World War 3 Balance:Britain the latest NATO nation to bolster Baltic states against Russian threat

With Russia conducting an endless series of military exercises and doing nothing to alleviate fears that it is poised to invade the Baltic States, the United Kingdom has become the latest of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) nations to send troops and war materiel to help bolster the organization’s most vulnerable members to try and avert a potential World War 3.

The Sun reported this week that the British Ministry of Defence announced at NATO headquarters in Brussels that the United Kingdom would be sending 800 troops to Estonia, the largest troop deployment to the Russian border since the end of the Cold War. Along with the troops, the British will also deploy tanks and drones.

The Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — have been imploring its NATO allies to provide military assistance to thwart a threatening Russia ever since the Russian Federation annexed Crimea, militarily occupying the territory that was recognized as part of Ukraine, in 2014. Military exercises being held just across the border have only accentuated the fears, and the recent transfer of nuclear missiles to just across the border from Lithuania seemed to make matters somewhat worse.

It also has not helped the Baltic State mindset that, as has been recounted by the Inquisitr, think tanks like the Atlantic Council have issued reports that have warned that a Russian invasion would likely begin with a swift military sweep with “no warning time” through the Baltic States and into neighboring Poland. And former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Philip Breedlove warned in September that Russia’s military was more than capable of overwhelming an inadequately defended Europe.

Given that the Baltic States were once considered part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the predecessor of the Russian Federation, there are present fears that a re-militarized Russia might harbor dreams of re-assuming the boundaries of its former empire.

“I am confirming details today of our deployment as part of the forward presence in Estonia next year,” U.K. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon stated, “a full sized British battalion with light armour, Challenger 2 tanks, Warriors vehicles, French and Danish companies in support. That deployment will begin next spring [May]”.

Fallon said that the United Kingdom was “stepping up in NATO, beefing up the reassurance that we are able to offer. Although we are leaving the European Union, we will be doing more to help secure the eastern and southern flanks of NATO.”

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/3657809/world-war-3-balance-britain-the-latest-nato-nation-to-bolster-baltic-states-against-russian-threat/#UkYP1MGguJqfmmOP.99

Russian airforce in training exercises on possible air strikes on Ukraine targets

October 29, 2016 (UNIAN) The Russian Federation continues to prepare for a possible large-scale offensive against Ukraine, which is to include massive airstrikes on the country's strategic facilities, representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Defense Ministry Vadym Skibytskiy told a Kyiv briefing Friday, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

"The Russian leadership does not give up its aggressive plans for Ukraine, continuing to prepare for a possible large-scale offensive against our country," he said. "On October 26, using the obligations of the Republic of Belarus as an allied state, Russian combat aircraft worked out possible massive air strikes on strategic targets on the territory of Ukraine in the airspace of Belarus," Skibytskiy said.

Read more on UNIAN: http://www.unian.info/war/1595906-russian-airforce-in-training-exercises-on-possible-air-strikes-on-ukraine-targets-intel.html

New weapons, gear for Ukrainian paratroopers revealed

October 26, 2016 (UNIAN) Presidential adviser Yuriy Biryukov published on Facebook photos of the new equipment for the troops of the 79th Airborne Brigade. "Here’s the gear of paratroopers from the 79th Brigade. New helmets, new night vision devices, new thermal imagers, new automatic rifles ... almost all assault component of the brigade is already provided with night vision devices and/or thermal imaging sights. And the whole of the assault component is provided with new assault rifles with a tactical underweight and collimator sights. It is about hundreds, many hundreds… AK-TK automatic rifles, already upgraded, taking into account the previous design flaws," Biryukov wrote. In addition, he has said the gear now includes new Ukrainian-made paratrooper helmets purchased for money from public funds, with Summer/Winter covers, with holds for night vision devices.

Read more on UNIAN: http://www.unian.info/society/1584096-new-weapons-gear-for-ukrainian-paratroopers-revealed-photo.html

Russia restricts the strongest air force in the Middle East - Haaretz

October 25, 2016 (UATODAY) One of Israel's leading media experts on military and defense issues Amos Harel in his article for Haaretz analyzed Putin's gains and losses in Middle East. 

Over the past few weeks, Russia has finished beefing up its aerial defenses in northern Syria. The Washington Post, after interviewing American experts, published a map last week showing the estimated radius of coverage of Russia's S-300 and S-400 systems, which are bolstered by anti-aircraft missiles on ships in the port of Tartus. The 380-kilometer radius covers Lebanon, much of Turkey and Jordan, the eastern Mediterranean until out beyond Cyprus, a bit of Iraq, and Israel all the way to the northern Negev.

