Contents tagged with Russia
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Russia announces largest military drills since 1981
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu has announced the largest military exercise since 1981, involving roughly 300,000 soldiers and 36,000 units of ground equipment, RBC news agency reports.
Speaking to reporters in Abakan, Shoygu said that the Vostok 2018 (“East 2018”) drills will be held from 11 to 15 September, and will be the largest since 1981.
“In some way they repeat ‘Zapad-81’, but in some way, perhaps, they are even larger in scale,” Shoygu commented. According to him, the drills …
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NATO confirms buildup of Russian warships near Syria
NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu confirmed that Russia is amassing warships off the coast of Syria.
“The Russian Navy has dispatched substantial naval forces to the Mediterranean, including several ships equipped with modern cruise missiles,” she said.
On Tuesday, the Russian media reported on Moscow’s largest amassing of naval forces since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2015.
The reinforcements coincide with a statement by Moscow’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, that …
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Ukraine accuses Russia of trying to disrupt visit of EU representatives to the Donbas
Representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the EU Mykola Tochytskyi stated at a meeting with journalists that Russia’s Representative to the OSCE tried to disrupt the visit of EU diplomats to the Donbas in June by informing them that Ukraine had plans to shoot down the helicopter carrying them, Evropeyska Pravda reports.
According to Tochytskyi, the warning had been sent in early summer ahead of the EU’s political and security committee representatives’ visit to Ukraine on …
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Kyiv: Ukraine will not withdraw from the Azov Sea treaty with Russia
Ukraine will not break the treaty with Russia on the joint use of the Azov Sea and Kerch Strait because to do so would allow Moscow an opportunity to declare a territorial dispute, asserted Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal on the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s Twitter.
“It is a security issue for us. That is why we use the available instruments to settle this matter,” the statement reads.
Earlier, a member of the Verkhovna Rada from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Ivan Vinnyk called …
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Latvia: Nord Stream-2 pipeline is dangerous for transatlantic relations
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkēvičs believes that Nord Stream-2 can become a big problem in transatlantic relations, as stated in a report on the results of the meeting in the Norwegian city of Stavanger which was published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia.
Rinkēvičs said that the Nord Stream-2 project threatens to increase dependence on a single gas supplier, which contradicts the principles of the Energy Union.
“Energy is not only a question of European …
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Media: not a single Ukrainian-language school left in Crimea
Out of the original 16 schools in Crimea with education in the Crimean Tatar language, only seven remain, and out of the seven Ukrainian-language schools – not a single one is left, Krym.Realii reports.
“According to the official data of the so-called Crimean ministry of education, science and youth, in 2017/2018, seven municipal educational institutions are operating with Crimean Tatar as the language of education, four with Russian and Crimean Tatar as the languages of education, and five …
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Syrian army prepares for an air strike by the United States
The Syrian air force was brought to full combat readiness throughout the country. The highest level of readiness was announced because of a possible air strike against Damascus by the US, reports news agency Al-Masdar News, referring to a source at the Mezzeh airbase (southwest of the Syrian capital).
Earlier, the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, Major-General Igor Konashenkov said that the United States continues to build up military forces in the Middle East. …
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Dzhemilev: Erdogan to discuss release of Ukrainian prisoners with Putin
Ukraine has given Turkey a list of Ukrainians being held illegally in Russia, Ukrainian MP and Presidential Commissioner for the Crimean Tatar People Mustafa Dzhemilev told UNIAN news agency. Turkish President Recep Erdogan intends to discuss the possibility of releasing the Kremlin’s prisoners with his colleague Vladimir Putin.
“The Mejlis administrator made contact. He asked the Turkish ambassador to pass on this list. He passed it on, I think it was a week ago,” Dzhemilev told reporters. …
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Russia transfers new weapons to Syria ‘because of US activity’
The Russian Defense Ministry has transferred anti-air systems to the Khmeimim airbase, the newspaper Kommersant writes, citing a source. According to Kommersant, after the US-led coalition’s previous strike, a Tor-M2 missile system battery has been deployed at the Russian airbase, in addition to the previously deployed anti-air defense systems.
In addition, the flotilla of Russian warships in the Mediterranean Sea has also been enlarged. On August 25, the frigates Admiral Grigorovich and …
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Merkel and Trump discuss situation in Ukraine
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump held a telephone call, during which, in part, they discussed the situation in Ukraine, reported the press service of the German government.
It is noted that the leaders of the two countries spoke about Ukraine, as well as about the western Balkans. Trump and Merkel also discussed the situation in Syria.
“The talks were primarily focused on international issues, trade policy issues that we are facing today. The Chancellor and the …