by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Vladimir Putin
Moscow : The recent attempted attacks by drones on Russian military bases in Syria was a provocation aimed at destroying previous agreements and damaging relations between Russia, Turkey and Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
“We know who they are, who paid who for this provocation and what the actual sum was…This kind of incidents… are provocations aimed at destroying previous agreements,” Putin said on Thursday at a meeting with heads of Russian print media and news agencies, Xinhua reported.
On Saturday, terrorists attempted to attack Russia’s Hmeymim and Tartus military bases in Syria with 13 drones, which were either captured or destroyed by Russian servicemen.
The drone attack was also conducted with the purpose of undermining Russia’s relations with Turkey and Iran, which are all guarantor states of the Syrian ceasefire regime, Putin said.
He stressed that the Turks, who control the Syrian province of Idlib where the drones had been sent, were not involved in the attack.
According to the President, the drones were disguised as improvised devices while in fact involving high-tech elements.
“As for these attacks, they were undoubtedly well prepared. We know when and where these aerial vehicles were handed over (to the terrorists) and how many of them there were. These aerial vehicles were made to look like homemade. But it is absolutely obvious that some high-tech equipment was used,” Putin said.
Moscow has taken additional measures to ensure the security of its military facilities in Syria, Putin added.
Earlier in the day, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces released the results of the assessment of the captured drones in the attack, saying the development and use of the drones required assembly schemes and necessary components previously tested for numerous times and involved “specialists who have received special training in countries producing and using systems with unmanned aerial vehicles.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping
Beijing : Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday said that he was ready to join his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in consolidating political and strategic mutual trust and expanding bilateral all-around pragmatic cooperation.
Xi made the pledge in his New Year greeting message to Putin, reports Xinhua news agency.
China seeks to promote international strategic coordination with Russia, and to work for new fruits in the development of bilateral ties, he said.
Noting that 2018 and 2019 will be the years of cooperation and exchanges between the two countries at local levels, Xi said the events will surely boost local exchanges of China and Russia, and help grow the popularity of the idea that the two sides share a long-standing friendship and seek common development and prosperity.
He said the passing year has seen important progress in the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, adding that the two sides have shown firm support for each other on questions concerning their respective core interests, and reaped key early harvest in docking China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union.
The President noted that the strategic and major projects of the two countries have been steadily moving forward, and the cooperation in innovation and agriculture, as well as people-to-people and media exchanges have been flourishing.
China and Russia have also maintained close and effective coordination in international and regional affairs, and have made important contribution in preserving world peace and stability, Xi added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will focus on improving infrastructure, healthcare, education, advanced technologies, labour productivity and incomes of citizens if he wins the Russian presidential election next year.
“The most important issues on which the authorities and the entire society need to focus their attention on are the development of infrastructure, healthcare, education, high technology, as well as efforts to boost workforce productivity… All of these efforts should be aimed at raising citizens’ income,” Putin said at his annual press conference on Thursday, Xinhua reported.
He added that the authorities will have to focus on the above-mentioned aspects if he wins the election.
According to Putin, his election program was practically ready, but he refused to reveal any detail because “the press conference was not the right place to present it.”
Putin said he intended to run for presidency as a self-nominated candidate.
As an independent candidate, he would have to collect at least 300,000 voters’ signatures in his support, while a candidate from a political party would have to collect 100,000 signatures in his support.
Last Wednesday, Putin announced that he would seek a new term in the upcoming presidential election, which he is largely expected to win by a landslide.
The latest public opinion poll of government-owned research center VTSIOM has shown that Russia’s public approval rating of President Vladimir Putin stood at 53.5 per cent as of December 10, up from 53 per cent a week before.
The Russian Federation Council, upper house of parliament, is expected to announce officially on Friday the date of the 2018 presidential election in Russia, previously set at March 18.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, World
Vladimir Putin
Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that allows the government to list any foreign media operating in the country as a foreign agent.
The bill, in retaliation for Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT being told to register as a foreign agent in the US, was earlier approved by the Parliament, BBC reported on Saturday.
At least nine US-funded broadcasters, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty could be hit.
RT is accused of being part of Russia’s alleged meddling in the US election. The broadcaster denies the claim.
The new Russian law affects foreign-registered media outlets which receive funding from outside Russia.
They are now subject to additional requirements and failure to meet them could result in the suspension of their activities.
If they are required to register, they will have to say in their broadcasts and on their websites that they are foreign agents.
A similar law already exists targeting charities and other civil society groups.
Russia’s justice ministry can now decide which outlets the steps applied to and under what circumstances.
RT said last week it had registered as a foreign agent in the US following a request by the Department of Justice.
The instruction came under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), adopted in 1938 to counter pro-Nazi agitation on US soil and applied to those engaged in political activity for a foreign government.
The measure would require RT to label anything it produces, making it clear its reports are distributed on behalf of the Russian state. The broadcaster said it would challenge the requirement in court.
Russia has denied it interfered in last year’s US presidential election.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Vladimir Putin
Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the breakdown of Syria has been prevented, and that a new stage has been reached for the possible transition to a political settlement in the war-torn country.
The leaders of Russia, Iran, Turkey held a trilateral summit in the Russian city Sochi, discussing the current situation in Syria and further joint steps to restore peace and security in the country.
“Large-scale military operations against terrorist gangs in Syria are coming to an end. I should note that thanks to the efforts of Russia, Iran and Turkey, it was possible to prevent the disintegration of Syria and conquest by international terrorists, as well as to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe,” Putin said at the summit, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to Putin, the regime of the cessation of hostilities is observed in Syria, four de-escalation zones are functioning in key regions of the country and hundreds of thousands of refugees have begun returning to their hometown.
“It can be stated with certainty that we have reached a new stage that opens the door to a real political settlement process,” he said.
Underlining that the political settlement must be formalized within the framework of the Geneva process, Putin suggested developing a long-term “comprehensive system for the revival of Syria.”
He said the success of the forthcoming reforms largely depends on the solution of the social and economic problems of Syria, as well as the restoration of industry, agriculture, infrastructure, health and education systems.
In particular, the president highlighted the importance of speeding up the implementation of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress and proposed to discuss the parameters of the forum with the other two heads of state.
“It is obvious that the process of reform will be difficult, will require compromises and concessions from all its participants, including the Syrian government. I hope Russia, Iran and Turkey together will make the most active efforts to make this work as productive as possible,” he said.
The Syrian National Dialogue Congress, proposed by Moscow in late October at Astana talks in Kazakhstan for Syrian settlement, is expected to bring together opposition and pro-government forces, as well as representatives of all Syrian ethnic and religious groups to work for the peace process in the country.
On Tuesday, first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Defense and Security committee Frants Klintsevich said that the fight against Islamic State terrorist group in Syria will possibly be over by the end of the year and Russia may be able to withdraw its air forces.
The Syrian armed conflict broke out in 2011 and Russia started to participate in the anti-terrorist operations in Syria in September 2015.
—IANS
