Russia disagrees with the Dutch Safety Board's report on MH17 crash findings, the Federal Air Transport Agency said. The Dutch party's answers to Russian comments on the crash are "unsubstantiated and biased," the regulator said.

The authors of the Dutch report slanted the documents towards their version of events beforehand, and the quality of the probe has been unsatisfactory, Rosaviatsia's head Oleg Storchevoy said in the official statement Wednesday.

The majority of Russia's comments were not taken into account, the agency added.

The agency, however, supports the Dutch comment on Kiev's responsibility for not closing the airspace over the armed conflict zone before the MH17 catastrophe.

Russian officials of all levels must now use only airlines from members of the Eurasian Economic Union for business trips. Exceptions are allowed if EEU airlines do not fly to their desired destination.

The new rules are described in amendments to a presidential decree. The amendments also order all federal and municipal state bodies to make sure their internal rules match the new law.

"If civil servants use air transport to get to the place of their official trips and back, tickets can only be purchased for the flights on Russian airlines or airlines from other members of the Eurasian Economic Union, except for occasions when the abovementioned airlines do not fly to the destination point of the business trip or when no tickets can be purchased for the appropriate dates," the document reads, according to popular business daily Vedomosti. The Eurasian Economic Union is a Russia-led economic bloc that also includes Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

Hundreds of Iranian troops are being deployed in northern and central Syria, dramatically escalating Tehran's involvement in the civil war as they join allied Hezbollah fighters in an ambitious offensive to wrest key areas from rebels amid Russian airstrikes.

Their arrival, a regional official and Syrian activists said Wednesday, highlights the far-reaching goals of Russia's military involvement in Syria. It suggests that, for now, taking on Islamic State extremists in eastern Syria seems a secondary priority to propping up President Bashar Assad.

The development is almost certain to increase pressure on Western-backed rebels, who are battling multiple foes, and push more civilians out of the areas of fighting, potentially creating a fresh wave of refugees.


Russia began its air campaign Sept. 30, and Syrian troops and allied militiamen launched a ground offensive against rebels in central Syria a week later. Russia says its airstrikes are meant to weaken the Islamic State group and other "terrorists" in Syria, but Western officials and Syrian rebels say most of the strikes have focused on central and northern Syria, where the extremist group does not have a strong presence.

The official, who has deep knowledge of operational details in Syria, said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards — currently numbering around 1,500 — began arriving about two weeks ago, after the Russian airstrikes began, and have accelerated recently. The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah has also sent a fresh wave of fighters to Syria, he told The Associated Press.

Iranian and Syrian officials have long acknowledged Iran has advisers and military experts in Syria, but denied there were any ground troops. Wednesday's statements were the first confirmation of Iranian fighters taking part in combat operations in Syria.

Moscow is using its massive firepower to subdue terror and in the process dramatically alter the balance of power in the Middle East. But there are more gains it may not have foreseen.
With its devastating air strikes on ISIS and US-funded rebel groups, Russia is now at the centre of the Syrian chessboard. Besides the obvious gains that include securing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's secular government and exposing American backing of terrorist groups, here are six strategic spinoffs from Moscow's military action.

Sukhoi showstoppers are the new must-have toys

Following their spectacular performance over Syrian skies, Russia's Sukhoi warplanes are set to be the hottest commodity in the international arms market. With the MiG-29 providing top cover, the Sukhois - including the massive Su-34 fighter-bomber, the swing-wing Su-24 ground attack jet and the subsonic Su-25 tank buster - are doing a fantastic job. While the Su-24 is due for retirement, the Su-25 and Su-34 tandem could be the hottest new items on the wishlist of air forces around the world. The cruise missiles - probably the Klubs - that are thudding into terrorist hideouts are also likely to see an increase in popularity.

Intelligence bonanza for Russia

After a near collision with a Russian jet, the US Air Force ordered its fighter pilots to stay clear of areas where Russians are operating. The near miss gives you an idea of the cramped confines in which foreign aircraft have to fly. This proximity has allowed Russia to gather valuable intelligence on a variety of US and NATO aircraft, including the F-22, claimed to be the world's premier stealth fighter. Such opportunities are rare and the boffins in Russia's military intelligence must be having a lot of fun going through all that data.

Iran has sent hundreds of troops into Syria under the cover of Russian airpower in preparation for an attack on rebels fighting government troops. Tehran's first major deployment in Syria's civil war appeared to be paving the way for a major regime-backed offensive against rebel forces around the shattered second city of Aleppo.

Iran has been the regime's closest ally throughout the four-year conflict, bankrolling President Bashar al-Assad's war effort and sending top military advisers to direct the fight on key battle fronts. Iranian and Syrian officials have long maintained that Tehran has advisers and military experts in Syria, but Wednesday's news was the first confirmation of Iranian fighters taking part in combat operations.

