Armenia continues its attempts to move out from under Russian influence. It is doing so gradually, without abrupt moves, wary that the former “big brother” might shift its focus from the bombing of Ukraine and turn close attention to its southern outpost. Such a possibility, despite Moscow’s deep involvement in the Ukrainian campaign, still exists.

Russian border guards briefly entered Estonian territory on December 17 before returning to Russia, Estonian authorities said, stressing that the incident posed no security threat.

A Russian court has freed French cyclist Sofiane Sehili after finding him guilty of illegally crossing the Russian border.

Finland's defence administration proposes Mikkeli, the town where the Finnish Army Command is based, as the location for NATO's Multi Corps Land Component Command (MCLCC), News.Az
reports citing Gazeta.Ru.

The NATO alliance has begun construction of a new base in Finnish Lapland, which will become an outpost north of the Russian border, News.Az reports citing the Swedish publication Svenska Dagblade t (SvD).

Russian troop withdrawal from Armenia’s borders with Iran and Türkiye deemed inappropriate given the current situation, Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said this while commenting on the statement of the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Alen Simonyan, that the Armenian authorities should consider the deployment of Russian border guards on the country's border with Türkiye and Iran, News.Az reports.

The North Atlantic Alliance has begun a series of exercises near Russia's borders that will last until the end of autumn, News.az reports.