from the intelligence community. Mr Putin's grand plan was reportedly outlined in a supposedly classified document titled "Putin: the new leader of international conservatism." The blueprint was drafted by Moscow's Centre for Strategic Communications...

Prostitutes in the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk have unexpectedly hiked prices for their services by up to 40%, blaming the tumbling ruble exchange rate for their decision, it seems.

A recent study published by Swiss Credit shows that the Scandinavian countries are the countries of Europe where most social inequality is determined. The increase in inequality is one of 15 worldwide major risks identified during the last forum of Davos. Henry Milner is researcher invited to the department of political sciences has the university of Montreal, where he is linked to the research pulpit of the canada in electoral studies. In 2004-2005, i ran the pulpit in Canadian studies to the Sorbonne. He is notably admitted for his expertise on the Scandinavian countries and runs a summer school on...

<p>I grew up hating America. I lived in the Soviet Union and was a child of the Cold War. That hate went away in 1989, though, when the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended. By the time I left Russia in 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed, America was a country that Russians looked up to and wanted to emulate.</p>

Russia has called for "a 100% guarantee that no-one would think about Ukraine joining Nato", President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has told the BBC.

We reported of a strange incident that took place just after the Ukraine presidential coup, namely that .... "in a mysterious operation under the cover of night, Ukraine's gold reserves were promptly loaded onboard an unmarked plane, which subsequently took the gold to the US." "at 2:00 am, a transport plane took off took off from Boryspil airport. According to Boryspil staff, prior to the plane's appearance, four trucks and two cargo minibuses arrived at the airport all with their license plates missing. Fifteen people .... stepped out, some armed with machine guns. These people loaded the plane with more...

Russia and Venezuela discussed joint action to combat falling oil prices, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday after holding talks with Venezuela's Foreign Minister Rafael Ramírez the day before. Asked if the two discussed joint moves to counteract the oil price falls, Novak told reporters: "Yes, there is such an initiative. We discussed this theme and now we are working out those proposals on our side."

In his speech at last month's annual Valdai Club meeting, President Vladimir Putin accused the West of "double standards" in Ukraine. This is nothing new. Putin has habitually spoken of the West's double standards since he first came to power. Those wishing to understand Putin's linguistic gymnastics should look up "whataboutism." The term emerged at the height of the Cold War and described a favorite tactic of Soviet propagandists — the tendency to deflect any criticism of the Soviet Union by saying "what about" a different situation or problem in the West. As Putin's language suggests, the practice is alive...

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czechs who helped bring about the "Velvet Revolution" that overthrew Kremlin-backed Communist rule are marking the 25th anniversary this week by accusing the country's present-day leaders of once again cosying up to Russia.

WARSAW, Poland – Russia says it has expelled several Polish diplomats in response to Poland's recent expulsion of Russians suspected of espionage. The tit-for-tat moves come as Poland and the Czech Republic say they have detected intensified efforts by Moscow's intelligence services to extend their influence in their countries.

Last week, the government in Ukraine cut off pensions benefits to residents of rebel-held areas until such time as these areas return to Ukrainian control. Yesterday, in yet another scorched-earth policy move, president Petro Poroshenko announced Ukraine Rebel Areas to Lose State Services. Ukraine's president has ordered the withdrawal of all state services, including funding for hospitals and schools, from rebel-held areas. Mr Poroshenko's ruling says all state companies and institutions should end their work in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions within a week. It also says Ukraine's central bank is to close down all banking services - including card...

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko claimed his country was "prepared for total war" as fighting continued around the pro-Russian rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Fresh volleys of artillery fire were heard across many parts of Donetsk yesterday (local time), fuelling fears of a military build-up amongst rebel forces

In September a Russian plane buzzed a Canadian warship in the Black Sea during Russian combat training near the Crimean port of Sevastopol, coming within 300 metres and causing the HMCS Toronto to lock its radar on the plane in anticipation of firing in self defence. Russia has denied the flight was provocative, and said it was routine. Other airspace incursions have been noted over the Arctic, where Russia and Canada have disputed claims to energy resources. These are not merely exercises in international airspace or waters, but rather they are provocations, “almost an invitation to an accident,” said Aurel...

1411545456_1Glavar′ in Červonopartizanske (Sverdlovsk region) afraid of awkward questions from residents of the city. "Commandant" of Denis Ponizovnyj during today's procedure, called town meetings to "reassure" the most active speaker. The infomator.lg.ua reported by eyewitnesses. "A woman came up to the microphone, said that her name is Irina Bondarenko, a machinist at the mine "Červonopartizanskoj" (JSC "dtek is sverdlovanthracite. — Ed.) Asked to remember her name, if its something were to happen and ask questions," recalls one eyewitness. According to him, she asked about the militants promised soup kitchens for the poor residents of the city, moreover, specifically when will...