Russia

17 March 2022; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates is keen to cooperate with Russia on improving global energy security, UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said in Moscow on Thursday and Reuters reports.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has drawn a raft of Western sanctions and disrupted global energy markets, putting a spotlight on Gulf energy exporters, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as consumers look for supplies to replace Russian oil.

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/: The USS Mount Whitney flagship command ship went to the Black Sea for joint operations with NATO, the US Sixth Fleet stated on its Twitter page on Monday.

"The Sixth Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney has begun its northbound transit to the Black Sea to operate with our NATO allies and partners in the region," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/: The Russian army has obtained documentary evidence confirming the Pentagon was involved in financing military biological projects in Ukraine, the chief of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological protection force, Igor Kirillov, has said.

"We believe that components of biological weapons were being created in Ukraine," Kirillov said. He demonstrated a document dated March 6, 2015 confirming "the Pentagon’s direct involvement in financing military biological experiments in Ukraine."

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/: Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine is not aimed at ruining that country’s statehood or ousting its president, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

"Let me stress once again what both the Western mass media and the Western establishment refuse to see: this operation is not targeted at the civilian population. It does not pursue the aim of seizing the country’s territory, ruining its statehood or ousting the current president. We keep saying this again and again."

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/: Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin presented cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev with the TASS special International Space Station reporter card Thursday. Artemtyev is the second TASS reported to work in the orbit.

The identity card was presented during the state commission on approval of the Expedition 67 crew.

Artemyev will go to the orbit together with young cosmonauts Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov. They were presented with cosmonaut identity cards by Rogozin.

Kyiv, Mar 17 (AP) A Russian airstrike ripped apart a theater where hundreds of people have been living in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a self-purification to rid his country of anyone who questions his invasion.

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/: The Project 11442M heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov set to become the Russian Navy’s most powerful surface ship after its repairs and upgrade at the Sevmash Shipyard is being prepared for its handover," the Shipyard’s press office reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 36,519 over the past day to 17,449,438, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Wednesday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.21%.

As many as 5,945 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 18.3% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 64 regions. A day earlier, 7,273 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/: Kiev is proposing that Ukraine become a Swedish or Austrian version of a demilitarized state that has its own armed forces, said Kremlin Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who leads Russia’s delegation at the talks.

"The preservation and development of Ukraine’s neutral status, a demilitarization of Ukraine, a whole range of issues related to the size of the Ukrainian armed forces are being discussed," he said. "Ukraine is proposing the Austrian, Swedish versions of a neutral demilitarized state, which is a state that has an army and a navy."

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/: Moscow’s move to sanction US President Joe Biden does not mean that Russia refuses to hold contacts with the United States, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

"These sanctions don’t mean a refusal to hold contacts," he pointed out. "Contacts can resume if need be," Peskov added.

He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not talked with his US counterpart after the launch of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.