Russian anti-air defense divisions armed with S-400 and Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile systems have been sent to Serbia to take part in the second stage of the Russian-Serbian Slavyansky Shchit (“Slavic Shield”) 2019 exercise. The Russian Defense Ministry announced this on October 24 in a press release, pointing out that this is the first time that the missile systems are being used in an exercise in another country.

According to the Defense Ministry, the systems have already been moved to …

The Paris Court of Appeal has dismissed Russia’s attempts to suspend the execution of the International Court of Arbitration’s decision to award $1.3 billion in compensation to Ukraine’s Oschadbank for the expropriation of the bank’s assets in Crimea, reports the press service of the bank.

Russia claims that the execution of the arbitration ruling in countries that protect government immunity to a lesser degree than France could be harmful to it. The judge dismissed Russia’s motion and …

Russia will provide assistance to Sudan in order to normalize the country’s internal political situation. Moscow plans to insist that the global community treat the Sudanese issue impartially and objectively, said Russian President Vladimir Putin, as cited by RIA Novosti.

The Russian leader emphasized that Sudan is one of Russia’s “long-standing reliable partners”, which Russia appreciates. He noted that Moscow also appreciates the “traditional solidarity” of its Sudanese partners in opposing “ …

After writing off $140 billion owed by Syria, Vietnam, North Korea, countries in Africa and Latin America and former Soviet republics in Central Asia over the last 20 years, Russia is planning to drastically increase its lending to foreign governments over the next three years.

In the draft budget for 2020-2022, the Russian government has allocated $6 billion to loans to foreign governments and companies. This is the most in the country’s modern history, Bloomberg observes. The funds will be …

After a hiatus of 10 years, Russia has started importing radioactive waste from Europe once again. Between 2019 and 2022, Russia will receive 12,000 tons of depleted uranium from Germany, Die Tageszeitung reports.

The waste will comprise of so-called “uranium tailings”, byproducts of the enrichment process used to make fuel for nuclear power plants, GreenPeace notes. Russia actively imported these materials in the 2000s, but ended the practice in 2009 under pressure from eco-activists, when it …

The Russian Defense Ministry intends to transfer additional military police forces to Syria, RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the Russian Defense Ministry.

"Within a week, two battalions of military police will be transferred to Syria," the source said.

According to the source, this will include 276 military policemen and 33 units of military equipment.

Plans to send additional units of Russian military police to Syria came to light after the presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed to …

Russia demanded that the United States leave the area of the Al-Tanf military base in southern Syria, reports RIA Novosti , citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin.

"I speak about territory with a diameter of 55 km. Also, it is the Syrian territory, and the US military is located there illegally. They are blocking the road that connects Iraq and Syria. We consider their presence illegal and demand that such occupation be stopped," said Vershinin.

In mid-October, the US …

Two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers arrived at the Waterkloof Air Base in South Africa, reports Interfax news agency, citing Russian Defense Ministry.

Russian Defense Ministry reports that the aircraft flew over the Caspian and Arabian seas, as well as the Indian ocean. The duration of the flight exceeded 13 hours.

In the last stages of the route, Russian bombers were accompanied by Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighters of the South African Air Force.

Russian air group consists of two Tu-160 aircraft …