Contents tagged with Britain
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Once again a hole discovered in the booster block of a Russian rocket
On February 19th, a Russian rocket was supposed to bring a batch of internet satellites into orbit under a Roscosmos contract with the British company OneWeb. However, a hole was discovered in the booster block that was not expected to be there, TASS reports with reference to their sources in the space industry.
“In one of the pipelines in a block, a micro hole was found, which developed, apparently due to the long transportation of the upper stage of the rocket to the spaceport in French …
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EU imposes sanctions against the head of Russian military intelligence due to use of chemical weapons
On January 21st, the EU Council’s press service reported that the EU imposed sanctions against four Russians, five Syrians and one Syrian company as part of the new sanctions package for the use of chemical weapons.
The restrictive measures concern two officials of the GRU (The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces), as well as the head and deputy head of the GRU responsible for the storage, transportation, and use in Salisbury (United Kingdom) of a poisonous nerve …
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EU prepares sanctions against four Russian military intelligence officers
The ambassadors of 28 EU countries agreed impose of sanctions against four Russian military intelligence officers, TASS reports with reference to its sources in EU council. Among them are Russians suspected of attempting to kill Sergei and Yulia Skripal, known as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. The names of the other two people, the diplomat did not name. They will be known after the EU Council approves the decision of the ambassadors. "As expected, the foreign ministers will approve 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 …
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Russia arrests US citizen on charges of espionage
Russia announced on Monday that its intelligence agency had arrested a US citizen in Moscow on suspicion of espionage.
According to the FSB, the American was arrested on Friday “while carrying out spying activity”.
Charges have been brought against him according to article 276 of Russia’s Criminal Code (Espionage), which envisages a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
The suspect was identified as Paul Whelan, but no other details were provided.
The US later asked to be granted consular …
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Britain denies that expelled Russian diplomats would be allowed to return
British representatives refuted the statement made by the Russian Ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, that allegedly the two countries agreed to gradually restore dozens of diplomats to their positions, expelled by both sides after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.
“No new agreements have been made. Our position regarding Russian diplomatic presence in the UK has not changed after measures were taken after Salisbury. Work of our respective missions occurs in the …
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Ukrainian politician suggests sending British warship through the Kerch Strait to see Russia’s reaction
Speaking on the Ukrainian Pryamyi TV Channel, Yuriy Hrymchak, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, suggested that Britain should send the British ship HMS Echo, which recently visited in Odessa, to the Kerch Strait together with the Ukrainian vessels.
While speaking about the attack of Russians on the Ukrainian ships, Hrymchak said that the British ship should try to go through the Kerch Strait.
“When people say that Russia will allow the British ship to pass, …
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US prepares second sanctions package against Russia for Salisbury poisoning
The US is still considering the second package of sanctions against Russia in connection with the Salisbury incident, a source in the US Department of State told RIA Novosti.
“We are not announcing the sanctions, but that is because we are still considering them, and because we would like to be certain that we are doing it correctly,” the source said.
At the start of November, the State Department informed Congress that Moscow had failed to meet the requirements prescribed by the Chemical and …
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NATO ship arrives in Black Sea ahead of schedule to assist Ukraine
The British survey ship HMS Echo (H87) entered the Black Sea on the evening of Monday, December 17. The ship arrived ahead of schedule due to Russia’s aggression, Andrii Klymenko, director of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs project, wrote on Facebook.
This class of ship is used for survey operations to support submarines or amphibious operations.
“It can provide adjusted information virtually in real-time,” Klymenko wrote.
The ship is equipped with multibeam echo sounders and numerous towable …
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UK ratifies Kremlin-linked oligarch blacklist
The British government has made and approved a blacklist of oligarchs close to the Kremlin whose freedom of movement in the UK and the rest of Europe will be restricted.
The list, which was recently signed by British Prime Minister Theresa May, includes Rosneft executive chairman Igor Sechin, Evraz co-owner Arkadiy Abramovich, MegaFon primary shareholder Alisher Usmanov, Rusal owner Oleg Deripaska, as well as the brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, who have all amassed wealth from Russian …