Europe

GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. envoy to Libya said on Tuesday there was a “genuine will to start negotiating” between rival military factions as they planned to meet for the first time for talks in Geneva aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire.

However, Ghassan Salame told reporters that an arms embargo was being violated by both sides and that new mercenaries and arms were still arriving “by air and by sea” in Libya, where forces loyal to eastern based commander Khalifa Haftar have been trying to take the capital, Tripoli, for the past 10 months.

KIEV, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the increase of bilateral trade and investment with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the eighth meeting of the bilateral High-Level Strategic Council held in Kiev, the Ukrainian president's press service said Monday.

The two leaders talked about the growth of bilateral trade and discussed signing an agreement on a free trade zone between the two countries. They expressed the hope for strengthening cooperation in various fields, including trade, energy and investment.

TIRANA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The European Parliament (EP) strongly supports the opening of accession talks of Albania with the European Union (EU), EP President David Sassoli said here on Monday.

At a joint press conference with Prime Minister Edi Rama, Sassoli, who is paying a two-day official visit to Albania, told reporters that the membership process should resume despite the slowdown at the end of last year.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: The Medplant company, a resident of the Moscow Special Economic Zone, has come up with a unique portable device that monitors a patient’s condition on an artificial ventilation. The device can be used both in medical facilities and in the field, says the Moscow Department of Investment and Industrial Policy.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: The Chinese side has not yet shared the new coronavirus strain with Russia, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said on Monday.

"I would like to say that our specialists are working in this area. The Chinese side has not given us a possibility to use its data in what concerns the vaccine or the strain. So, we are working on this problem using available sources and what we have at the moment," she said.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: An invitation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit Crimea is in force, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: Turkish aircraft did not enter Syrian airspace to carry out airstrikes on the positions of Syrian government forces, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria (part of the Russian Defense Ministry) said in a statement on Monday.

"Turkish Air Force aircraft did not violate Syria’s borders, no airstrikes on the positions of Syrian troops have been recorded," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: All proposals on possible amendments to the Russian Constitution, including the one concerning a reference to God, will be considered by a working group that will eventually make a consolidated conclusion, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: The deliveries of the armor based on the Armata combat platform to the troops for operational evaluation will begin this year, CEO of the Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer Alexander Potapov said in an interview with Vedomosti newspaper published on Monday.

"In 2020, we will begin the deliveries for the operational evaluation of this armor. During the factory tests, all the vehicle’s stated characteristics were confirmed," the chief executive said.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: Moscow does not consider the US and Belarus rapidly becoming closer, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the recent visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Minsk, where he held talks with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.

"We hardly can talk about ultra-rapid convergence here," Peskov said.

He refused to provide further comments on the specific details of the negotiations.