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North Korean vessel seizes Russian yacht in Sea of Japan
A presumably North Korean vessel has seized a Russian yacht in the Sea of Japan. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vladivostok is verifying information regarding this, Russia’s Interfax news agency reports.
"We cannot yet confirm or deny this information. We are checking this information, and have sent inquiries to the Russian consulate in the DPRK," said Vladimir Konovalov, the First Secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Delegation in Vladivostok.
He specified that the …
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Lukashenko is concerned about the deployment of NATO military drones near the borders of Belarus
RIA Novosti reported that President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Minsk's concern is caused not only by the deployment of NATO military contingents at the border with the Republic, but also by the deployment of military drones.
"The troops are tolerable. However, most modern unmanned aerial vehicles are also deployed there... they are huge, like real planes. Those are attack drones, against whom?" Lukashenko said on Thursday in Minsk at a meeting with the secretaries of the …
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Germany and Austria call on US to revise recent Russian sanctions bill
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern called for a correction of the bill approved by US senators to tighten anti-Russian sanctions in the energy sector.
They believe that these measures threaten the European companies participating in the development of Europe’s energy supply.
“Political sanctions should not be linked up to economic interest. To threaten companies in Germany, Austria and other European firms with fines in the US if they take part in or …
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Poland is ready to go into litigation with the European Commission on the reception of refugees
The Brussels assessment of the refusal by Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to accept refugees, as well as the possible subsequent punishment of these countries deepens the crisis in the EU. Warsaw does not agree to the forced distribution of refugees and is ready to defend its position in the EU court, as stated by the Polish Foreign Ministry in response to the decision of the European Commission.
"This decision distances us from preparing joint actions in the issue of migration policy …
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Belarus will exclude Russian rubles from gold and forex reserves
Starting on July 1, 2017, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) will no longer use the national methodology for calculating the amount of its international reserves where the foreign currency reserve assets included assets in Russian rubles, as stated in a message published on the bank's website.
After that date, the NBRB will use only the International Monetary Fund (IMF) standard, which does not consider the Russian ruble as a reserve currency.
As of June 1, 2017, the NBRB's …