Contents tagged with Russia
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Putin invites Lukashenko to lunch for a private chat
Vladimir Putin has invited Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived recently in Moscow, to a meal without any delegations from the two countries, TASS reports.
“I propose this arrangement: we will listen to how our colleagues have been working, and then we will give the delegations another opportunity to talk, and then I want to invite you separately to a New Year’s work lunch,” Putin said.
When speaking about how Russia-Belarus relations have been developing in recent times, …
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Nord Stream 2 construction begins in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone
The Solitaire, a ship working on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, has begun laying pipes in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone, Aftonbladet reports. The pipes needed for construction will be stored at the Swedish Karshamn Port.
Sveriges Radio reported that the pipe-laying operation in this region will last until summer 2019, and that the Karshamn Port administration has hired 110 extra staff for this period.
Nord Stream AG, the pipeline’s operator company, announced on December 23 that the …
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Russian military industry cut off from US dollar
US sanctions have led to the Russian military-industrial complex being cut off from dollar transactions, reports finanz.ru.
Although the portfolio of orders of the Russian state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport is estimated at $50 billion, the sale of weapons abroad does not bring in hard currency – the deals are made in rupees, yuans and rubles, which are harder to use to pay for imports.
Major defense contracts to supply S-400 systems have to be maintained outside the global dollar …
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Russian Defense Minister: the army has received record-high number of modern weapons
According to the Defense Ministry’s website, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu stated that the Russian Army saw an unprecedented increase in equipment with modern weaponry this year, a level not achieved by any army in the world.
The minister also stated that Russian army has received a total of more than 1,500 weapons and more than 80,000 pieces of military equipment. “In general, we reached the point of 61.5% in modern weapon armaments. Such an availability of modern technology is not …
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Ukraine calls on international community to increase pressure on Russia after Kremlin sentences four Crimean Tatars
In a statement published on the website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry after the decision of the North Caucasian District Military Court of the Russian Federation, which sentenced four Ukrainian citizens on charges of terrorism, Ukraine called on the international community to increase pressure on Russia “to stop the violation of human rights” in the Crimea and to release Ukrainian prisoners.
According to Russian court, Enver Mamutov was sentenced to 17 years, and Rustem Abiltarov, Remzi …
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Governor of Sevastopol says he is against integration with the Crimea
While responding to journalists’ questions whether the Crimea and Sevastopol can be integrated, the Russia appointed Governor of Sevastopol, Dmitry Ovsyannikov said that the question of integration with the Crimea is not “relevant” at the moment and that he is “against it”, as reported by TASS news agency.
Ovsyannikov noted that he himself never saw any such proposal and that it was too early to talk about it. “You are asking my opinion, so I am against [integration],” he added.
On November 9 …
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Gaddafi's son sends letter to Putin about the next Presidential Elections in Libya
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Russian media.
Russian news outlets report that the question whether Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is going to run for the president still remains open. According to RIA-Novosti, in his letter, Gaddafi’s son wrote about a road map for resolving the Libyan crisis.
“We did not discuss the issues of running for President as it is too early to talk about it,” said …
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OSCE Secretary General believes new aggravation between Russia and Ukraine is highly possible
Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung reports that the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Thomas Greminger stated that Russia might continue providing military assistance to the territories of Donbas which are not under Ukraine’s control.
He believes that the aggravation is a real possibility in the annexed Crimea or on the line of demarcation with the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics.
According to Greminger, the political will to reconcile the …
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President of Belarus Lukashenko no longer calls Russia a brother state
During a meeting on the current state of cooperation with Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he will not call Russia a brother state, because relations between the countries have started to be perceived differently.
“I no longer talk about a brother state, because, as I am informed, this is not perceived in Russia. Apparently new people have come, to whom this concept is unacceptable. So, we will be partners,” Lukashenko said, as cited by the official Belarusian …
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Three sailors from captured Ukrainian tugboat refuse to testify
Three Ukrainian sailors from the tugboat Yany Kapu who were captured by Russia on November 25 off the Kerch Strait have declared themselves prisoners of war and refused to testify, said Russian attorney Nikolai Polozov in a Facebook post.
According to him, the defense team of the imprisoned sailors has met with Yuriy Budzylo and Andriy Shevchenko, members of the Yany Kapu’s crew. The attorneys report that Shevchenko was in a good frame of mind, and did not have any health complaints. …