Europe

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia is preparing intergovernmental agreements on visa-free travel with 11 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, The Bahamas, Malaysia and Mexico, State Secretary - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov told TASS.

"We’re preparing draft intergovernmental agreements on visa-free travel for [Russian] citizens with a number of countries, such as Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Zambia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago. The agreements are at various stages of development," Ivanov said.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russian Defense Minister, General of the Army Sergey Shoigu held a meeting with the commanders of groups of troops in the zone of Russia’s special military operation, the ministry reported on Sunday.

"Russian Defense Minister Shoigu held a meeting with the commanders of the special military operation groups. He heard commanders' reports on the current situation in their areas of responsibility, as well as plans for future actions," the statement said.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 13,559 over the past day to 22,342,28, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

As many as 840 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day. The number of hospitalized patients declined in 65 regions, while in 11 other regions the figure increased. A day earlier, 1,571 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russian troops hit the command post of the nationalist regiment Azov (banned in the Russian Federation) in the Zaporozhye region around Maryevka, official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov announced on Sunday.

"The command post of the nationalist Azov regiment was hit near the village of Maryevka, Zaporozhye region," Konashenkov said.

BRUSSLS, March 5. /TASS/: The European Commission’s position that Russian banks that have been disconnected from SWIFT can use fax or e-mail to make transactions with European banks are void, since European banks cannot operate in this regime, two separate sources in the banking sector told TASS on Sunday.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: The United States is forcing European countries to finance the Kiev regime to the detriment of its citizens, but Washington itself allocates only 0.37% of its share of GDP for these purposes, Chairman of the Russian State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) Vyacheslav Volodin wrote in his Telegram channel on Sunday.

ATHENS, March 5 (Reuters) - Clashes erupted briefly between police and a group of demonstrators in central Athens on Sunday on the fringes of a protest by thousands of students and railway workers over Greece's deadliest train crash in living memory.

A small group of protesters hurled petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas and hand grenades, before dispersing to nearby streets.

LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - Anyone arriving illegally in Britain will be prevented from staying, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in an interview published on Sunday, ahead of new legislation which is expected to be set out next week.

Under pressure from his own lawmakers to find a solution to the flow of migrants arriving in Britain across the channel from Europe, Sunak has made stopping small boats one of his five key priorities.

"Make no mistake, if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay," Sunak told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

VALLETTA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Interior ministers of five European Union (EU) Mediterranean countries on Saturday called for more EU solidarity on migration and more efforts to prevent irregular migration.

At the end of the so-called "Med 5" ministerial-level meeting held in Malta's capital Valletta on Friday and Saturday, ministers of Malta, Greece, Italy, Spain and Cyprus signed a joint declaration.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonians were voting Sunday in a general election that the center-right Reform Party of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. one of Europe’s most outspoken supporters of Ukraine, is a favorite to win.

She faces a challenge from the populist opposition EKRE party that is seeking to limit the Baltic nation’s exposure to the Ukraine crisis and is blaming the government for citizens’ economic misery.