Europe

MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold separate meetings with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on October 1 in Yerevan, the Kremlin press service informed.

"Putin will hold talks with Prime Minister of Armenia Pashinyan and President of Iran Rouhani on the sidelines of the event [the Eurasian Economic Union summit — TASS]," the message informs.

ST. PETERSBURG, September 30. /TASS/: The Project 12700 latest minesweeper Vladimir Yemelyanov has left the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) quay and is heading for the Gulf of Finland for shipbuilders’ sea trials, the Shipyard’s press office reported on Monday.

MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/: Russia has test-fired a Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from the Plesetsk spaceport in the country’s north against a target in Kamchatka in the Russian Far East, the press office of the Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"A Topol-M stationary (silo-based) solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile was test-launched from the Plesetsk state testing cosmodrome on September 30, 2019," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/: The deployment of intermediate-and shorter-range missiles in Central and Western Europe will radically change security conditions for Russia and will force Moscow to take compensatory measures, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the journal International Affairs on Monday.

"I believe that the emergence of such systems in Central and also Western Europe will radically change the situation from the viewpoint of ensuring our national security," the high-ranking diplomat said.

30 September 2019; AFP: The trial of a neo-Nazi "terrorist" cell accused of plotting violent political upheaval in Germany opens Monday amid reports the country's far-right scene is growing more armed and radical.

Eight members of the so-called Revolution Chemnitz group aged between 21 and 32 will answer to charges of "forming a right-wing terrorist organization", according to federal prosecutors.

30 September 2019; AFP: The 33-year-old leader of Austria's centre-right People's Party Sebastian Kurz faces the start of a tough search for possible coalition partners Monday, despite resounding success in parliamentary elections.

His OeVP party won a clear victory with around 37 percent in Sunday's vote, a marked improvement on its performance in 2017. The result means Kurz will have the responsibility of sounding out other parties -- which may be an uphill task.

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine does not want to get involved in U.S. domestic affairs, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as an impeachment inquiry in Washington was set to consider whether U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Kiev to investigate his political rival.

The inquiry was triggered by a whistleblower’s complaint about a July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy. That call is central to the impeachment investigation that Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. Democratic-led House, announced last week.

STARE, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday Kiev was unlikely to publish a summary of a July 25 call in which U.S. President Donald Trump pushed for an investigation into political rival Joe Biden.

Zelenskiy said that Kiev was ready to investigate any case in which the law was broken, but as an independent country, it would not act simply on the orders of others. He said he had had two phone conversations with Trump.

LONDON (Reuters) - In the two weeks since attacks blamed on missiles or drones shut down half of Saudi Arabia’s oil output, the country that has arguably moved most deftly to position itself for any upside is Russia.

Within hours of the attacks, Moscow’s state arms exporter said it would hold talks with countries in the Middle East on selling them new anti-drone weapons systems, muscling in on a market long dominated by the United States. [nR4N265016]

GENEVA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has sent messages to Iran’s president through the leaders of other countries, an Iranian government spokesman said on Monday, at a time of heightened tensions between the regional rivals.

“Messages from the Saudis were presented to (Iran’s President) Hassan Rouhani from the leaders of some countries,” spokesman Ali Rabiei said, according to the semi-official ILNA news agency. “If Saudi Arabia is really pursuing a change of behavior, Iran welcomes that,” he added

Rabiei did not give any information on what the messages contained.