Scores of Bulgarians protest against EU sanctions on Russia over Ukraine

Click banner for more info

Several hundred Bulgarian citizens massed before the presidential administration building in the capital Sofia on Monday to protest against EU sanctions imposed on Russia. Demonstrators gathered to wield posters reading "The EU did not free Bulgaria from Turkish domination, but Russia did" and "Crimea’s Bulgarians want Sofia to recognize the referendum".

They arrived, attracting television broadcasters and news photographers, as the building assembled the country’s national security council to discuss events in Ukraine and possible consequences for Bulgaria.

Russia’s reincorporation of Crimea: facts on why it's not Anschluss

Click banner for more info

The Western press and certain Russian liberals have been in hysterics over Russia’s reincorporation of Crimea. Hillary Clinton previously compared Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler and Andrei Zubov, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), scandalously slurred grassroots Crimean attempts at integration as an "Anschluss".

President Putin signs treaty of bringing Crimea, Sevastopol into Russia

Click banner for more info

Russia and Crimea have signed treaty of accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in the Russian Federation following President Putin’s address to the Parliament. Crimea and Sevastopol are joining Russia as two separate regions, President Putin said.

The agreement will temporarily apply from the signature date and will take effect once ratified. Russia guarantees all peoples inhabiting Crimea and Sevastopol the preservation of their native language and the creation of conditions for learning and developing it, according to the agreement.

US to deny entry for Russia, Ukraine citizens in sanction list – White House

Click banner for more info

The United States has imposed travel bans on Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych, as well as on Crimea’s Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov and Chairman of Crimean Supreme Council Vladimir Konstantinov. Washington has also threatened to extend sanctions imposed earlier on 21 Russian citizens, if the situation in Ukraine is not settled.

Ukraine & Western Countries should stand apart from radicals – Russia

Click banner for more info

Ukraine and the West should stay apart from radicals, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, said. “Russia thinks that Ukraine opposition as well as western countries should stay apart from extremists and other radicals,” said Lavrov during the press-conference in Bagdad on Thursday. This Tuesday, mass disorders escalated in Kiev again.

During the Verkhovna Rada meeting, the opposition insisted on return of the parliamentary-presidential form of government and on putting the Constitution of 2004 in force again.

UN nuclear watchdog team arrives in Tehran: Iran monitoring to cost $6 million

Click banner for more info

A team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Tehran on Saturday, another step towards implementing a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers which was finalized last week, according to the semi-official Fars News agency.

The team, led by nuclear engineer Massimo Aparo, will begin reporting to the IAEA on Monday, marking the official start of the deal, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

Under the terms of the agreement with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, Iran will stop work on some portions of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from some international sanctions which have damaged the country's economy.

EU wants Russian energy but rejects Moscow integration efforts in Eurasia.

Click banner for more info

It looks like the Europeans have been seriously offended with Moscow’s assistance to Ukraine, which had frozen the signing of the agreement on the associated membership in the EU and had made a choice in favour of developing relations with its Eastern neighbor. The upcoming 32th Russia-EU summit in Brussels on January 28 will be held in a truncated format and without a traditional dinner. Diplomats explain this by the need to concentrate on the most important things and as soon as possible.

Not two days, but only two hours are allocated now for the partners to discuss the key issues of interactions between Russia and the European Union. Moscow and Brussels have agreed that consideration of the details of numerous joint projects could wait, and they needed to focus on the issues of strategic partnership.

The matter will, of course, concern the economy and more specifically – energy, trade, international obligations and neighborly policy. It is unlikely that the President of Russia and his European colleagues will be able to avoid a conversation about the situation in Ukraine in the light of the last months’ events. The matter is that the European Union categorically rejects Moscow’s integration efforts in the Eurasian region, expert of the Institute of Europe Vladislav Belov says.

Russia doesn't prohibit homosexual relations, only propaganda among minors is banned - Putin

Click banner for more info

 During his meeting with Sochi Olympics volunteers, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia does not seek to hold anyone legally responsible for homosexual relations, as it is widely stipulated in the West. More specifically, he underlined that Russia does not arrest anyone for homosexual relations, and it is only the promotion of homosexuality and pedophilia among minors that is strictly banned.

NSA implanted software on thousands of computers to spy on Russia, Mexico, other US allies Read

Click banner for more info

The US intelligence agency has covertly installed software on nearly 100,000 computers worldwide, allowing it to spy on them, and recruit them for possible cyber attacks, a news report said late Tuesday. Most were installed by the National Security Agency via network connections, but the agency has devised a way of reaching unconnected computers by means of radio waves, the New York Times reported, citing NSA documents, computer experts and officials.

Dutch royals, PM Set to attend Sochi Olympics in Russia

Click banner for more info

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee, his wife Queen Maxima and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will attend the Winter Olympics in Sochi next month, Rutte told reporters on Friday.

