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The website of the Psychoneurological Dispensary No. 2 in St. Petersburg has a poster calling for military recruits for the volunteer battalions “Kronstadt”, “Neva” and “Pavlovsk” on its homepage. According to the advert, which later appeared to have been removed, volunteers who sign contracts of at least six months are promised lump-sum payments, compensation for housing and communal services, the right to receive the status of a combat veteran and the right to enter universities without competition, and one-time material assistance....

In a CBS News report published Friday, commanders of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division stationed just miles from the Romanian border with Ukraine were cited as saying they were ready to cross over in response to any escalation or attack on NATO. The report raised eyebrows, as President Joe Biden has repeatedly vowed not to send U.S. soldiers into Ukraine itself, even as he sent over units to the border that have not been deployed to Europe since World War II....

The group known as Fancy Bear targeted the email accounts of Democratic parties in the two states as well as the Center for American Progress, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Reuters reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The Russian embassy in Washington has denied the claims. An indictment by the Justice Department filed in 2018 linked Fancy Bear to the hacking of email accounts of the staff of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton....

Wayne Marotto, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S-led campaign against ISIS in the Middle East including Syria, told Newsweek that his tweet about the resolution contained an error and that the presence of U.S. troops in Syria was in fact “pursuant to Article 51 of the UN Charter.” Syria is a key area of foreign policy tension between Russia and the U.S. On Monday, the Russian embassy in Washington, DC, shared a screenshot of a tweet by Marotto that said that U....

The threat came soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed a deal on governance of northeastern Syria, smothering the nascent Syrian Kurdish statelet. On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—a coalition of militias led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG)—must vacate an 18-mile deep buffer zone along the Turkish border in line with Erdogan’s demands....

The spokeswoman said Russian delegate Mikhail Butov was still waiting to hear the outcome of an IAAF council meeting in Vienna. (Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Alison Williams) 0 votes

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov made the ominous comments in response to a Nikkei Asia report on Sunday that said U.S. treaty ally Japan was planning to hold its largest ever drills with U.S. Marine Corp this fall, an exercise expected to involve more than 4,000 military personnel. The move comes as Washington manages fraught relations with Moscow and Beijing, over issues including the invasion of Ukraine and Taiwan’s increasingly hard line on China....

The comment by Dmitry Birichevsky comes after the European Union (EU) said on Tuesday it had frozen €13.8 billion ($13.8 billion) worth of assets held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities because of the war in Ukraine. Russia has already responded to U.S. sanctions with its own blacklists of Americans including the family of President Joe Biden, but this is largely seen as symbolic. U.S.-led measures have seen Russia isolated from the global financial system....

Sergey Ulukshonov, a 30-year-old resident of the city of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, was sentenced by a regional court, pro-Kremlin news outlet Kommersant reported. He was accused of planning to join Ukraine’s armed forces and fight against Russia in the ongoing conflict that began when President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Ulukshonov was found guilty of preparing to participate in an armed formation on the territory of a foreign state....

News outlet Ostorozhno Novosti (Attention News) said on its Telegram channel that the incident took place Monday at an artillery range near the town of Luga in the Leningrad region. The servicemen were divided into two groups, and one was practicing firing from anti-tank weapons while the others were testing automatic grenade launchers. One of the soldiers from the second group “lost control of the grenade launcher and started firing in different directions,” the report said....

And once Moscow officials finish mulling over Washington’s recent proposal to de-escalate a burgeoning crisis at the border between Ukraine and Russia, Antonov said Russian President Vladimir Putin would then decide if talks worth continuing. So far, the Russian envoy said, the results have not inspired confidence. “I would like to emphasize that we are not very enthusiastic about the essence of the U.S. (and NATO) responses,” Antonov said. “Washington suggests focusing on important, but basically secondary issues....

A clip of the host, Armen Gasparyan, was shared on Twitter on Monday evening by Julia Davis, a journalist and creator of the Russian Media Monitor watchdog group. In it, the host acknowledged that it can be hard for Russian citizens to make sense of the losses recently incurred in Ukraine, particularly the setback in Lyman over the weekend. In response, Gasparyan urged his viewers to practice their own “internal censorship....

Father Sergiy was arrested in late December 2020 after being charged with inciting suicidal actions during sermons in which he encouraged his followers to “die for Russia.” He was also charged with violating the freedom of conscience and committing arbitrary actions, although he denied all the allegations. Upon the announcement of his conviction Tuesday, Father Sergiy reportedly reacted to the verdict by saying “Do not judge and you will not be judged....

With Joe Biden favored to win the White House, the mass circulation newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets ran an article headlined “Is Biden so terrifying?” in which it asked what the Democratic contender would mean for the Kremlin should he win. Sergei Kislitsyn from the Moscow-based Center for North American Studies expressed hope that with Biden as president, there could be greater cooperation between Russia and the U.S. over the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) which is due to expire in February....

It is understood that Van Gaal’s family and loved ones are much worried about the pressure that he is having to cope with at Old Trafford. The 64-year old Dutchman at a recent press conference, hinted at his possible premature departure from United. Van Gaal had said that he might himself resign from his post if results don’t improve and in that case, there might not arise a situation where he would be sacked....

2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the RuneScape games, and publisher/developer Jagex has already given some clues as to what fans can expect this year. 20th anniversary quests and a new Elder Gods story arc will unfold throughout the year along with plenty of new in-game collectibles for dedicated players. There will also be anniversary content for Old School RuneScape, and memorabilia collectors can grab hardcover art books and vinyl soundtrack recordings this year too....

Thomas Bjorn and Jim Furyk, the respective skippers of Teams Europe and the United States, each have four wildcard options at their disposal to add to the eight men who have already booked their ticket to Paris via their performances in 2018. Olesen finished in a tie for 20th at the Made in Denmark, the European Tour’s final qualifying event - a result that proved enough thanks to Matt Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperell failing to prevail in Aarhus....

A nation’s capital melted down last week in an orgy of lawlessness. Perhaps the most disturbing thing of all about Monrovia’s descent into anarchy was that most of the killers and rapists weren’t greedy civilians, but hopped-up soldiers armed and ostensibly under the command of the factional leaders who supposedly run Liberia. “My God – Liberia is worse than Lebanon,” said Shafi Nidal; Lebanese expats dominate retailing in Monrovia and suffered most from the looting....

Welcome to the inaugural season of the RuPay Pro Volleyball League - a joint venture by VFI (Volleyball Federation of India) and Baseline Ventures, which begins on February 2. The six franchises which will be part of the action this year are Ahmedabad Defenders, Calicut Heroes, Chennai Spartans, U Mumba Volley, Black Hawks Hyderabad, and Kochi Blue Spikers. At the helm of affairs, is a man who needs little or no introduction - Chief Executive Officer of the RuPay Pro Volleyball League, Joy Bhattacharjya, who has been associated with Indian sport for well over two decades now....