Russia

MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/: Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed media rumors there were plans for calling up for military service up to one million men under the current partial mobilization campaign.

"This is a lie," he told TASS.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization plan and signed a ten-point decree. The seventh paragraph has not been officially published. In the document itself, it is marked as "for official use only."

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/: Russia at the moment is conducting combat operations not only with Ukraine’s armed forces, but with the collective West, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said.

"I cannot but emphasize the fact that today we are at war not so much with Ukraine and the Ukrainian army as with the collective West," Shoigu said.

He stressed that Ukraine had almost run out of its own weapons of Soviet manufacture.

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry has determined partial mobilization tasks for all regions of the country. The General Staff has issued the necessary instructions regarding mobilization procedures, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the ministry’s board meeting on Wednesday.

He stressed that time was ripe to "put into practice" the experience gained during the annual strategic exercises, and to "timely and efficiently" organize for the notification of all those liable to mobilization.

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/: Any prospects for talks with Ukraine after Donbass joins Russia will be impossible, Chairman of the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky told reporters on Wednesday.

Moscow, Sep 21 (PTI) President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced a "partial mobilisation" of some 300,000 reservists with immediate effect in the wake of setbacks suffered by Russia in its raging conflict with Ukraine, saying it was necessary as Moscow is fighting the "entire military machine of the collective West." Putin made the announcement in a televised address to the nation in which he also said that Russia will use all the means at its disposal to protect its territory, warning the West that "this is not a bluff".

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Donbass is interested in the most transparent and legitimate holding of referendums, as well as their approval by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS countries, Lugansk People's Republic ambassador to the Russian Federation Rodion Miroshnik said during a Rossiya-24 TV broadcast on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Russia will not abandon its sovereign policy and it will push ahead with the unifying agenda on different platforms, including the UN General Assembly session, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with newly-appointed foreign ambassadors on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 46,474 over the past day to 20,535,057, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Tuesday.

A day earlier, 49,488 daily cases were recorded.

As many as 4,651 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, up 126.4% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients increased in 79 regions, while in five regions the figure decreased. The situation remained unchanged in one region. A day earlier, 2,054 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Russian Presidential Envoy for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization affairs Bakhtiyer Khakimov on Tuesday said the group’s recent summit in Uzbekistan was a success, creating reverberations around the globe.

"The meeting in Samarkand was a success, to put it simply. In fact, the ramifications that we are still seeing around the world confirm that the meeting was very successful," the diplomat said at a news conference.

According to Khakimov, 44 documents were signed during the event, 22 of which were "adopted at the highest level."

TASS, September 20: Leadership of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as liberated Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions made a decision Tuesday to hold referendums on accession to the Russian Federation in response to address of the civil movements. The vote in all four regions will take place on September 23-27.