Russia

March 6 (Reuters) - Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his representative had been denied access to the headquarters of Russia's military command in Ukraine on Monday, in a further deepening of his rift with the defence establishment.

Prigozhin said the incident came the day after he urgently requested ammunition supplies from the commander of what Russia calls its "special military operation" (SMO).

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia is preparing intergovernmental agreements on visa-free travel with 11 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, The Bahamas, Malaysia and Mexico, State Secretary - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov told TASS.

"We’re preparing draft intergovernmental agreements on visa-free travel for [Russian] citizens with a number of countries, such as Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Zambia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago. The agreements are at various stages of development," Ivanov said.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russian Defense Minister, General of the Army Sergey Shoigu held a meeting with the commanders of groups of troops in the zone of Russia’s special military operation, the ministry reported on Sunday.

"Russian Defense Minister Shoigu held a meeting with the commanders of the special military operation groups. He heard commanders' reports on the current situation in their areas of responsibility, as well as plans for future actions," the statement said.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 13,559 over the past day to 22,342,28, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

As many as 840 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day. The number of hospitalized patients declined in 65 regions, while in 11 other regions the figure increased. A day earlier, 1,571 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russian troops hit the command post of the nationalist regiment Azov (banned in the Russian Federation) in the Zaporozhye region around Maryevka, official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov announced on Sunday.

"The command post of the nationalist Azov regiment was hit near the village of Maryevka, Zaporozhye region," Konashenkov said.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: The United States is forcing European countries to finance the Kiev regime to the detriment of its citizens, but Washington itself allocates only 0.37% of its share of GDP for these purposes, Chairman of the Russian State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) Vyacheslav Volodin wrote in his Telegram channel on Sunday.

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: More than 400 people have been prosecuted as defendants for crimes committed in Ukraine since 2014, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin said at the IC board’s meeting on Friday.

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed measures of counter-terrorism protection for facilities, managed by Russian law enforcement agencies, with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council.

"We have one issue to discuss today, but a very important one - measures of counter-terrorism protection for facilities, managed by law enforcement agencies," the head of state said, opening the meeting before receiving a report from the Minister of the Interior Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/: Ukrainian armed forces suffer from a deficit of artillery, ammunition, warplanes and tanks, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said Friday. Speaking during a joint press conference with his Latvian counterpart Egils Levits in Lvov, Zelensky claimed that, due to the shortage of weapons and ammunition, the West must speed up arms shipments to Ukraine.

"Artillery is the number one thing that we need. Both systems and ammunition, shells in large amounts," Zelensky said.

MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) - A court in Belarus on Friday sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in prison for financing protests and other crimes, in a case that rights groups say was politically motivated.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Bialiatski and other activists sentenced in the same trial had been unfairly convicted, calling the verdict "appalling".

"We must do everything to fight against this shameful injustice & free them," she said on Twitter.