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Ukraine's fist president Kravchuk speaks of attempt to assassinate Yanukovych
Ukraine’s first president Leonid Kravchuk told Strana.ua news outlet in an interview that he was informed of plans to assassinate Ukraine’s fourth president, Viktor Yanukovych.
Kravchuk said that, before the developments at the Maidan in Kyiv, he received an anonymous phone call in which he was told that Yanukovych’s assassination was being planned. The caller also said that a certain “Ceauşescu group” intended to handle Yanukovych the way former Romanian president Nicolae Ceauşescu had been …
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Media: Russian agent Butina was ready to testify in Paul Erickson’s case
Maria Butina, a Russian woman detained in the US, was ready to cooperate with the investigation and give testimony about her partner Paul Erikson, even before she was taken into custody, BBC reported wth reference to a statement made by her lawyer Robert Driscoll in court.
The court refused to release Butina on bail, she remains in custody.
Butina’s roommate appears in court documents as “American #1,” but the media discovered that this refers to well-known political technologist Paul …
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Russian athletes banned from competitions due to doping
The governing body of international athletics, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has maintained the ban on Russian athletes in connection with doping violations. Some Russian athletes are still allowed to compete as neutrals.
This decision was announced 10 days before the start of the European Championships in Berlin.
"The IAAF Council unanimously adopted the resolution that the Russian Athletics Federation not be reinstated at this time," announced Rune Andersen, …
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Russia approves VAT increase to 20%
At a plenary meeting on Saturday, July 28, Russia’s Federation Council approved a bill providing for an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) from 18% to 20%, in addition to new social security tax rates.
The government of Dmitry Medvedev has claimed that the increase in the VAT will add 620 billion rubles to the federal budget each year.
At the same time, certain VAT benefits will remain. There is discussion of lowering the VAT rates to 10% for social goods: food items (with the exception …
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Putin calls for alternative to US dollar
The dollar’s status as the universal reserve currency “is becoming a problem” for the world economy, said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference after the BRICS summit in South Africa.
According to him, the Kremlin “is well aware of what the dollar represents today”. “It is the universal reserve currency. To a greater or lesser degree the euro could aspire to this, but not entirely,” Putin observed.
The status of the dollar, for which there is no full-fledged substitute, is a …