Europe

PARIS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is holding talks on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel amid growing tensions with Russia, which has deployed troops at the border with the country.

Zelenskyy is traveling to Paris to meet with Macron during a working lunch at the Elysee presidential palace. Both heads of state will then talk via videoconference with Merkel, Macron’s office said.

15 Apr 2021; MEMO: Greece has agreed to resume talks on demarcating the maritime border areas in the Mediterranean with the Libyan authorities, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced yesterday.

15 Apr 2021; MEMO: Denmark has stripped 94 Syrian refugees of their residency status in one week as it presses ahead with a controversial, dangerous policy of maintaining that Syria is safe to return to.

15 Apr 2021; MEMO: Nine French MPs have called on President Emmanuel Macron to provide data and maps about nuclear waste sites in Algeria, agencies reported yesterday. The French conducted nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara in the 1960s.

"You now have the opportunity to take concrete action in favour of the civilians and the environment which continue to be affected by nuclear waste buried by France in the sands of the Algerian Sahara," the MPs told Macron. "You must seize it."

15 Apr 2021; MEMO: The British government has suffered a major setback in its attempt to safeguard British soldiers from being prosecuted for crimes against humanity, genocide, torture and war crimes. The House of Lords — Britain's upper chamber — submitted an amendment to the proposed Overseas Operations Bill.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: A bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden can hardly be arranged in the coming weeks while the issue is still being analyzed, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"Naturally, it won’t be possible to organize a bilateral meeting so quickly. This issue is still being analyzed," the Russian presidential spokesman said, replying to a corresponding question.

The Kremlin spokesman added that most likely "this relates to a climate summit planned for next week."

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Russia’s ZALA Aero (part of the Kalashnikov Group within the state tech corporation Rostec) has developed the world’s first light unmanned aircraft ZALA 421-16E5G outfitted with a hybrid powerplant combining an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, ZALA Aero Special Projects Head Nikita Khamitov told TASS during the drone’s presentation on Thursday.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Brazil’s air force highly estimates flying characteristics of the Russian Mi-35M transport/attack helicopters, Valeria Reshetnikova, a spokesperson for the Russian Federal Service Military Technical Cooperation, told TASS on Thursday.

"The command and pilots of the Brazilian Air Forces highly estimate Mi-35M’s combat characteristics, reliability and easy maintenance in the extremely difficult conditions of the Amazon tropics," she said.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 8,944 COVID-19 cases over the past day, bringing the total caseload to 4,675,153, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday.

The growth rate stands at 0.19% in relative terms.

The lowest growth rates were registered over the past day in the Nenets Autonomous Region and the Chukotka Autonomous Region (0%), the Republic of Tuva (0.01%), the Magadan Region and the Jewish Autonomous Region (0.02%).

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Russia condemns Washington's sanctions plans and will respond to them on the principle of reciprocity in order to best ensure its interests, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Thursday.

"We condemn any pursuit of sanctions, we consider them illegal. In any case, the principle of reciprocity in this matter is valid; reciprocity in a way that best serves our interests," he specified.