Europe

Moscow, July 22, IRNA - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Iran's logic about seizure of the UK oil tanker is more convincing than what the UK officials and the Gibraltar local government have declared about seizure of supertanker Grace 1.

Speaking to reporters, Sergei Ryabkov said it is evident that the logic offered by Iran over seizure of the UK tanker have been more convincing than the statements made by UK officials and Gibraltar government about EU sanctions on Syria.

22 July 2019; DW: Ambassador Walter J Lindner's visit to the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has stirred a controversy in India. Experts say the Hindu extremist group glorifies Adolf Hitler and his "cultural nationalism."

MOSCOW, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Russia will continue to help Syria protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday in a congratulatory message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"I would like to confirm that Russia will continue to support Syria's government and people in their efforts to protect the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as to ensure national security and post-war reconstruction," Putin said in the message.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s party was headed to win the biggest share of votes in the Ukraine’s snap parliamentary election, according to an exit poll Sunday, but it was unclear if the party nailed down a solid majority in the legislature.

The poll of 13,000 voters showed Servant of the People getting 43.9% of the vote for party-list candidates, far ahead of rivals. But 199 of the 424 seats being filled were for single constituencies, which the poll didn’t assess.

LONDON (AP) — The release Sunday of an audio recording has shed new light on the seizure of a British-flagged tanker at the hands of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as tensions flare in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The audio released by maritime security risk firm Dryad Global shows that a British frigate was too far away from the targeted tanker to keep it from being diverted into an Iranian port despite U.K. efforts to keep it from being boarded.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians are voting in an early parliamentary election in which the new party of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to take the largest share of votes.

Polls ahead of Sunday’s balloting showed Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party getting support from a little more than half of those who intended to vote. But only 225 of the 424 seats to be filled in the Verkhovna Rada parliament are being chosen by party list; the rest are single-mandate seats, whose distribution could differ from nationwide sentiment.

KIEV, July 21. /TASS/: Observers representing Ukraine’s Voter Committee have recorded the first irregularities in Sunday’s parliamentary election.

According to observers, "campaign materials are being illegally spread on behalf of the Servant of the People, Opposition Platform - For Life and Opposition Bloc parties."

STOCKHOLM, July 21. /TASS/: Crew members of the Stena Impero oil tanker, detained by the Iranian authorities in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, are feeling well, the head of the ship’s Swedish owner Stena Bulk said in an interview with the SVT TV channel.

"The crew is feeling well, given the present circumstances," Stena Bulk President and Chief Executive Erik Hanell said.

According to him, this information about the ship’s crew, comprising 23 people from Lithuania, India, Russia and The Philippines, came from the insurance company.

KIEV, July 21. /TASS/: A fire broke out aboard the Ivan Golubets, one of Ukraine’s four government-owned deepwater trawlers, which is currently somewhere off West Africa, the Dumskaya news portal of Ukraine’s port city of Odessa reported.

"As a result of the incident, one sailor - an engine mechanic - went missing. A search for him is under way," the web portal said on Saturday.

"It is yet unclear how seriously the trawler was damaged," Dumskaya reported, citing information obtained directly from the crew.

MINSK, July 20. /TASS/: Belarus’ Defense Ministry has dismissed Ukrainian media reports that Russian troops had been deployed to the Belarusian section of the Chernobyl zone of exclusion, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel.

"The reports about alleged ‘Russian forces’ presence in the Belarusian section of the Chernobyl zone of exclusion’ are far from reality," the Defense Ministry said.