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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday urged the Kremlin to comply with rules on transparency as it gears up for huge military exercises along the alliance's eastern flank next month. The drill, named Zapad 2017 ("West"), has stoked fresh alarm in NATO-members Poland and the Baltic states as a more assertive Russia pushes back against what it sees as the alliance's unjustified expansion into eastern Europe. "I call on Russia to ensure compliance with its obligations under the OSCE Vienna Document, because predictability, transparency is especially important when we have increased military activity along our borders," Stoltenberg told reporters in Warsaw at a joint press conference with Poland's right-wing Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. The Vienna Document requires all sides to provide advance information about exercises and allow observer teams so as to avoid any dangerous misunderstandings. The NATO chief had much stronger words for Mosco...

FU.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry speaks to reporters during a briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S.  U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry optimistically discussed expanding American coal exports to Ukraine and other energy matters during a lengthy phone call this month with a Russian prankster who Perry thought was Ukraine's prime minister. Perry actually was talking with comedians known in Russia for targeting celebrities and politicians with audacious stunts, Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said in a written statement. Pranksters Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov are sometimes called the "Jerky Boys of Russia," after an American duo who put out recordings of their prank phone calls in the 1990s. They have made faux calls to British singer Elton John, who thought he was speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and others. "These individuals are known for pranking high-level officials and celebrities, particularly those who are suppor...

Zhukovskiy (Sputnik) Jul 21, 2017 Russia will supply the largest ever number of space rocket engines to the United States in 2017 within the framework of the previous agreements, head of the Russia's NPO Energomash corporation Igor Arbuzov said on Wednesday. In 2014, the US Congress strictly limited future purchases of Russian RD-180 engines used in Atlas launch vehicles since 2000 at a time when it imposed economic sanctions on Russia over Moscow's alleged interference in Ukraine's domestic affairs. In June 2016, US Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, who was the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, attempted to cut off any further purchase of the Russian engines, proposing US companies compete to provide the United States with a reliable, domestic space launch platform. "The largest volume of supplies is intended for this year: 11 RD-180 engines for the US Atlas V rockets and four RD-181 engines for the US Antares rockets," Arbuzov told reporters...

The Ukrainian military hopes it can keep more of its soldiers alive when its new unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) hits the battlefield. This is the Phantom. It’s designed to help minimize the number of soldiers required to fight against the heavily-armed rebels backed by Russia in the Dombass region, where a nearly three-year civil war has claimed the lives of more than 3,100 Ukrainian troops. One of the key features of the Phantom is its anti-tank missile system, called Barrier, and its 12.7 mm caliber machine gun. The machine gun and Barrier are capable of engaging light and heavily-armored targets from 100 to 5,000 meters, according to  Ukroboronprom , the Ukrainian company that makes the Phantom. Besides its offensive power, the Phantom can drive on sand, thanks to its hybrid all-wheel drive engine, hydraulic brake system and independent suspension. And if you’re thinking about the Phantom being hacked somehow, it is fitted with a secure radio channel. I reached out to Ukraine...

As Donald Trump’s first three weeks in office come to a close, critics are pointing out that his iconic slogan, “Make America Great Again” is starting to look more and more like an attempt to bring American society back to the 1950s. What most people haven’t realized yet is that his vision of turning back the clock also applies to America’s nuclear arsenal. Just this past week, CQ Roll Call  reported  that a blue-ribbon Pentagon panel urged the Trump administration to make the U.S. arsenal more capable of fighting a “‘limited’ atomic war.” According to the report, “The Defense Science Board … urges the president to consider altering existing and planned U.S. armaments to achieve a greater number of lower-yield weapons that could provide a ‘tailored nuclear option for limited use.’” The strategy behind limited nuclear use sounds deceptively simple. You need to escalate a conflict just  enough  to end it. As the theory goes, using low-yield nuclear weapons aga...

RUSSIA-UK RELATIONS British actor and writer Stephen Fry joked about Russian hacking at the opening ceremony of the 70th British Academy Film Awards. Source: imago stock&people/Global Look Press British actor and writer Stephen Fry joked about Russian hacking at the opening ceremony of the 70 th  British Academy Film Awards. “Let’s crack on with the awards themselves and find out who the Russians have decided has won,” Fry said, Metro news UK  reported on Feb. 12.  In suggesting that the Russians might have messed with the results of the BAFTA vote, Fry humorously referred to allegations that Russian hackers influenced the result of the 2016 presidential elections in the United States, which resulted in the election of Donald Trump as president. It was one of many remarks about the American president, who is despised by left-leaning groups. The comedian also called Meryl Streep, “One of the greatest actresses of all time,” adding that, “only a blithering idiot w...