The paper said the Pentagon isn't sure whether, if necessary, it could penetrate these aerial defense systems, since the question hasn't yet arisen. Presumably, America has electronic warfare systems capable of disrupting even dense anti-aircraft coverage. But the Post said Russia's coverage limits Washington's ability not only to launch air strikes on Syrian military targets, but also to create no-fly zones to protect civilians, an idea both U.S. presidential candidates say they support.

Russia's beefed-up deployment also affects Israel, which, according to foreign media reports, has launched numerous air strikes on arms convoys from Syria to Hezbollah in recent years. Based on the Washington Post's map, an Israeli plane couldn't take off from Tel Nof airbase without being tagged by Russian radar.

The limitations aren't just military, but also diplomatic. Israel and Russia have set up a mechanism to prevent clashes in Syrian airspace, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin four times over the last year to further that purpose.

Having no other choice, Netanyahu has nurtured his Russian romance. But in reality, this romance is about as romantic as Donald Trump's groping of women. It's a romance to which Israel was forced to consent once the Russian bear decided to move into its backyard.

Russia apparently reinforced its aerial defenses in response to American condemnations of its bombing of Aleppo, and due to concern, apparently unwarranted, that the Obama administration might actually take military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad. Though Russia's economy is crumbling, Putin keeps pushing the envelope, including with frequent hints about the danger of nuclear war, attempts to sabotage the U.S. presidential election and surprising moves in the Mideast, like this month's announcement that Russia and Egypt will hold a joint military exercise. The full article is available at

http://uatoday.tv/politics/russia-restricts-the-strongest-air-force-in-the-middle-east-haaretz-792314.html 

American vigilante hacker sends Russia a warning - CNN

October 23, 2016 (CNN) The man hacked Russia's MFA website leaving the message "Stop attacking Americans" An American vigilante hacker, who calls himself "The Jester", has defaced the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in retaliation for attacks on American targets. On Friday night, the Jester gained access to the Russian government ministry's website. And he left a message: "Stop attacking Americans".

"Comrades! We interrupt regular scheduled Russian Foreign Affairs Website programming to bring you the following important message," he wrote. "Knock it off. You may be able to push around nations around you, but this is America. Nobody is impressed". MID.ru is the official website of the Russian agency that is in charge of maintaining that country's international diplomacy - equivalent to the U.S. Department of State. His hacking of the website included this gag: "Visitors are subjected to the ear-piercing sound of an American civil alert message, that shrieking dial tone that accompanies emergency weather broadcasts".

The full article:

http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/22/technology/russian-foreign-ministry-hacked/

Epicenter of Russian aggression shifted in Mariupol direction over last two weeks

October 22, 2016 Nowadays it is obviously for an average Ukrainian citizen that Russia has only one fully acceptable way to connect continental Russia and newly annexed Crimea peninsula. The matter is that neither new bridge nor train or car ferries meet Russia’s requirements. The only thing that can meet their imperial aspirations is to cut by heavy artillery a land corridor from Russia to Crimea. To do that they have to take the city of Mariupol first. So you can read the following brief information just from this point of view.

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov left for Mariupol sector due to a significant escalation of hostilities recorded primarily in this area of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in the past two weeks. He held a meeting with the ATO generalship there.

According to Turchynov, more than 3,000 projectiles hit the Ukrainian troops' positions in the Mariupol sector over the last week alone, Censor.NET reports citing the NSDC press service. The NSDC secretary visited the areas of the fiercest enemy strikes on positions of the Ukrainian military at the forward defense line including the outskirts of Kominternove, Lebedynske, and Vodiane - the epicenter of the recent enemy artillery strikes. The recent developments at the frontline and measures to efficiently counter provocations of the Russian terrorist forces were discussed at the meeting. The NSDC secretary inspected procurement and the staff's preparedness to carry out combat missions in winter.

Source: http://en.censor.net.ua/p411564

As New Ukraine Talks Begin, What Is the State of Europe’s Only Active War?

October 21, 2016 (The New York Times) With soldiers dying daily in Ukraine, the site of the only active war in Europe, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany hosted a meeting on Wednesday to see whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was willing to cut a deal to end the conflict while he also faces pressure from the West over Moscow’s role in Syria.

