Russia

Russian economy under Putin: Quality of life tripled, foreign debt fell 75%
Vladimir Putin was first elected as Russian President in 2000. Here’s how the Russian economy has transformed in the intervening years by numbers. Before Putin’s election, Russia had a $9,889 GDP per capita by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). [...]
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Putin wants to keep foreign shipping out of Russia’s Northern Sea Route
President Vladimir Putin said he wants to keep foreign shipping out of Russia's Northern Sea Route, giving exclusive rights to Russian vessels. It will increase the volume of shipping, strengthen the position of the domestic shipping companies, and create additional opportunities for fleet renewal, he said. [...]
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UK & Russia ‘sick men of Europe’ – former Italian PM Giuliano Amato
For centuries both Russia and the UK have struggled to define their relationship with continental Europe. Over the past few years, both seem to have decided to go their separate ways only to be pulled back. What does Europe think of it all, and whom does that refer to anyway? Oksana is joined by former Prime Minister of Italy Giuliano Amato to discuss this. [...]
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Qatar may soon buy Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft system – ambassador
Qatar is in the “advanced stage” of negotiating the purchase of Russia’s advanced S-400 anti-aircraft system. The long-range SAM missile weapon seems to be the latest fad in the Middle East after its Syria showcase. Doha’s negotiations with Moscow on the purchase of the S-400 system is “in the advanced stage,” Qatari Ambassador to Russia Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah told TASS news age [...]
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Russian military deploys latest batch of S-400 air defense systems to Syria (VIDEOS)
The Russian military has delivered new units of its state-of-the-art S-400 anti-aircraft systems to Syria. The weapons have assumed combat duty in Russian army compounds in the country. Videos provided by the country's Defense Ministry show the arrival of four of the systems. [...]
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Barriers to Defense Ties With Russia ‘Mere Speculation’ – India Foreign Ministry
DAVOS (Sputnik) - Reports on disagreements between Russia and India in the area of defense industry cooperation are based on speculation and the two states maintain strong ties in defense cooperation and are developing a partnership on transfers of technology, Mobashar Jawed Akbar, Indian minister of state for external affairs, told Sputnik. [...]
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Move Over Musk: Russia Working On Own, 100-Use, Environmentally Friendly Rocket
According to designers, unlike Space X's Falcon 9, the KORONA is not just a rocket, but a spacecraft, capable of takeoff and landing, with its development effectively opening the path to interplanetary flights with crew onboard. [...]
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The ‘Russian Threat’ and the Politics of Mass Distraction
With mounting problems at home, the UK Establishment is stepping up its campaign to divert our attention on to non-existent dangers from abroad. The so-called 'Russian threat,' is not only good for the arms industry, and defense budgets, but for politicians who have no answers to the very real threats the British public face in their daily lives. [...]
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Soros predicts EU breakdown, calls Russia ‘resurgent power’
George Soros has lamented that the European Union is on the verge of collapse while Russia is becoming “a resurgent nationalist power.” Hungarian-American tycoon George Soros, who runs the $26 billion Soros Fund Management and chairs the global board of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), made the remarks while speaking to the Financial Times. [...]
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US fosters civil war by arming Ukrainian radicals with heavy weapons – Russian OSCE envoy
Russia has accused the US of fueling the conflict in Ukraine after the ultra-nationalist Ukrainian Azov battalion was spotted wielding American-made TOW anti-tank weaponry, according to Moscow’s envoy to the OSCE. Russia is concerned that the US is encouraging Kiev to solve the Donbass conflict with force by supplying it with “defensive” heavy weaponry. [...]
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Trump administration afraid of competition in international arena – Lavrov
The current administration is afraid of competition in the international arena in a number of directions, and behaves tougher than the Obama administration, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. "It seems to me that despite President Trump's line during the election campaign, this legacy, unfortunately, has been preserved in the actions of the current US administration, [...]
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US forcing Europe to abandon Russian gas & buy more expensive American LNG – Lavrov
The United States is afraid of fair competition in the energy sector, and is hampering the implementation of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. [...]
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PetroChina’s biggest refinery doubles Russian pipeline oil intake
Since the new Russia-China oil supply agreement took effect at the start of the year, PetroChina’s largest refinery has almost doubled the amount of Russian pipeline crude oil that it is processing. A senior industry source with direct knowledge of the volumes told Reuters, the 410,000-bpd PetroChina refinery in the northeast port city Dalian will process 260,000 bpd of Russian pipeline crude oi [...]
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‘Shrewd & mature N. Korean leader has won this round’ – Putin on peninsula crisis
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has emerged a winner in the latest crisis around the Korean Peninsula, Russian president Vladimir Putin said. He believes Pyongyang is now trying to defuse tensions. [...]
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Russian Journalists Blow Lid Off Alleged US Terrorist Training Network in Syria
Two Russian Syria-embedded journalists have put together a damning firsthand report on the true purpose of the secrecy-laden US military mission at At-Tanf, southern Syria. The Pentagon was forced to go into full public relations mode late last month amid fresh allegations by the Russian General Staff that US instructors were providing training assistance for some 350 ex-Daesh (ISIS) militant [...]
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7 times Trump critics called Russia a ‘s***hole’ & worse, and no one cared
Donald Trump’s remarks on “s***hole countries” roused a righteous high-mindedness in his detractors. But a perusal of their own past quotes suggest they are quite capable of similar words – when one particular state is involved. [...]
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Brains over bucks: Putin hints AI may be key to Russia beating US in defense despite budget gap
Advanced weapon systems and lack of necessity for bases in foreign nations are key factors that will allow the Russian military to defend the nation, despite receiving far less funding than their US counterparts, Putin said. [...]
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Russia may mediate nuke talks between the two Koreas – top MP
Moscow may act as mediator in the denuclearization talks between the two Koreas, as the nuclear issue affects Russia’s national interests, Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said. “It highly likely that efforts by international mediators will be required to promote the issue of denuclearization and the nuclear dossier" on the Korean peninsula, Slutsky s [...]
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Upward trend in Russian economy continues – Putin
The Russian economy has recovered and is growing, according to President Vladimir Putin. Last year, Russian GDP grew after the recession of 2015 and 2016. The positive dynamic in the Russian economy goes on. We have a lower than expected budget deficit; our gold and foreign exchange reserves are growing.   [...]
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Senate Democrats accuse Russia of ‘assault on democracy’ in conspiracy-laden report
Russians are everywhere, and everything they do is an existential threat to democracy and the American way of life. So says the 200-page report published by Senate Democrats on behalf of one of the most outspoken Russia hawks. [...]
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US ‘concerned’ that drones used in attacks on Russian bases in Syria available in ‘open market’
The Pentagon said it is “concerned” about weapons falling into terrorists’ hands after Moscow said the drones used in the attacks on Russian bases in Syria could have only been supplied by a “technologically advanced state.” [...]
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Member of House of Lords Baroness Cox: Russia Has Done Right Thing in Syria
Baroness Cox, a member of the House of Lords, shared her views on the future of Syria, highlighting Russia’s success in “expelling” terrorist groups from the country and giving the Syrian people the right to choose their own future. At the same time in a revealing interview to Sputnik she expressed her concerns (and hopes) with UK policy in Syria. [...]
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