Contents tagged with Russia
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Russian State Duma considering draft to 'rigorously punish' those who insult the President
A bill is currently being drafted in the Russian State Duma "On protection of honor and dignity of the President of Russia". According to Izvestiya, the initiative was taken by LDPR Duma Deputy Roman Khudyakov.
Today, insults against any Russian official, including the President of the country, are included in the Common Article 319 of the Criminal Code (Insulting the authorities). The article imposes various penalties up to 1 year of correctional labor. The Deputy proposed to elaborate a …
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Ukrainian MFA: Ban of Crimean Tatar Mejlis is reminiscent of forced deportations in 1944
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign affairs, the attempts of the Russian-Crimean authorities to ban the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People is evidence that Russia is attempting to oust the Crimean Tatars from the occupied Peninsula, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
"We regard the plans for the banishment of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People on the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea to be a deliberate imposition by Moscow of a sentence on the presence of the Crimean Tatar people …
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Putin: Operation in Syria cost Russia $485 million
Russia’s military action in Syria has cost about 33 billion rubles ($485 million), according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The military operation in Syria, of course, required certain spending but the main part was from Defense Ministry’s resources - around 33 billion rubles. This was included in the ministry’s 2015 budget for holding drills and military training. We just redirected these resources for supporting the group in Syria," Putin said on Thursday.
On March 14th, Putin …
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Chechen ombudsman demands criminal case be brought against Russian journalist
Chechen ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiyev addressed the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (SKR) with an appeal to open a criminal case against Elena Milashina, a correspondent with Novaya Gazeta. From the ombudsman’s official website he accused Milashina of spreading false information about Magomed Daudov, Speaker of the Chechen Parliament. Nukhazhiyev alleged that Milashina’s aim was to discredit the speaker’s honor and dignity.
The issue is based on Milashina’s article published in …
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Iraqi Kurds hope for more weapons from Russia
Iraqi Kurds are expecting the delivery of hundreds of Russian ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns, according to a representative of northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Moscow, Aso Talabani, as reported by Interfax.
On March 14th, Russia gave the Kurdish Peshmerga forces five such anti-aircraft installations.
“I hope there will be more supplies. Russia delivered five installations the day before, and I think this is just the beginning,” Talabani told Interfax.
"We need hundreds of …
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Georgia denies Russia's request to abolish law 'On Occupied Territories'
The Government of Georgia does not intend to abolish the law "On Occupied Territories", but this law may be eased for the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian families, said the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Thea Tsulukiani, on Wednesday, as reported by Interfax.
"The law 'On Occupied Territories' will be in force as long Georgian territories are occupied, because we need a special legal regime that governs the entry and exit of people on these territories, as well as many other issues," …
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The Pentagon: Only a few Russian aircraft have left Syria
US Colonel Steve Warren, Director of Defense Press Operations and Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the US military operation against the so-called Islamic State, claimed that it was hard to interpret Russian intentions towards the extremist group.
The US-led coalition, which has been fighting against the so-called Islamic State, notes that some Russian military aircraft and troops left Syria, but their main forces there remain mostly unchanged.
This was announced by Colonel …
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Russia widens agricultural sanctions against Turkey
On Wednesday, Russia expanded agricultural sanctions against Turkey, Radio Svoboda reported. According to the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, Rosselkhoznadzor, Turkish pomegranates and sweet peppers were added to the list of banned Turkish products. The agency emphasized that this includes all pomegranates and sweet peppers originating from Turkey, regardless of where the products were shipped from.
"Rosselkhoznadzor introduces on March 17 temporary …
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Russian Foreign Ministry: Ukraine is preparing to return the Donbas using military means
The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that Ukrainian authorities are preparing for a power struggle to secure the return of the Donbas, according to the State Secretary and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Grigory Karasin, as stated in an interview with TASS.
According to him, "those activities carried out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the vicinity of the contact line, including the rotation of the military and the strengthening of military components, are …
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Latvia detects Russian warships near its territorial waters
The Latvian National Armed Forces has detected Russian warships in its economic zone.
"In the Latvian economic zone, at a distance of 20 nautical miles from the state border, armed forces detected a Russian warship of the Steregushchiy class, a submarine technical support vessel of Kashtan class and the Kilo class submarine," this was stated in a message on the Armed Forces of Latvia’s Twitter page.
It is worth noting that NATO counted 250 recent interceptions of Russian military aircraft in …