The situation in Eastern Ukraine may undergo a dramatic transformation due to the end of the so-called “anti-terrorist operation” (ATO) on April 30, and the subsequent “reformatting” of military operations in Eastern Ukraine, which could spell either an escalation or, rather to the contrary, the resumption of the peace process that has been moribund since the second round of Minsk Accords signed in the early months of 2015. US emissary Volker’s mission to Ukraine, which included meetings with Russia’s curator of Ukraine policy Surkov, did not lead to visible progress on any issues. The idea of peacekeepers had similarly bogged down in irreconcilable differences. Whereas Russia and the breakaway republics seek peacekeepers as a means to separate the warring parties, for Ukraine and the US they were seen as a means to isolate the republics from Russia as a prelude to their military conquest.

A massive military parade was held in Moscow to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) against Nazi Germany in the European theater of World War II; Russia showcased many of its advanced, recently-developed weapons and displayed the might of its armed forces to the world.

New RT documentary "Remembrance" examines the revisionist narratives about World War II that have muddied the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany, and obscured the sacrifices made by its people.

“I think World War II has been distorted incredibly by the Anglo-American media, and that’s because they wanted to diminish the role of Russia and Stalin who actually defeated Hitler, you know. It wasn’t the United States and Britain that defeated him, it was really Stalin,” says Dan Henderson, a US journalist.

Moscow is “deeply disappointed” by Washington’s decision to pull out from the Iranian nuclear deal, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The step taken by the US is a “flagrant violation” of the international law, it added.

“The US once again acts contrary to the position of most countries while pursuing solely its own narrow selfish and momentary interests,” the Russian ministry said in a statement, following the announcement by Donald Trump that the US is pulling out the deal and imposing sanctions on Iran. Washington “flagrantly violates the international law,” the statement adds while drawing attention to the fact that “there are no reasons for disrupting” the deal.

We are deeply disappointed by US President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally give up commitments to implement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear programme (JCPOA) and to reinstate the US sanctions on Iran.

The JCPOA is a key multilateral agreement approved by the 2015 UNSC Resolution 2231. The Action Plan does not belong to the United States alone but is a domain of the entire international community, which has repeatedly reaffirmed its interest in the preservation and long-term sustainable implementation of the JCPOA for the sake of strengthening international and regional peace and security as well as the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

We are gravely concerned that the United States is acting once again in defiance of the opinions of the majority of states and exclusively out of its own narrow and opportunistic interests while grossly violating international law.

Who controls Ukraine’s gold reserves, worth about $1.5 billion, remains one of the great mysteries of 2014. And if that is not bad enough for Ukrainians, evidence has emerged that the country’s central bank was duped into buying an unknown amount of lead bars that had been painted gold, believing they were the real thing.

Since March 2014, there has been widespread speculation about the whereabouts of the country’s 40 metric tons of gold bullion. In March 2014, Russian news and commentary website “Iskra” claimed 40 metric tons of gold were spirited out of Kiev’s central bank in the capital in a hush-hush military-style operation and loaded onto a plane at the national airport. The plane then took off for an unknown destination.

The Ukrainian authorities have started the seizure of assets belonging to the Russian gas giant Gazprom, citing its alleged non-compliance with the decision of the Stockholm arbitration court.

“Under the current circumstances, the Ukrainian cabinet initiates action aimed at recovering [a] penalty from… Gazprom,” the Ukrainian government’s press service said in a statement published on its official website. It also claimed that the move was conducted in compliance with the decision of the Stockholm court and involves collecting a fine from the Russian company over its alleged violation of Ukrainian anti-monopoly legislation.

Israeli security officials believe Iran may be preparing a missile attack in retaliation for the April 9 strike on Syria’s T-4 airbase, in which seven Iranians were killed.

Israeli media reported Sunday, citing defense officials, that Tel Aviv is bracing for possible missile strikes by Iran from sites inside Syria.

According to security personnel, Iran is likely to attempt a retaliatory missile attack against military targets in northern Israel following last month's strike on the T-4 base in Syria.

