POLITICS
Germany, Britain swap intel on Putin, Ukraine, ISIS
Britain's senior spies have briefed Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, on the threat posed by Islamic State in a rare exchange of intelligence, while Merkel tipped Britain on Vladimir Putin and the annexed Crimea, The Times reported. The German Chancellor was given information on the Britain's assessment of dangers...
Russian press began to mock Putin
Russian newspaper RBC published a photo with Russian President Vladimir Putin at an article titled "The Triumph of dullness." This was announced by Russian businessman Arkadi Paserba on his page on Facebook. The picture shows the leader of the party "Fair Russia" Sergei Mironov to discuss something with Mr....
Turkmenistan launches pipeline as future route for gas supply to Europe
Turkmenistan has officially launched a new East-West gas pipeline, which may be used in future as a route to ship Turkmen gas to Europe, bypassing Russia, according to Ukraine's Energy and Coal Industry Ministry. President of Turkmenistan Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov participated in an official ribbon-cutting ceremony...
Tymoshenko exploded network of her new dress (PHOTO)
MP, leader of the party "Motherland" Yulia Tymoshenko appeared on the occasion of its anniversary (27.11) in a dress like Lila from the movie "The Fifth Element", which caused confusion among users on Facebook. User lichku Mikhail Golubev noted about similarities of Tymoshenko dress and clothes of...
Norway returns over 600 asylum seekers back to Russia
Norwegian migration police superintendent Tor Espen Haga reports that Norway returned about 600 asylum seekers arriving from Russia back to that country in November through December 2015, according to NRK. These are the people with permits for residence in Russia, he said, NRK wrote. "Those who don't have Russian...
TASS: Downed Russian bomber’s data recorder severely damaged
Deputy chief of the Russian Air Force's flight safety service Sergey Bainetov says that specialists examining the flight data recorder of Russia's Sukhoi-24M fighter-bomber, downed over Syria on November 24, have found out that 13 of the 16 microchips are hopelessly destroyed and others, damaged, according to Russian...
Ukraine intel reports about 7,700 Russian regular troops in Donbas
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's GUR Main Intelligence Department reports that there are about 7,700 Russian regular troops in the occupied areas in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. "According to the data the GUR has obtained, there are about 7,700 regular soldiers of the Armed Forces of Russia in Donetsk and Luhansk...
NATO jets again intercept Russian plane over Baltic near Latvia
Patrol aircraft from NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission on December 19 intercepted a military aircraft of the Russian Federation over the Baltic Sea, the National Armed Forces of Latvia reported on Twitter on Saturday. "Air Policing jets on December 19 in international airspace above the Baltic Sea near LV border...
Russian proxies attack ATO forces 63 times in last day, situation escalates
The combined Russian-separatist forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in eastern Ukraine 63 times in last day, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) wrote on Facebook. "From 18:00 yesterday evening till midnight militants had used small arms to open aimed fire on Ukrainian positions in Krasnohorivka....
Reuters Exclusive: Iran to match stance with Russia in push for Syria deal
Iran has decided to unify its stance with Russia's in the push for a political deal to end Syria's civil war, Iranian officials said, in a sign it could ease its opposition to the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of the agreement, according to Reuters. While maintaining its firm backing for Assad in...
Nine Iraqi soldiers killed in coalition ‘friendly fire’ incident
Baghdad says nine Iraqi soldiers were killed when U.S.-led coalition war planes mistakenly struck at troops near the city of Fallujah. Iraq's Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said the incident on December 18 "occurred as coalition air forces were covering the advance of army ground troops near Fallujah because the...
Five Ukrainian soldiers wounded in Donbas conflict zone in last day
No Ukrainian soldiers were killed but five were wounded in the Donbas conflict zone over the last 24 hours, presidential administration spokesman for the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Colonel Andriy Lysenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday. "Over the last day, we haven't lost any Ukrainian soldiers, but...