Mr. Putin and Ms. Merkel met with President François Hollande of France and President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine to talk about the fighting as the Ukraine crisis returns to the diplomatic agenda and the leaders try to restart a cease-fire.

Separately, Mr. Putin, who is often in the eye of the storm on international crises, met with Ms. Merkel and Mr. Hollande to discuss the civil war in Syria, where the Russian Air Force is backing the government.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany greeted President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as he arrived for a Ukraine summit meeting in front of the German Federal Chancellery in Berlin on Wednesday. Fhoto by Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/European Pressphoto Agency

At a news conference late Wednesday, Ms. Merkel said that, as predicted, “no miracles were achieved.” But, she added, the value of meeting face to face was clear and that “it is urgently necessary” that high-level meetings continue as the foreign ministers of all four countries work on a new “road map” to resolve the conflict.

Residents left a damaged building in Horlivka, Ukraine, in August after the city was shelled. Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/European Pressphoto Agency

From her comments after the meetings and those by Mr. Hollande and Mr. Poroshenko, it seemed that the road map amounted a new timetable for putting into effect the agreement reached in Minsk, Belarus, in 2015 but never fully observed.

The full article is available at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/world/europe/ukraine-russia-germany-talks.html?_r=0

Ukraine crisis: 'No miracles' at Berlin talks

October 20, 2016 (BBC News Europe) German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said talks with Russian, Ukrainian and French leaders about a stalled Ukraine peace deal "didn't achieve miracles". All sides have agreed to draw up a roadmap by the end of November on how to implement the Minsk peace deal. Mrs Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande also discussed Syria.

The German leader said she and Mr Hollande had a "difficult conversation" with Mr Putin. Both condemned Syrian and Russian air strikes on Aleppo. The Ukraine discussions took place against a backdrop of tensions elevated by Russia's military backing for the Syrian regime - and a bombing campaign in Aleppo which the European Union has warned could amount to war crimes.

Among protesters gathering outside the summit, Mr Putin attracts ire for Russia's role both in Ukraine and in Syria

A blizzard of telephone diplomacy over the past week - when Mr Putin postponed a visit to France over a row about Syria - is said to have resulted in Wednesday night's meeting, which attracted several protest groups outside.

The carnage in Aleppo - highlighted by protesters in Berlin - has heightened tensions

The 2015 Minsk agreement eased fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels in the east of the country, but violence frequently flares along a demarcation line. Speaking after the Berlin talks, President Poroshenko said all sides had agreed that a road map would be drawn by the end of November on how to implement the 2015 agreement and also protocols reached in 2014. He also said Russia had agreed with a proposal to allow the deployment of an armed police mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. President Putin has made no official comments on the issue.

Ukraine, Western leaders and Nato say there is clear evidence that Russia has supplied the rebels with heavy weapons and regular troops. Russia denies that, but it is hostile to the Kiev government and openly supports the rebel cause. The full article is available at:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37705057

Russia is telling people to prepare for war - ABC News

October 16, 2016 (REUTERS) With tensions between Russia and the United States at their highest since the Cold War, there have been alarming signs coming out of Moscow that suggest the country is ready for war, according to ABC News. Almost no one believes the Kremlin is actually preparing for a military conflict with the United States. Most analysts instead see it as a show, intended to boost support at home and to deter Western countries from intervening militarily in Syria, ABC News wrote. However, there are some unsettling things Russia has done to give the impression that war is looming, the report said. As the confrontation between the United and Russia has worsened over Syria, and amid speculation Washington might launch air strikes against Syrian government forces, Russian state-controlled media has gone into high gear, asking Russians whether they are prepared for nuclear war.

"If that should one day happen, each of you must know where the nearest bomb shelter is," a report on the state-controlled network, NTV, noted, before taking viewers on a tour of a nuclear bunker in Moscow. State outlets, already solidly anti-American in their coverage, have unleashed themselves further, indulging in bitter denunciations of America duplicity, bombastic promises of merciless defenses and freely bandying the nuclear card, it is noted.

This month Russia held a large-scale civil defense drill across the country, meant to prepare people for disasters, among them nuclear catastrophe. The drill, which Russian authorities claimed affected 40 million people, and particularly the way it was presented on state television, resembled Soviet-era exercises, with scenes of schoolchildren flooding out in evacuations and being taught to hurriedly pull on gas masks. Further, Russia's defense ministry has announced how the country would function in time of war, clarifying which government bodies would take command.

