Europe

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has introduced a bill to the State Duma, lower house of parliament, that decriminalizes punishment for violating the terms of repatriation of foreign currency earnings if the entrepreneur has not previously been subjected to administrative fines. The document has been registered in the State Duma database.

The initiative is aimed at further improvement of business climate in the country and reducing the risks of doing business, according to the explanatory note attached to the draft law.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: A 6.6-percent stake in Russia’s energy giant Gazprom was bought by a consortium of investors "at a good price," Gazprombank Head Andrey Akimov told reporters.

"Gazprom is happy and satisfied, the country received the money. [It] was bought by a consortium [of investors]. They are good investors, who believe in Gazprom’s future, there are Russians among them. At a good price," Akimov said when asked who had bought the stake.

"We [Gazprombank] also bought a small portion," he added.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: The first large-scale deliveries of the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter jet to Russia’s Aerospace Force will begin already next year, CEO of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec said in a material published by RBC media group on Thursday.

"Large-scale work awaits us in 2020 to stabilize the aircraft industry… The first large-scale deliveries of the fifth-generation Su-57 aircraft will begin. Of course, these are challenging tasks that will truly mobilize us," the chief executive said, commenting on the plans for the next year.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a regulation approving a program of preparations for hosting the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup in Russia, earmarking more than 3.5 bln rubles ($56.7 mln), according to a document published on the cabinet’s website on Thursday.

26 December 2019; AFP: Syuzan Patvakanyan has been searching for her daughter ever since doctors in post-Soviet Armenia forced her to give her up as a baby nearly two decades ago.

Now 35, she shared her story with AFP as the authorities this month detained the country's chief obstetrician-gynaecologist, the head of an orphanage and other officials as part of a probe into an alleged black-market adoption scheme believed to have been operating for years.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia can finish the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany within a couple of months, Interfax cited Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak as saying.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia has a “pipe-laying vessel” to complete the construction of the Nord Stream 2, Kommersant daily reported citing unnamed sources on Thursday, following sanctions imposed by Washington.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose further above $67 a barrel to its highest in over three months on Thursday, buoyed by a report showing lower U.S. crude inventories, by hopes of an end to the China-U.S. trade dispute and OPEC-led efforts to constrain supply.

The American Petroleum Institute, an oil industry group, said late on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks fell by 7.9 million barrels last week, much more than the decline forecast by analysts.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was freed on Thursday after being briefly detained during a raid on the headquarters of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in Moscow, his spokeswoman told Reuters.

The raid occurred a day after Navalny said that the forcible military conscription of one of his allies to a remote air base in the Arctic amounted to kidnapping and illegal imprisonment.

MOSCOW, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin called Wednesday increasing people's income the "number one goal."

"We all know that one of the main tasks is to increase the income level of citizens, especially those who earn the lowest level of income," Putin said at a meeting with the Russian government, according to an official transcript.

"In the last quarter of the year, even starting from the third, certain growth rates of personal incomes and real wages have been achieved and this trend needs to be maintained and strengthened," he said.

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Police on Thursday sealed off the central part of Montenegro’s capital to prevent protests by pro-Serb opposition against a proposed law regarding religious communities and property.

Dozens of police officers put up metal barriers in Podgorica ahead of a parliamentary debate on the bill. Police said they banned the opposition rally because it had not been announced in time.

The draft law says religious communities would need to produce evidence of ownership of their property from before 1918, when Montenegro joined a Balkan kingdom.