Armenia’s parliamentary elections were marked by pressure on the opposition and a massive Western media campaign, political analyst and expert on regional security affairs Grant Melik-Shahnazaryan tells Sputnik.

A ceremony to cancel commemorative postage stamps issued by Russia and Belarus to mark the 35th anniversary of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC) was held in Russia's St. Petersburg.

Sputnik International News Agency and Radio and TRENDS Research & Advisory have signed a memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Russia and India develop their ties in most sensitive areas through dialogue, and Russia expects that Indian PM Narendra Modi will continue the process, Russian President's Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian air defense systems shot down four long-range cruise missiles Flamingo, a total of 766 UAVs of the armed forces of Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - In spite of its crusade of expanding sanctions against Russia, Brussels won't be able to influence Moscow's sovereign policy, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

The EU's focus on rearmament while neglecting civilian industries is a major strategic error – especially as Russia and Ukraine attempt to reach a ceasefire, Professor Joe Siracusa, a political scientist and dean of Global Futures at Curtin University, told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Parliamentary elections in Armenia were held amid unprecedented pressure on the opposition by the authorities and unprecedented Western interference, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

The United States military has completed a series of “self‑defense” strikes against Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Tuesday, hours before Iran launched its own wave of drone and missile attacks on American facilities in Bahrain and Jordan.

China is on track to surpass the United States as the world’s leading nuclear power generator within the next five years, driven by surging electricity demand from artificial intelligence and the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a new analysis by Gavekal Technologies.

The US Air Force is requesting $2.2 billion for fiscal year 2027 — a 23.2% increase over 2026 funding — to develop the new E-4C Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC), designed to serve as a command post in the event of a nuclear conflict, Sputnik has learned after reviewing the agency's budget documents.

An economic strategy focused mainly on militarization risks disrupting balanced regional development across Europe, Tiberio Graziani, chairman of Vision & Global Trends – International Institute for Global Analysis, tells Sputnik.

China officially began construction of the Three Gorges new waterway project on Monday, including what is expected to become the world's largest inland ship lock, in response to the rising shipping demand along the Yangtze, the world's third-longest river, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Xi Jinping’s recent trip to North Korea took place amid growing military cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan, Georgy Toloraya, head of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Economics’ Center of Russian Strategy in Asia, tells Sputnik.

Born as an economic bloc, the EU has spent the past decade evolving into a militarized union. But where does this trajectory lead?

The US heads a record rise in nuclear arsenal spending, accounting alone for $69.2 billion of the $119 billion spent on nuclear arsenals in 2025 by the world’s nine nuclear-armed states, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

Iranians on the streets share a quiet but unmistakable reality about the country's stance in the face of challenges.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first foreign visit of the year - to North Korea - confirms the deep, geography-driven alliance between the countries, Artyom Lukin, professor of international politics at Far Eastern Federal University, told Sputnik.

Rossiya Segodnya media group hosted an international session titled Next-Generation Media: Responding to Global Challenges on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

The phone talks between Steve Witkoff, Jared Jushner and Volodymyr Zelensky took place on June 8, media reported.