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Kremlin denies reports of possible exchange of Paul Whelan for Russian agent Maria Butina
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied media publications that claim that Moscow may exchange US citizen Paul Whelan, arrested on December 28th on suspicions of espionage for Russian agent Maria Butina.
Federal Security Service officials have detained Whelan, a former US marine, on December 28th of last year. Multiple appeared in the press where writers assumed that Moscow could use the arrest of Whelan and exchange him for Maria Butina, who is currently under arrest in the United …
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Kremlin prepares decree allowing Russian military to shoot down passenger planes that violate Russia's border
The Russian Defense Ministry drafted a government decree that would again grant permission to shoot down passenger planes that violate the state border of the Russian Federation.
The ban to hit passenger liners was introduced after the international scandal in 1983 when the Soviet Air Forces shot down the South Korean Boeing 747 carrying 269 passengers.
The ban was consolidated in post-Soviet Russia by the government decree “On the procedure for using weapon in the airspace” in 1994.
The new …
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Ukraine to spend nearly $6 million on lawyers in Crimea assets court case against Russia
Naftogaz Ukraine intends to procure the services of legal advisers for its lawsuits against Russia in 2019 demanding compensation for seized Crimean assets, the Ukrainian company’s press service reports.
According to a notice on Naftogaz’s official website, the international legal firm Covington & Burling LLP will represent the country’s interests in the lawsuit against Russia for compensation of losses caused by the illegal expropriation of the company’s assets in Crimea.
“We expect the …
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Kyiv: Ukraine is terminating 40 treaties with Russia
Ukraine's Deputy Minister for the Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, Yuriy Hrymchak stated on Channel Pryamyi that Kyiv’s intends to terminate forty treaties with Russia.
“I remind you that [Ukrainian Foreign Minister] Pavlo Klimkin stated that after the decision not to extend the Friendship Treaty [with Russia], forty more treaties with Russia are being reviewed for their possible termination,” Hrymchak said.
He noted that it is hard to say the exact number of …
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Head of NASA has no plans to visit Russia
Jim Bridenstine, head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), does not intend to go abroad any time soon, not even to Russia, his press secretary Megan Powers told TASS on Thursday.
“The director currently does not have plans to make any trips abroad,” she said when asked whether Bridenstine intended to travel to Russia to meet with Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin. “Future travel plans… are still under consideration,” Powers added.
She also commented on NASA’s plans to …