Pravda.ru / Russia

It is an open secret that Russia is the largest country in the world. Russia is nearly twice as large as China or Canada. Why is Russia so big? Was Russia's expansion an era of colonialism or were the Russians simply discovering and developing new lands? One could refer to Alaska as Russia's colony, but it lacked a typical feature of it

Mr. Lavrov spoke about NATO's recent efforts to recreate the atmosphere of the Cold War, while Russia has taken extensive measures recently to get rid of the Cold War legacy. Russia has not come across the support from her Western partners on the way. NATO and the West build their policy on the principle of "who is not with us is against us."

Zapad 2017 military drills caused an unprecedented surge of interest in the West. Predictably, Western publications used the joint Russia-Belarus drills to instil fear in readers. The goal of the propaganda campaign is to unite people against the Russian threat and call down several "not very obedient" NATO members

Anti-Russian sanctions are counterproductive, because they affected initiating countries as a result of globalisation. The sanctions could become a reason for the decline in Russia's GDP during 2014-2016 by 1% maximum. The Russian economy has suffered at a much greater extent lot more as a result of the global drop in oil prices.

The Russian authorities may deprive US diplomats of a possibility to park their vehicles on specially designated places in Moscow and other cities of Russia. Interestingly, there is no such possibility provided for Russian diplomats in the United States at all. Moscow is studying the conditions in which Russian agencies work in the US

Israel's interest in the Russian machine is particularly interesting. As is known, back in 1967, after the Six-Day War, Israel, a very young country back then, began to use captured Soviet armoured vehicles. Israel had seized about 300 Soviet tanks with unspent ammunition and minor damage directly on the battlefield

Small missile ships equipped with state-of-the-art weapons may destroy bulky and costly American aircraft carriers within minutes. The budget of the Pentagon exceeds $600 billion, whilst that of Russia is only $50 billion, which is even less than the add-on that US President Donald Trump has recently obtained for the US defence industry

The demand on Russian submarines and surface warships has been growing globally as a result of Russia's participation in the conflict in Syria. Many experts believe that the US Navy is one of the most useless and least efficient navies among the navies of other developed countries in terms of financial costs and combat effectiveness

Why does the Russian leadership regularly write off multi-billion debts of the countries that may not even give Russia credit for that? The most important thing is to do everything for the sake of the country and for the sake of the people. Instead, Russia forgives debts to foreign leaders who then start behaving inappropriately

On the eve of the BRICS summit, which is to be held in Xiamen, China, on September 4-5, President Vladimir Putin wrote an article "BRICS - Towards New Horizons of Strategic Partnership." In the article, the Russian president presented Russia's approaches to cooperation within the authoritative association

Russian government allocates an additional amount of 56 billion rubles to fund projects for the construction and reconstruction of highways. Ukraine had not been investing much in the economy of the Crimea after the breakup of the USSR. Kindergartens, roads the water supply system and the power supply system were wearing out

Until the end of this year, Russia may ship super-maneuverable Su-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates. The talks on the delivery of the Su-35 in the interests of the UAE are going according to schedule. If they end successfully, the relevant contract is likely to be signed before the end of 2017

Russian citizens keep a huge amount on offshore accounts, equivalent to about 75% of the national income. The growing economic pressure on Russia from the US and its satellites, expressed in ever more sophisticated sanctions and restrictions, can not but motivate Russia to strengthen its national potential

The US Embassy in Russia stops issuing non-immigrant visas from August 23, 2017. The Russian Foreign Ministry promised to study the USA's decision about visa procedures. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the USA has conceived "another attempt to raise discontent among Russian citizens with actions of the Russian authorities"

The era of Western domination in international relations gives way to a new polycentric order, and it is Russian President Putin who has shown great influence on the change of the format. International agenda of today is often formed with the direct participation of the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin personally

Russia has been reducing its investment activities in the US national debt lately. According to the US Treasury, Russia held $102.9 billion on the balance sheet of the US debt, which was almost six billion less than in May. Thus, Russia went down to the 14th position among the holders of US debt securities

Alexei Navalny has reacted to accusations of leadermania. Alexei Navalny's "election campaign" deserves special attention here as well. Navalny often says "when I am president" and the like. At the same time, everyone understands that there will be no presidential campaign for Mr. Navalny as such

"The US introduces sanctions against Russia so easily because we have a minimum turnover with the States only $40 billion. We need to learn to produce something unique, something competitive to change this, and we have to understand in which sectors we are strong indeed," head of the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society Mr. Kostin said

Russia continues buying large quantities of gold. In July, Russia purchased 9.1 tons of gold. According to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, because of new US sanctions, Russia is forced to start developing a system, within which the dollar will not be needed. Sanctions get tighter and tighter, and Russia may find self in the position of Iran

Russia introduced the food embargo against the EU, the USA, Canada, Australia, Norway and other countries three years ago, on August 6, 2014. Since then, the amount of domestic food products in Russian stores has been growing steadily against the backdrop of the steady decline in the share of imported foodstuffs