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FOREIGN AID      This area has been greatly reduced.  For example, The USSR used to pay Cuba 200 million hard-cash USD’s per year to station listening  devices pointed at the U.S.A.   Between 1991-2006, Russia was trying to get its own financial house in order, so now only the following is going  on…    1)  Aid, usually in the form of credits or discounts, to countries planning weapons purchases, like Venezuela..The most recent Arab  uprisings have had a very negative effect on future sales because Russia refused to sell to affected dictatorships during this time in consort with  the West; for still-extant dictatorships, this is a sign of weakness.  As well, the immediate destruction of 10+ billion worth of Soviet military  equipment during the 2003 neutralization of Iraq reduces the perception of its effectiveness versus western products in general.    2)  Aid, in  cash, to former parts of the USSR with the intent of taking them over eventually.  Examples:  Ossetia and Abkhazia (taken, for now) and  Moldavia (planned).   3)  Price dictates and controls on raw material exports, particularly gas, which have soured end-users considerably as well  as (desired from the Russian standpoint) destabilized pipe-through-transport countries like Ukraine and Belorussia.  Then there are   FIVE    SPECIAL   PROJECTS  worth noting which have links to the international community and represent very little to the home population:   1)  The  2014 Winter Olympics  in Sochi.    2)  The 2018 World Cup of Soccer.   3)   Taking over the Arctic.    4)   Going to Mars.   5)   Mining the ocean  floors.