Russia returns to planned economy, but not of Soviet type

2015/04/30
Russian MPs believe that Russia should go back to the practice of planned economy. Today, many countries develop under the conditions of planned economies with France being the most striking example. According to many experts, there are signs of such an economic model in France. Does Russia need planned econom...
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Ukrainian foreign minister: proposed UN peacekeeping mission for Donbass could be civilian

2015/04/29
UNITED NATIONS, April 30. /TASS/. Kiev is discussing in the United Nations the possibility for deploying peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine and is convinced that this mission could help to carry out free and fair elections in Donbass and also to disarm and withdraw illegal armed groups, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin told reporters...
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Putin to have conversation with Canada’s former PM Chretien

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet on Thursday with Canada’s former Prime Minister Jean-Loup Chretien, the presidential press secretary, Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. He said Putin and Chretien have been keeping up warm relations even after the Canadian Prime Minister left his post. "We know Mr. Chretien...
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Energy to top agenda of Putin-Xi meeting — Chinese ambassador

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Energy cooperation will top the agenda of a summit meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Moscow, China’s Ambassador to Russia Lee Huei said on Wednesday. It is still unknown how many and which documents will be signed during the meeting between the Russian and...
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Chernobyl NPP wildfire fully put out — Ukraine's Emergencies State Service

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. The forest wildfire that broke out in the Chernobyl NPP Exclusion Zone has been fully put out, the press service of Ukraine's Emergencies State Service said on Wednesday. "The fire has been extinguished. The situation is under control of the state service," the Ukrainian UNN news agency cited the State...
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NORAD says third stage of rocket carrying cargo spacecraft burned in dense atmosphere

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket that put the Progress spacecraft into undesignated orbit has burned in dense atmosphere, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported Wednesday. According to American measurements, the object having No. 40620 in the US catalogue lost orbit. Soyuz-2.1a blasted...
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East Ukraine militia claim Kiev troops plan large-scale provocations for May 8 and 9

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Self-proclaimed Donetsk republic defense spokesman Eduard Basurin said on Wednesday, citing human intelligence data, that the Ukrainian Army command plans large-scale provocations for May 8 and 9, including shelling of populated localities from heavy artillery systems. "I said on numerous occasions that we...
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Russian bikers including Night Wolves members visit Auschwitz-Birkenau camp museum

2015/04/29
WARSAW, April 29. /TASS/. A group of Russian bikers, including members of the Nochnye Volki (Night Wolves) club on Wednesday visited the museum located at the site of the former Nazi camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were accompanied by Polish bikers on this trip. One of the night wolves, Vladimir Vassilyev, told TASS he arrived in Poland...
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European Commission president says his relations with Putin at good level

2015/04/29
PARIS, April 29. /TASS/. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday said his relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are at a good level. In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, Juncker said: "In fact, I have good relations with Vladimir Putin." Answering a question on what topics Juncker and...
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Mass arrests of opposition activists reported in south Ukraine's Odessa — local media

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. More than 10 opposition activists have been detained in Odessa on Wednesday by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU). Among them are the mother of the leader of the Odessa "Anti-Maidan" group Anton Davidchenko, leader of the People’s Rada of Bessarabia Vera Shevchenko and opposition journalist Artyom Buzila, 1NEWS...
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Defunct cargo spacecraft to be deorbited May 5-7 — Russian space agency

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russia’s defunct cargo spacecraft Progress M-27M, which entered into an uncontrolled spin after abortive launch on Tuesday, is to be deorbited on May 5-7 to burn in the Earth’s atmosphere, the Russian space agency Roscosmos has told TASS. "The deorbiting of the Progress cargo spacecraft Progress M-27M and its burning...
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Ukrainian president’s firm challenges Russian assets seizure in tax probe

2015/04/29
LIPETSK, April 29. /TASS/. Roshen Confectionary Corporation owned by Ukrainian billionaire President Petro Poroshenko has filed a protest to a Moscow court over a judgment to seize assets of its Lipetsk confectionary in central Russia in an embezzlement probe, a Roshen official said on Wednesday. "The protest prepared by lawyers was filed...
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Project of Ukrainian-Russian nuclear fuel plant to be renounced

