Europe

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/: Moscow has been closely following the visit of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to the Zolotoye settlement in Donbass, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"Of course, we have been following the situation closely. The talks that took place have shined a light on the existing issues, showing their primary source," he said. Peskov noted that if Zelensky manages to make the Ukrainian nationalists follow his directives, the preparations for the Normandy Four summit can be sped up.

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/: A court in the Moscow Region on Monday ruled to arrest a college student who planned to murder his classmates.

"The Zaraisk City Court ruled to place Boris Banin suspected in an attempted murder of two or more people (part 2, article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code) under arrest till December 23," the press service of the Moscow Region Court told TASS.

According to investigators, Banin planned to shoot and kill his college mates and a lecturer during class time. A handgun, presumably a Makarov pistol, was seized from him during the arrest.

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/: Washington’s potential withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty could become a sad turn of events, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Monday.

"I have only read what you have read [about the US potential withdrawal from the treaty]. This [pullout] would be sad," Lavrov noted.

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/: Moscow’s law enforcement agencies have successfully countered attempts of staging mass riots in the Russian capital, the city mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, told a meeting devoted to preventing crimes on Monday.

The Moscow mayor recalled that dozens of peaceful demonstrations and rallies took place in Moscow but several unauthorized events were also held.

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued instructions to the government to look into amendments stipulating criminal responsibility for propagating or soliciting the use of drugs over the worldwide web.

"Take additional measures to counter the illegal trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, which include amendments to Russia’s legislation, by establishing criminal responsibility for the propaganda or incitement to use drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues via the Internet," the instruction reads.

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/: Deaths from strokes in Russia have halved over the past 10 years, in particular thanks to the creation of special regional and municipal centers, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said on Monday in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda radio.

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/: Syria’s government forces are strengthening their positions along the Turkish border in the country’s north, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Monday.

According to the agency, Syrian troops are expanding their presence in the 90-km area between the cities of Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli.

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/: Two-thirds of Muscovites consider the Russian capital to be a safe city to live, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at a meeting on crime prevention on Monday.

"I must say that a few years ago, the rate of Muscovites who viewed our city as safe was less than one-third," he pointed out.

BUCHAREST, Oct 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sporting yellow safety helmets, about 30 men are busy at work on a construction site south of Bucharest, exchanging a few words in Vietnamese.

Faced with a growing labour shortage which threatens their economies, Romania and Hungary are courting Asian workers, going against Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-immigration rhetoric.

“My friend, my friend,” a Romanian worker says to his Vietnamese colleague in English at the Bucharest construction site, trying to break the language barrier.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump will have made a major contribution to the fight against international terrorism if a U.S. assertion that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead is true.

Trump on Sunday announced that Baghdadi had killed himself during a daring overnight raid by elite U.S. special operations forces in Syria.