A regional official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the troops fighters began arriving in Syria as Russia began its airstrikes against rebel positions around the regime's western heartland. He said troops were arriving in the capital, Damascus, before traveling to Mr Assad's coastal stronghold of Latakia for deployment in the central province of Hama or north into Aleppo province.

Russia's deployment in Syria is an important signal to the world that in the future, things won't work without Moscow. The US is slowly but surely becoming obsolescent as a dominant force on the planet. Europe, too, will have to accept this.

Russia has interposed itself into the proxy war against Assad, because it is mandatory and necessary. Erdogan (Turkey) wants to set up a secret "no-fly-zone" between Turkey and Syria (under the banner of war against Syria) to further his own fight against the Kurds, because he wants, no matter the cost, to prevent Kurdish self determination.

The entry of Russia has twice led to a border complaint: Twice Russian fighters have overflown the alleged border of Turkey; On closer analysis, this came down to Turkey's unapproved "no-fly-zone." This time, a Russian fighter plane, with a Turkish patrol close by, let it be known that it is the last time that Turkey can violate Syrian airspace - from now on any Turkish fighter plane there will be shot out of the sky by a Russian jet. This message was unmistakable.

The House Select Committee on Benghazi, a 17-month investigation into the 2012 consulate attack in Libya, has long been accused of being a partisan witch hunt. Now a former staffer is complaining about its extracurricular activities.

Over the course of the ongoing Benghazi Committee investigation ‒ so far, a month longer than that of Watergate and counting ‒ there were bound to be some ebbs and flows to the committee's workload. However, it is how they took advantage of that downtime that is raising questions over the point of keeping the committee in business.

Wine Wednesdays

The committee has not held a public hearing since January 27, but that hasn't kept its members from meeting up on a weekly basis. They've formed a wine club, nicknamed "Wine Wednesdays," in which they drink from glasses imprinted with the words "Glacial Pace," Major Bradley F. Podliska, a committee investigator who was fired in June, told the New York Times. The customized goblets are a dig at Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland), who used the term in May to complain about the committee's lack of urgency in completing its task.

"At every turn, the Select Committee comes up with a new excuse to further delay its work and then blames its glacial pace on someone else," Cummings said in a statement at the time.

Consummate insider Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson - former chief of staff to Colin Powell, and now distinguished adjunct professor of Government and Public Policy at William & Mary - notes that the U.S. is exhibiting all of the signs of a failing empire, including:

• Relying on massive military force (and using gigantic complexes to support it) as the be-all and end-all of power, and belittling diplomacy

• Maintaining standing armies, instead of disbanding military forces between wars

• Using more mercenary forces than citizen troops

• Spending disproportionately large amounts of blood and treasure in order to counter threats on the status quo ... which simply exacerbates the threat against the empire

• Going ethically and morally bankrupt

• Ending up up having bankers and financiers end up running the real power

• Suffering great hiccups in finance and trade

• The leaders no longer really believe in or follow the ideals of the founders

Dutch investigators have published a much-awaited final report into the causes of the MH17 plane crash in eastern Ukraine, while Russian BUK producer Almaz-Antey has revealed the results of its experiments. Here are eight crucial points from both reports.

The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) has been leading the investigation into the causes of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. The crash killed nearly 300 passengers and crew members on July 17, 2014 in eastern Ukraine. The DBS investigation is aimed at providing technical details about the crash, while another probe carried out by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is expected to determine who was responsible for the incident by the end of this year.

1. BUK 9М38-series fired at plane

The Boeing 777 flying over Ukraine was downed using a 9N314M-model warhead which was mounted on the 9M38-series of missiles, installed on the BUK surface-to-air missile system.

The pre-formed fragments that hit the plane were solid, cube and bow-tie shaped, the report said. "The number of impacts, the distribution pattern and the shape of the high-energy objects that were found are consistent with the pre-shaped fragments in the war-head of the 9N314M model," it said.

The New Great Game in Eurasia advanced in leaps and bounds last week after Russia fired 26 cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea against 11 ISIS/ISIL/Daesh targets across Syria, destroying all of them. These naval strikes were the first known operational use of state-of-the-art SSN-30A Kalibr cruise missiles.

All it took for the Pentagon was a backward look over the shoulder at the flight path of those Kalibr missiles - capable of striking targets 1,500 km away. Talk about a crisp, clear, succinct message from Moscow to the Pentagon and NATO. Wanna mess with us, boy? With your big, bulging aircraft carriers, maybe?

Moreover, on top of the creation of what is a de facto no-fly zone over Syria and southern Turkey, the Russian Navy cruiser Moskva, carrying 64 S-300 ship-to-air missiles is now docked in Latakia.

The proverbial anonymous US sources could not but go on overdrive, spinning the Russians had four wayward missiles that landed in Iran. The Russian High Command ridiculed them; all missiles landed within eight feet of their targets.

The Pentagon didn't even know the Kalibr could be fired from small ships — as Tomahawks require much larger ships.