A journalist stands at the remains of the Temple of Bel in the historic city of Palmyra, in Homs Governorate, Syria. Source: Reuters The Syrian army continues its offensive on Palmyra with the support of the Russian air task force, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Feb. 13. "The Syrian government troops are continuing their offensive towards Palmyra with the support of Russia’s aviation. A distance of less than 20 km remains to be covered. Over the past week, Russian warplanes have conducted over 90 sorties in the Palmyra direction," the Defense Ministry said in a statement obtained by  TASS . In the course of their offensive, the Syrian government troops have destroyed over 180 militants’ objectives, including more than 60 strongholds, 15 depots with armaments, munitions and military hardware, 43 armored fighting vehicles, and also jeeps armed with large-caliber machine guns, the statement said. "The terrorists’ losses in manpower have amounted to ...

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (R) and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at UN headquarters in New York City on January 27, 2017 (Photo by Reuters) The United Nations Security Council has announced an emergency meeting to discuss North Korea’s recent launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile. The United States, Japan, and South Korea on Sunday requested the meeting on an “urgent basis.” North Korea launched the missile near the western city of Kusong on Sunday. It flew east about 500 kilometers before falling into the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) later on Monday confirmed that Pyongyang had “successfully” tested a “surface-to-surface medium long-range ballistic missile.” The North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, “expressed great satisfaction over the possession of another powerful nuclear attack means, which adds t...

Russian special forces arrived in the western countryside of Palmyra on Saturday evening and are expected to help Syrian forces retake the ancient city in the coming days The (second) fall of Palmyra to ISIS came as a shock to almost everyone. (We are not trained in military matters, but apparently the major takeaway from this catastrophe is: controlling the high ground around Palmyra is the key to controlling the actual city.) There's no dispute that Palmyra has been a major embarrassment for Russia. The liberation of the city was supposed to symbolize the effectiveness of Russian/Syrian/Iranian military cooperation and signal a turning point in the war. Assad needed to take Palmyra to convince his people that the fight for Syria wasn't futile. Putin needed it to show the Russian people that the military operations in Syria were producing results. A convoy of Russian special forces arrived in the western countryside of Palmyra on Saturday evening after traveling from the ...

Handout/Getty Images Russia could return Edward Snowden to the US as a "gift" to President Donald Trump, according to two US intelligence sources  cited by NBC News on Friday. One unnamed official, who NBC said gleaned information from "a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports," said such a move could be an attempt to "curry favor" with the Trump administration. Snowden is a former US National Security Agency contractor who stole top-secret documents in 2013 that revealed mass surveillance efforts by the US government. He shared those documents with journalists. Russia has been sheltering Snowden since 2013, and recently granted him permission to stay through 2020. Trump has in the past called Snowden a  traitor  and  a spy , and suggested Snowden may have given US secrets to other countries. Snowden  denied those allegations on Friday , saying on Twitter, "I never cooperated with Russian intel. No country trades away spies, as the rest ...

All 28 NATO allies fully support Ukraine as it faces the worst upsurge in fighting against pro-Russian rebels in two years, alliance deputy head Rose Gottemoeller said Thursday. US President Donald Trump has stoked concerns in NATO and Europe by dubbing the alliance "obsolete" and taking a softer stance on Russia, in marked contrast to his predecessor. "There was unanimity around the NATO-Ukraine Council table, strong support from all allies for Ukraine," she told reporters after talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The US-led alliance had stood by Ukraine since "Russian aggressive actions" began in 2014 and it would not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea early that year, she said. The recent fighting was the worst in two years, with OSCE monitors reporting more than 10,000 violations of the Minsk ceasefire accords on one day, she said. "We are deeply concerned by the recent spike in vi...

Three Turkish soldiers were "accidentally" killed and 11 wounded on Thursday when a Russian air strike targeting jihadists in Syria hit a building where the troops were deployed, the Turkish army said. With Moscow and Ankara cooperating ever more closely on Syria, President Vladimir Putin quickly reached out to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express condolences and promise better future coordination. The Russian plane had been seeking to hit targets of Islamic State (IS) jihadists but "by accident three of our heroic soldiers were martyred when a building was bombed where our units were," the Turkish army said in a statement. It said that of the 11 injured, one was badly wounded. Putin contacted Erdogan to express his "sadness and condolences," it added. "Russian officials have said that the incident was an accident," the army said, adding an investigation is being carried out by both sides. In Moscow, the Kremlin said Putin...