In Sept. 2012, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel shows an illustration as he describes his concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions during his address to the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters.

Things to Know About Israel's Alleged Top-Secret Nuclear Program

The U.S. imposed restrictions on the use of Javelin anti-tank missile systems in the Donbas, which Washington supplied to Ukraine, as stated by Georgiy Tuka, the deputy minister for the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons of Ukraine, on the Pryamoy channel.

According to him, one of the terms of the contract to supply the missile systems was “not to use these complexes directly on the contact line.”

Although some companies have learned to ride the waves of geopolitics quite efficiently, still in most cases political tensions only complicate the dealings of energy companies. The Skripal poisoning case has driven a massive political wedge between the United Kingdom and Russia (nations whose relations are historically strained already) and is on the verge of blighting their energy ties. The UK Government’s threats to ban Russian gas imports altogether would be a very short-sighted step, the harm of which would take many years to undo. As opposed to the usual rhetoric of ‘‘safeguarding energy security“ and ‘‘countering Russian influence“, both London and Moscow have a lot to win from a good energy relationship.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin captivated audiences, opening his heart to all of Russia, during his inauguration ceremony. He candidly explained that his life’s purpose is to fight for Russia. He needed it to be known that he is determined “to do everything possible for the well-being of the country.”

The head of state stressed that he was aware of the “colossal responsibility to the people and Russia.”

“I assure that the purpose of my life and work will be, as before, serving the people. I consider it my duty and the meaning of my life to do everything for Russia, for its present and future – peaceful and prosperous, for the preservation and continuation of our great people, for well-being in every Russian family,” the president said during the ceremony.

FORMER US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has stated that Donald Trump’s threat to abandon the Iran Nuclear Deal puts US interests in jeopardy by playing into Vladimir Putin’s accusation of the US as being untrustworthy and unpredictable.

After threatening Moscow that if it went ahead with plans to strengthen Syria’s missile defence systems, Israel will destroy them on the ground – be it “S-300 or S-700”, as Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman sarcastically put it – Tel Aviv is now seeking Russian help to calm things down. The dramatic turnaround is typical of Israel. Israel thinks it is a smart move, but will it work?

Lieberman now wants Moscow’s intervention to tamp down Israel’s tensions with Iran. Israel has painted itself into a corner. First it began taunting Iran to step up for a fight by firing missiles at locations in Syria where Iranian military advisers (IRGC personnel) could be present. In a strike on April 8, Israel drew blood, killing 7 Iranian personnel. The IRGC was not amused. Tehran vowed that Iranian retaliation is hundred percent certain but at a time, place and manner of its choice.

Just a quick note here (since I am inundated by emails about this): there is no way I can put a positive spin on the fact that Putin has re-nominated Medvedev as Prime Minister. I am personally bitterly disappointed and so are many others. A comment I just saw on the YouTube chat of the inauguration was succinct and to the point: “????? ????? ????? – ?? ?? ?? ????????? ??????????” or “Putin betrayed the people – we did not vote for Medvedev”. This is going to be a very widely shared feeling, I am afraid.

Now, there are a number of explanations for this development including that Medvedev is an effective manager, that he has been weakened by the corruption scandals in Dagestan, that the new task-centered management doctrine of the Russian government makes personalities less important, etc.

The head of the Political Expert Group think tank in Moscow, Konstantin Kalachev, insisted that Mr Putin “serving another six years is a road to nowhere” as he forecast a “surprise” when the leader eventually hands over the reigns of Russia leadership to a successor.

He stated: "For Putin to write his place in history, he needs to pick the right moment to go.

"Serving another six years is a road to nowhere.

"He will stay in power, but not necessarily in the presidency.

A sharp increase in Russian naval activity in the Arctic and north Atlantic in the years since its invasion of eastern Ukraine has prompted the U.S. Navy to resurrect a command it disestablished seven years ago.

