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Moscow: There will be no referendum in Russia on accession of Kuril Islands to Japan
There will be no referendums or polls in the Kuril Islands about incorporating the islands into Japan, member of the Duma Committee on International Affairs Anton Morozov told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, in an interview with the Asahi TV channel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan intends to incorporate the Southern Kuril Islands. However, Japan's position on the territorial dispute with Russia does not imply the eviction of Russians living there.
“The Russian Federation has a …
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USA demands that World Anti-Doping Agency ban Russia from taking part in competitions
The US Anti-Doping Agency called for the exclusion of Russian athletes from competitions because of the delays in providing access to the Moscow anti-doping laboratory data, Radio Svoboda reports.
As reported by ESPN, the CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart believes that they should stop being led on by Russia. In late December, a group of experts from WADA received access to the Moscow anti-doping laboratory but Russian officials prevented WADA from extracting …
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Japanese Prime Minister promises to consider opinions of Kurils residents when Russia hands the islands over
In an interview on the TV channel Asahi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that if Russia hands over some of the Kuril islands, Japan will definitely take into account the opinion of the local residents.
According to Abe, the negotiations with Russia will not initially mean a forced relocation of Russians from the islands.
“It must happen in such a way that the Russians living there agree to the transition of ownership to Japan,” the Japanese prime minister explained.
He noted that …
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Former US ambassador: Washington will soon provide Ukraine with more weapons
Washington could send Kyiv weapons and impose new sanctions on Russia within the next two or three months, former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst told Radio Liberty in an interview.
“Within 2-3 months we will see the US giving Kyiv weapons and announcing new sanctions against Russia in connection with this aggression [in the Kerch Strait]. I think that, in the course of the next 8-10, or at most 12 weeks, this more forceful US response will appear. And, in addition to the sanctions, this …
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British and Canadian embassies start functioning as NATO representatives in Ukraine
As of January 1, 2019, the embassies of the UK and Canada will jointly function as NATO’s contact point embassy in Ukraine, a role performed by Lithuania for the last four years.
The decision was confirmed by NATO’s headquarters and coordinated with Kyiv, Evropeyska Pravda reports.
Contact point embassies work in all NATO partner states. The functions are on a voluntary, rotational basis for the NATO member states that are most interested in strengthening NATO’s cooperation with the partner …