A record snowfall hit Moscow over the weekend. This February has become the most snowy month in 40 years, with snow cover almost 1.5 times higher than longstanding average figures. More than 20,000 units of public utility vehicles and around 5,500 utility workers have been cleaning out Moscow streets and roads. In total 392,000 cubic meters of snow was taken out of the city to melting stations on... 

US Vice President Joe Biden US Vice President Joe Biden says Washington should seek an “adaptive missile defense shield” and conventional warheads with global range. Biden, who spoke at the National Defense University on Thursday, added that development of programs such as the planned anti-missile in Europe would allow the United States to decrease its nuclear weaponry. “Capabilities... 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government to work out a bill easing immigration restrictions in the country and consider the cancelation of immigration quotas for high-qualified foreign specialists, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The bill is intended to “optimize” the immigration regime for foreigners invited to work in Russia by “organizations implementing investment,... 

Nikolai Makarov Russia’s top general said on Tuesday that plans for a U.S. missile shield are directed against his country. “The development and establishment of the (U.S.) missile shield is directed against the Russian Federation,” Interfax news agency quoted Russian armed forces chief of staff, Nikolai Makarov, as saying. Source  Read More »

Dealing Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates a diplomatic slap, France announced Monday it will sell at least one amphibious assault warship to Russia. The sale, the first by a NATO member to Russia, comes despite objections from U.S. and other NATO members and was disclosed while Mr. Gates was visiting Paris. The French sale will help Moscow to begin modernizing its aging armed forces at a time when... 

Konstantin Dushenov St. Petersburg, February 4, Interfax – The Kirovsky District Court in St. Petersburg has found Konstantin Dushenov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Rus Pravoslavnaya (Orthodox Russia), guilty of fomenting hatred through using the media and sentenced him to three years in prison. Dushenov is to serve his sentence at a settlement colony, the court told Interfax on Thursday.... 

U.S. plans to place elements of its global missile shield in Romania pose a real threat to Russia’s national security, a Russian military analyst said on Friday. Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Thursday his country was ready to host U.S. medium-range interceptor missiles to counter a potential ballistic missile attack, but stressed that they would not be directed at Russia. “We... 

U.S.-China Military Tensions Grow Even though the U.S. military budget is almost ten times that of China’s (with a population more than four times as large) and Washington plans a record $708 billion defense budget for next year compared to Russia spending less than $40 billion last year for the same, China and Russia are portrayed as threats to the U.S. and its allies. China has no troops outside... 

Viktor Yanukovych Opposition Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych has a more than 10% lead over his closest rival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine’s Sunday presidential election with 99.5% of the ballots counted. Viktor Yanukovych is a slavic patriot and pro Russia unlike Tymoshenko wich has been accused by some Ukrainian politicians to be Jewish. It is unclear if Tymoshenko is... 

Russian President In late December, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that his government intended to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons. Medvedev’s statement came in the midst of ongoing and thus far unsuccessful negotiations with the US over the signing of a new treaty that would replace the recently expired START-I agreement on nuclear weapons. Speaking on television on Christmas... 

Russian Oil Pipeline Over the next few days, Russia will change the world. It has completed a new oil pipeline and port complex that sets Russia up to become a more powerful oil exporter than Saudi Arabia. The ramifications for Europe and Asia are profound: The shape of the global economy—and the global balance of power—will be altered forever. December 28 was a big day of ceremony in Russia. Prime... 

At least 67 people have been killed and 144 injured during Russia’s New Year’s festivities when Russians celebrate with firecrackers and ‘cold’ fireworks. “In the past 24 hours, a total of 589 fires have occurred in Russia, including 479 fires in residential buildings. A total of 67 people were killed and 144 injured as a result, 77 people were rescued,” Russia’s... 

A Topol-M missile in Red Square. Vladimir Putin called for more Russian offensive weapons to punch through America's new missile defence shield Russia needs more weapons to punch through America’s new missile defence shield, Vladimir Putin said yesterday in blunt remarks that will complicate efforts to cut the nuclear arsenals of the former Cold War rivals. The Russian Prime Minister, reasserting... 

Computer Animated Asteroid Russia’s space agency chief said Wednesday a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely. Anatoly Perminov told Golos Rossii radio the space agency would hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis. He said his agency might eventually invite... 

Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, at his private offices near the town of Gudermes outside the Chechen capital, Grozny Russia needs a military strategy to resist the United States and other Western powers, which are stoking disorder in the north Caucasus to destroy Russia, according to the president of Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov, a 33-year-old former rebel turned Kremlin loyalist, said that...