Russia

ST. PETERSBURG, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia's airlines carried 78,800 passengers to China in the first five months of 2023, which was almost 10 times the volume in the previous year, said Russia's Ministry of Transport on Friday.

During the same period last year, Russia's airlines transported 7,500 passengers to China. As the Ministry of Transport clarified, the growth was associated with the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in China and an increase in the number of flights.

MOSCOW, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry will continue studying U.S. biological activities in Ukraine, and has data confirming Washington's work aimed at developing biological weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

"Our defense ministry is continuing to provide the global community with evidence ... proving that the Pentagon was developing biological weapons in Ukraine," Lavrov said at an online briefing.

NOVOSIBIRSK, June 29. /TASS/: Developing the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and North-South transport corridor will be a priority for Russia over the coming ten years, Russian Presidential Aide and State Council Secretary Igor Levitin told a forum on Thursday.

"We face a lack of access to the Northern Sea Route now. Our task [on cargo transportation] is 80 mln tons, with 36 [mln tons] today. However, I would say that the Northern Sea Route and North-South [corridor] are two priority tasks for the coming ten years. <…> The Eastern polygon will take its 180 mln [tons]," he said.

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/: Two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 officers along with about 20 foreign mercenaries and military advisers were eliminated in Russia’s strike on the Kiev forces’ deployment site in Kramatorsk, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Western sanctions and the departure of foreign companies have a positive effect on the Russian economy, as such moves have expanded business opportunities for Russian entrepreneurs, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

"As I have already said ... the world hasn't collapsed as a result of the sanctions or the departure of Western companies," the Kremlin cited Putin as saying at the plenary session of the third economic forum "Strong Ideas for the New Times."

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/: The West’s plot to weaken Russia by supporting Ukraine in the conflict is doomed to failure, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/: Russia is calling on responsible countries not to participate in the so-called global peace summit proposed by Kiev due to the provocative nature of this initiative, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"We are urging responsible countries who truly strive for peace, and what’s more, express desire and readiness to play a constructive role in seeking a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict, not to participate in this enterprise. It is provocative," the diplomat said.

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/: Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) has passed a bill in the first reading imposing a windfall tax on large companies. The document was proposed by the Russian government.

The bill suggests imposing a windfall tax on entities whose average profit for 2021 and 2022 exceeded 1 bln rubles ($11.5 mln), defining that the tax base for this tariff is calculated as the increase of the arithmetic mean value of profit for 2021 and profit for 2022 over the arithmetic mean value of profit for 2018 and profit for 2019, while the tax rate is set at 10%

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/: Russia can’t give up the goals of its special military operation in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

June 28 (Reuters) - White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has been in touch with Moscow to discuss the respective Russian and U.S. embassies, and the two sides are in talks on the subject, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

The two countries' embassies have been severely and reciprocally scaled down in recent years as relations have worsened, notably since Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and especially after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, in what it calls a "special military operation".