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Belarus sees no point in establishing Russian military base in its territory
Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said in an interview with RBC news agency, that "there is no practical, political, or military" need in the deployment of the Russian Air Force military base in Belarus.
Various media have repeatedly raised this topic. Moscow and Minsk previously confirmed that they are discussing this possibility.
Makei said that the issue is becoming irrelevant due to the development of modern technologies and expressed doubt that the deployment of Russian military …
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Russia tests S-500 missile systems in Syria
Tests of the S-500 Prometey Air Defense system took place in Syria, reports the newspaper Izvestia, citing sources in the Russian Defense Ministry, as well as Russian defense industry.
As noted, the testing of the system was successful. During the test, personnel found several problems in the equipment, but quickly fixed it.
"Syria is the perfect place for such tests because the temperature is always high and there is a lot of dust," said former deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Air …
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Putin names condition for withdrawal of Russian troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Before the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) summit in Yerevan, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked a question about Russia's obligations with regards to Georgia and Abkhazia. A journalist of the Georgian TV channel Rustavi-2 asked Putin when he intends to start fulfilling the commitments made in 2008. Putin replied: "We always fulfill them."
The journalist then asked when the Russian troops are expected to be withdrawn from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, calling them "occupied territories of …
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Venezuela pays off Russian debts using rubles instead of dollars
Venezuela has made an interest payment on a $3.15 billion loan from Russia using Russian rubles. “We provide such a right and such an opportunity to all our debtors. It’s their choice,” Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told RBC. The Russian Finance Ministry had already announced previously that Venezuela had made another tranche to service its debt, but without providing any specifics.
After the US imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan government, it became virtually impossible …
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Chlorine found again in Russian oil
Russian oil has once again been found to contain levels of organochlorides significantly above European standards. In spring, such contamination resulted in more than a month of downtime on the Druzhba pipeline as EU buyers returned more than a million tons of substandard oil to Russia.
According to RIA Novosti, the Russian oil transport monopoly Transneft has discovered a high chloride content in the oil supplied by Bashneft, making it some of the dirtiest oil in the country.
Bashneft, which …