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Iran and Russia signed an agreement Tuesday to expand military ties in a visit to Tehran by the Russian defense minister. Sergei Shoigu, in remarks carried by Russian news agencies, said Moscow wants to develop a "long-term and multifaceted" military relationship with Iran. He said that the new agreement includes expanded counter-terrorism cooperation, exchanges of military personnel for training purposes and an understanding for each country's navy to more frequently use the other's ports. Iran's Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan urged greater cooperation as a means of opposing American ambitions in the region. Moscow and Tehran have staunchly supported Syrian President...

AFP - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was expected in Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russian leaders on his first major foreign visit since the killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will host Zardari for talks on Thursday at the Kremlin where officials from the two countries were also expected to sign agreements on cooperation in agriculture, aviation and energy, a spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Moscow told AFP. "Economics will be the focus of the visit," said the spokesman, Raja Abdul Qayyum. The three-day visit to Russia will be Zardari's first...

NEW DELHI: President Vladimir Putin of Russia offered to build four new nuclear reactors for India on Thursday, cementing his country's traditional role as India's main nuclear benefactor. A memorandum of understanding on the plants was signed by the heads of the Russian and Indian nuclear agencies after a meeting between Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. Putin arrived in India on Thursday, hoping to use the two nations' friendship to push for deals in civilian nuclear cooperation, military hardware and trade expansion between the booming economies. Russia has been eager to reassert its traditional role as the...