Europe

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Both Islamic world and the leading powers should join efforts to prevent the creation of a hotbed in the Middle East, Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Russian North Caucasus region of Chechnya, said.

Kadyrov commented on the Saturday attack on oil installations in Saudi Arabia. Drone strikes started fire at two oil facilities of Saudi Aramco company, AP reported citing the Saudi authorities’ statement.

KRASNOYARSK, September 15. /TASS/: A Yakovlev Yak-42 aircraft has landed at the airport in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk after reporting a technical malfunction, the Emergencies Ministry’s regional department told TASS on Sunday.

"The Yak-42 was flying over Krasnoyarsk. It reported a malfunction and landed in a routine mode. There was no emergency landing," a spokesman said.

Earlier on Sunday, the plane, which was en route Talakan-Krasnoyarsk-Omsk-Ufa with 116 passengers onboard, reported an engine malfunction.

DONETSK, September 15. /TASS/: Ukraine’s statements on refusal to provide a special status to Donbass are a signal of its deliberate plan to sabotage peaceful settlement, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic's Foreign Minister Natalya Nikonorova said on Sunday.

BELGRADE, September 15. /TASS/: The North Atlantic Alliance has been pushing for Serbia’s accession since this would justify all NATO’s atrocities in the country, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said in an interview with Serbian daily Politika published on Sunday.

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is monitoring the US Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport USNS Yuma (T-EPF-8) that entered the Black Sea on Saturday, the National Defense Management Center (part of the Russian Defense Ministry) said on Sunday.

"The Black Sea Fleet is escorting the US fast transport USNS Yuma that entered the Black Sea’s waters at nearly 17:30 on September 14," the center said.

The Russian military notes that the Black Sea Fleet’s forces on duty "are continuously monitoring the US vessel."

BRUSSELS, September 15. /TASS/: For uninterrupted gas transit to the EU in 2020 Ukraine and Russia won’t have to sign a new gas contract provided that Kiev meets its commitments on implementing European energy rules in its legislation, a source in the European energy sector told TASS.

According to the source, Kiev has undertaken commitments as a member of the European energy community to implement in its legislation by January 1, 2020 European energy norms, including on holding auctions of reserving transit capacities.

15 September 2019; AFP: A Taliban delegation held talks with Russian officials in Moscow after US negotiations with the Afghan insurgents collapsed, the Russian foreign ministry said Saturday.

"The Russian president's special representative for Afghanistan... Zamir Kabulov, hosted a Taliban delegation in Moscow," a ministry spokesman said, quoted by RIA Novosti state-funded news agency.

No date for the talks was given.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is making progress towards a Brexit deal but significant work remains to be done, Brexit minister Stephen Barclay told Sky News on Sunday.

“There’s been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes. We can see a landing zone in terms of a future deal but there is significant work still to do,” Barclay said.

Barclay said he would be meeting EU negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday.

LONDON (Reuters) - The oil market will rally by $5-10 per barrel when it opens on Monday and may spike to as high as $100 per barrel if Saudi Arabia fails to quickly resume oil supply lost after attacks over the weekend, traders and analysts said.

Attacks on two plants at the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry on Saturday knocked out more than half of Saudi crude output, or 5% of global supply.

Industry sources have said it may take weeks to bring production fully online.

Below are quotes from market participants, traders and analysts.

HELSINKI, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The finance ministers of members of the European Union on Saturday discussed options of changing the EU energy legislation to adapt to the climate change combat.

Air travel taxation got attention, but with emphasis on the needs to take into account the competitiveness matter.

Mika Lintila, the Finnish finance minister, said in a statement that it is "difficult to envision air travel taxation without the taxes being global".