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Russia resumes contributions to Council of Europe budget
Russia has resumed its payment of membership contributions to the Council of Europe’s budget, said COE Spokesperson Daniel Holtgen, as cited by Deutsche Welle. He expressed confidence that Russia would also repay what it owes for 2017 and 2018, which amounts to €55 million, as well as a penalty for late payment.
On 26 June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) reinstated the Russian delegation through a resolution that did not include any sanctions.
The amendment to the …
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Russia presses final charges against Ukrainian sailors
Russia has announced the final version of its charges against the 13 Ukrainian sailors who are being held as prisoners of war, attorney Nikolai Polozov reported.
“Today there were investigative proceedings concerning another four prisoner-of-war Ukrainian sailors: Vladislav Kostyshin, Oleh Melnychuk, Serhiy Chuliba and Vasyl Soroka. The prisoner-of-war sailors and their attorneys were briefed on the conclusion of the commission’s situational forensic inquiry and charges were filed in their …
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14 Russians killed by fire in deep-water submersible
14 Russian sailors were killed by a fire on board a deepwater nuclear submersible, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday.
The fire broke out on 1 July. The submariners were in Russian territorial waters in a submersible designed to study the sea floor. Their deaths resulted from poisoning by combustion byproducts. According to the local media, the accident took place on Monday evening at about 9 PM Moscow time.
The exact number of people on board is not known. According to …
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Russia to monitor NATO's actions during Sea Breeze exercises
Russian National Defense Management Center stated that Russian Black Sea fleet carries out a set of activities to monitor the actions of NATO ships during the Sea Breeze-2019 exercises in the Black Sea, reports RIA Novosti news agency.
According to the Russian military, the monitoring is needed for fast response to possible emergencies. The exercises are organized in the North-Western part of the sea, the Defense Ministry said.
Sea Breeze exercises has been held by Ukraine and the United …
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Sweden strengthens air defense systems on Gotland island to counteract Russia
On July 1, Swedish Armed Forces reported that Swedish authorities had strengthened air defense on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The new surface-to-air missile system has been deployed on the island due to the tense relations with Russia. The new system that is produced by Saab company will replace a previously used mobile air defense system.
"From a military-strategic point of view, Gotland is an important region," said the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, Micael Bydén. …