The maneuvers took on harder forms as well. This week, Russia deployed nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad, its northern European enclave between Poland and Lithuania that put the weapons within striking distance of Western capitals. Moscow has threatened before to deploy the Iskander-M missiles to Kaliningrad, in response, it says, to the establishment of the U.S. anti-missile shield being erected in Eastern Europe. But this week's deployment came sooner than expected, with analysts suggesting that indicated the Kremlin wanted to play it as part of the broader saber-rattling display in the confrontation around Syria, ABC News writes.

Russia also conducted a series of intercontinental ballistic missile tests this week, launching three missiles in a single day. Most Russians don’t take the war talk seriously, laughing off the idea on the street. Most take a more realistic view of whether there's actually need to find a bomb-shelter. A photo being shared on social media showed an apartment block in suburban Moscow where pranksters or enterprising fraudsters had posted a flier asking residents to donate cash to build a neighborhood bomb shelter, according to the report. Read the full article at:

http://www.unian.info/world/1573837-russia-is-telling-people-to-prepare-for-war-abc-news.html

Ukraine announces 'Normandy Format' meeting in Berlin on October 19

October 18, 2016 (UNIAN) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has agreed to a so-called "Normandy Format" meeting in Berlin on October 19, bringing together Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine for talks on the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, a statement said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed rebels has killed more than 9,600 since 2014, despite a ceasefire agreed in the Belarussian capital Minsk, as reported by Reuters. Poroshenko agreed to the talks during a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, the statement said. "The heads of states agreed to have a Normandy Four meeting in Berlin on October 19 in order to put pressure on Russia to fulfill security package of Minsk agreements," it said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia was still committed to the Minsk agreements on the Ukrainian settlement but there was little chance for a meeting between the Normandy Four leaders on October 19.

Russia, US move past Cold War to unpredictable confrontation

October 16, 2016 (CNN) Washington (CNN)It's not a new Cold War. It's not even a deep chill. It's an outright conflict.

US-Russia relations have deteriorated sharply amid a barrage of accusations and disagreements, raising the stakes on issues ranging from the countries' competing military operations in Syria, disputes over Eastern European independence and escalating cyber breaches. "This is a conflict, there should be no doubt," said Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, on the US-Russia confrontation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou on September 5, 2016.

 On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the US was considering a "range" of "proportional" responses to alleged Russian hacking of US political groups. Washington publicly accused the Kremlin of cyberattacks on election systems and the democracy itself last Friday. That came after talks on a Syria ceasefire broke down as US officials suggested Russia be investigated for war crimes in the besieged city of Aleppo. Moscow has steadfastly denied that it's meddling in the US presidential election. In an interview this week with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it was a baseless accusation.

"It's flattering, of course, to get this kind of attention -- for a regional power, as President Obama called us some time ago ... We have not seen a single fact, a single proof," Lavrov said.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has pointed to the hacks as evidence that Russia favors her GOP opponent, Donald Trump. Appearing at an investment forum in Moscow on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed that charge.

"There was a whole hysteria about that being of interest to Russia, but there is nothing within the interest of Russia," Putin said.

"The whole hysteria is aimed at making the American forget about the manipulation of public opinion," he added. "No one is talking about that, everyone wants to know who did that, what is important is what is inside and what that information is about."

Meanwhile, Moscow abruptly left a nuclear security pact, citing US aggression, and moved nuclear-capable Iskandar missiles to the edge of NATO territory in Europe. Its officials have openly raised the possible use of nuclear weapons. And that's just the highlight reel. The friction between Moscow and Washington -- by many assessments at its highest level since the fall of the Berlin Wall -- led Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, to make a plea Monday for dialogue and de-escalation.

"I think the world has reached a dangerous point," Gorbachev warned, according to Agence France Presse. "This needs to stop. We need to renew dialogue," Gorbachev said, commenting on the US decision to call off Syria talks. "Indeed, it's not a Cold War," said Igor Zevelev, former director of the MacArthur Foundation's Russia office. "It's a much more dangerous and unpredictable situation." The full article is available at:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/12/politics/us-russia-tensions-cold-war/index.html?sr=fbpol101216us-russia-tensions-cold-war1218PMVODtopLink&linkId=29837757

What did Hetman Ivan Mazepa look like?