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. Ukraine plans renouncing a joint project with Russia, under which the two countries were to build a factory for the production of nuclear fuel, the Minister of Energy and Coalmining, Vladimir Demchishin told TASS on Wednesday. "We’ll denounce the agreement and, in most probability, this will be done by law," he ...
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Russia holds large-scale military drills in Tajikistan

2015/04/29
DUSHANBE, April 29. /TASS/. Russia has held a large-scale military exercise 20 kilometers away from Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe. Units of the 201st military base of the Russian Defense Ministry practised anti-terrorist operations, an aide to the commander of the Central Military District, Yaroslav Roshchupkin, told TASS. "The 201st military...
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Belarus finds itself dragged into Ukrainian conflict — Lukashenko

2015/04/29
MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Belarus took the role of "a peacemaking capital" not only because it improves the country’s reputation, but also because Minsk was in fact "dragged into war" in Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday. "The main thing is that war today is in full swing not in the Golan Heights, in Libya,...
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Landmark Kremlin tower restored ahead of schedule

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The five-month restoration of the Kremlin main clock Spasskaya Tower has been completed ahead of schedule, Sergey Devyatov, a spokesman for the Federal Protection Service, told TASS on Wednesday. Devyatov said the tower had undergone restoration "from the ruby star to the foundation." He said that the star's stainless...
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Putin orders impartial assessment of damage from fires in Khakassia

2015/04/29
NOVO-OGARYOVO, April 29. /TASS/. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has ordered to do an urgent and impartial assessment of the damage caused by wildfires in the east-Siberian region of Khakassia and other parts of Siberia and the Far East. "It’s important to do an impartial assessment as soon as possible," he said at a conference with government...
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Protest action of Right Sector in front of the Ukrainian presidential office finished

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. Supporters of the ultra-right Ukrainian organization Right Sector have left the square in front of the presidential office but promised to be back on the weekend to set fire to the building. Wednesday’s protest action gathered about 200 radicals, whose leaders earlier urged the armed forces to disobey the authorities....
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Ukraine expects Russian gas price at less than $220 per thousand cubic meters in Q3

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. Ukraine expects the price of Russian natural gas to be less than $220 per 1,000 cubic meters in July-September 2015, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Vladimir Demchishin said on Wednesday. "I believe it will be below $220 in the third quarter," the minister said. The average price of gas on the European spot market...
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Kiev says all movements of troops in Dnipropetrovsk Region due to drills

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said that regular airborne units are conducting exercises in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region and this is the sole reason behind all movements of military forces in the area. Members of the ultra-right paramilitary group Right Sector, outlawed in Russia, said on Tuesday their base in...
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Soyuz rocket engine may have overworked because of control system glitch

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The engine of the carrier rocket that orbited the Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft has "overworked" and the contingency might have been caused by the control unit, a source at the Voronezh-based Chemical Automatics Design Bureau, that created the RD-0110 engine that has successfully worked in more than 1,500 launches,...
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Kremlin says Putin can’t oblige state companies’ bosses to disclose incomes

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot oblige top managers of state-controlled companies to publish data on their incomes, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. "The president expressed his opinion [during a recent question-and-answer conference] and this was not outlined as an instruction. Moreover,...
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Right Sector defies pledge to join Ukrainian army — presidential adviser

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. The volunteer Ukrainian paramilitary force calling itself Right Sector defies its pledge to get integrated with the Ukrainian armed forces, Ukrainian presidential adviser, defense minister’s aide Yuri Biryukov has said on his page in Facebook in the wake of statements by the Right Sector Ukrainian army were trying...
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Russian rescuers start disaster relief works in Nepal — emergencies minister

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian Emergencies Ministry’s rescuers have started disaster relief works in Nepal, the ministry’s head Vladimir Puchkov said on Wednesday. "Russian rescuers started working. They are professional rescuers," Puchkov said. Also on the team are Russian cynologists who will look for people under rubble, and mountain...
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Lithuania denies entry to bikers from Russia and Belarus

