Herbert E. Meyer, a nutcase who was a special assistant to the CIA director for a period during the Reagan administration, has penned an article calling for Russian President Putin’s assassination. If we have “ to get him out of the Kremlin feet-first with a bullet hole in the back of his head, that would be okay with us.” http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/08/how_to_solve_the_putin_problem.html As... 

Presidents Putin and Poroshenko have agreed on a permanent ceasefire in the Donbass area of east Ukraine, the Ukrainian leader’s press office reports following a phone conversation between the two. “The phone call resulted in an agreement on a permanent ceasefire in Donbass. An understanding has been reached on the steps to be taken to end the hostilities,” a corresponding message from Poroshenko’s... 

A column of BMD-2 airborne combat vehicles move towards the assembly area of combined forces of the Central Military District and airborne troops at the Chebarkul firing range as part of a sudden operational readiness test. Moscow is to review its military doctrine, a move that is caused by expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe, problems of missile defense and the crisis situation in neighboring Ukraine,... 

The Australian government on Monday unveiled further sanctions against Russian oil and gas, financial and defense sectors, bringing Canberra in line with the European Union. Under the new sanctions there will be no new arms exports and no new exports for the oil and gas industry, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the Australian parliament. In addition, Russian state-run banks are not allowed new access... 

NATO is reportedly working towards the creation of an expeditionary force composed of 10,000 troops from seven different member states as a result of escalating tensions with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Financial Times, the force’s creation will be spearheaded by Britain and involve contributions from Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, and the Netherlands. Canada... 

Moscow has responded to accusations of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying there is no proof to support the allegations. “No facts about a Russian military presence on Ukrainian territory have ever been presented. There have been reports about satellite imagery exposing Russian troops’ movements, however they turned out to be images from video games. The latest accusations happen to be much... 

This is the first photo of Iran’s homegrown Bavar-373 missile defense system. Iran has finished manufacturing a homegrown missile defense system, which is as powerful as the S-300 system that Russia refused to deliver to the Islamic Republic. The Fars news agency published on Friday the first images of the long-range Bavar-373 missile defense system, saying that it is meant to carry the message of... 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko The chorus of allegations about a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has President Poroshenko calling for an emergency meeting of the country’s security and defense council, while the Prime Minister Yatsenyuk is calling for a Russian asset freeze. “I have made a decision to cancel my working visit to the Republic of Turkey due to sharp aggravation of... 

Russia intends to send a second humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine in the near future, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says. “We want to reach an agreement on all conditions for delivering a second convoy by the same route… in the coming days,” Lavrov said at a news conference on Monday. He added that Moscow sent an official note to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry... 

China’s Inner Mongolia is hosting the biggest military drill ever held by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The training of 7,000 servicemen from five SCO member states is set to test troops’ effectiveness in fighting terrorism. The Peace Mission-2014 drill, being conducted from August 24 to 29 in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was declared open by Deputy Chief of Chinese... 

Having closed several McDonald’s restaurants in Moscow, Russia’s Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection (Rospotrebnadzor) launched unscheduled inspections of the restaurants of the chain in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia. According to representative of the agency, their actions are connected to complaints from local residents about the quality of products sold and insanitary conditions. On... 

Investigations into the activity of McDonald’s restaurants are underway across Russia. Three restaurants including the first one to open in Russia were temporarily closed in Moscow over sanitary issues. Checks in Moscow are currently being conducted in five McDonald’s restaurants. The Moscow department of Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian consumer watchdog, said that during the checks breaches of sanitary... 

Russian aid convoy trucks have crossed back over the border after delivering humanitarian supplies to eastern Ukraine. Russian Deputy Emergency Minister Eduard Chizhikov said on Saturday that all the trucks that had departed for Ukraine have returned to Russia. “There were 227 trucks in the humanitarian operation participating in the operation, and they have all returned. All those vehicles have... 

The European Union has blamed Moscow for the “clear violation” of Ukraine’s border after a Russian aid convoy crossed into the Ukrainian territory. “We deplore Russia’s decision to enter the humanitarian consignment into Ukrainian territory, without the ICRC’s [International Committee of the Red Cross] escort or the consent of the Ukrainian authorities,” Sebastien Brabant, spokesman... 

Several dozen trucks in the Russian humanitarian convoy have crossed the Ukrainian border and started moving in the direction of Lugansk, after Moscow ordered the convoy to proceed, without waiting for further permission from Kiev. Moscow has accused Kiev of deliberately holding up the delivery of Russian humanitarian aid to the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, according to a new statement...