The next piece of news caused quite a sensation in the West, appearing in hundreds of media outlets. Russia's Ministry of Defense is creating an Information Operations Force, as was announced today in the Parliament by Sergey Shoygu. Propaganda should be smart and efficient, said the head of the agency.

Naturally, the information force will also be protecting the country from cyber-attacks. The Minister has also noted that this year the share of new weapons in the armed forces – that is, the traditional armed forces – will reach 62%. The forces will we resupplied with more than 1,000 tanks and armored vehicles alone. Dmitry Petrov has the story.

The MPs start the plenary session with a moment of silence honoring the memory of Vitaly Churkin. Inside the UN, he did everything in his power to protect the interests of our country and of our fellow citizens. So let us pay our respects to him. Thank you! Undoubtedly the biggest item on the agenda is a report of the Defense Minister during the regular Parliamentary Q & A. Sergey Shoygu puts a special emphasis on the interim results of the military operation in Syria.

For the first time, the Russian Air Force had joint exercises with the Turkish Air Force. The fall of the Syrian government has been averted, and the civil war has almost come to an end. Next, Shoygu briefs the Parliament on the re-arming of the military and the progress of the State's defense order. The strategic nuclear forces, our nuclear shield: at any given time, 96% of Russia's launching systems are ready to fire. Nine new units have been added to the ground troops, not to mention the upgrades made to airborne forces.

The aerospace forces have received 140 new airplanes and helicopters. The plans for this year include reinforcing Western, South-Western and Arctic sectors. Never before has a speech by a Defense Minister to Parliament been made public. It's a very important detail which characterizes the new innovative approach adopted by the Ministry of Defense in its communication with the rest of the world.

The Minister was accompanied by his deputy and the Chief of General Staff, but in the end their help with answering MPs' questions was not needed. Once again, the conversation shifts to the subject of Syria. How effective are our new weapons and vehicles used in Syria, compared to the old ones? We've tested in action 162 new units. It was an important experience, and for the first time in the history of carrier-borne aviation, it was deployed in Syria and it showed a high level of efficiency.

But, for example, the leader of the LDPR that the success of the Russian military in Syria didn't receive enough media coverage. "I think we should restore the 7th Main Intelligence Directorate. I've repeated that many times. This is the moment for special propaganda. Apart from understanding the workings of the enemy's army, we need to be prepared to work with our own population. It was created 4 years since ago; It's not the 7th Directorate though. It has a slightly different name. Moreover, we've created the Information Operations Force which is more powerful and efficient than anything you've mentioned here, because propaganda also needs to be smart and competently executed. The Information Operations Force was created mainly to protect the interests of national defense and confrontation in the sphere of information. How would you estimate the safety of our borders considering the increasing activity of the United States and its allies? We continue to work actively on protecting the Kuril islands where we'll soon deploy a division".

At the end of his report, Shoygu congratulated the Parliament on the upcoming holiday. He made sure to include female members in his address, saying that women of the Parliament are also "Defenders of the Fatherland".