2015/04/29
VILNIUS, April 29. /TASS/. Lithuania has denied permission to four bikers from Russia and Belarus to cross into the Lithuanian territory despite Schengen visas issued to the bikers. The press service of the Lithuanian border guards circulated a statement on Wednesday, citing absence of documents to confirm the purpose of the presence of...
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Russian sports minister denies conflict with Russian Football Union

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Wednesday he had no issues of contradiction with the Russian Football Union and he may be the last person at the moment supporting Russia’s football governing body. "There is no standoff with the RFU," Mutko told a news conference in Moscow. "I may be the last person...
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Belarus leader says tension between great powers at Cold War level

2015/04/29
MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Tension between world powers has reached the level of Cold War, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday. "Who would have thought that today bombs will drop and shells will explode in neighboring Ukraine, that the smell of big war will linger in Europe again, that tension between great powers...
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Gas pipeline catches fire after shelling in east Ukraine — city administration

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. A high pressure gas pipeline has caught fire in Ukraine’s Gorlovka after shellings at night, the city’s administration said on Wednesday. "We registered fire at a high pressure gas pipeline after shellings," the Donetsk News Agency quoted an administration official as saying. Eighteen electric substations were...
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Belarus president: if US is included in Normandy Four, there will be peace in Ukraine

2015/04/29
MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Including the US in the Normandy format may have a positive effect on reaching peace and stability in eastern Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday. "[If] Americans get involved - there [in Ukraine] will be peace," Lukashenko said. The Normandy Quartet got its name from the...
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Russian defense minister orders to consider restarting Tu-160 missile carrier production

2015/04/29
KAZAN, April 29. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu gave instructions on Wednesday to study the issue of resuming the production of Tupolev Tu-160 (NATO reporting name: Blackjack) supersonic strategic bombers at the Kazan aviation plant in the Volga Republic of Tatarstan. "It is necessary already today to start implementing...
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Controlled deorbiting of Progress impossible — source

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Specialists have arrived at the conclusion that controlled deorbiting of the cargo spacecraft progress M-27M is impossible, a source in the space rocket industry has told TASS. "Specialists have agreed that Progress is hopeless. Its controlled deorbiting is impossible," he said. "Commands were sent many a time....
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Ukraine's PM pledges Chernobyl wildfire no threat to people

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. The wildfire situation near the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster is under control, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said on Wednesday. "The fire situation has stabilised and the radiation levels in the fire zone and Kiev are normal," Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting. "There is no threat to local...
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Belarus remains Russia’s closest ally, does not lean towards West — Lukashenko

2015/04/29
MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Belarus has always been and remains Russia’s closest ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday. Belarus has never tried to get closer to the West, Lukashenko stressed. "There are talks among Russian liberals, including in the Russian leadership, that Belarus has started leaning towards the...
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Third batch of equipment for S-400 missile regiment arrives in Russia's Kamchatka

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. A third batch of equipment for a regiment of the S-400 "Triumph" air defense missile systems has arrived from Vladivostok to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, spokesman for Russia’s Eastern Military District Roman Martov said on Wednesday. "The batch comprises more than 50 units of equipment, spare parts and accessories...
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US Air Force detects 44 debris of ‘unknown origin’ close to Russian cargo ship

2015/04/29
NEW YORK, April 29. /TASS/. The personnel of the Joint Space Operations Center at the US Vandenberg Air Force base in California detected 44 debris of unknown origin in orbit close to Russia’s Progress space ship, Center Chief Lieut.-Gen. Jay Raymond said on Wednesday. The US specialists have failed to establish the origin of the debris...
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Russia-China military, technical cooperation not directed against third countries

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Military and technical cooperation between Russia and China is not directed against any third counties, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui said on Wednesday. The ambassador noted that military and technical cooperation was "part and parcel of our overall cooperation." "Our cooperation in the military and industrial...
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Right Sector activists warn they may set fire to Ukrainian presidential residence

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. A crowd of 200 supporters of Ukraine’s ultra-right organization Right Sector, outlawed in Russia as extremist, has gathered in front of the Ukrainian presidential administration building, a TASS correspondent reports from the scene. According to Right Sector’s press-secretary Artyom Skoropadsky, the "protest action...
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Xi Jinping to meet in Moscow only Vladimir Putin — Ambassador

