Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

Russia Denies Supplying Hizballah With Missiles

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)

August 25, 2006 -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has dismissed as "complete nonsense" Israeli claims that Hizballah has Russian-made antitank missiles.

Israeli Report Says Hizballah Used Russian Weapons

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August 25, 2006

Israel says Russian-made Kornet missiles were a particularly effective weapon used by Hizballah during the recent fighting in Lebanon.

Ivanov said Israel had presented no evidence to back its claims and that much of the weaponry once sold by the Soviet Union is now called Russian.

Ivanov also said that Russia is still considering the possibility of sending troops to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, adding that sending Russian experts to help rebuild Lebanon's infrastructure would be fully in Russia's interests.

Meanwhile, Moscow-backed Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov said Chechen soldiers would be ready to join the international force in Lebanon, if Russia decided to send troops.

(compiled from agency reports)

Russian Arms Exports

Russia's advanced S-300 air-defense system (epa file photo)

BOOM TIMES: In 2005, Russia sold more than $6 billion in weapons to more than 60 countries around the world. The state arms exporter says it has $17 billion in orders in hand....(more)

Putin Pushes Greater Arms Exports

Energy, Weapons Bring Moscow Closer To Algiers

Will Russia's Oil Windfall Go To Military?

Putin Stresses Need For Strong Military

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Syrians in the northwestern town of Kfar Nubul pose with a cartoon depicting Russia

Angry Over Syria, Arab World Threatens Russian Boycott

Groups in a number of Arab states, angry over the Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Syria, have called for a one-day boycott of Russian and Chinese goods on February 12. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Protesters gather behind a banner reading "Honest Elections" during a demonstration in Moscow on February 4.

How To Rig An Election

A whistle-blower in Samara explains how the authorities fixed the Duma elections in December -- and plan to do the same in the presidential vote in March. More