“The Netherlands will be represented… We see nothing to gain with a boycott. It is better to engage in dialogue,” the Dutch premier said.

Ukraine-China: 'third alternative'

Click banner for more info

The Europe-Ukraine-Russia triangle may turn into a quadruple if China enters the game. Faced with a contracting labor market and limited credit resources, East and Central European countries approach Ukraine’s associated membership in the European Union with caution, fearing that it all may end up in Kiev claiming its fair share of the pie.

EU strategists are racking their brains over how to lure Kiev, while keeping East European member states less concerned about it.  Ukraine’s hopes to negotiate more favorable terms failed. When President Viktor Yanukovych requested 150 billion euros in aid to speed up the economy’s transition to the European technical standards, even “senior” EU members got scared. Europe just can’t afford it.

Russia understands Syrian conflict a lot better than many Western states - expert

Click banner for more info

The Syrian opposition has turned into a criminal group whose leaders are interested only in profit from the ongoing war. That's according to Sunday Telegraph newpaper which published a report citing many rebel fighters saying that the FSA leaders don’t want to make the regime fall because they love the conflict.
Continue

US/NATO continue simulating war against Russia in Germany

Click banner for more info

When the Cold War finished many intelligent, peace-loving and thinking people all over the world believed that there would be a drawing down of military forces and an end to the arms race as the ideological confrontation between the USSR and the USA was no longer a geopolitical reality.

Ukraine will not allow confrontation with Russia - Ukrainian PM

Click banner for more info

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Sunday there will be no confrontation with Russia.“It is not simply that we; 'do not want' confrontation [with Russia], but that we will 'never allow' it,” he told the Ukrainian TV channel Inter.

“There will be no enmity between Russia and Ukraine, at least while our Government and our President are at the helm. ”

NATO starts large-scale maneuvers near Russia's European borders

Click banner for more info

Large-scale maneuvers of NATO's rapid deployment forces have started near Russia's European borders.

These maneuvers, dubbed Steadfast Jazz, are NATO's largest ones within the last decade.

The maneuvers are taking place in the Baltic countries and Poland. Taking part are, in total, more than 6,000 troops, about 350 armed vehicles, 57 planes and helicopters, 11 overwater ships and 2 submarines.

Besides the alliance's forces, taking part are NATO's partners – Ukraine, Macedonia, Sweden and Finland.

scenario of this war game has an evident anti-Russian “flavor”. According to this scenario, NATO is repelling an attack of a certain state against the Baltic countries. It is not said what country is the aggressor, but the only neighbors of the Baltic states that are not taking part in the maneuvers are Russia and Belarus.

The Game Changer: Missile defense Destroyer **Russia to test new weapon in December

Click banner for more info

Russia will test-launch the newest RS-26  missile over the following several weeks. According to many US officials the missile will be able to defeat American defenses in Europe.

The RS-26 missile is likely to be deployed with multiple supersonic, maneuvering warheads which will be able to defeat US missile defenses in Europe, US officials told In the Ring.

Continue after the break..

Why we attacked Nigerian embassy in Russia – Niger-Delta students In Russia

Click banner for more info

Niger-Delta students on scholarship in Peoples Friendship University of Russia have justified their attack on the Nigerian Embassy in Russia.

In a statement released by one of the students, Okoriko Maxwell, he gave an account of the events that led to their action citing the nonchalant attitude towards one of their mates who was in dire need of medical assistance.

continue

Russia calls to curb Libyan ‘weapons spillover’

Click banner for more info

Alexander Zmeevsky, Special Envoy for the Russian President on Countering Terrorism and Organized Crime

Russia has urged the Global Counterterrorism Forum in New York to prevent Libyan weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists who will bring them home after fighting in warzones.

Speaking at the ministerial summit in New York, President Putin’s anti-terror envoy Alexander Zmeevsky said the meeting focused on “averting the threat that is posed by terrorists coming back from warzones, as well as by the continuing spillover of Libyan weapons that are picked up by terrorist organizations.”

Continue after the break.

Russia's chief justice in "stable condition" in Accra

Click banner for more info

The Russian embassy in Ghana is providing all necessary assistance to Chairman of the Russian Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev who has been injured in a road crash, a Russian diplomatic source told RIA Novosti Tuesday.

Lebedev was involved in a car accident and transported to a military hospital in [Ghana's capital] Accra for medical treatment, the source said. The Russian embassy in Ghana is providing him with all necessary assistance.

Continue after the break.

US and Russia agree plan on Syrian chemical weapons ( Full Update)

Click banner for more info

Assad’s government must submit a comprehensive list of its chemical weapons stocks within a week ahead of their transfer and destruction, US Secretary John Kerry said.

The deal worked out between Moscow and Washington on settling the Syria crisis stipulates that Syria’s chemical weapons will be rapidly destroyed.

Kerry said the Syrian government should provide the UN with full access to its chemical sites, and insisted that the plan to remove the chemical arsenal should be transparent.

Continue after the break.