October 14, 2016 This question has been discussed during the seminar held by the Poltava Battle Museum. Unfortunately there is no one credible painting or engraving of Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa that is why the question how did he look like is still the matter of topical interest for historians. The main report was delivered by the famous Ukrainian historian Olga Kovalevska from the Institute of Ukrainian History. 

To reconstruct a portrait of the Ukrainian Hetman she used special software that is used by the Security Service of Ukraine. The software was created to make a graphical representation of an eyewitness's memory of a face. Five most well known portraits and engravings of the Hetman were fed into computer and the obtained result was shown to conferees. On the picture below you can see all five initial portraits and the picture generated by the program. 

It should be noted that only face was created by the program, the rest was added by artist. For many present it was undoubtedly a new approach to solve such problem and, as a result, the report aroused great interest and many questions were put to the speaker.

The world is at a 'dangerous point' because of rising tensions between Russia and the US, warns former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev

October 13, 2016 (Reuters) Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that the world is at a 'dangerous point' due to rising tensions between Russia and the US over Syria. Relations between the two countries are at their lowest since the Cold War and have soured in recent days after Washington pulled the plug on Syria talks and accused Russia of hacking attacks. Meanwhile the Kremlin has suspended a series of nuclear pacts, including a symbolic cooperation deal to cut stocks of weapons-grade plutonium.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who has warned that the world is at a 'dangerous point' due to rising tensions between Russia and the US over Syria

Mr Gorbachev, who oversaw an easing of tensions with the West that helped to end the Cold War in the early 90s, has voiced his concern. The 85-year-old told state news agency RIA Novosti: 'I think the world has reached a dangerous point. I don't want to give any concrete prescriptions but I do want to say that this needs to stop. We need to renew dialogue. Stopping it was the biggest mistake. It is necessary to return to the main priorities. These are nuclear disarmament, the fight against terrorism, the prevention of an environmental disaster. Compared to these challenges, all the rest slips into the background.'

 Mr Gorbachev's comments come as France has said they will ask the International Criminal Court's prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes it says have been committed by Syrian and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo, pictured

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3830485/Gorbachev-warns-dangerous-point-US-Russia-ties-sour.html#ixzz4Mww83Um9

Russia orders all officials to fly home any relatives living abroad

October 12, 2016 (Reuters) Russia is ordering all of its officials to fly home any relatives living abroad amid heightened tensions over the prospect of global war, it has been claimed. Politicians and high-ranking figures are said to have received a warning from president Vladimir Putin to bring their loved-ones home to the 'Motherland', according to local media. It comes after Putin cancelled a planned visit to France amid a furious row over Moscow's role in the Syrian conflict and just days after it emerged the Kremlin had moved nuclear-capable missiles near to the Polish border. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has also warned that the world is at a 'dangerous point' due to rising tensions between Russia and the US. 

The full article is available at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3833941/Russia-orders-officials-fly-home-relatives-living-abroad-tensions-mount-prospect-global-war.html

Russia to build permanent naval base in Syria

October 10, 2016 (Reuters) Russia will create a permanent naval base in Syria to expand its military footprint in its closest Middle East ally, a government official said on Monday, a week after Moscow said it was considering reopening Soviet-era bases in Vietnam and Cuba.

The move, announced by Russian Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov, is further evidence Russia is building up its capabilities in Syria despite a partial drawdown in March and another sign it is digging in for the long haul to help prop up President Bashar al-Assad.

"By doing this Russia is not only increasing its military potential in Syria but in the entire Middle East," Senator Igor Morozov, a member of the upper house of parliament's International Affairs Committee, told the RIA news agency.

A Reuters analysis of publicly available tracking data shows Moscow has steadily built up its forces in Syria since a ceasefire collapsed in late September, doubling supply runs by air and sea.

The base plan, which will involve upgrading and expanding an existing naval facility at the port of Tartus which Moscow leases from Syria, is part of a push to expand or create a new military presence abroad.

The Izvestia newspaper said Moscow was also in talks to open an air base in Egypt, while the state-owned Rossiskaya Gazeta daily noted that Russia has said it wants bases in Venezuela, Nicaragua, the Seychelles and Singapore too. At odds with Washington over Syria and Ukraine, Russia has engaged in a bout of saber-rattling in recent weeks, moving S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Tartus, nuclear-capable missiles to its European exclave of Kaliningrad, and reinforcing its Syria strike force. The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday that Russian paratroopers would for the first time also take part in war games with Egyptian paratroopers on Egyptian soil this month. The full article is available at:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-tartus-idUSKCN12A0W6

US State Department John Kirby warns Russia.

