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Russia declares trade war on Belarus
Tensions between Russia and Belarus are heating up in the wake of a tax maneuver by Moscow that deprived Minsk of millions in oil resale profits. The situation has been further aggravated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s refusal to allow Russia to deploy a military airbase in the country, refusal to transition to the Russian ruble, and apparent refusal to let his country become part of Russia, which would have enabled Vladimir Putin to remain in power after 2024.
In response to …
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Shell to withdraw from Gazprom’s Baltic LNG project
The British-Dutch company Shell plans to withdraw from the Baltic liquefied natural gas (LNG) project following Gazprom’s decision to integrate it with a gas processing plant in Ust-Luga, announced Shell Russia Chairman Cederic Cremers in a statement.
“Following Gazprom’s announcement on 29 March regarding the final development concept of Baltic LNG, we have decided to stop our involvement in this project. We have a number of other ongoing projects with Gazprom, including as part of the …
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Russia threatens Kyiv with war if Ukrainian ships attempt to pass through the Kerch Strait
In a statement released by the Federation Council, Moscow threatened to take military action against Kyiv for violating procedures for the passage of Ukrainian Navy ships through the Kerch Strait, reports TASS.
Russia believes that the passage of ships through the Kerch Strait is not a question of NATO’s presence in the Black Sea, but of Ukraine’s fulfillment of its obligations “which are well established and have been successfully implemented since November 2018,” that is, before the Russian …
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PACE adopts resolution which keeps sanctions against Russia in place
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on “the PACE challenges”, which contains amendments that do not allow lifting sanctions from Russia and returning it to the assembly without fulfilling its obligations. According to Radio Liberty, 105 parliamentarians voted in favor of the resolution, 30 against, and 30 abstained from the decision.
The resolution proposed a new complex mechanism for imposing sanctions, which would have canceled the existing …
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Russian military leave key positions in northern Syria
The Russian military left Tel Rifaat, a key city in the Aleppo province in northern Syria, reports Al-Masdar News.
The Russian military left the city after a week of joint maneuvers with the armed forces of Turkey. Despite the withdrawal of the Russian military, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) refused to leave the village and strengthened its defense positions in the Tel Rifaat area.
It is also reported that Turkey could not agree with Iran on the withdrawal of troops from the suburbs of Aleppo. …