Europe

MOSCOW, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed on the importance of coordinating on Afghanistan during a telephone conversation on Tuesday.

The leaders noted that closer cooperation on Afghanistan would contribute to the establishment of peace and stability in the region, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"They expressed their readiness to build up cooperation in countering the spread of terrorist ideology and the drug threat emanating from Afghanistan," it added.

Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport said yesterday that it may soon sign a new contract with Turkey on the supply of more S-400 air defence missile systems, RIA Novosti reports.

A new contract for S-400 missiles will be signed soon, Rosoboronexport head Alexander Mikheyev said at a briefing, the report said.

BERLIN (AP) — Seven people at a university in western Germany have received medical treatment after showing symptoms of poisoning, and prosecutors have opened an investigation into suspicions of attempted murder, authorities said Tuesday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president on Tuesday urged closer ties between the ex-Soviet nation and NATO and the European Union in a speech marking the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.

Ukraine celebrated its independence day on Tuesday with a military parade and massive festivities in the capital Kyiv. Opening the parade, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a strong Ukraine is “a country that dreams ambitiously and acts decisively.”

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief warned Tuesday that she had received credible reports of severe abuses in areas under Taliban control in Afghanistan, including “summary executions” of civilians and security forces who had laid down their arms and restrictions on women.

Michelle Bachelet urged the Human Rights Council to take “bold and vigorous action” to monitor the rights situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban’s stunning takeover raised fears that they will return the country to the brutal rule they imposed when they were last in power.

KUBINKA / Moscow region/, August 23. /TASS/: At a meeting with visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested they exchange views on the situation in Syria and Afghanistan.

"Of course, we hope for an exchange of views on the most pressing matters <…>. They are the normalization of the situation in Syria and the current escalation in Afghanistan," the Russian leader said, adding that these topics have been on the agenda of the Russian-Jordanian relations for years.

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/: Ethiopia hopes to receive a batch of the Sputnik V vaccine in the near future after resolving some technical details, Ethiopian Ambassador to Moscow Alemayehu Tegenu Aargau said in an interview with TASS.

In response to a corresponding question, the ambassador said that he expected the "supplies of the Russian vaccine in Ethiopia in the nearest future." "I hope, the technical issues will be finalized soon," he added.

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/: The situation in Afghanistan's Panjshir province is potentially fraught with another civil war in Afghanistan and Moscow has no intention of interfering in the conflict between the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) and the resistance forces, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Monday.

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has apprehended a Ukrainian national in Tula, a city located 193 km south of Moscow, for gathering highly-classified information on the latest types of weapons on orders from Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB press office told TASS on Monday.

"The Federal Security Service has apprehended a Ukrainian national red-handed in Tula for gathering data constituting a state secret on the latest armaments and secret technical documentation for them," the press office stated.

KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, August 23. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a command via a video conference to lay down six combat ships for the Russian Navy at three shipyards on Monday.

The Russian leader launched the construction of combat ships at the shipyards located in Severodvinsk, St. Petersburg and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The Russian president gave the keel-laying command from the Patriot Park in Kubinka outside Moscow where the Army 2021 international military-technical forum opened on Monday.