MAHAJAN FIRING RANGE (India). Oct 16 (Interfax) - Russia does not plan a military alliance with India and China, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said."The time of military blocs and alliances of this kind is fading away," Ivanov told journalists at the Mahajan firing range in India, where the active phase of the Indra-2005 Russian-Indian anti-terror war games began on Sunday.
India and China are Russia's strategic partners, and "cooperation with those countries covers the entire spectrum of military and military-technical partnership and cooperation in the energy sector, culture and other spheres. This suits everyone," he said.
Ivanov pointed out that Russia "welcomes progress in Indian-Chinese relations.
Russian-Indian-Chinese maneuvers could be held in the future under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Russian defense minister said. sd md
http://www.worldpress.org/feed.cfm?http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11407426 (Hmmmm, we'll see in due time!) Below are some interesting stats on religion in Russia too.~~Kay
Religious statistics of Russia
The data is as of January 1st, 2005.
Confession No.in order Total Including: Centralized Local Theological schools Monasteries and representations Religious institutions А Б 1 2 3 4 5 6 Russian Orthodox Church 1 11525 82 10767 49 354 273 Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church 2 41 1 36 4 Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia 3 45 3 41 1 Truly Orthodox Church 4 24 4 19 1 Russian Orthodox Free Church 5 16 2 14 Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate 6 11 2 8 1 Old Believers 7 284 13 267 1 2 1 Incl: Russian Orthodox Old Believers’ Church 8 152 5 146 1 Old Orthodox Church of the Pomor Community 9 79 3 74 1 1 The Pomor Church 10 45 2 42 1 Other communities 11 8 3 5 Roman Catholic Church 12 248 4 235 4 5 Greek Catholic Church 13 5 5 Armenian Apostolic Church 14 60 3 57 Islam 15 3537 59 3397 68 13 Buddhism 16 192 10 180 2 Judaism 17 267 7 256 2 2 Incl: Orthodox 18 198 6 190 1 1 Reformed 19 69 1 66 1 1 Evangelical Christians-Baptists 20 979 53 922 3 1 Evangelical Christians 21 698 36 649 5 8 Evangelical Christians in the Apostolic Spirit 22 26 1 25 Christians of the Evangelical Faith-Pentecostals 23 1467 55 1398 6 8 Church of the Full Gospel 24 38 1 37 Evangelical Abstainer Christians 25 6 6 Seventh-Day Adventists 26 646 24 620 1 1 Lutherans 27 219 12 202 4 1 Incl: Evangelical Lutheran Church 28 130 8 119 2 1 United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia 29 9 1 8 Church of Ingria 30 70 1 68 1 Other Evangelical Lutheran Churches 31 10 2 7 1 New Apostolic Church 32 81 11 70 Methodist Church 33 105 3 98 3 1 Reformed Church 34 5 1 4 Presbyterian Church 35 176 9 161 6 Anglican Church 36 1 1 Jehovah’s Witnesses 37 386 1 385 Mennonites 38 9 1 8 Salvation Army 39 32 1 31 Church of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) 40 50 1 49 Church of the Unification (Moon’s Church) 41 9 1 8 Church of Our Lady the Powerful 42 27 1 26 Molokane (Milk-drinkers) 43 28 2 26 Spirit-wrestlers 44 1 1 Church of the Last Covenant 45 11 1 10 Church of Christ 46 26 1 25 Judizing Christians 47 Non-denominational Christian Churches 48 24 7 17 Church of Scientology 49 2 2 Hinduism 50 1 1 Krishna’s Conscience (Vaishnavas) 51 80 2 78 Bahai 52 20 1 19 Tantrism 53 2 1 1 Taoism 54 6 2 4 Assyrian Church 55 2 2 Sikhs 56 1 1 Copts 57 Shamanism 58 14 1 12 1 Karaites 59 1 1 Zoroastrianism TD> 60 1 1 Spiritual Unity (Tolstoists) 61 1 1 Living Ethics (Rerichists) 62 1 1 Heathen beliefs 63 11 1 9 1 Other faiths 64 216 4 212 Total 65 21664 428 20403 157 361 315 Representations of foreign religious organizations 66 10
Kay