At a ceremony marking Adm. Phil Davidson’s change of command with Adm. Chris Grady as the head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson announced the Navy was set to re-establish the 2nd Fleet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week, the premier's office said, ahead of a possible US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.

The Wednesday meeting will discuss "regional developments", Netanyahu's office said, and follows the Israeli leader's unveiling of "proof" of Iran's alleged past military nuclear ambitions.

Putin invited Netanyahu to take part in the annual Victory Day march, which celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany, Haaretz reported on its website. The two are to meet after the march at the Kremlin.

A televised presentation by Netanyahu on Monday was followed by phone calls to world leaders, including to Putin, in which the two discussed the Iran nuclear deal, as well as the situation in Syria.

After a week of silence from the Kremlin, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has officially confirmed the country did send two Su-57 stealth fighters to its Khmeimim Air Base in Syria’s western Latakia governorate. But based on his statements, the deployment was even more unusual than we had previously understood, reportedly lasting just two days.

Shoigu shared details about the apparently brief mission with reporters on March 1, 2018 following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual state-of-the-nation address, which included major announcements about the country’s strategic deterrent capabilities. Russia’s top defense official said only two of the stealth jets had gone to Syria, denying reports that there might have been up to four in the country, and that they completed a number of evaluations, including an unspecified “combat trial.”

Russia has begun towing the first of its new floating nuclear power plants, the Akademik Lomonosov, to Murmansk, where it will receive the nuclear fuel for its two reactors. The only one of its kind in service today, the program’s progress is yet another example of the Kremlin's active push to expand its presence in the increasingly strategic Arctic region, but the concept could find use in various roles elsewhere, as well.

Russia will stand by the Iran nuclear deal and develop closer ties with Iran if U.S. President Donald Trump withdraws from the agreement on May 12, a senior Russian official said on Friday.

The UK is ‘indiscriminately’ using thermobaric missiles as part of its ongoing air war in Syria, a Freedom of Information (FoI) request has revealed.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) admitted, for the first time, using thermobaric weapons during strikes carried out by Royal Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drones during missions in January and February, in response to the FoI request by anti-war campaign group Drone Wars UK.

Thermobaric weapons, known colloquially as “vacuum bombs,” differ from conventional munitions - which cause damage by spreading shrapnel - as they create a high-temperature explosion with an extremely powerful blast radius. The pressure created causes severe internal damage to the organs of people caught in the blast radius.

Israel does not want Syria to receive Russia's S-300 surface-to-air missile systems and has channels of cooperation with Moscow to try to prevent such supplies, former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told Sputnik.

"If the Russian government asks us whether to supply the S-300 or not, we would like these systems not to fall into the hands of the Syrians. Earlier, when such questions arose, we used the appropriate channels to discuss them with the Russian leadership. Now it also receives signals from our authorities about the undesirability of such supplies," former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who left office in 2016, said in an interview.

Yaalon's successor, Avigdor Lieberman, has repeatedly threatened to destroy the S-300 systems if Damascus uses them against Israeli aircraft that regularly strike targets in the neighboring country.

Unlike the nations of the wars of the 20th century, Ukraine started from a base of potential recruits much lower than its nominal population suggested, due to the aging of the population and emigration, and because of the birth crisis of the 1990’s . Added to this are the consequences of the war. These are just a few factors which tell us that the present Ukrainian military is not a military which can be militarily fielded with any eye on victory.

The USA dominates the seas when it comes to its massive nuclear powered aircraft carriers and lumbering amphibious assault ships, but Russia takes the prize for the largest and most heavily armed surface combatant, the mighty Kirov Class Battle Cruiser.

While US “relief funds” are frozen in Syria, the Pentagon continues to seek massive amounts of funding for its military operations in the country. This includes a request for $300 million in weapons to give to “partner forces” in Syria.

This amounts to enough arms for 65,000 fighters. This is expected to center on the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is to say, almost entirely the Kurdish YPG. The US has been arming the YPG for years now as part of its Syria operations.

