Europe

BERLIN, February 13. /TASS/: Several hundred politicians from around the world will attend the Munich Security Conference set to take place from February 17-19, with more than a hundred of them being presidents, heads of government or ministers, chairman of the conference Christoph Heusgen told journalists in Berlin on Monday.

"Of these, 150 are high-level government representatives," Heusgen said.

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/: External pressure and sanctions are no obstacle for cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, on the contrary, the ongoing illegal restrictions only help boost the positive tendencies in bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.

BRUSSELS, February 13. /TASS/: NATO considers it necessary to make the Ukrainian armed forces even stronger after the current conflict will end and fully shift it to NATO standards, the alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday at a news conference in Brussels.

CHISINAU, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Moldova's president accused Russia on Monday of planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her tiny country's leadership, stop it joining the European Union and use it in the war against Ukraine.

President Maia Sandu made her comments after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week his country had uncovered a Russian intelligence plan "for the destruction of Moldova", and days after the country's government resigned.

BRUSSELS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Recent incidents regarding balloons shot down by the United States, which suspects they are surveillance balloons from China, form part of a pattern which highlights the need for NATO to be vigilant, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

"What we saw over the United States is part of a pattern where China and also Russia are increasing surveillance activities on NATO allies," Stoltenberg told reporters on Monday.

KYIV, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine was coming heavy Russian artillery fire on Monday as Ukrainian forces there braced for possible ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials said.

Positions in Bakhmut have been fortified and only people with a military role were being allowed in, a deputy battalion commander said. Any civilians who still wanted to leave the city would have to brave the incoming fire, he said.

MOSCOW, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The United States has told its citizens to leave Russia immediately due to the war in Ukraine and the risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment by Russian law enforcement agencies.

"U.S. citizens residing or travelling in Russia should depart immediately," the U.S. embassy in Moscow said. "Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions."

"Do not travel to Russia," it added.

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Sweden has discarded nearly 8.5 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19, local media reported on Sunday.

The discarded doses equal to about 20 percent of vaccine doses Sweden has procured, according to Swedish Public Health Agency's statistics, Radio Sweden reported.

Richard Bergstrom, Sweden's former national vaccine coordinator, told Radio Sweden that the total value of the discarded doses was 1.5 billion Swedish kronor (143 million U.S. dollars).

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Fierce battles raged outside Bahkhut as Russian forces pushed their advance on the eastern city with heavy shelling and infantry attacks, Ukraine’s presidential office said Monday, with at least five civilians killed and as many wounded in action across the war-torn country in the last 24 hours.

The presidential office said the situation in Bakhmut’s northern suburb of Paraskoviivka is “difficult” as Russian forces continued to pummel the area with “intense shelling and storming actions.” The nearby town of Vuhledar is also under heavy bombardment.

12 Feb 2023; MEMO: Pope Francis on Sunday again called for prayers and solidarity with the victims of this week’s earthquakes that shook southern Türkiye and affected Syria.

"We continue to be close, with prayer and concrete support, to the earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey," he said during his Angelus address, the Vatican News reported.

His remarks came as international search and rescue efforts continue in affected areas of Türkiye following the two devastating quakes.