It was only three months into his new presidency on August 12 that the nation's prized nuke-equipped sub, kursk, exploded, making it the deadliest naval incident in post-Soviet Russia.

Ukraine called on its Western backers to provide F-16s, and other advanced fighter jets, long before the aircraft arrived.

Russian arms manufacturer Kolomna Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (Kolomna Bureau Mashinostroyeniya: KBM), part of ...