Europe

PSKOV, March 1. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the servicemen of the 6th company of the Pskov airborne division, who lost their lives in a battle with militants in the Argun River gorge in Chechnya 20 years ago.

Putin arrived in Pskov, northwestern Russia, which is marking the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. The Russian leader talked to the relatives of the perished paratroopers.

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/: Tit-for-tat measures against Turkish mass media will follow soon, a diplomatic source in Moscow told TASS on Sunday following the detention of Sputnik Turkiye employees in Turkey.

"Response measures against Turkish media will follow," the source said.

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry has rejected a report that a Russian Su-24 jet was downed by a man-portable air-defense system in the sky over Idlib.

"The report citing militants’ Internet resources that the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces’ Su-24 was shot down from a man-portable air-defense system over the Idlib de-escalation zone is fake," the ministry said.

According to the defense ministry, Russia’s aircraft are fulfilling their mission as normal.

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/: Russia is doing its utmost to combat coronavirus and the situation is under control in general, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting at Vnukovo airport’s government terminal on Sunday.

"Russia is making every effort to fight this dangerous disease, all necessary measures have been taken. I hope they will be effective," the Russian president said. "The situation is under control in general," he noted.

1 March 2020; AFP: A centre-right anti-graft party is on course to form Slovakia's next government after voters ousted the governing leftists in polls marked by backlash over a journalist's killing in the eurozone state.

Vowing to push through anti-corruption measures in the judiciary and police, the leader of the winning OLaNO party Igor Matovic managed to galvanise voter outrage over the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee and the high-level graft their deaths exposed.

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Sunday it had held talks with the Kremlin on swapping all remaining prisoners from the conflict in east Ukraine, and the next exchange might take place later this month.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy agreed in December to send prisoners home, and scores were handed over just before the end of the year.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Chavushoglu agreed on the need to create a “favorable atmosphere” to improve working relations between their countries, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.

“The ministers have declared in favor of the adoption of measures to create a favorable atmosphere that will facilitate the effectiveness of the dialogue on the implementation of agreements in support of the Syrian settlement and other issues on the agenda of Russian-Turkish relations,” the ministry said.

KASTANIES, Greece (AP) — Syria’s official news agency said two of its warplane were shot down by Turkish forces inside northwest Syria, amid a military escalation there that’s led to growing direct clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces.

SANA says the jets were targeted over the Idlib region, and that the four pilots ejected with parachutes and landed safely. These confrontations have added to soaring tensions between Turkey and Russia, which support opposing sides of the Syrian civil war.

KASTANIES, Greece (AP) — The United Nations said Sunday that at least 13,000 people were massed on Turkey’s land border with Greece, after Turkey officially declared its western borders were open to migrants and refugees hoping to head into the European Union.

Turkey’s decision to open the borders with Greece came amid a military escalation in Syria’s northwest that has led to growing direct clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces.

ROME, March 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of cases of the new coronavirus in Italy has exceeded 1,000, the health ministry said, with the death toll rising by eight to 29 in the past 24 hours.

The number of cases has reached 1,128 since the start of the epidemic a week ago, up from 888 on Friday.

Around half those tested show few to no symptoms, the Italian health authorities said.

Official figures said 105 people were receiving intensive care hospital treatment as of Saturday.