Russia’s trade turnover with neutral and ‘friendly’ countries, defined as those that have not sanctioned Moscow over the Ukraine conflict, has surged over the past year, Foreign Ministry official Dmitry Birichevsky said on Tuesday.

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Almost a year has passed since partial mobilization was announced in Russia. In September of last year, around 300,000 men were called to the front. Although all of them had previously done their army service, they were ordinary workers, office clerks, managers, and businessmen before being conscripted. A soldier with the military call sign ‘Ural’,…