Pravda.ru / Russia

The stormy reaction from Ukrainian politicians and mass media to the remarks that Russian President Vladimir Putin about the "Russian Anna, the Queen of France" is in fact understandable. Of course, one should bear in mind the fact that it has nothing to do with history. The "icing on the cake" in the story was the tweet from Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs

Russia's missile forces and artillery are to be rearmed. Smerch systems are said to be replaced with modernized versions of Tornado-C. The process is to be completed by 2020. Tornado-C is a large-caliber multiple-launch rocket system. New Iskander-M missile systems will be delivered to missile and artillery forces as well

Russia still has a strong ambition of a superpower. In the past, the USA and the USSR had comparable military potentials. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia was nearly destroyed. The country's defense spending was cut considerably, defense companies found themselves in a deep crisis. The Soviet power of the USSR declined in an instant

Having announced Putin's visit to Paris, the Kremlin gave the new French leader an opportunity to correct the mistake made by his predecessor, Francois Hollande. The forthcoming meeting in Versailles is to prove that France has not lost its place among world's greatest powers. When dealing with present-day France, nothing can be said for certain

A look at the map is enough to see Russia being almost completely surrounded by zones of instability and conflict, many of which are fraught with nuclear war. A clear understanding and deep awareness of this fact is necessary for developing a promising foreign policy strategy. Problems are everywhere: North Korea, Afghanistan, the Middle East, etc

CIS member states will build a unified system of air and space defence. The project envisages the creation of subsystems for the destruction of space assault weapons. Russia is beginning to improve the system of anti-missile defense, and it is not only Russia, but other countries of the CIS that are involved in this activity

Russia is working on the final stage of official tests for Penicillin complex. It does not go about medicine at all. Penicillin is a sound-thermal complex of artillery reconnaissance, capable of greatly reducing the time of detection and neutralization of enemy artillery weapons. The serial production of the complex is scheduled for January 2019

US experts believe that the Russian S-400 air defense system is good, but it is good against fourth-generation aircraft, while the United States has many fifth-generation aircraft. Figuratively speaking, aiming S-400 systems on those aircraft is like sending a cavalry to defeat tanks. Does Russia have anything to oppose to Western armies?

Almost over forty percent of the federal budget is formed on the basis of external factors, which leads to fluctuations. First of all, Russia needs to stabilize the budget. Russia can not plan its existence for a long time, because planning is difficult here. Naturally, we must make every effort to overcome the influence of the external factor

Contrary to forecasts, the complicated economic and foreign policy situation has not reduced the number of those who support President Putin. Experts of the Civil Society Development Fund said in the report titled "Putin's Majority: On the Eve of Large Election Cycle" that the number of Putin's supporters in Russia has grown

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the "recovery period" between Russia and Turkey has finished, and the countries return "to a normal partnership of interaction." This is a very good signal, which means that Moscow and Ankara trust each other again. In a war of "all against all" raging in the Middle East, such a statement means a lot

The multifunctional long-range radar surveillance aviation complex A-100 will be able to detect new classes of targets, including next-generation aircraft, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said. The A-100 is a system а long-range radar surveillance and guidance. These complexes are used to detect and accompany air targets, surface ships

Russia's economy will grow by 1.1% in 2017 against the backdrop of "relatively high oil prices." "The growth is possible, and one does not have to be too smart to predict it. If the situation does not deteriorate sharply, one may say that we will achieve the economic growth of one percent. However, this level is below the level of statistical error

The visit of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to Russia has confirmed the transition of Russian-Japanese relations to a new quality. The most painful issue in bilateral relations between Russia and Japan has been resolved. The Kuril Islands will remain Russian territory, but will become an object for joint economic activity for Russia and Japan

Russia has been intensifying defence cooperation with Latin America, Alexander Denisov, the head of the department for marketing activities at Russia's defence export giant Rosoboronexport said. At an arms show in Mexico, Russia showcased Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile system, BTR-80A/82A armoured personnel carrier, Tiger-M and Ural vehicles

An upgraded version of the strategic Tu-160 bomber aircraft, also known as the "White Swan," is to be passed into service only in 2022 in the amount of 30-50 pieces. The new "Swan" has significantly strengthened Russia's military arsenal, which became reason for concern for American experts in strategic aviation

Russian President Putin has been losing control over his inner circle, Russian and foreign publications say. Although not all of them are ready to talk about it in the affirmative, some still doubt. Putin is said to be losing control over a variety of things on a regular basis. There are experts, who predict the imminent fall of Putin's regime

US-based RAND research organisation urged the Pentagon to assess a perspective of how NATO can suppress Russian missile defences in the Kaliningrad enclave in Europe. Should Russia take these calls seriously? It is hardly possible to unequivocally answer this question, given, inter alia, highly tense relations between Russia and the United States

The use of the most powerful Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) GBU-43/B against Islamic State fighters (the terrorist organisation is banned in Russia) in Afghanistan has generated many discussions, in which people compare US and Russian weapons. Some people believe that Russia wins the competition

Every year, we receive five sets of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems and new radar stations. This is very good progress, and we work hard to develop the S-500 system. The state-of-the-art system will be added to the arsenal of air defence troops in the near future. Recently, Russian troops started receiving new Verba MANPADS