Russia

MOSCOW, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Ukraine's ongoing ambitions to join the Western NATO military alliance presented a threat to Russia's security and highlighted the necessity for Russia to conduct what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Moscow was responding to the publication of a draft set of security guarantees by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office on Tuesday that outlined Ukraine's "aspiration to join NATO and benefit from its mutual defence arrangements".

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Mobilization in Russia is not on the current agenda, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media.

"At this moment - no, it is not on the agenda," Peskov said, when asked if the authorities were considering full or partial mobilization.

Earlier, the media carried reports State Duma member Mikhail Sheremet had said Russia should declare mobilization for achieving the goals of the special operation in Ukraine.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss Russian-Indian cooperation within the UN and G20 with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi during the upcoming SCO meeting in Samarkand, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters Tuesday.

"A conversation on international agenda with Modi will also take place, the sides will discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific Region, and, of course, cooperation within major multilateral formats, such as the UN, the G20 and the SCO," Ushakov said.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov as the new Ambassador to China, based on the head of state’s decree, published on the official legal information website.

"[I hereby] appoint Igor Vladimirovich Morgulov as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the People’s Republic of China," the decree reads.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Kiev will not receive any "security guarantees", in particular, because its draft is essentially a "prologue" to World War III, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev believes.

"The Kiev camarilla has given birth to a project of 'security guarantees', which are essentially a prologue to a third world war. Of course, no one will provide any 'guarantees' to the Ukrainian Nazis," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and told him that the problems with gas supply to Europe through the Nord Stream-1 pipeline had been caused by Western sanctions on Moscow, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Sept 13 (Reuters) - A group of St Petersburg local politicians who called for President Vladimir Putin to be sacked over the war in Ukraine faces the likely dissolution of their district council following a judge's ruling on Tuesday, one of the deputies said.

Nikita Yuferev said the judge decided that a series of past council meetings had been invalid, paving the way for it to be broken up by the regional governor.

MOSCOW, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping will discuss Ukraine and Taiwan at a meeting in Uzbekistan on Thursday which the Kremlin said would hold "special significance" given the geopolitical situation.

Xi will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/: Russia’s regional elections were organized on a world-class scale with no significant glitches, incidents or objections, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday.

MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/: Russia is facing financial and technological aggression, but the economic blitzkrieg against the country was not successful, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"I would like to emphasize once again that Russia is confidently coping with external pressure, one might say - with financial and technological aggression from some countries. The tactics of economic blitzkrieg did not work, this is already obvious to everyone and to them," Putin said.