Media: Former Prime Minister of Macedonia fled to Hungary due to death threats

Former Prime Minister of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski said that he fled to Hungary to avoid the two-year prison sentence in his home country after he received the threat that he would be killed in jail, reported Radio Liberty.

In an interview with the Macedonian Sitel TV channel on February 2, Gruevski said that he initially intended to go to jail despite “the crazy judgments with no legal basis”.

“But... I received information that someone was planning my assassination in prison,” the ex-prime …


Germany advises Russia to take controversial 9M729 missiles beyond Ural Mountains

If Russia were to relocate its new 9M729 missiles to the Asian side of the Ural Mountains so that they cannot reach Europe, it could possibly preserve the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, suggested German parliamentarians Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) and Rolf Mützenich (SPD), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.

The German newspaper notes that Kiesewetter and Mützenich voiced their suggestions independently of each other. The MPs believe that such a solution should be …


Russian citizens protest against 'garbage reform'

On Sunday 3 February, protesters rallied in dozens of Russian cities against the so-called “garbage reform” and the domestic waste landfills, all under the slogan “Russia is not a dump”.

The protest organizers, which include the citizen initiative “Svobodny Sever” (“Free North”), claim that rallies were organized in more than 20 Russian regions. The portal MBKh Media reports that there were protests in 53 cities in 32 regions, including major cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg and much …


Kyiv: Russia deployed Iskander missile systems near the border with Ukraine

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed that Russia deployed 12 Iskander missile systems 250 km from the Ukrainian border,  UNIAN reports, citing  the Ministry’s response to an inquiry about US media reports about the deployment of the missile systems in close proximity to the Ukrainian border.

“According to public information of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Defense Ministry, we would like to report the following: in the area of Krasnodar (250 km to the border with Ukraine) a …


Russia claims it started equipping warships with blinding and hallucination-inducing systems

The Russian state-owned company Ruselectronics has equipped Russian naval ships with optical systems that can blind enemies and even cause hallucinations, a source in the company told RIA Novosti.

The new “Filin” stations, developed by one of the company’s factories, have been installed on the frigates Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Kasatanov. Each ship has been equipped with two such systems. There are also plans to mount the stations on two project 22350 frigates.

The stations are designed to …