Europe

31 Aug 2021; MEMO: Russia has rejected the US decision to freeze the assets of Afghanistan's Central Bank following the return of the Taliban to the government in Kabul, Associated Press has reported.

"If our Western colleagues are actually worried about the fate of the Afghan people, then we must not create additional problems for them by freezing gold and foreign exchange reserves," said Moscow's envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov.

31 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Polish government has asked the president to introduce a state of emergency in parts of two regions next to the border with Belarus, the prime minister said today, as the country faces a spike in illegal border crossings, Reuters reports.

The state of emergency will last for 30 days, Mateusz Morawiecki said.

31 Aug 2021; MEMO: The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been urged by British lawyers representing victims to open a war crimes investigation into the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen. A dossier submitted to The Hague yesterday provides evidence which suggests strongly that crimes against humanity have been committed during the six-year conflict.

VOLGOGRAD, August 30. /TASS/: The Russian Orthodox Church is under tremendous pressure from the United States, which set itself a goal of destroying the unity of world Orthodox Christianity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday at a meeting with the public and young adults in Volgograd.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: All of the Russian latest weapon systems have been tested in the counter-terror operation in Syria, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said in an exclusive interview for the Solovyov-Live YouTube Channel on Monday.

"In Syria, where we have tested over 320 [types of weapon], in fact, we have tested all the weapons, except for easy-to-understand versions," the defense chief said.

The Russian defense industry has considerably strengthened its positions in recent years, Shoigu noted.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 18,325 in the past 24 hours, reaching 6,901,152, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Monday.

This is the lowest number since June 23. The relative growth rate stands at 0.27%.

The Moscow Region reported 858 new cases, the Sverdlovsk Region — 520, the Rostov Region — 482, the Perm Region — 472 and the Voronezh Region — 462.

Currently, 556,293 people in Russia are still undergoing treatment.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation plans to create a new reusable space freighter based on the latest Oryol crewed spaceship currently in development, Energia Chief Designer, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Solovyov told TASS on Monday.

"We want to create a reusable cargo spaceship based on the Oryol [spacecraft]," Solovyov said.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: The question about changing the status of the Taliban movement in Russia (outlawed in Russia) is premature. It remains to be seen what their first steps will look like and what kind of leadership they form, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Monday.

MOSCOW, Aug 30 (NNN-TASS) – The United States will continue to toughen its stance towards China, in a bid to restrain the Asian country and “deflect attention” from its domestic challenges and overseas mistakes, a Russian political scientist said.

“The United States views China’s economic development as a fundamental, existential threat to U.S. businesses and its global leadership, hence the attempts to push Chinese companies, in particular, Huawei, out of the high-tech market,” Sergei Markov, general director of the Moscow-based Institute for Political Studies, said recently.

BERLIN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives on Monday rallied behind their candidate to replace her after a national election on Sept. 26, promising to go on the offensive after he struggled to revive their campaign in a debate with rivals.

Armin Laschet, leader of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), lost a heated televised debate with his two main rivals on Sunday, according to a snap poll, as surveys show his party falling behind the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).