It’s widely known that a smoke detector is a good ionizing radiation source, as they contain a small amount of americium-241, a side product of nuclear reactors. But what about other sources? [Carl Willis] got hold of an old Soviet era smoke detector and decided to  tear it down and see what was inside . This, as he found out, isn’t something you should do lightly, as the one he used ended up containing an interesting mix of radioactive materials, including small amounts of plutonium-239, uranium-237, neptunium-237 and a selection of others. In true hacker fashion, he detected these with a gamma ray spectroscope he has in his spare bedroom, shielded from other sources with lead bricks and copper and tin sheets. The high-energy gamma ray detector that Carl Willis used to analyze the soviet smoke detector, located in his spare bedroom. He digs further into this analysis, using the ratio of plutonium to americium to determine the age of the source, concluding that the ra...

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin (Photo by AFP) A senior Russian diplomat has expressed surprise at an outcry provoked by the new US administration over Iranian missile work, saying Tehran’s missile tests are not violating any UN bans, legally speaking. “This outcry about Iran’s ballistic missile launches. I was surprised to hear even American experts speaking on CNN and calling it a violation of bans by the UN Security Council,” said Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin in an interview with RT published Tuesday. He was referring to Resolution 2231 adopted by the Security Council in July 2015 to underpin the landmark nuclear deal inked days earlier between Tehran and the P5+1 group of states, namely Russia, China, France, Britain, the US plus Germany. The document terminated the provisions of previous UN resolutions, calling on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering ...

A file photo of the US Congress in Washington, DC. A growing number of US senators from both major political parties plan to increase sanctions against Russia and give Congress the authority to prevent President Donald Trump from lifting sanctions on Moscow unilaterally. On Wednesday, a group six Republican and Democratic senators, plan to introduce legislation that would impose strict new congressional oversight and veto power over the Trump administration if it decided to lift sanctions on Russia. The Russia Sanctions Review Act is the latest warning from Congress to the new administration over Trump's desire to improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, and one of the co-sponsors of the bill said Russia has done nothing to be rewarded with sanctions relief. Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, who also co-sponsored the bill, said the bill gives Congress the opportunity to act if it disagrees w...

US Bradley fighting vehicles that will be deployed in Latvia for NATO's Operation Atlantic Resolve wait for an unload in Garklane, Latvia February 8, 2017. (Photo by Reuters) The United States has deployed a number of tanks and other weaponry in the Baltic state of Latvia, part of the NATO military alliance's  expansion towards Russia’s border. Accompanied by the US Army's 3rd Brigade, 225 soldiers, 15 M1 Abrams tanks, six Bradley fighting vehicles and other military equipment arrived in Latvia’s northern municipality of Garkalne, Vidzeme, on Wednesday. The soldiers, who will be replacing those from 173rd Brigade, will operate in Latvia as part of NATO’s Atlantic Resolve operation, which is aimed at deterring what the US-led alliance calls “Russian aggression.” Earlier this week, over 50 units of US military equipment, including four battle tanks and 15 infantry fighting vehicles were deployed to Tapa, a city in northern Estonia, another Baltic st...

Vladimir Putin wants to extend his influence beyond the ballot box and into the very fabric of our public life. We must take action before it’s too late  Illustration by Sébastien Thibault The Russian  hacking of the Democratic National Committee  (DNC) and members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign is being treated too much like a novelty and not enough as a serious and persistent security threat. The problem becomes more urgent as we see it spread to other countries. WikiLeaks, which disseminated stolen DNC documents, announced last week that it would turn its attention to France, and has released material relating to presidential candidates  François Fillon  and Emmanuel Macron, opponents of Marine Le Pen. US intelligence agencies found  clear linkge between Wikileaks and the Russian state; we have to assume Russia will use these to undermine Vladimir Putin’s arch-nemesis, Angela Merkel, when she faces the far-right Alternative für Deutschland at the poll...

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with his Moldovan counterpart Igor Dodon at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, January 17, 2017. The Kremlin said on Monday it did not agree with U.S. President Donald Trump's assessment of Iran as "the number one terrorist state" and wanted to deepen what it described as already good ties with Tehran. The Kremlin was responding to comments Trump made to Fox News in an interview aired at the weekend in which he complained that Iran had "total disregard" for the United States. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that Moscow saw things differently. "Russia has friendly partner-like relations with Iran, we cooperate on a wide range of issues, value our trade ties, and hope to develop them further," said Peskov. Trump and Putin say they want to try to rebuild U.S.-Russia ties, that were badly damaged by Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and by Western sanctions i...

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference after a meeting with his Moldovan counterpart Igor Dodon at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, January 17, 2017. The Kremlin said on Monday it wanted an apology from Fox News over what it said were "unacceptable" comments one of the channel's presenters made about Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly described Putin as "a killer" in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. O'Reilly did not say who he thought Putin had killed. "We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. Fox News and O'Reilly did not immediately respond ...