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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLavrov Defends Russian Arms Supplies to Syria
15:21 04/02/2012
MUNICH, February 4 (RIA Novosti)
Russias arms supplies to Syria will not affect the balance of power in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.
Weve explained the facts: no matter what we supply to other countries in the region, this can in no way affect the balance of power in the region, Lavrov said at the 38th Munich Security Conference.
He said that Russias arms sales to Syria had not changed the balance of power before the Arab Spring and did not affect the current situation.
We don't supply firearms and what we supply is not used in the conflict, Lavrov added.
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http://en.rian.ru/world/20120204/171137441.html
julian09
(1,435 posts)would like to see boycott of their goods.
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)[h2]Russian Economy Expanded 4.3% Last Year, More Than Forecast[/h2]
Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Russias economy grew faster than forecast last year after falling unemployment and record-low inflation helped bolster consumer demand in the fourth quarter.
Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, rose 4.3 percent, matching a revised 4.3 percent increase in 2010, the Federal Statistics Service in Moscow said in an e-mailed statement today. The median forecast of 17 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for 4.1 percent.
The worlds biggest energy exporter is recovering from an economic slump of 7.8 percent in 2009, when commodity prices sank after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Inc. Retail-sales growth unexpectedly accelerated to the fastest pace in more than three years last month as the jobless rate fell and inflation reached a two-decade low.
The figure came in above market consensus because of consistently strong consumer demand and an acceleration in investments toward the end of the year while imports growth decelerated, Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist for Russia and Kazakhstan at ING Groep in Moscow and one of two economists who predicted the gain, said by e-mail.
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http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-31/russian-economy-expanded-4-3-last-year-more-than-forecast.html
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)which is an even more repressive regime, not only at home but in its military assault on Arab Spring uprisings in neighboring states, then the US citizens rightly condemning the Russian arms sales on this thread would have more credible standing to do so. Besides that the US would be doing the right thing.