Shortly after CNN reported late on Monday that according to Russian deputy foreign minister Rybakov, the Russian government was "almost" at a deal on getting back property seized by the US...
Just in: Russian Dep Foreign Minister Rybakov says Russian government "almost" at a deal on getting back property seized by the US
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 17, 2017
In September, Russia will conduct its Zapad 2017 military exercise, the largest since the end of the Cold War, and one which is already sending shivers down the spine of NATO, which not only has "serious doubts Moscow is revealing the true extent of its military exercises", but because the last time such a major training exercise took place was just before the Crimea "annexation." One country, however, isn't taking chances: Russia's northern neighbor Finland, which as the WSJ reports, is "going underground."
Repeating what Russian diplomats said informally at the start of the week, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday that "too many American spies operated in Moscow" under diplomatic cover and warned it might expel some of them to retaliate against Washington's December 2016 expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats.
Just a few short days after President Trump's 'relative' rapprochement with Russian President Putin, his 'allies' in NATO have stepped up the rhetoric in a very sensitive area for Putin, as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg pledged support for Ukraine during a visit to Kiev on Monday.
As Military.com reports, Ukraine and the West accuse Moscow of smuggling weapons and troops across the porous border in support of the separatists, a charge has repeatedly denied.
One month ago, after the shocking collapse of the Gulf nation status quo with the announcement of the diplomatic, naval and financial blockade of Qatar by the Saudi alliance, we said that while it is unclear how this latest political fiasco plays out, one thing was certain: with Saudi Arabia and Qatar suddenly adversaries, any likelihood of a Qatari natural gas pipeline crossing Syria - the fundamental cause behind the Syria proxy war in the first place - was gone.