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Russia’s upper house speaker to visit Vietnam in late 2016

Speaker of Russia’s upper house Valentina Matvienko is due to visit Vietnam late this year says Russia’s State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Russia’s State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin Anna Isakova/Russian State Duma Press Office/TASS

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Russia’s State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin

© Anna Isakova/Russian State Duma Press Office/TASS

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Russia interested in expanding supplies from Vietnam — PM

MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Speaker of Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko is due to visit Vietnam late this year, Russia’s State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin said at the meeting with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday.

"This year we mark the 60th anniversary of establishing inter-parliamentary contacts and highly estimate parliamentary cooperation, the frequency and content of our meetings," Naryshkin said. "As far as I know, late this year upper house chair Valentina Matvienko will pay a visit to Vietnam."

All Russia’s MPs support the development of bilateral relations with Vietnam in all spheres, he added. "Vietnam remains among Russia’s key partners in the Asia-Pacific Region," he said, adding that the bilateral strategic and all-encompassing partnership is developing every year in the economic, political and humanitarian areas.

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Lavrov to attend meeting of SCO foreign ministers

The ministers will also consider candidates for new SCO secretary general and director of the executive committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Organization

Russian forces cut off ammunition supplies to Ukrainian forces in Volchansk — lawmaker

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Press review: Kiev eyes expanded strikes on Russia and takeaways from Putin's China visit

Top stories from the Russian press on Monday, May 20th

Ukrainian troops leave positions in eastern Paraskoviyevka near Ugledar, says DPR

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West to push for Ukraine deal on their terms, Russia won't bend — Medvedev

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia, unlike the Ukrainian side, had never rejected any negotiations

Over 10,000 Ukrainian fighters surrender since summer using special radio frequency

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Medvedev sees no chance of Kiev winning even it fights until 'last Ukrainian'

Dmitry Medvedev believes that "the population of a broken Ukraine realizes this only too well," noting that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky canceled the country’s presidential election knowing that he would likely "lose spectacularly"

ICC prosecutor requests arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders — statement

The prosecutor also requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant

Russian troops destroy Ukrainian combat group in eastern Chasov Yar, says DPR

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Battlegroup North liberates settlement of Staritsa — Russian Defense Ministry

Russian air defenses down 37 drones, Tochka U missile, 21 HIMARS, Vampire, Olkha rockets in past day, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported

Kiev deems dead fighters missing to avoid removing bodies from battlefield — Ukrainian POW

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Medvedev says Kissinger ‘completely wrong’ about main threat to humanity

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Raisi's death positions Khamenei's son as likely successor — Politico

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DPR’s head calls for eliminating Western combat vehicles supplied to Ukraine

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Russia lifts ban on export of gasoline from May 20 to June 30 — decree

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ICC not to stop Israel, Netanyahu says

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Ukrainian forces unprepared to withstand Russian offensive near Kharkov — newspaper

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Among the accusations pressed against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant are "Wilful Killing… or Murder as a war crime," "Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime"

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NATO's attempts to create anti-Russian bridgehead in Central Asia worrisome — MFA

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Iran to hold extraordinary presidential election on June 28 — Election Headquarters

According to Mohsen Eslami, "The Guardian Council was asked to start registering [presidential] candidates before May 28"

Separatist movements in Taiwan doomed to failure — Chinese Foreign Ministry

"Taiwan's independence is a dead end. I want to emphasize that Taiwan's independence and separatism are doomed to failure no matter under what pretext or flag they are promoted," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said

Nuclear drills to be held 'in due time' — Kremlin spokesman

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said that on instructions from President Vladimir Putin the General Staff had begun preparations for an exercise to be held in the near future involving missile units of the Southern Military District, aircraft and naval ships

Macron must know that Kiev uses French weapons to commit war crimes — diplomat

According to Miroshnik, the Russian foreign ministry calls for bringing Ukraine’s leadership to responsibility "for violating the norms and principles of humanitarian law"

Starlink’s failure helps Russian army take Kiev forces by surprise in Kharkov Region — WP

In addition, Ukrainian forces were facing ammunition shortages due to a stalled US aid package

Russia keeping tabs on US nuclear activity in Nevada, senior diplomat says

According to Sergey Ryabkov, Moscow has been registering "all public signals coming from the US administration regarding this"

T-80 tanks help Russian troops advance in Avdeyevka area

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Tokyo, Seoul to resume exchanges between armed forces, suspended after 2018 incident

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Ukrainians have long lived in unlawful state — Medvedev

"They have not lived in a state of law before and now everything will stay as it is," the politician said

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Lavrov to attend meeting of SCO foreign ministers

The ministers will also consider candidates for new SCO secretary general and director of the executive committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Organization

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Borrell reacts to call to arrest Israeli PM

"All states that have ratified the ICC statutes are bound to execute the Court’s decisions," top EU diplomat said

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Iranian President’s funeral will be held in Mashhad on May 23 — Vice President

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Five DDoS attacks detected during Putin’s annual Q&A session

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Turkish drone discovers potential fragments of Raisi’s helicopter — Anadolu

The IRGC Commander Lieutenant General Hossein Salami confirmed it

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for joint efforts in the interests of "fairer and more reasonable global governance"

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Five Southeast Asian states eye Russia’s Su-57 fifth-generation fighter — Rosoboronexport

Negotiations being held with several countries

Putin tells his Q&A session viewers he is not alien

The president assured he had proof and witnesses

Kronshtadt submarine joins Russian Navy

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End of Zelensky’s term to have no effect on Russia’s operation — Kremlin

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State Duma approves Mikhail Mishustin as Chairman of Russian Government

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin thanked State Duma lawmakers for approving his candidacy for the prime minister’s office

North Pole ice-resistant platform back to Murmansk after Arctic expedition

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West alarmed over plummeting support for Zelensky — Russian intelligence

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President, Foreign Minister of Iran die in helicopter crash — Red Crescent

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Ukraine’s 2014 coup was CIA’s political mistake — Putin

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Russia urges US to abandon destructive policy course on CTBT — Zakharova

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Netanyahu accuses ICC of anti-Semitism, distorting reality

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Contact established with two passengers of Raisi’s helicopter — vice president

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Ukrainian official suggests turning Soviet monument into LGBT symbol

The Peoples' Friendship Arch in Kiev was unveiled in 1982 to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Ukraine with Russia in 1654