Contents tagged with Russia
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Russia to sell $17 billion worth of weapons to Africa
Russia will increase arms supplies to sub-Saharan Africa, reported the press service of Rosoboronexport, Russia’s national export agency for defense products.
“Contracts totalling $1.7 billion were signed in 2020-21, and the number of African customers rose to 17. The Russia-Africa forum, held in 2019, provided a boost for deliveries of Russian weapons to the region,” said Alexander Mikheev, CEO of Rosoboronexport.
“The deliveries to the region will include helicopter equipment, air defense …
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NATO concerned over Belarus’ increased dependence on Russia
NATO is concerned over increased cooperation between Russia and Belarus, said NATO’S Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg,
In an interview with the German weekly Welt am Sonntag, Stoltenberg said that NATO member states were "seriously concerned" about the close engagement between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko in recent months.
According to Stoltenberg, Belarus is becoming "increasingly dependent" on Russia.
He warned Moscow and Minsk against destabilizing the situation on …
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Kremlin admits sanctions impacted Russia’s ability to launch satellites
Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, cannot launch some satellites due to the lack of chips that Russia cannot obtain due to sanctions, said Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin.
"We have more than enough rockets, there is no doubt," Rogozin explained, speaking at a parliamentary hearing in the State Duma on the topic of Western sanctions and measures to minimize their impact on the Russian politics and economy.
According to him, the manufacturers have satellites, but they are missing one specific chip, …
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Russia withdraws from Open Sky Treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed federal law No. 158-Fz, providing for Russia's withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty.
The law was passed by the Russian State Duma on May 19 and approved by the Russian Federation Council on June 2 this year. According to the law, Russia ceases to be a participant in the Treaty when the law comes into force.
The Kremlin said that the U.S. withdrawal from the Treaty, which took place in November 2020, was the reason for Russia terminating its …
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Russia promises to complete Nord Stream 2 this year
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be fully completed by the end of 2021, TASS reports.
According to Novak, the construction is proceeding according to schedule, and if there are no new obstacles, the pipeline can be put into operation by the end of 2021.
Novak's words were indirectly confirmed by the CEO of the Austrian energy company, OMV Group, Reiner Seele. Speaking at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he said that only 50 km …
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Russia decides to dump dollar reserves amid fear of new U.S. sanctions
The Russian Ministry of Finance has decided to radically change the structure of the National Wealth Fund (NWF), the head of the ministry Anton Siluanov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
According to him, the fund will completely get rid of investments in U.S. dollars, reduce investments in the British pound, replacing them with the euro, Chinese yuan and gold.
These financial operations will be carried out by the Russian Central Bank as soon as possible. It will be " …
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Russian and Belarusian special services agree to jointly fight against ‘destructive activities of the West’
The heads of the Russian and Belarusian special services agreed to jointly fight "the destructive activities of the West against the Union State", reported Interfax.
The decision was made in Vitebsk during a working meeting between Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and Ivan Tertel, chairman of the KGB of Belarus.
"The SVR of Russia and the KGB of Belarus, in the spirit of traditionally fraternal relations, have agreed to work together to counter the …
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Kremlin: U.S. will try to block certification of Nord Stream 2 pipeline
Russia believes that the U.S. has abandoned the sanctions against the participants of North Stream-2 pipeline, but intend to try to block its certification, said Russia's Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov, RIA Novosti reports.
"The U.S. position is that the construction cannot be stopped. But after the construction comes the certification period. Here they can put some more sticks in our wheels," Chizhov said.
At the same time, Chizhov assured. that the Russian authorities …
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Russian Foreign Ministry announces visit of Hamas representatives to Moscow
Representatives of various Palestinian movements, including Hamas, intend to visit Moscow for consultations, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
"Both Fatah, Hamas and other organizations from the West Bank," RIA Novosti quoted Bogdanov as saying. "We not only hold telephone conversation with them but are in active contacts with all Palestinian structures."
"If they have a desire to communicate with each other, without our presence or with our presence, in such a friendly …
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Zelensky: Germany and France are afraid to recognize Russia as participant in Donbas conflict
In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Germany and France are afraid to call Russia a participant in the Donbas conflict.
"At the last meeting of the advisors to the leaders of the Normandy Four countries, where Mr. Dmitry Kozak, who represents Russia, asked our European partners whether Russia was a participant in the conflict, representatives of Germany and France did not directly respond that Russia is a participant. They again …