This is being sought in spite of repeated US assurances to Turkey that their arming of the YPG was temporary. With ISIS virtually wiped out in Syria, the YPG no longer has offensive goals fitting into US plans for Syria, and rather is focused chiefly on fighting a Turkish invasion of northern Syria.

The latest US sanctions, which sent the Russian currency to its steepest drop in the past three years, surprisingly helped to boost the country’s budget with an extra 232 billion rubles ($3.8 billion).

The decline in the value of the ruble, as well as recent purchases of hard currency by the Central Bank of Russia, brought an additional inflow of money for the Russian government.

The re-assessment of foreign-exchange reserves shows that, at the peak of the ruble crash, when the national currency fell to over 65 rubles to one dollar, Russia's sovereign wealth fund reaped a profit of some 470 billion rubles ($7.6 billion).

China has significantly boosted oil imports from Russia, while the latter has been selling less crude to Europe. An analyst told RT that Beijing has become a more preferable partner in the oil trade for Moscow.

RT’s source in Russia’s largest oil exporter Transneft has said that since January 1, the country is pumping more oil to China, while exports to Europe have plunged. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Russia will have shipped 19 percent less oil through its ports on the Baltic and Black Seas in the first five months of 2018, and sold 43 percent more oil to China through March.

Russian Su30 aircraft crashed into the sea near Khmeimim airbase, Syria today, 2 pilots killed.

Iranian Assets in Syria "nervous" and actively dispersing to wide areas; concerned about new Israeli attacks.

Earlier in the Syrian conflict, Israel’s airstrikes typically aimed to destroy weapons convoys bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. There’s now been a significant change. Two strikes in the past month -– widely attributed to Israel, though the Jewish state doesn’t comment on such matters –- targeted permanent infrastructure used by Iran’s forces. Both took place deep inside Syrian territory.

“It’s shortsighted to look at it in terms of how many kilometers from the border Iran is sitting,’’ said Amos Gilad, who recently stepped down as director of political-military affairs at Israel’s Defense Ministry. “Iran cannot be allowed to base themselves militarily in Syria. And Israel is fully determined to prevent that.’’

Russia welcomes Donald Trump’s desire to engage with Moscow regarding an arms race and other global challenges, but the US leader’s deeds must match his words, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

“We have repeatedly stated that we positively assess President Donald Trump’s desire to establish normal dialogue between our countries,” Lavrov told Italy’s Panorama magazine on Thursday. He added, however, that US desire for dialogue would be judged on its “practical steps.”

The top diplomat noted that relations between the US and Russia are continuing to deteriorate at present. “Even if there is some positive input from the president, it is being reversed by Russophobic sentiments soaring in the US establishment,” Lavrov said.

The fact that the nerve agent the UK claims was used to poison a Russian ex-spy and his daughter was being produced in the Czech Republic is a “powerful blow” to the UK theory that Russia is to blame, a Russian Senator has said.

“Novichok was produced and stored in the Czech territory in some small quantities. This fact is a crushing blow to London’s theory that is already falling apart at the seams,” Russian Senator Aleksey Pushkov said in a Twitter post, commenting on the recent revelations made by the Czech President Milos Zeman. “London is confused: Its whole construct is crumbling,” the Russian politician added.

Earlier on Thursday, Zeman told the Czech Barrandov TV channel that his country “produced and tested Novichok, even though [it was produced] only in small quantities and then destroyed.” He made his statement following an inquiry conducted by the Czech security services into the issue.

With just over a week until President Trump’s May 12 ultimatum on Iran’s nuclear deal, there is growing speculation about what will happen. If President Trump does withdraw the US from the deal, however, Iran is being very clear what will happen.

“The consequence would be that Iran would in fact be ready to go back to the previous situation,” said Iranian Ambassador Hamid Baeidinejad, who said that without the US “there is no deal left.” European nations had previously suggested the deal might stay intact with or without the US.

The three European parties to the P5+1, Britain, France, and Germany, have been trying to come up with a sideline deal to placate President Trump and avoid the pullout. Whether this is going to be successful or not is still uncertain.

