Contents tagged with USA
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Russia promises to respond to US withdrawal from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
The press secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced that Russia reserves the right to respond to the United States withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).
She did not specify what exact measures could be taken.
Earlier, on February 1, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke in support of the deal. She said that Germany "will do everything possible" to maintain the contract, writes Deutsche Welle. According to Merkel, it is necessary to …
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Volker: US and EU considering new sanctions on Russia for capturing Ukrainian sailors
US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker believes that Russia is holding the Ukrainian sailors in order to put political pressure on the Ukrainian government ahead of its presidential elections. Volker considers it possible that additional sanctions will be imposed on Russia for this.
“Russia continues illegally to hold these Ukrainian sailors and illegally is charging them with crimes under a civilian code, seeking to illegally enter Russian territory, which is not the case. So …
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Kyiv: Germany is ready to send warships to the Black Sea
During a meeting with the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, Anatoliy Petrenko, representatives of the German government assured their readiness to support Ukraine and to send German warships to the Black Sea region to deter Russian aggression.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s press service reports that the Ukrainian delegation in Germany discussed the Ukrainian security question with the Commissioner for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, German Foreign Minister Michael Siebert …
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Russia accuses US of escalating risk of nuclear conflict
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there will be a greater risk of nuclear conflict if the US begins to produce W76-2 warheads.
“This topic was already included in last year’s review of Washington’s policy in the nuclear sphere. Then, already, we expressed serious concern about the fact that developing such low-capacity munitions lowers the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, and, of course, increases the risk of a nuclear conflict. As we understand, this provision has been …
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Maduro prepares to send 20 tons of Venezuela’s gold to Russia
The Venezuelan government under Maduro is preparing to transfer 20 tons of gold – roughly 20% of the Central Bank’s reserves – to Russia, said José Guerra, a member of the country’s National Assembly and a retired economist for the Central Bank.
Guerra claims to have received the information from a Central Bank official with whom he still has contact. An aircraft from Moscow has supposedly arrived to collect the gold.
“We demand that the Central Bank give us information about what is going on, …
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Tokyo: establishing US military bases in the Kuril Islands is only possible with Japan’s consent
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that if the South Kuril Islands are handed over to Japan, the creation of US military bases on those islands will be possible only after Tokyo gives its consent, RIA Novosti reported, citing Kyodo News Agency.
The United States has the right to establish military bases in Japan. However, in the case of the Kuril Islands, the deployment location must be coordinated with the Japanese government, Abe stated.
Meanwhile, Abe gave no answer to journalists’ …
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Russia prepares to kiss goodbye to multi-billion investments in Venezuela
The US sanctions on PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, threaten to affect the Maduro government’s ability to repay its debts to Russia, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak said on Tuesday.
According to Storchak, Venezuela has borrowed more than $3 billion from Russia in intergovernmental loans.
The debt had to be restructured in November 2017, when the repayment schedule became impossible for Nicolás Maduro, whose 6 year rule has seen the Venezuelan economy shrink by …
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Russia: US sanctions on Venezuelan state oil company illegal
Moscow has said that the sanctions imposed by Washington on PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, in an attempt to undermine Nicolas Maduro’s power, are illegal.
“The legitimate leadership of Venezuela has already described these sanctions as illegal. One can fully get behind this perspective,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The US Treasury Department said that the measures against the Venezuelan state-owned oil company were adopted in order to “change the …
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Media: US steps up pressure on EU regarding Nord Stream 2
The US has stepped up the pressure on EU countries to halt the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the German newspaper Handelsblatt reports, citing an anonymous White House official.
Despite the cold winter months, work on the German-Russian gas pipeline has continued. One third of the 1,230 km gas pipeline has already been laid on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, and the construction is scheduled to finish by the end of the year.
However, this is not to the US’s liking, …
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US Treasury Department lifts sanctions from three Deripaska companies
On Sunday, the US Treasury Department announced that it was lifting the sanctions previously imposed on three companies associated with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska: US Rusal PLC, En + Group PLC and JSC EuroSibEnergo.
The decision was made despite the demands of Democrats in Congress to keep the restrictions imposed on these companies. Earlier, Republican legislators who hold the majority in the Senate blocked an attempt to keep the sanctions in effect.
According to the administration, …