Russia and Saudi Arabia are on track to sign a contract on supplies of Russia’s advanced S-400 air defense missiles to Riyadh, the Interfax news agency cited an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying on Friday.
Russia’s state media censor on Friday summoned representatives of the U.S.-based CNN International cable news television channel over supposed media law violations.
Israeli officials believe that Iran is winning its bid for dominance in the Middle East, and they are mobilizing to counter the regional realignment that threatens to follow. The focus of Israel’s military and diplomatic campaign is Syria. Israeli jets have struck Hezbollah and Syrian regime facilities and convoys dozens of times during Syria’s civil war, with the goal of preventing the transfer of weapons systems from Iran to Hezbollah. In an apparent broadening of the scope of this air campaign, on Sept. 7 Israeli jets struck a Syrian weapons facility near Masyaf responsible for the production of chemical weapons and the storing of surface-to-surface missiles.
Russia’s big Zapad 2017 military exercises, believed to be the largest since the end of the Cold War, entered the news again on Tuesday after a video emerged appearing to show a Russian attack helicopter firing its rockets into a group of bystanders during drills.
Russia has reportedly reassured Israel that it will not allow Iran and its Hezbollah proxy to threaten the Jewish state from Syria, where Moscow is fighting alongside Tehran and the Lebanese terror group on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Germany said on Thursday that Russia was planning to send more than 100,000 troops to war games on NATO’s eastern flank this month, disputing Moscow’s version that only 13,000 Russian and Belarussian servicemen would participate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that any decision by the United States to supply defensive weapons to Ukraine would fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine and possibly prompt pro-Russian separatists to expand their campaign there.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that the situation on the Korean peninsula could become unpredictable if Pyongyang did not halt its ‘provocative actions’ after its latest nuclear bomb test.
Russian media said Monday that Egypt has finalized a deal to build a nuclear power plant with funding from Moscow after nearly two years of negotiations.
Israel’s intensive diplomatic campaign in recent weeks, which included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, trips by senior Israeli defense officials to the United States and more, comes on the heels of updated situation assessments within the defense establishment suggesting that if nothing is done, the weapon manufacturing facilities Iran is building in Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s neighbors to the north, will become operational in the foreseeable future.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the tense standoff between North Korea and the United States was on the verge of large-scale conflict and said it was a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear missile program.
The Trump administration ordered Russia to close a consulate in San Francisco and scale back operations in New York and Washington in retaliation for Moscow’s expelling U.S. diplomats and closing sites in Russia a month ago, the State Department announced Thursday.
NATO allies have voices their concern that Moscow might be planning a surprise invasion, following its large-scaled military exercise with Belarus. Specifically, NATO is worried that Russia might leave military equipment behind in Belarus when the exercise concludes, perhaps to use later should President Vladimir Putin want to send troops quickly across the border, as he did in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.
A senior Israeli official has issued a warning to Russia that the Israeli military will bomb Syrian President Bashar Assad’s palace in Damascus if Russia allows Iran to make military advances in Syria.
Netanyahu told Putin that Iran’s takeover of the Middle East and their stronghold in Syria present a threat to Israel, the Middle East, and the entire world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to discuss the Iranian presence in Syria when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said Tuesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Saturday, amid increasing concerns that Iran is establishing a permanent military presence in Syria.
Russia on Friday summoned Israeli Ambassador Gary Koren to justify Israel’s air strike in Syria at a target near the city of Palmyra.
The Obama administration is close to announcing a series of measures to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential election, including economic sanctions and diplomatic censure, according to U.S. officials.
The British Royal Navy and NATO tracked three Russian submarines through the English channel that were en route to the Mediterranean to join forces with an aircraft carrier group.