It would be good for Russia for the process of sanction imposition to be done and dusted as quickly as possible, said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a plenary session of the Russian Energy Week forum on Wednesday.

“You know, I sometimes think that it would be good for us if you who want to impose sanctions would just impose all the sanctions that can possible be imposed, and as quickly as possible,” Putin remarked.

According to the Russian President, such a scenario would free up Russia’ …

NATO is concerned that Russia is preventing Ukrainian vessels from accessing the Azov Sea, stated the Secretary-General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg before a meeting with the secretaries of Defense, reports Interfax Ukraine.

NATO is also concerned with the presence of Russia in the Crimea and their activities near the Crimean bridge.

“The situation in Ukraine, around Ukraine, in the Azov Sea, and in the Crimea is what we always discuss (with the Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko), and in these …

Russia will continue to conduct joint operations with Turkey in Syria, including joint patrols. Russia sees that Ankara is fulfilling its obligations, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated following the Russian-Austrian talks.

Putin recalled that during negotiations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who came to Sochi on a short working visit, they “got an idea to create a demilitarized zone up to 15-20 kilometers long" in order to ensure the security of Syrian civilian …

There is every reason to believe that there will be no need for large-scale military actions in Syria, said Russian President Vladimir Putin at his meeting with the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

According to Putin, the Turkish side takes their obligations of the de-escalation zone operations in Idlib seriously. Ankara contributes to the withdrawal of both militants and heavy weapons.

“We work in solidarity with the Turkish partners. We see that they are also serious about fulfilling …

Russia will not ignore the escalation of NATO’s military-political activity in the Arctic region, in particular, close to the Russian borders in northern Norway, stated the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova.

She complained that Oslo has embarked on an unprecedented militarization of northern regions “violating all the time-tested traditions of good-neighborliness and contrary to the Norwegian leadership policy of self- …