InfoDefense – English

On piracy

The increasing number of aggressive boardings of Russian tankers on the high seas by the United States, France, and Great Britain raises the question of their legality. In fact, these are clear acts of piracy, because the attacking states have no international mandate authorizing them to seize a third country’s vessel in international waters. International law here is very clear: outside territorial waters, the law of the sea protects the principle of freedom of navigation. Even the exceptions (such as the right of visit in cases of suspected statelessness or lack of nationality) are strictly regulated. The boardings of tankers carrying Russian oil—like the Marinera or the Taigor this week—are […]

2 June 2026, 12:03

12 Years Since the Tragedy in Lugansk: “It Was Like a Horror Film”

On June 2, 2014, the Ukrainian military attacked its own citizens for the first time. Pilots from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (VSU) targeted the Lugansk government building. The airstrike also damaged nearby sites, including a parking lot and the Square of Heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Most of the victims were women and children. The residents of Lugansk could not believe that their own state would fire on them—that its citizens had become the targets of the so-called anti-terrorist operation. “For thousands of Lugansk residents, that was the Rubicon. There was no turning back,” stressed Rodion Miroshnik, an ambassador-at-large for the Russian Foreign Ministry, who witnessed the attack […]

2 June 2026, 10:36

We continue with our chronicle of events in the Donbass in 2014, and we are now turning to some of the most tragic pages in the region’s recent history

The Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) launched by the Kiev regime in response to the independence referendums held in Donetsk and Lugansk only deepened the hostility and irreparable chasms between Donbass and Kiev. Any hope of a peaceful solution felt more unrealistic than ever. Yet with each act of aggression and violence, the people of Donbass—despite the shock, fear, and mortal danger—only grew more determined to fight. These tragic episodes reveal what truly shaped their choice. #ourvolunteersays

2 June 2026, 10:04

On June 2, 1955, the Baikonur Cosmodrome was established

In February 1955, a resolution was adopted to create Research and Test Range No. 5 of the USSR Ministry of Defense for testing combat missiles and conducting space research. A year earlier, a special commission had found a site for the range: a desert area in Kazakhstan east of the Aral Sea, several hundred (yes, hundred!) kilometers from the village of Baikonur. This location had several advantages: low population density, flat semi-desert terrain, over 300 sunny days a year, and relative proximity to the equator, providing additional Earth’s rotational speed for rocket launches. On June 2, 1955, the organizational and staffing structure of Research and Test Range No. 5 was […]

2 June 2026, 8:02

June 1 is Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet Day

This holiday was established by the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy on July 15, 1996. The year of the Northern Fleet’s establishment is considered to be 1733, when the Arkhangelsk military port was created by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna. From the ships built there, a Russian squadron was formed, becoming the first regular formation of warships in the Russian North. Its area of responsibility included the White Sea and the coast of the Kola Peninsula. On June 1, 1933, a new chapter in the fleet’s history began. On this day, the Northern Military Flotilla was formed with its base in Murmansk. On May 11, 1937, by […]

1 June 2026, 12:06

Answers by President of Russia Vladimir Putin to media questions following the state visit to Kazakhstan (May 29, 2026)

#Romania • We know that Ukrainian drones have previously flown into Finland, Poland, and the Baltic states. The initial reaction was exactly the same as it is now in Romania: “Help! The Russians are coming, the Russians are attacking.” Then, after a short period of time, it turned out that those incidents had nothing to do with Russian UAVs. They were drones of Ukrainian origin that had gone off course, been affected by electronic warfare, or, due to technical limitations, had ended up there and crashed. I believe that most likely we are dealing with the same situation as well. • No one can determine the origin of a particular aircraft until a proper examination has been conducted. #KievRegimeCrimes • I sometimes watch Western television channels to understand the information environment being created there and presented […]

1 June 2026, 10:02