October 5, 2016 (TV-Novosti) US State Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at Wednesday’s press briefing: “Extremist groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria to expand their operations, which could include attacks against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities. Russia will continue to send troops home in body bags, and will continue to lose resources, perhaps even aircraft.”

Kirby then warned Russia, if the war in Syria continues “more Russian lives will be lost, more Russian aircraft will be shot down.”

“We are working through steps that we might have to take to begin to suspend our engagement with Russia on Syria. We haven’t taken those steps yet.”

“The message to the [Russian] Foreign Minister today was that we are perfectly willing and able to move forward on those steps that would end with the suspension of US-Russia bi-lateral engagement in Syria.” The full article is available at:

https://www.rt.com/news/361032-zakharova-kirby-syria-body-bags-attacks/

Russia moving nuclear-capable missiles into Kaliningrad: U.S. intelligence official

October 8, 2016 (UNIAN Information Agency) Russia is moving nuclear-capable missiles into Kaliningrad, a tiny Russian enclave sitting between Poland and Lithuania, a U.S. intelligence official said Friday, confirming Estonian news reports, according to Reuters.

Russia's reasons for shipping the 500-kilometer-range Iskander-M missiles to Kaliningrad "could be innocuous," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as reported by Reuters. "They moved a similar missile system to Kaliningrad in 2014 for a military exercise. It could also be a political gesture - a show of strength - to express displeasure with NATO," said the official.

Read more on UNIAN: http://www.unian.info/world/1562187-russia-moving-nuclear-capable-missiles-into-kaliningrad-us-intelligence-official.html

Russia ups the pressure in search for US respect

By Steve Rosenberg BBC News, Moscow

October 5, 2016

They used to say that all roads lead to Rome. But, today, it seems that all roads lead to Russia. Or to its president: Vladimir Putin. Moscow is a key participant in the Syrian war and in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Russian hackers have been accused of breaking into US servers; the Russian state has been accused of trying to influence the outcome of the US presidential election and of attempting to divide and weaken the European Union. And yet when Vladimir Putin came to power 16 years ago, he appeared ready for a close friendship with the West. The US President Bill Clinton described him as "smart" and a man with "enormous potential".

But compliments have given way to confrontation, with a list of differences as long as the Russian winter: Syria, Ukraine, Nato enlargement, missile defence. Western governments are disillusioned with an increasingly authoritarian Kremlin leader. And he no longer trusts them.

'Direct military confrontation'

"There's a real feeling now that America is out to prove it is the only superpower," believes veteran broadcaster Vladimir Pozner. "That if Russia does not fall into step the way the US wants it to it's going to have to pay a very high price for that. "The continued expansion of Nato is seen by the Russian leadership, perhaps incorrectly, is seen as being a real threat. You're pushing us, so we're pushing you right back. And we will do whatever we can to make it as unpleasant for you as you've made it for us. "There is a danger of real confrontation, perhaps leading to some kind of military engagement and war."

This week the popular Russian tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets suggested that the Syrian conflict could spark a "direct military confrontation between Russia and America" - on a par with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. It warned of a Third World War.

"We had bad relations during the Cold War," says Andrey Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, "but during the Cold War the relationship was more or less stable, because we knew what to expect from each other, we knew the rules of the game.

"Today we don't have anything like that. So relations aren't stable. This is what makes this relationship dangerous, arguably more dangerous than in the Cold War."

The whole article is available at

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37558943

Poroshenko praises performance of Ukraine’s brand new Sarmat combat module

October 2, 2016 (UNIAN News agency) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has written on Facebook about the successful testing of the country’s brand new combat module Sarmat designed for launching anti-tank missiles.

"The main guarantor of independence is our Armed Forces. I congratulate Luch design bureau with the successful tests of Sarmat, a new system of remotely controlled weapons with anti-tank missiles," he wrote. The Sarmat combat module launches precision guided anti-tank missiles, capable of hitting pillboxes, tanks in the trenches, hovering helicopters, maritime surface targets, and manpower. Sarmat can use the RK-3 missiles with a maximum range of 2,500 m or bigger RK-2S with a maximum range of 5,000 m. The full text and video are available at:

http://www.unian.info/society/1550821-poroshenko-praises-performance-of-ukraines-brand-new-sarmat-combat-module-video.html