Russia

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/: Half of the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Russia have been frozen due to sanctions, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview with the Rossiya 1 TV channel.

"This is about half of these reserves that we had. We have a total amount of reserves of about $640 bln. Currently we cannot use about $300 billion of these reserves," he said.

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/: A member of Russia’s delegation at negotiations with Ukraine, chairman of the State Duma’s international affairs committee Leonid Slutsky, has said that negotiations between Moscow and Kiev may develop into a common stance and documents yet to to be signed.

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/: Chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin has ordered to investigate the circumstance of the mass execution of civilians in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), the Committee’s press service said on Sunday.

"The Investigative Committee chairman has ordered investigators to collect evidence and identify all those involved in it in order to bring them to responsibility under law," it said.

MOSCOW, March 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia’s space agency has sent NASA and other international partners a letter demanding an end to sanctions, saying they could threaten the International Space Station.

In a tweet Saturday, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said the letter appealed to the space agencies of the United States, Canada and Europe to keep the space station operational.

He illustrated the appeal with a map showing the flight path of the ISS — and a potential fall zone that straddles much of the world but barely touches upon Russia.

March 13 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's anti-corruption body has detained a nephew of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, it said on Sunday, the latest in a series of moves against his family.

Nazarbayev, 81, resigned as president in 2019 but retained sweeping powers as the head of the security council and the leader of the ruling party, and backed then-ally Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as successor.

In January, protests over a jump in fuel prices turned violent in several major Kazakh cities, and Tokayev stripped Nazarbayev of the security council role, taking it over himself.

MOSCOW, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday, and urged them to influence the Kiev authorities to stop "criminal acts" of Ukrainian "nationalist battalions," according to the Kremlin.

Macron and Scholz urged an immediate ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine, the German government said in a statement, noting the 75-minute talk as part of the ongoing international efforts to end the conflict.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 48,154 over the past day to 17,290,197, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Saturday.

The number of new cases is the lowest since January 20. In relative terms, the number of cases increased by 0.47%.

As many as 6,775 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, 10.45% fewer than in the previous day. The number of hospitalized patients declined in 54 regions, while in 29 other regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in two regions.

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/: Moscow and Washington are not negotiating or consulting on the Ukrainian issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with Channel One.

"There is no consultative negotiation process with the United States on Ukraine," he said.

MOSCOW, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Russia will publish individual sanctions against the West in the near future, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday.

"The lists are ready," Ryabkov said on Russian broadcaster Channel One, adding that the sanctions will be made public soon.

According to Ryabkov, Moscow sees no indication that the United States was ready to continue dialogue on Ukraine.

The diplomat also warned Washington against transferring weapons to Ukraine, adding that these weapons will become legitimate targets for the Russian forces.

12 March 2022; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the transport of volunteer fighters from the Middle East to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.

Putin held an online meeting with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as part of the Security Council meeting, where he received a briefing on the latest situation in Ukraine.