Europe

MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/: Over 40 forest fires are blazing on the territory of 4,800 hectares in Russia, the press service of the Aerial Forest Protection Service said on Tuesady.

"As of 12am on 18 June 2019, 42 forest fires are reported on the territory of over 4,800 hectares, with active firefighting efforts underway," the press service said.

UFA, June 18. /TASS/: The preparations of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s visit to Russia may begin during the July working visit to Caracas by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Venezuelan Ambassador to Russia Carlos Rafael Tortosa told TASS.

BERLIN (AP) — Diplomats and climate experts gathered Monday in Germany for U.N.-hosted talks on climate change amid growing public pressure for governments to act faster against global warming.

Officials meeting in the western city of Bonn for the June 17-27 talks are focusing on resolving issues that couldn’t be agreed upon at last December’s climate summit in Poland . This includes the rules governing the international trade in carbon certificates, which allow countries or companies to offset greenhouse gas emissions by paying for projects in poor nations.

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/: Washington still hasn’t put forward any proposals on a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Donald Trump of the United States that is supposed to take place during the upcoming G20 summit, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/: The Russian national football team will play its 2020 UEFA Euro Cup group stage qualifying match against the team from Scotland in October at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the press service of the Russian Football Union (RFU) announced on Monday.

The qualifier between the Russian and Scottish national teams at the 81,000-seat capacity stadium, which hosted matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, is scheduled to kick off at 9:45 p.m. Moscow time on October 10.

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/: Both Russia and the United States are still interested in extending the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty), Leading Researcher at the Institute for USA and Canadian Studies, ex-Chief of the Main Staff, former First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Missile Force, retired Colonel-General Viktor Yesin told TASS on Monday.

LUXEMBOURG, June 17. /TASS/: Foreign ministers of 28 EU member-states have expressed concerns over the security situation in the Black Sea area and confirmed the non-recognition policy on Crimea, the Council of the European Union said in a statement adopted at its meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/: Moscow is very much interested in boosting investment cooperation with Seoul, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-Wha on Monday.

"As for strengthening positive trends, we have paid special attention to the prospects of implementing major investment projects, particularly given the role of the joint commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation," he said.

BUCHAREST, June 17. /TASS/: The ghost of late US First Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, who was driven insane by the alleged Russian threat and jumped out of a window while interned in a mental asylum shouting, "The Russians are coming!" seems to live on. In fact, it appears to be haunting Romanian Defense Minister Gabriel Les, the Russian embassy in Bucharest said in a statement, commenting on the defense chief’s Friday speech at the Black Sea and Balkans Security Forum 2019 in Romania’s Mamaia.

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/: Washington’s attempts to again accuse Russia of carrying out above the "zero yield" nuclear tests are unacceptable and have no grounds, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"The United States continues making unfounded accusations over Russia’s violation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty," the ministry said, commenting on the June 13 statement of the Defense Intelligence Agency.