German Chancellor Angela Merkel will arrive in Russia on January 11 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reported the press service of the Kremlin. The leaders of the two countries plan to discuss the crisis in the Middle East after the assassination by U.S. forces of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

The parties also plan to discuss the situation in Syria, Libya and the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, including the implementation of the agreements reached at the …

The assassinated Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, was a key figure in Russia-Iran relations, said Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader for international affairs, during the funeral ceremony, as cited by Al-Alam TV channel.

Ali Akbar Velayati said that the commander of the Al-Quds unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "was a key figure in our bilateral partnership with Russia and was very respectful of Russian President Vladimir Putin."

The farewell ceremony …

The German tabloid Bild has discovered biographical details pertaining to the second Russian diplomat who was expelled from Germany following the murder of the Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.

According to Bild, diplomatic activity was only a cover for the 43 year-old “GRU agent” Andrey Alexandrovich Komarov.

The Russian traveled to Berlin with his wife in September 2017, three months after his colleague Yevgeny Sutsky, who has also been expelled from Germany.

Officially Komarov was …

The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that the Group of Seven (G7, which includes France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Canada, the US and Japan) has lost its significance as an instrument of global governance, since most important matters are resolved in other formats, for example at G20 summits, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Interfax in an interview.

According to him, Moscow does not wish to return to the organization, and has not received an invitation to the next G7 summit …

Deliveries of oil from Russia to Belarus’s Naftan oil refinery in the Vitebsk Region resumed on the evening of January 4, said Vladimir Sizov, deputy head of the Belarusian state oil concern Belneftekhim, as cited by BelTA.

According to him, the pumping units were switched on at 17:05. “Oil deliveries towards Naftan have begun. As routing instructions are issued, quantities will be added and will be delivered even to the Mozyr refinery,” Sizov added.

News that oil deliveries to Belarus had …

Bulgaria has started receiving Russian gas through the Turkish Stream pipeline. The Bulgarian gas company Bulgargaz reported that on December 30 it signed an agreement with Gazprom Export regarding new fuel deliveries.

As of January 1, natural gas has been received at Strandzha 2, with the fuel coming from Turkey, instead of at the Isakcha and Negru-Voda intake points in Romania.

The company estimated that it would save the equivalent of $46.2 million per year thanks to the change of intake …

Russia shelled Ukraine from its own territory at least 150 times in the summer of 2014, Bellingcat writes in a report titled “Putin’s undeclared war. Russian artillery strikes against Ukraine in summer 2014”.

The extensive bombardment of Ukrainian positions began in June 2014 after the Ukrainian military began an offensive aiming to regain control over the cities captured by separatist militants. Bellingcat counted 408 objects that were bombarded across the border from Russia. 127 of them are …

Russia's large landing ship Orsk has suffered serious damage off the Syrian coast and is only able to move with the help of a tugboat, reports the Russian news outlet Avia.pro.

The publication notes that, at the moment, it is not clear where exactly the incident could have happened - in the Mediterranean Sea off the Syrian coast or when the ship was passing through the Bosphorus.

The publication writes that the Russian Navy has not yet commented on the information about the damage at Orsk, …