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Kremlin: ‘sanctions spiral’ can lead to Russia losing access to SWIFT
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the SWIFT system may become part of a "sanctions spiral" against Russia, said the director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Dmitry Birichevsky in an interview with RIA Novosti.
He recalled that "there are threats," especially from the United States, to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT system. However, under international law, sanctions can only be imposed by a legitimate body, such as the UN …
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Three Russian mercenaries killed in roadside bomb explosion in Central African Republic
Three Russian mercenaries and two local policemen were killed when an improvised explosive device was detonated on a stretch of a road between Berberati (Mambere-Kadei Prefecture) and Bouar (Nana-Mambéré) in the Central African Republic (CAR), announced the CAR government spokesman, Anj Maxim Kazagi. According to the AFP news agency, the three Russians are fighters of one of the paramilitary groups.
"Three Russian allies and two Central African police officers were killed," Kazagi said. …
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Russian airlines start bypassing Belarus’ airspace
Russian airlines have started to bypass Belarus’ airspace, despite the fact that the European restrictions do not apply to them.
Forbes reports, citing sources in the airline industry, that about 10 Russian flights flew around Belarus as of May 27.
"It is impossible to give the reasons for the change of routes and whether it is due to political motives," said one of the publication sources. "There may also be technical reasons."
According to another source, the airlines had asked in advance …
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Putin promises Lukashenko $500 million
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Minsk will soon receive the second $500 million tranche of the $1.5 billion dollar loan.
"Until the end of June, there are no obstacles, everything is agreed,” said Peskov.
The loan agreement was signed on December 21, 2020. The first $500 million tranche was received by the Belarusian Ministry of Finance on December 30 last year.
In addition, according to Peskov, the transport ministries of Russia and Belarus have been tasked with " …
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Russia admits its critical dependence on imports of strategic and rare earth metals
Russia imports more than a third of strategic metals and more than 60% of rare earth metals, with almost 100 percent dependency on imports of some of them, said the Russian parliamentary body of financial control, the Accounts Chamber, in the report “On the Effectiveness of Management of the State Sub-soil Resources Fund in 2018-2020”.
According to the Russian Accounts Chamber, foreign supplies represent 100% of the economy's needs in titanium, chromium, manganese and lithium, as well as more …