Russia

April 4 (Reuters) - Western leaders should examine their own consciences before accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

He said Moscow would hold a news conference later in the day to demonstrate that Western accusations that its soldiers killed civilians in Northern Ukraine were false.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday accused Putin of war crimes and called for a trial, adding to the global outcry over civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha as more graphic images of their deaths emerged. 

April 4 (Reuters) - Moscow will respond to France's decision to expel Russian diplomats, Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing the Russian foreign ministry.

France has decided to expel many Russian diplomatic staff, echoing a similar action taken by Germany, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/: A draft of a treaty between Russia and Ukraine is not yet ready "to be presented at the top-level meeting," while Ukraine became more realistic in approaching the issue of its neutral and non-nuclear status, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky who heads the Russian delegation thinks.

"The Ukrainian side became more realistic in approaching the issues related to Ukraine’s neutral and non-nuclear status but the draft of the agreement is not ready to be presented at the top-level meeting," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/: At the request of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia will render assistance in the evacuation of foreign citizens who are being held hostage by nationalists in Mariupol, Chief of Russia’s National Defense Control Center Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Sunday.

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/: Russia’s Aerospace Forces have struck 51 Ukrainian military targets overnight, including two artillery clusters and two multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told journalists on Sunday.

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin can meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky only when a specific written agreement is worked out between the two countries, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"No, Putin has never rejected (a possible meeting with Zelensky - TASS). Putin has never ruled out such a meeting and this meeting, yes, hypothetically it is possible," the Kremlin official told the Russia-1 TV channel on Sunday.

(AP) --- First came the warnings, in messages among friends and families and on social media, to stock up on vital drugs in Russia before supplies were affected by crippling Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Then, some drugs indeed became harder to find at pharmacies in Moscow and other cities.

“Not a single pharmacy in the city has it now,” a resident of Kazan told The Associated Press in late March about a blood thinner her father needs.

02 April 2022; MEMO: Iran has announced that it is willing to trade with Russia in national currencies, citing already existing deals and opportunities, Sputnik reported on Friday.

Sputnik reported Vice-Governor of Iranian Central Bank Mohsen Karimi confirming that both countries would use: "National currencies – the ruble and the toman – and agreements on this matter already exist."

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/: Firefighters have extinguished a blaze engulfing half of the fuel tanks at a petroleum terminal in the Russian city of Belgorod. The concentration of harmful substances does not exceed the highest permissible level. No casualties have resulted from the accident, but residents living on three streets adjacent to the facility were evacuated. TASS has put together the main facts about the Belgorod fuel depot fire.

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/: Russia would be exposed to groundless risks, if it continued to sell gas to unfriendly countries for dollars and euros, because both currencies have lost credibility, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Friday.