St. Petersburg

Since 1980, Russia celebrates its Navy Day on the last Sunday of July. Navy Day in Russia was established in 1939. This year, the celebrations organized on the 30th of July covered the whole Russian coast line from Vladivostok in the far east to St. Petersburg in the west, from Severomorsk in the north to Sevastapol in Crimea.

Russia took its first steps on Friday to retaliate against proposed American sanctions for Moscow’s suspected meddling in the 2016 election, seizing two American diplomatic properties and ordering the United States Embassy to reduce staff by September.

In a demonstration of the Chinese navy's expanding global reach, the country's latest-generation warships conducted live-firing drills in the Mediterranean Sea this week while en route to joint exercises with the Russian navy, the defense ministry said on July 12.

Russia's relaxation of trade sanctions against Turkey is expected to return bilateral relations to the level the countries enjoyed before a crisis in 2015, leading Turkish contractors said June 2. 

Photo: kremlin.ru

Russian President Vladimir Putin has largely resorted to irony at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) as reporters seemingly failed to come up with new questions, focusing on Moscow's alleged meddling in the US elections, and Donald Trump.

PHOTO: TANJUG/ MINISTARSTVO SPOLJNIH POSLOVA REPUBLIKE SRBIJE/ OGNJEN STEVANOVIC

Serbia will forever remain a friend of Russia and will never impose sanctions on it, Acting PM and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in St. Petersburg Thursday.

Serbia's Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic met on Friday in St. Petersburg with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the Serbian government announced.

Serbia will forever remain a friend of Russia and will never impose sanctions on it, Acting PM and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in St. Petersburg Thursday.

His statement, made during the official opening ceremony of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), was greeted by a huge round of applause, Tanjug is reporting.

Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic is participating in the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, the government has announced.

Serbia has guest country status at the event, taking place May 31-June 2.

NATO allies should show more solidarity in the fight against global terror, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, stressing that the alliance's role in the anti-terror struggle will constitute one of most important items of the May 25 Summit in Brussels.