The Russian army has no plans to conduct exercises near the borders of NATO countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and has generally scaled them down, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a video conference press briefing. “For the period that we are now going through, during the period of coronavirus infection, our military has reported that they are reducing

NATO is creating a “striking fist” near Russia’s borders, strengthening its military presence in Eastern Europe in close proximity to Russia, said Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website. Zakharova’s statement was made in response to the reports about NATO’s plans to hold Defender Europe-2020 military exercises in April and May.

In an average of 16 countries, 50% of those polled believe that their country should not protect its ally in the event of an attack by Russia, and 38% should. Most citizens support the need for military defense of allies in the event of a hypothetical attack by Russia in only five of the 16 NATO member states, according to

These claims of NATO’s nefarious plans for World War III stem from a meeting that Russia’s General Staff chief General Valeriy Gerasimov conducted with foreign military attaches accredited in Russia. Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star), the official newspaper of the Russian armed forces writes about the meeting with military attaches and cites Gerasimov, however, nowhere does Russian general actually say that

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday criticized NATO’s continued expansion, something he suggested was pointless given the absence of a threat from Moscow following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Speaking at a meeting of Russian military leaders in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said NATO expansion posed a threat to Russia, but said he hoped