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Russia arrests US citizen on charges of espionage
Russia announced on Monday that its intelligence agency had arrested a US citizen in Moscow on suspicion of espionage.
According to the FSB, the American was arrested on Friday “while carrying out spying activity”.
Charges have been brought against him according to article 276 of Russia’s Criminal Code (Espionage), which envisages a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
The suspect was identified as Paul Whelan, but no other details were provided.
The US later asked to be granted consular …
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Russia threatens to retaliate if US deploys missiles in Europe
Russia will respond if the US deploys nuclear missiles which are prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in Europe, warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as reported by Interfax.
Lavrov said he “regrets European countries’ refusal to support the preservation of the treaty”.
“Our European colleagues… are not yet ready and follow the US even in cases where it clearly goes against their own interests,” he remarked.
“All of the EU voted against our proposal [ …
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Putin classifies Russia's weapons procurement
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off amendments to the law “On the state defense order,” which now classify weapons, military equipment and ammunition procurement as a secret, even when bought for the National Guard or the Interior Ministry.
According to the state arms program signed by Putin in 2017, out of the 22 trillion rubles ($316 billion) allocated to the state defense order for the next 10 years, 19 trillion will go to re-arming the army, and 3 trillion will go to law …
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Ukrainian Interior Minister agrees to be questioned by the Russian Prosecutor’s Office in exchange for the extradition of Yanukovych
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said he is ready to be questioned in the case of alleged interference in the Russian presidential elections. In exchange, he demanded that the Russian Prosecutor's Office extradite former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych who is suspected of high treason in Ukraine.
“I am ready to testify in the so-called case on interfering in the elections of Putin in exchange for the extradition of Ukrainian citizen Yanukovych,” Avakov wrote on Facebook.
The …
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President of Belarus Lukashenko congratulates Putin on the successful union of the two nations
In his New Year’s greeting to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the union between the two nations has been successful, the press service of the Belarusian leader reported.
Lukashenko noted that in the upcoming year, the two countries will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of signing the agreement on establishing the State Union. According to him, Belarus and Russia have had an uneasy path “but we can now say with confidence that the …