Tell a Tale

President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia will boost its nuclear arsenal by over 40 intercontinental missiles this year, in a move likely to further unnerve the West. “This year the size of our nuclear forces will increase by over 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles that will be able to overcome any, even the most technologically advanced, missile defence systems,” Putin said at the opening of an exhibition of military hardware outside Moscow. The declaration from the Kremlin strongman came as Russia reacted with fury to reports that the US is planning to bulk up its military deployments in Eastern Europe. Tensions between Russia and the West are at their highest since the end of the Cold War over the conflict in Ukraine. Kiev and its allies accuse Moscow of sending in troops and armour to back a separatist conflict in the east of the country but Russia has denied the claims. The New York Times reported at the weekend that the Pentagon was poised ...

Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies have reportedly decrypted files of former U.S. National Security Agency contractor and leaker Edward Snowden, and have identified British and U.S. secret agents. MI6, the U.K.’s secret intelligence service, has withdrawn agents from overseas operations in hostile countries, according to a report in the Sunday Times of London, citing U.K. government officials and Western intelligence agencies. The report contains some apparently contradictory information. Although The Sunday Times quoted a U.K. Home Office official saying that Snowden has “blood on his hands,” it also quoted a government source saying that there was no sign that agents have been hurt. Prime Minister David Cameron’s aides, however, confirmed that Snowden’s files are in the hands of Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies, according to the report. “It is the case that Russians and Chinese have information,” according to one top U.K. government source cited by ...