There were some happy campers in Moscow recently when the price of crude oil pushed past $50 a barrel. The Kremlin seems to have successfully talked up the market by signaling it was ready for a production ceiling deal with OPEC. You could hear the collective sigh of relief from…
The United States of America will offer a grant of 4,2 million US dollars to the Republic of Moldova for developing a democratic and transparent governance. On September 14th, the Government of Moldova approved the decision to initiate negotiations and sign an assistance agreement to realize “an efficient, democratic and…
Following weeks of civil discontent over a hostage crisis that highlighted official incompetence in the eyes of the public, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian appointed a pro-Russian executive as prime minister. “The president signed a decree on the appointment of Karen Karapetyan on Tuesday morning,” Sargsyan’s office said in a statement,…
The breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria, long under Russian control since a conflict in the early 1990s, has moved to join the Russian Federation. Moscow may feel that the timing is right to acquire the former Soviet territory that is mostly made up of ethnic Moldovans but has a significant…
Two constellations of Russia’s CubeSat nanosatellites are planned to be orbited in the next two years for practicing their control and their communication with each other, Alexander Chernyavsky, an aide to the CEO of RKK Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (subsidiary of Roscosmos), told TASS on Wednesday. “In March-April 2017…
The Russian Defense Ministry has announced all Sukhoi-27 fighter jets in the Russia Aero-Space Force have been grounded until the cause of a crash near Moscow is understood, reports Russian state news media TASS. “According to preliminary findings, technical problems were to blame,” the ministry’s statement says. Earlier, a source…
A Russian SU-27 fighter jet came within 10 feet of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over international waters of the Black Sea, near the Russian Federation coastline, U.S. defense officials told Reuters. One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the incident lasted about 19 minutes and the Russian Sukhoi…
Russia spent 18.4 percent of its reserve fund in a single month to plug deficits in the federal budget, Finance Ministry figures released Tuesday have revealed. The country’s reserve fund fell from $38.18 billion to $32.2 billion during the course of August 2016, shrinking to just over a third of…
All of the branches of the US armed forces are advancing in laser research and expect these weapons to be fielded within the next ten years. Russia, it seems, is working on a plane armed with a new generation laser weapon as well, a source in the defense-industrial complex has…
After pulling out of the last conventional arms control treaty in Europe, and after rearming and redeploying forces to enable Russia to be a threat to the West if they desire, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is open to new conventional arms control on the continent. The opening comes…