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Now, in terms of the military impact, an F-16 is still a very capable platform: It has a good radar, it can fly well above the majority of the Russian sound systems in the area apart from the very, very specialized ones. It has a weapons system tied to that radar that can engage the vast majority of Russian aircraft long before they can attack it. The F-16 doesn't have quite the same stealth characteristics of something like an F-35 and an F-22. But I've fought against the F-16. I've had the odd trip in one, but I've also fought...

Up to 400 violent criminals are being shipped off to fight for Russia on the frontlines in Ukraine after recruiters promised them a pardon in exchange for six months of service. Prisoners from penal colonies who signed up for the deal were seen filing into prison vans destined for a 'training camp' in the south of Russia, video footage has shown. After perfunctory military instruction the murderers, sex offenders, burglars and other convicts will be sent to the front line following the mass jail release.

Iran is sending Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s socialist regime weapons and troops, a top U.S. military official told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. “We see a growing Iranian influence in there,” the head of the U.S. Southern Command, Admiral Craig Faller, told the Journal. “We’re real [sic] concerned about what Iran is up to, not just globally, but here in this hemisphere.” He went on to cite the “alarming and concerning” arrival of military personnel from the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), notorious for its terrorist activities in other countries including Syria and Iraq. Faller...

It comes as the Royal Navy has been preparing to help the NHS and other government departments deal with the coronavirus outbreak. Nine Royal Navy vessels have shadowed seven Russian warships after detecting "unusually high levels of activity" in the Channel and North Sea. It comes as the Royal Navy has been preparing to help the NHS and other government departments deal with the coronavirus crisis.

The Russian government resigned Wednesday, according to multiple reports. Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev announced the resignations after the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, delivered his yearly state-of-the-union address, RT reported. In a meeting of ministers after the resignations, Putin thanked Medvedev’s government, CNBC reported citing state news agency TASS.

Many commentators have suggested that the greatest threat to the authoritarian regime in Russia would be a Ukraine that successfully navigated the difficult passage to economic development and political freedom, but apparently even Ukraine’s moves in that direction are a problem for the Kremlin. That is because, as the SerpomPo telegram channel put it, the chief reaction of Russians to the debates between the two Ukrainian presidential candidates is envy, envy that each of those who watched as many Russians did could decide for himself or herself who won and how they would if they could vote, something not possible...

Russian President Vladimir Putin may retaliate after President Trump canceled a weekend meeting in Argentina over Russia’s detention of Ukrainian sailors, experts said after the surprise announcement Thursday. About an hour after saying he "probably" would meet Putin at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Trump tweeted that he would cancel the meeting “[b]ased on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine,” surprising critics who accused him of being soft on Putin. But the snub — the second this month, after a Paris meeting also was scrapped — may provoke Putin in the near-term,...

Russia over the weekend mounted its most serious aggression against Ukraine since President Trump took office, and America punted. Trump’s outgoing ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, described the chain of events that led to the current standoff at the Black Sea as an “outrageous violation of sovereign Ukrainian territory.” She vowed that Washington and its friends would stand with Kiev. So what’s the plan? “It is our expectation that our European partners will lead this effort through the Normandy Four format,” Haley said, referring to a toothless Barack Obama-era gabfest that has mostly served to legitimize Moscow’s illegal...

Russia “indisputably” poses a far greater threat to national security than Islamic terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and Isis, the new head of the British army has warned. General Mark Carleton-Smith said the UK cannot be complacent about the threat Russia poses “or leave it uncontested”. The former SAS commander said Russia had made plain its preparedness to use force to expand its interests, while it had also been “systematic” in its efforts to exploit cyber space and undersea military arenas. “The Russians seek to exploit vulnerability and weakness wherever they detect it,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “Russia today...

Oksana Ostapenko was 12 years old and facing death from hunger when a stranger saved her life by taking the girl into his family and sharing the last of their food. Today, aged 97, the Ukrainian's voice trembles when she recalls the terrible famine that hit her country in the 1930s due to policies enforced by Joseph Stalin's police. "They came and took away all our grain..." The death toll of the famine - known as the "Holodomor" in Ukrainian - remains debated among historians. But Kiev authorities estimate the number of those who died at around four million, or...