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, meetings with other countries’ leaders are not planned, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui said. "We do not know who else will attend the celebrations," he told reporters, answering a question whether...
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Next cargo spacecraft Progress may be launched ahead of time

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Cargo spacecraft Progress M-28M, originally scheduled to be launched on August 6, may be put in orbit ahead of time due to the failed launch of its predecessor, a source at the Baikonur space site told TASS. "The next Progress may be dispatched to the ISS earlier, because the cargo the Progress M-27M was carrying...
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Radiation level safe in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone hit by wildfire

2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. The radiation level is safe in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone where a forest fire broke out on Tuesday, the acting head of Ukraine's emergencies service said on Wednesday. "The background radiation level is normal, there is no threat," Zoryan Shkiryak said. He said the fire had been localised and...
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Putin unlikely to see Navalny as a political threat — spokesman

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin hardly sees the leader of the Party of Progress, Aleksei Navalny, as a political threat, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. "In general, given the level of credibility, popularity and electoral rating, the president can hardly see other politicians as a threat," Peskov...
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No decision yet on Progress cargo ship deorbiting or docking — source

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russia has not yet made a decision on whether to deorbit an unmanned cargo ship spinning uncontrollably in an undesignated orbit or dock it with the International Space Station (ISS), a source in the rocket and space industry said on Wednesday. The Progress M-27M freighter blasted off from the Baikonur space center...
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Russia launches design campaign for mascot of 2018 FIFA World Cup

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko launched on Wednesday an official campaign for the design of the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in 11 different cities across Russia. The launch of the campaign was announced at a special news conference in the Russian capital of Moscow attended by various football officials,...
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Proton rocket carrying Mexican satellite may be launched May 15-16

2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. A Proton-M space rocket carrying a Mexican communication satellite Mexsat-1 may blast off from the Baikonur space site in Kazakhstan on May 15 or 16, a source at Baikonur said. "On April 30 the foreign client will be prepared to say if the satellite is ready for launch. According to preliminary estimates the launch...
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Nazarbayev accepts resignation of Kazakhstan’s government — presidential press service

2015/04/29
ASTANA, April 29. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has accepted resignation of the country’s government on Wednesday. "The head of state signed a decree ‘About the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan’ in connection with the Kazakhstani government’s resignation," the president’s press service said. The government...
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UN allocates $15 million emergency funds for Nepal earthquake relief

2015/04/28
UN, April 29. /TASS/. The United Nations have allocated $15 million in emergency funding to help Nepal cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people. United Nations aid chief Valerie Amos on Tuesday "released $15 million through the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to enable humanitarian aid...
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Attempt to contact Progress cargo spacecraft fails

2015/04/28
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Mission Control Centre failed to get telemetric data from the Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft during its first communication session on Wednesday, a rocket and space industry source told TASS. "The attempt was unsuccessful," the source said, adding that the centre would make another attempt to get telemetry...
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Russian rescue team arrives in Nepal

2015/04/28
KATHMANDU, April 29. /TASS/. A team of rescuers and medical experts from Russia’s Emergencies Ministry have arrived in Nepal to help it cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people. Two Russian Il-76 planes on Wednesday brought the Russian rescue team to Kathmandu, Nepal's earthquake-hit capital,...
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Siberian husky is official mascot of 2016 Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia

2015/04/28
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. A Siberian husky has been chosen as the official mascot of the 2016 Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia. The decision was unveiled on Tuesday during late-night TV talk show Evening Urgant on Russia's main Channel One. Show guests included the president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RIHF), Vladislav...
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Roshen says its assets worth $38.9 mln seized in Lipetsk

2015/04/28
MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The property of the Lipetsk confectionary Roshen, which is part of the Roshen Confectionary Corporation, has been seized, the corporation said in a statement on Tuesday. Roshen Confectionary Corporation is owned by Ukraine President Pyotr Poroshenko. "The total value of the property that was seized on April 24,...
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Russia provides assistance to citizens of all post-Soviet states in Nepal

2015/04/28
MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The mission of the Russian Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation in Nepal is rendering assistance not only to Russians but also to citizens of all post-Soviet countries, the agency’s spokesman Sergey Shatunov said on Tuesday. Head of the agency...
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