If you’re a reporter or a computer geek, then Gavin Williamson wants you to help him in the war on fake news. The UK defense secretary issued to a call to arms to tech and communications experts to fight the cyber propaganda war.

Williamson has called on those with IT or cyber skills to join the UK’s reserve forces to help end the Russian “age of disinformation,” arguing they can “change the narrative” with tech skills that are “more relevant today than anything else.”

Announcing the start of military operations against the remaining strongholds of Islamic State, the US State Department included some pointed language, hinting at de facto partition of Syria, analysts tell RT.
“The days of ISIS controlling territory and terrorizing the people of Syria are coming to an end,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Tuesday.The operations will be conducted by the US-led coalition and local partners, including the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces.

The US will also work with Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon to “secure their borders” from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Nauert said. This is intriguing, because the only remaining IS presence is near the Iraqi border, with a pocket south of Damascus currently being cleared out by Syrian government forces.

Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel have an ally in Russia. When it comes to Washington (and Tel Aviv's) penchant for calling foul on the Iranian nuclear deal, the two largest economies in the eurozone can count on Vladimir Putin to stand in their corner.

Putin reiterated Russia's position that the Iranian nuclear deal made by former president Barack Obama is "of paramount importance for ensuring international stability and security" and must be "strictly observed by all parties," the Kommersant business daily reported on Tuesday.

Putin reportedly discussed the Iranian nuclear power deal with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who just hours before had come out with his own intelligence agency's report alleging evidence that the Islamic Republic was indeed enriching uranium for military use and not just for energy use. The report said that Israel initiated the call.

Tehran has been ordered by a US court to pay more than $6 billion to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, despite the fact that most of the plane hijackers were Saudi nationals, and no direct link was ever found to Iran.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York found Iran, the country’s central bank, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps liable for the deaths of more than 1,000 people in the September 11 attacks. As a consequence, District Judge George Daniels ordered Iran and its entities to pay over $6 billion in compensation to the victims’ families.

The default judgment seeks compensation of $12.5 million per spouse, $8.5 million per parent, $8.5 million per child, and $4.25 million per sibling. The US could potentially retrieve the sum from billions of dollars in Iranian assets that were frozen in the US and Europe over the years. This is unlikely, however, as the ruling is seen as symbolic and unenforceable.

The US Treasury has extended the deadline for investors to divest or transfer their holdings from United Company Rusal Plc, En+ Group PLC, and the GAZ Group until June 6, instead of the planned deadline of May 7. On April 6, the US Treasury slapped a new round of sanctions against Russian officials, businessmen, and companies. These included a number of enterprises belonging to Rusal’s co-owner Oleg Deripaska. The US authorities originally set a May 7 deadline for American investors to get rid of securities from the Russian companies and subsidiaries and to cancel contracts with all enterprises, subject to new punitive measures.

Sergei Skripal, the poisoned ex-Russian spy, and his daughter Yulia dominated headlines a few weeks ago. Now they’ve vanished from the public eye, leaving many to wonder what exactly happened.

Yulia apparently recovered enough to leave the hospital and is now thought to be in a safe house, and there have been no updates on Sergei’s condition since his daughter walked out of Salisbury District Hospital in early April. Since then, Syrian bomb attacks have dominated British headlines, followed by the Windrush scandal that ended with the shock resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Some argue the British media just had its attention diverted, but others suggest something else is at play.

Conservative MP and novelist Nadine Dorries who is heavily involved in criticising the Labour party over alleged links to alleged Russian bots, appears to still believe that Russia is a communist country.

For anyone who has ever wondered whether some of the Tory criticism aimed at Russia or even the Labour party is based more on political opportunism and wishful thinking rather than wisdom and careful thought, Nadine Dorries MP has provided all the evidence you need on Twitter.

The reported “chemical attack” at Douma, Russia has claimed, was fake news. One U.S. news agency has now confirmed from the location of the reported attack that April 7, 2018 was an uneventful day in this Syrian city and not one single person in Douma corroborated the story of a chemical attack taking place.
It is the latest in a long series of false-flag reports generated about Syria by the United States and forces that oppose the government of President Bashar al Assad. This trickery dates back to at least 2006, when a WikiLeaks cable exposed U.S. political treachery at its very worst; calculated meddling designed to harm the government and population of Syria.