This document contains an update on the work of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria (FFM) regarding the alleged use of toxic chemicals as a weapon in Douma, the Syrian Arab Republic, on 7 April 2018. The work of the FFM was conducted in accordance with preambular paragraph 8 and operative paragraphs 5 and 6 of decision EC-M-48/DEC.1 (dated 4 February 2015) and other relevant decisions of the OPCW Executive Council (hereinafter “the Council”), as well as under the Director-General’s authority to seek to uphold at all times the object and purpose of the Chemical Weapons Convention, as reinforced by...

A man and woman found unconscious in Wiltshire were exposed to Novichok - the same nerve agent that poisoned ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, police say. The couple, believed to be Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill at a house in Amesbury on Saturday and remain in a critical condition. Police say no one else has presented with the same symptoms. There was "nothing in their background" to suggest the pair were targeted, the Met Police said. Home Secretary Sajid Javid will chair a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee later to discuss the developments

The U.K. government has reportedly told President Trump he must not meet Brexit architect and former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage when Trump visits the U.K. later this month. The U.K. Daily Telegraph, citing a source within the British government, reports that 10 Downing Street made it clear that Trump “must not meet Farage” during his working visit to the U.K. on July 13.

Tony Blair is plunging himself into a fresh Brexit row by urging the government to postpone the date when Britain leaves the European Union. In another major intervention, the former prime minister and pro-Remain cheerleader will repeat his call for another referendum - on the terms of the Brexit deal.

The British government’s so-called Brexit legislation that would allow the country to leave European Union became law Tuesday after Queen Elizabeth II gave her approval. House Commons Speaker John Bercow announced that the European Union Withdrawal Bill received royal assent and passed into law. The announcement was cheered by pro-Brexit officials. “I have to notify the House in accordance with the Royal Assent Act 1967 that her Majesty has signified her royal assent to the following acts ... European Union Withdrawal Act 2018,” Bercow said.

British LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell has been detained by Russian police in Moscow ahead of the opening ceremony of the World Cup. Mr Tatchell was detained for what Russian police described as an illegal protest. He had attempted to hold a solitary demonstration near the Red Square to draw attention to human rights abuses against gay men in Chechnya.A Reuters reporter saw a Russian policeman inform Mr Tatchell that it was illegal to hold such protests during the tournament. Mr Tatchell was holding a sign which said: "Putin fails to act against Chechnya torture of gay people." The policeman told...

"For a long time the English were considered the strongest," he said, but they were no match for Russians with martial-arts training. "There were guys sitting there with a Birmingham banner and we went up to them. 'Either we're taking your banner or you stand up and fight for it.' The Birmingham guys decided they didn't need the banner that much." The violence on Marseille's streets and in the stadium was greeted with jokes and even praise from some Russian lawmakers and officials. President Vladimir Putin called the fighting "sad," then questioned "how 200 Russian fans could beat up several...

Violent Russian thugs who attacked Liverpool fans in Ukraine have issued a stark warning to England supporters planning to attend the World Cup. Trouble Company, a notorious hooligan group, said fans traveling abroad will face 'hell' during the 2018 competition. The group's followers have released a string of messages on social media claiming responsibility for the violence in Kiev, which saw Brits hospitalised.

People promoting “hostility” towards a religion or the transgendered online could get much harsher sentences, of up to six years in jail, especial if they have a large online audience according to new proposals. The Sentencing Council for England and Wales has drafted changes to public order offences, including anyone perceived as targeting online a “protected characteristics” including “race; sex; disability; age; sexual orientation; religion or belief; pregnancy and maternity; and gender reassignment.” The most severe punishments will be handed to those “in a position of trust, authority or influence and abuses their position to stir up hatred,” such as...

Lebanon held on Sunday its first parliamentary elections in nine years, as citizens expressed cautious optimism that the country's rigid, oft-deadlocked sectarian political system could be swayed. Behind the scenes, however, one of the world's leading powers has quietly eyed the small state as a potential ground to project its power in the Middle East and into the Mediterranean. But it won't be easy. With Syrian rebels and jihadis at bay, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government set to further extend its comeback, Russia has pursued a cautious overture across the border into Lebanon—a $1 billion dollar arms deal, including...