Russia

ST. PETERSBURG, June 16. /TASS/: Russia always responds militarily to Ukrainian strikes, but it seldom presents its retaliation as breaking news, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 15. /TASS/: No country should benefit from the energy crisis or from its status of a transit country for energy resources, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"We have to make sure that no country would take advantage or would take the benefit out of the challenging or crisis-like energy situation now and no country should take profit of the fact that it serves as a transit country for others," he said.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 15. /TASS/: Russia is negotiating a visa-free regime with six Latin American countries, Alexander Shchetinin, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Latin American department, told reporters on Thursday.

MOSCOW, June 15 (NNN-TASS) — Nearly 20 countries are seeking to get BRICS membership and their number continues to grow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS on Thursday.

“The list of candidates for joining the association continues to increase. The number of states seeking to join this association is nearing twenty. It reflects BRICS’ growing and already considerable role in the international arena as an association of countries with similar positions. I would like to stress it,” he said.

MOSCOW, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday warned about the potential ecological and agricultural aftermath of a U.S. plan to supply depleted uranium shells to Ukraine.

During the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Zakharova said using radioactive materials in warfare could spread contamination. She said given its distance from the region, the United States has disregarded the harmful impact of its decision.

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/: The Ukrainian military has lost about 7,500 troops killed and wounded since June 4 in its attempts to attack in the south Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Donetsk areas, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/: The extension of the grain deal is out of the question unless the package of agreements is enforced, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), according to a statement released on the ministry’s website.

"I have to state again that any further extension is out of the question unless the Istanbul package [of agreements] is enforced as it was initiated by UN Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres], by July 17," he said.

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday will be length and will be followed by a discussion, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"The President is preparing to take part in the plenary session of the SPIEF, which will be held on Friday. At the moment, the session is scheduled for 14:00. There will be a lengthy speech by the president, then a discussion," he said.

MOSCOW, June 14 (Reuters) - A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday there was no reason for Moscow not to destroy its enemies' undersea communication cables given what he said was Western complicity in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts.

A sharp drop in pressure on both gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea was registered on Sept. 26 last year and seismologists detected explosions, triggering a wave of speculation about sabotage to one of Russia's most important energy corridors.

13 June 2023; MEMO: President Vladimir Putin said, on Tuesday, that Russia was considering withdrawing from the Black Sea grain deal, saying that Moscow had been "cheated" over implementation of the parts of the accord that concerned its own exports.