Contents tagged with Russia
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Russian MoD: Inspection of troops in Crimea is in its final stage
Russia stated that it is holding the final stage of the sudden readiness check of its troops in the Crimea and in the southern part of the country. According to the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry, the final stage of the readiness check took place on 30-31st of August.
“Tactical and special-tactical drills, including live fire, training in troops’ practical actions, training on countering sabotage and reconnaissance groups, exercises on driving combat vehicles and tanks, weapons, …
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EU to extend sanctions against 146 Russian individuals
EU ambassadors will make a decision about extending targeted sanctions against Russian citizens involved in the violation of Ukrainian territorial integrity. In particular, 146 people and 37 companies could have their visas restricted and accounts frozen.
As Radio Svoboda reports, citing its own sources in the EU, a decision about extending the sanctions for another six months is expected to be adopted without much discussion by September 15. The parties in question include companies in the …
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Ukrainian Ambassador to France: The West does not want to recognize the presence of Russian troops in the Donbas
France, Germany and the United States do not acknowledge the fact of the presence of the Russian troops in the Donbass region. In his article for Apostrophe news portal, Ambassador Oleh Shamshur claims that these countries hope for a return to the prewar order of things.
According to Shamshur, who is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to France, Western countries realize that Russian troops are in the Donbas region but this position is not public and will not be made …
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Russian army is training to block the Kerch Strait
Russian servicemen will train to block the Kerch Strait and gas condensate field in the annexed Crimea, the Russian Ministry of Defense press service reported on Wednesday, August 31.
“Formations of various attack forces from the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla will hold a series of trainings in the waters of the sea, aiming to defeat a hypothetical enemy and suppress an attempt to lift a blockade of the Kerch Strait and one of the gas condensate fields, and will also train to free a …
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Russia's economic forecast worsens slightly
The Russian Ministry of Economic Development has revised its outlook on the reduction of the GDP for 2016. On the 30th of August, Vedomosti reported that the ministry expects that this index may grow from 0.2% to 0.6% at the end of the year.
The ministry has estimated that the pace of economic decline in the country, compared to the same period of the previous year, has accelerated.
For this year, Russian economists have forecasted a slight increase of the average oil prices, from $40 to $41 …
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Poll: Fewer Russians support their government's actions in eastern Ukraine
Over the past year and a half, more and more Russians believe Russia’s intervention in the conflict in eastern Ukraine to be unnecessary, Radio Svoboda reported. According to a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM), 38% of respondents believe that Moscow should maintain neutrality. In January 2015, there were 28% of respondents, who thought so.
The number of those who are in favor of recognition of independence of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk …
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Trade between Russia and Germany has fallen significantly
Countries of the former Soviet Union are becoming increasingly unimportant for German business. The volume of export-import operations with major countries of the region, excluding Ukraine, fell significantly. Evidence of this can be found in the data, for the first half of 2016, of the Federal Statistical Office of Germany.
DW reported that this data was exclusively obtained and then distributed to journalists by the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, which is the …
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Klimkin: Russian elections in Crimea are illegal
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin stated that he considers the holding of elections by Russia in the occupied Crimea to be illegitimate as well as unsafe.
“I think that elections in Russia are illegitimate because they take place in the territory of the occupied Crimea. Moreover, they aren’t legitimate either politically or legally,” Klimkin stated in his interview on Ekho Moskvy radio.
In response to a question on security at polling sites in Ukraine during the State …
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Ukrainian Prosecutor General: There are 800 volumes of investigations into Russia's actions in the Donbas
The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Yuriy Lutsenko, published the statistics of the pre-trial investigation on Russia’s instigation and continuation of aggressive actions. He posted the data on Facebook on Tuesday, August, 30 2016.According to Lutsenko, the investigation covered the entire period of Russian aggression starting from February 2014 (the occupation of the Crimea, and the anti-terrorist operation in the east of the country).The volume of materials from the criminal proceedings is …
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Experts: Russia is trying to influence domestic policies and public opinion in Finland
Russia represents a growing risk for Finland according to a recent report of the Institute of International Relations of Finland.
Finnish state broadcasting company YLE reports that according to the document, Russia uses more aggressive methods to achieve its foreign policy goals. In addition to this factor, the development of the domestic situation in Russia also poses a risk to Finland. The experts presented a list of possible threats to Finland as well as recommendations for risk prevention. …