Russia & CIS

An exhibition "Peace and friendship in the dreams of artists" will be open at the Iranian Cultural Center on August 28.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on the construction of a new carpet weaving workshop in Ismayilli district.

Zurab Pataradze has been appointed to the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Azerbaijan in accordance with the relevant presidential decree, Apsny.ge reported.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on measures regarding the improvement of housing and living conditions of the population of Ismayilli city.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has ordered the building of “Asan xidmət” center in Shamakhi district, AzerTag reports.

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey are creating the Center for Nomadic Civilization, Trend reports.

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah has killed at least three people and injured more than 300 others.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the opening of a newly-built secondary school in Lahij settlement, Ismayilli district.

Russia intends to continue exporting aeronautical titanium and rocket engines to the United States despite the crisis in relations between the two countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters. "We firmly believe that we must not cause damage to ourselves. Ideas to cut the supplies of rocket engines for the US space program or aeronautical titanium that is produced at a joint venture with Boeing, or other positions of our exports to the US should not be considered as options here," Ryabkov said. According to him, the decision to stop exporting rocket engines and aeronautical titanium to the United States would be equivalent to shooting oneself in the foot and causing damage to one's own economic operators.

Russian President Vladimir Putin considers new US sanctions counterproductive and meaningless actions."Regarding the sanctions, these actions are counterproductive and meaningless, especially against a country like Russia," Putin said at a press conference after talks with the President of Finland Sauli Niinisto.Putin also said that he was still hopeful that the United States would some day realize how futile this policy is. On August 21 it became known that the US imposed sanctions against a number of Russian citizens and companies because of their alleged cyber-activity and cooperation with the DPRK.Russia may switch to national currencies in settlements with other countries in order to minimize the effect of US sanctions, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov said. According to him, Moscow is preparing a whole package of retaliatory measures in response to Washington's economic policy. The minister also said that the restrictions have made Russia less dependent on the international financial system. Financial sanctions against Russia may affect Russia's exports to third countries. Therefore, Russia may abjure the US dollar in transactions with other countries, Denis Manturov added. In turn, the head of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Dmitry Shugaev, said that the US currency was unreliable. "It is an open secret that the dollar is an unreliable currency today, to say the least, especially within the framework of settlements in the field of military-technical cooperation. That said, we already find ways to overcome negative consequences today," Shugaev said. Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov expressed a similar opinion earlier. According to him, financial restrictions "will backfire on the Americans." It is worthy of note that Turkey also expresses a wish to abandon the US dollar and switch to national currencies. For Turkey, such cooperation can be possible with Russia, China, Iran and Ukraine. "If European countries also want to get rid of the shackles of the dollar, Ankara is ready to switch to national currency settlements with them too," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

On August 20, Russia's Minister for Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, said that Russia would not be building its own helicopter carriers. However, in June of this year, deputy commander-in-chief of the Navy for armament, Vice-Admiral Viktor Bursuk, said that Russian helicopter carriers would be built after 2020. "We will have these ships, they are included in the ship-building program, and they will be built during the second stage of the implementation of the program - after 2020," Bursuk said a few months ago. Even earlier, Russian ship-builders unveiled a model of the Russian helicopter carrying vessel. The project was called "Priboi." After the presentation, it was reported that Russia would build two of such vessels for the price of 40 billion rubles each. The topic of Mistral helicopter carriers has been under debate since the time when Russia signed the relevant contract with France in 2011. In 2015, France terminated the deal because of the crisis in Ukraine, even though two vessels had been built by that time. Russian navy men were undergoing training on one of them. In the long run, the French managed to sell those two astral vessels to Egypt. Why is Russia having so much hassle because of helicopter carriers? Director of the Center for Strategic Studies, Ivan Konovalov, said in an interview with Pravda.Ru that Mistral ships are referred to as "the ship of the projection of power" in France. In other words, these ships are designed for military operations in remote areas far from homeland. "For France, this is still essential, because France has a huge zone of influence in Africa, its former colonies. French troops travel to Africa on a regular basis, but why would Russia need this class of vessels?" the expert wondered. "Russian concluded the deal for those two Mistral ships for political reasons in the first place. First of all, Moscow wanted the world to see that Russia was ready for large-scale cooperation in defense, to conclude multibillion-dollar contracts with NATO countries. Secondly, then president of France Nicolas Sarkozy positioned himself as a great friend of Russia. In 2008, he contributed to the peace process in the Caucasus. Russia ended the conflict with Georgia without any significant political losses largely owing to France," Ivan Konovalov said.In general, one can see that Russia has big doubts about the need to build helicopter carriers for its navy. The project is expensive, plus one does not know whether the Russian Navy needs vessels of this class. However, officials make contradictory statements on the subject, so it would be incorrect to simply shelve the project. It is worthy of note that Russia already has doubts about the need in state-of-the-art Armata tanks and Su-57 fifth-generation fighter aircraft. It appears that the helicopter carrier project will lose the competition. Oleg ArtyukovPravda.Ru Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru

Multiculturalism and tolerance further enhance the prestige of Azerbaijan, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov said at a press conference Aug. 20.

Azerbaijan's Elmar Gasimov has won the European Judo Championship in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

There is a certain movement towards familiarizing the sides with each other in the negotiation process on Karabakh.

The United States is addicted to applying sanctions on Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

A pilgrim from Azerbaijan who stepped on a purse while he was doing tawaf (circumambulation) around the Kaaba.

Iran will unveil a new fighter jet on August 22 to mark Iran’s Defense Industry Day, the country’s defense minister Brig.-Gen. Amir Hatami said.

Oil prices fell on Monday as concerns over slowing economic growth dragged on markets, Reuters reported.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations over the death of UN's seventh Secretary-General.

An emergency situation has been created in Shenik, Karakert, and Dalarik villages of Armenia’s Armavir Province, due to heavy rains, according to the information and public relations department of the Armavir provincial hall.