Apr
24
Free Paul McCartney gig in Kiev this Summer
April 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Paul McCartney agreed give a free-of-charge gig in Kiev, on June 14, the Ukrainian billionaire who set up the event said on Thursday. “Ukraine can’t consider itself a truly democratic country, until Paul McCartney performs here,” said Viktor Pinchuk.
Pinchuk told a news conference that he had been planning to invite McCartney since the 2004 presidential election in Ukraine, which was followed by mass protests known as the ‘orange revolution’ that brought a pro-Western government to power.
The news conference also included a recorded video message from McCartney, who invited Ukrainians to the concert.
McCartney, 60, recently announced his intention to go on another world tour. He was involved in a high-profile divorce case last month.
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24
Vladimir Putin Talks Oil and Future Contracts In Libya
April 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Moscow wrote off on Thursday Libya’s $4.5 billion debt in exchange for multi-billion dollar contracts for Russian companies. The cancelation of the debt, accrued on Soviet arms supplies, was one of over a dozen intergovernmental trade and cooperation agreements signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
After the signing ceremony, the outgoing Russian leader told reporters: “We are satisfied with the way we have resolved this problem. I am absolutely convinced that the scheme we have arrived at will benefit both the Russian and the Libyan economies, as well as the Russian and the Libyan people.”
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who accompanied Putin on his visit to the North African state, told reporters that the size of Libya’s debt to Russia had been brought down by $100 million from $4.6 billion to take into account Russian state bank VTB’s debt to Libyan companies.
The deals signed include a $3.5-billion contract for rail monopoly Russian Railways to build a 500-km (310-mile) section from the city of Sirte to Benghazi, Putin said.
Kudrin said 70% of the equipment and steel products required for the project would, under the contract, be supplied by Russian companies.
Another major deal was closed between Russian natural gas giant Gazprom and Libya’s National Oil Corporation to set up a joint venture to engage in both upstream and downstream oil and gas operations.
Kudrin said the Soviet-era debt had hampered bilateral economic cooperation, whereas now the hurdles would be removed, adding Russia’s position in Libya had grown stronger.
The two countries also signed a military cooperation agreement.
The parties announced their intention to strengthen cooperation in the areas of national security and defense, particularly through closer ties between the bodies involved.
Russia and Libya also agreed to collaborate in arms control measures, nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, to boost efforts to turn the Middle East into a zone free of weapons of mass destruction and to reduce military operations in the Mediterranean in order to make it a region of peace, stability and cooperation.
Moscow and Tripoli pledged to coordinate their efforts to prevent and resolve armed conflicts in certain African regions and facilitate post-conflict revival.
Libya’s main weapons supplier during the Cold War, Russia is trying to regain its position in the country.
Earlier reports said Russia had hoped to sign arms contracts worth some $3 billion with Libya, selling 12 of the latest Su-35 Flanker multi-role fighter and Tor-M2E short-range missile systems, and offering spare parts and maintenance services for Soviet-era military hardware.
Libya’s ties with the West have improved since the UN lifted sanctions against Libya in 2003 after Qaddafi announced he would halt the country’s nuclear weapons program and later accepted responsibility for the 1998 terrorist bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland, agreeing to pay compensation to the victims’ families.
Russia’s president arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday for a two-day visit. This evening he left for Sardinia, to meet with Italian incoming-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
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24
[Russian bombers] Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers on patrol over Atlantics accompanied by NATO fighters
April 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Two Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers and two Il-78 aerial tankers are carrying out routine patrols over neutral Atlantic waters, a Russian Air Force spokesman said on Wednesday. Interceptions of Russian combat aircraft by NATO fighters are becoming a common occurrence again, after Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans last August, following an order signed by President Vladimir Putin
“During the flights the crews develop their flying skills in northern latitudes, over unmarked terrain,” Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky said.
He said the crews also perfect their in-flight refueling techniques, allowing the bombers to remain in the air for more than 24 hours and is considered extremely difficult “especially when the Russian planes are accompanied by NATO interceptors.”
“All Russian Air Force flights are performed…in strict accordance with international rules on the use of airspace over neutral waters without violating the borders of other states,” he also said.
Although it was common practice during the Cold War for both the U.S. and the Soviet Union to keep nuclear strategic bombers permanently airborne, the Kremlin cut long-range patrols in 1992. The decision came as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ensuing economic and political chaos.
However, the newly-resurgent Russia, awash with petrodollars, has invested heavily in military technology, and the resumption of long-range patrols is widely seen among political commentators as another sign of its drive to assert itself both militarily and politically.
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