In this article we will review false revelations and calculated moves undertaken by politicians to undermine Syria’s government, which is designed to provide protection to religious minorities and freedom for people of all faiths, who lived securely in Syria until civil war broke out in 2011.

U.S. President Trump wants to end the nuclear agreement (pdf) with Iran and wants to eliminate Iranian forces in Syria which support the Syrian government. Something is being prepared to make that happen.

Last week General Joseph Votel, commander of CENTCOM - the U.S. military command for the Middle East, was in Israel. It was the first ever visit of a CENTCOM commander to Israel which usually works with the European command EUCOM.

Yesterday former CIA director and now Secretary of State Pompeo visited Israel. A few hours later Israel bombed two ammunition depots in Syria which are supposedly related to Iran. This was a clear attempt to provoke Iran into some reaction.

The Israeli defense minister Lieberman just visited Washington DC and only today came back to Israel.

The United Nations's nuclear agency on Tuesday rejected claims from Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran's government is conducting nuclear weapons research in secret.

In an assessment released Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote that there is "no credible indications" to support claims that Iran was continuing its "coordinated" nuclear weapons program after 2009, The Associated Press reports.

Netanyahu made the claims Monday in a speech in Tel Aviv as part of his effort to urge President Trump to scrap the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015 under the Obama administration, which was meant to ensure Iran does not complete development of a nuclear weapon.

Critics say the deal is too weak and has led to Iran pursuing the weapons in secrecy.

On Monday, Netanyahu called the deal "terrible" and urged Trump to do the "right thing" and exit the agreement with Iran.

Israeli defense officials have told their American and Russian counterparts that if Iranian-backed forces attack Israel from inside Syria, Jerusalem will not hold back from retaliating with direct strikes against Tehran or other targets in Iran.

The officials delivered the message ahead of a national security statement expected Monday from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to Iranian threats to hit Israel after recent strikes on Tehran-backed assets in Syria, according to a report by Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.

Syrian state media reported Monday that the Syrian Army has conducted precision and intensive airstrikes on fortified militant positions in the Al-Hajar al-Aswad area to the south of Damascus.

According to SANA, Syria's state news agency, the Syrian Air Force carried out an intensive bombardment of fortified positions and infiltration routes used by terrorists in the area and inflicted heavy personnel and equipment losses upon them.

The reporter stressed that military operations against terrorist groups in the area will not stop until they are completely wiped out from the south of Damascus. At the same time, the Syrian government is beginning to implement the evacuation agreement reached Sunday with the jihadist group Tahrir al-Sham, also known as al-Qaeda in Syria.

The United States has confirmed to RFE/RL its delivery of American-made, Javelin antitank missile systems to Ukraine in a move that is welcome in Kyiv but will almost certainly enrage Moscow amid a four-year conflict that pits Russia-backed separatists against Ukrainian national troops.

"They have already been delivered," a U.S. State Department official confirmed on April 30 in response to an RFE/RL query on the handover of Javelins.

A shipment of lethal aid would appear to deepen U.S. involvement in the simmering conflict and mark at least a symbolic victory for Ukraine in its effort to maintain Western backing in the ongoing conflict.

After months of heated debate in Washington and, reportedly, much reluctance on the part of U.S. President Donald Trump, the White House was said to have approved the Javelin sale in December.

After seven years of utter devastation and bloodletting, a consensus has emerged among all the belligerents of the Syrian war to de-escalate the conflict, except Israel which wants to further escalate the conflict because it has been the only beneficiary of the carnage in Syria.

Over the years, Israel has not only provided medical aid and material support to the militant groups battling the Syrian government – particularly to various factions of the Free Syria Army (FSA) and al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate al-Nusra Front in Daraa and Quneitra bordering the Israel-occupied Golan Heights – but Israel’s air force has virtually played the role of the air force of the Syrian jihadists and has conducted more than 100 airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon during the seven-year conflict.

