Russia

Having caused quite a stir domestically when in an interview with Donald Trump airing just before the Superbowl, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly described Putin as "a killer" as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart, on Monday the Kremlin slammed O'Reilly's "factual statement" and said it wanted an apology from Fox News over what it said were "unacceptable" comments.

Kremling spokesman Dmitry Peskov

A video has surfaced online in which warmongers John McCain and Lindsey Graham are caught meeting with the Ukraine military, encouraging them to launch an offensive against Russia and restart hostilities, all the while describing Russia as the “aggressor” that must “pay a heavier price.” Lindsey Graham delivers an incendiary speech in the video, egging on the Ukranian troops to re-start hostilities with Russia. “Your fight is our fight, 2017 will be the year of offense. All of us will go back to Washington and we will push the case against Russia. Enough of a Russian aggression.

Russia are set deploy a new hypersonic fighter jet to space in 2018 which they say will be able to drop nuclear bombs to Earth. According to Lieutenant Colonel Aleksei Solodovnikov from the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Academy, Putin’s scientists have successfully developed a hypersonic jet capable launching a nuclear strike against an enemy from outer space. Anonhq.com reports: The trial model of Russia’s nuclear-capable outer space strategic bomber will be developed (with help from Moscow’s Central AeroHydrodynamic Institute or TsAGI) by 2020.

Submitted by Federico Pieraccini via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

Submitted by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,

The recent National Intelligence Council report assessing the involvement of Russia in last year’s U.S. presidential elections spurred a flurry of media reports suggesting that Russia is heavily involved in anti-fracking campaigning. Some authors interpreted this involvement as a “propaganda effort”, while others claimed the Kremlin was financially backing anti-fracking groups in the U.S., without, however, providing any evidence for this claim.