Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian emergency officials say the confirmed death toll from the collapse of a section of an apartment building has risen to seven, and 37 residents of the building are still missing.

Rescue crews on Tuesday temporarily halted their search through the rubble in the city of Magnitogorsk while workers tried to remove or stabilize sections of the building in danger of collapse.

The collapse in the 10-story building before dawn on Monday followed an explosion believed to have been triggered by a natural gas leak.

MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/. As 2019 approaches, it may turn out to be the warmest one on record because of the so-called El-Nino phenomenon, Head of Russia’s Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Roman Vilfand told TASS.

"The El-Nino phenomenon occurs when ocean temperatures rise in the central and eastern Equatorial Pacific," he said. "The warming has been affecting larger areas, including other oceans. There has been a huge heat transfer from the ocean to the atmosphere, it gradually engulfs the entire Earth," Russia’s top meteorologist added.

MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/. Foreign companies that provide electronic services in the B2B segment are required to register for taxation and independently pay the VAT in Russia starting from January 1, 2019. Starting today, the relevant changes to the Tax Code have entered into force.

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service has detained US citizen Paul Whelan in Moscow on suspicion of espionage, the public relations center said on Monday.

"On December 28, 2018 staff members of the Russian Federal Security Service detained US citizen Paul Whelan in Moscow while on a spy mission," the center said.

A criminal investigation into espionage has been launched against the US citizen.

If found guilty, he faces between 10 and 20 years in jail.

MOSCOW, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia will take retaliatory measures in case of the deployment of U.S. missiles banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday.

"Russia is under constant pressure from those who see it as some kind of a competitor for some dominant position in world politics. We see this in the example of U.S. actions," Lavrov said in an interview with Russia's Rossiya-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The high-level talks between Russia and Turkey on Syria were useful, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

"We held a very useful meeting of our interdepartmental team: the foreign and defense ministers and the intelligence services’ chiefs," he said.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Russia hopes that Western countries will not hinder the efforts of Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to set up a Syrian constitutional committee, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday after the Russian-Turkish high-level talks.

"We are very hopeful that nobody will hamper our subsequent efforts, including our Western colleagues who have been urging the Astana troika so firmly and persistently in recent months to finish sooner the work on the constitutional committee," he said.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Russia views Kiev’s remarks about an alleged seizure of the so-called "grey zone" in Donbass as a provocation, as it pursues a goal of blocking the peace process, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"We are indignant at the remarks by Y. Biryukov, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, aired by Ukrainian … television channel on December 26. The politician said as follows, "Practically, the entire so-called ‘grey zone’ has been fully liberated and taken under control’," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his best wishes to US President Donald Trump on the occasion of Christmas and New Year holidays, the Kremlin press service informed.

In his message, Putin stressed that "Russian-US relations are a key factor of ensuring strategic stability and international security". The Russian leader also confirmed Russia’s readiness for dialogue with the US on a wide range of issues.

Putin also sent best wishes to former US President George W Bush.

MOSCOW, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Aerospace Forces will get their first medium-range surface-to-air missile system S-350 Vityaz next year, the Defense Ministry said.

The troops will also be equipped with around a dozen Pantsir-S air defense missile-gun systems and S-400 Triumf long-range air defense weapons, the ministry said.

Russia has been modernizing its military equipment In recent years.

Russian troops stationed in the regions of Khabarovsk, Leningrad, Kaliningrad and Crimea were supplied with Pantsir-S and S-400 weapons earlier this year.