Last week, Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev told Russian media that the gas giant was prepared to build yet another pipeline to Europe to compliment Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2. Rossiya Segodnya economics observer Dmitry Lekuh explains why the official's proposal is really a 'mathematical inevitability'.

Speaking to Rossiya-24, Medvedev noted that Gazprom has the confirmed gas reserves and transport infrastructure capabilities to quench Europe's energy needs. "If Europe tells us what it needs and is ready to sign the relevant contracts, I'm not ruling out that we might need new gas pipelines, like, for example, a Nord Stream 3," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the Israeli intelligence had obtained thousands of documents proving that Iran violated its commitment to maintaining a peaceful nuclear program and kept secretly developing a nuclear weapons program.

The permanent Russian representative to the UN in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said it is necessary to authenticate Israel's documents concerning the Iran nuclear deal, which suggest that Tehran had lied about its compliance with the terms of the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and the peaceful nature of its nuclear projects.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis is seeking to circumvent potential conflicts with US allies that have purchased Russian military equipment with an appeal to US legislators to relax sanctioning requirements against countries that do so.

Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that "national security exemptions" ought to be injected into the existing Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), arguing that it is in the US' long-term interest to avoid such conflicts with its allies.

"There are nations in the world who are trying to turn away from formerly Russian-sourced weapons and systems," Mattis said, arguing that those countries still rely on Moscow to update their existing systems with new technology.

On Sunday, April 29th, disturbing news came from the frontline in Donbass. The official spokesman of the People’s Militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Major Andrey Marochko, cited intelligence data from Ukraine’s forward positions that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are moving heavy arms and troops up to the frontline.

According to Marochko, a train convoy of four wagons loaded with military vehicles and UAF soldiers arrived at the Kiev-controlled town of Rubezhnoe. Nine infantry fighting vehicles, two Grad multiple rocket launcher systems, and 200 UAF troops were “delivered.” Meanwhile, Marochko also reported, another company of troops from the Ukrainian National Guard’s Poltava battalion has been deployed to the town of Belovodsk.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani held phone talks and agreed to work together on maintaining Iran's nuclear deal.

In a telephone conversation, which took place at the initiative of the French side, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron called for the preservation of the nuclear agreement with Iran, as well as stressed the necessity of its strict implementation, the Kremlin said in a statement.

According to the Kremlin, Macron informed Putin about the results of his visit to the United States with an emphasis on his talks regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), dubbed the Iran nuclear deal, with US President Donald Trump.

The Elysee Palace said in a separate statement that president Macron expressed hope during phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that Moscow would play a significant role in the settlement of a number of challenging issues in the Middle East.

The US Department of State has confirmed delivery of Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine, a department spokesperson told Sputnik on Monday.

"We have delivered them," the official said.

The United States has been assigning millions of dollars to support Ukraine, particularly in the defense area, over the past years. US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch has said that the United States had provided over $850 million in security assistance to Kiev since 2014. The 2018 US defense budget, signed into law by President Donald Trump in December, allocates $350 million for security assistance to Kiev.

"Attacking, gassing, women and children, threatening them, gassing them, burning their property, and generally treating them like animals due to ethnicity is medieval savagery common to Radical Uke SS Nationalists," said Eddie Haskell.

KYIV -- When a Romany camp in the Ukrainian capital was attacked and burned by far-right nationalists, the police downplayed it, saying the men had merely set alight their "rubbish" and had no reason to investigate.

Then a video showing masked attackers throwing rocks and spraying gas as they chased terrified Romany men, women, and children from their makeshift settlement went viral.

Now, after public outcry, Kyiv police say they have launched a "whitewash" investigation into infringement of those families' human rights and hooliganism -- a catch-all term that has been used by the authorities to describe crimes ranging from Ukrops baring their bare ass in public to firing a rocket-propelled grenade at a business center.

A Russian fighter jet buzzed a U.S. military spy plane in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday morning, two defense officials told Fox News.

The Russian Su-27 jet performed a “safe” but “unprofessional” intercept of a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance plane while flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

The Russian jet came within about 20 feet of the U.S. Navy aircraft, but the American pilots told officials they never felt threatened or unsafe.

The “Iranian problem” is one that was created by the United States and Britain decades ago. Mossadegh was removed from office when the Shah was inserted…that selfsame Shah who supported Anglo-American oil interests in his country until Ayatollah Khomeini sparked the Iranian Islamic Revolution in ’79. That revolution began the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Teheran and the hostage situation that effectively ended the Carter presidency (rather his actions to resolve it, such as Operation Desert One). President Reagan came in, the hostages were released, Iran and Iraq fought a bloody war, and relations with the U.S. were discontinued.

PETAR Poroshenko announced that Ukraine had completed the so-called anti-terrorist operation in Donbas and launched an "operation of the combined forces".

He specified that it would be a military operation led by the Ukrainian army.

As its goal, he declared: "Protecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine".

At the same time, the Ukrainian president discovered that he had just signed a "command to launch a joint operation." I added:

"This operation will only be completed when it is released and the last pillar of the Ukrainian country, including the Crimea."

In the following, he also pronounced the duty phrases on giving priority to the "political-diplomatic solution" and expressed the hope that "a UN peacekeeping mission will arrive in the east of Ukraine".

Poroshenko, of course, did not miss the opportunity to accuse Russia of "aggression".

The Marine Corps wants to get acclimated to fighting peer-level adversaries with peer-level air forces, and a new request shows it’s starting with Russian-styled aircraft.

Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command filed the solicitation Thursday, requesting either a Mi-24 HIND attack helicopter or Mi-17 HIP transport helicopter capable of using tracking pods compatible with the training range in Yuma, Arizona.

“The attack helicopter, due to its size, flight profile, firepower and defensive maneuvering capabilities, constitutes a unique threat creating a realistic, dissimilar and credible opposing force,” the solicitation reads.

Despite all his flaws and aggressive rhetoric, it can be argued that Donald Trump's foreign policy is perfect for the Russian economy. Sanctions against Russia are useless if the oil price is high, and Trump is doing his best to push the price higher.

The US president is angry. Again. Donald Trump blames the OPEC oil cartel (and implicitly, Russia) for the recent run-up in oil prices that is hurting US consumers. However, the person he should be blaming is Donald Trump.

According to the latest Whitehall analysis by British civil servants, covered by The Guardian, Russia-based accounts have increased their propaganda activities up to 4,000 percent since the alleged poisoning attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, UK.

“One bot, @Ian56789, was sending 100 posts a day during a 12-day period starting from April 7, and reached 23 million users, before the account was suspended. […] Another, @Partisangirl, reached 61 million users with 2,300 posts over the same 12-day period,” The Guardian wrote.

It appears, those people are not Russians at all, and The Guardian labeled them as “bots” incorrectly: the first “Kremlin-inspired” user, mentioned in the government report, @Ian56789, turned out to be a British citizen, who agreed to make an appearance on Sky News via Skype to dispel the myths that he’s a “Russian troll.”

Russophobia is now so rampant in the west's political media elite, it has become an absurd caricature. US Senator Cory Gardner has called for Russia to be labelled a state sponsor of terrorism. His argument (if such it can be called) is based on falsehoods, irrelevancies and blatantly absurd disinformation.

Gardner claims that the State Department should make the designation because Russia invaded Georgia and the Ukraine. (It didn't. And invading another country is not terrorism. However, a country much closer to Senator Gardner does have a history of invading other countries - care to hazard a guess?) Gardner also cites Russia's support for Syria. (This is true. But Russia is in Syria legally, fighting against terrorists - terrorists who are supported by the US, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Israel, France and others. Indeed, the US has thousands of troops in Syria illegally and has repeatedly bombed the country and killed Syrian civilians and soldiers.)