Europe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned home following a prisoner swap, officials on both sides said Saturday.

Top Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said in a Telegram post that 116 Ukrainians were freed.

He said the released POWs include troops who held out in Mariupol during Moscow’s monthslong siege that reduced the southern port city to ruins, as well as guerrilla fighters from the Kherson region and snipers captured during the ongoing fierce battles for the eastern city of Bakhmut.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: Reports that the US allegedly offered a plan involving territorial concessions from Ukraine in exchange for peace are just plain false, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"That’s a canard," the Kremlin spokesman said on Friday when asked to comment on media reports that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns allegedly passed on such a proposal to Moscow.

GROZNY, February 3. /TASS/: Fighters from the Akhmat commando unit, together with a brigade from the 2nd Army Corps, have taken a Ukrainian stronghold near the Vesyoloye settlement, Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Friday.

"After a series of effective attacks on the enemy’s forces, they managed to gain a foothold in the Vesyoloye settlement area, taking a strategically important stronghold. Now, the fighters plan to continue advancing as they are in a better position than the enemy," Kadyrov pointed out.

BELGRADE, February 3. /TASS/: The West’s plans to supply Ukraine with German tanks have united Russian citizens, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday.

"The West’s biggest mistake is that they have announced supplies of tanks, especially terrific German-made tanks. But they have only rallied the Russian nation. It is the West’s biggest political mistake because they have united the Russians in the span of one day," he said.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: Countries are increasingly convinced that no one is immune to the West’s banditry and expropriation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a meeting of the United Russia Party commission on international cooperation and support for compatriots abroad.

"As for the West, President [Vladimir] Putin has aptly called it an 'empire of lies.' The West, and this is confirmed by our contacts, has not been perceived globally as the beacon of democracy for a while now.

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/: The RT DE Productions company announced it’s ceasing its work in Germany, the RT in Russian Telegram channel reported on Friday.

"The Berlin-based production company RT DE Productions has announced today it’s ceasing its journalistic activities. The company supplied news content to the website and television channel RT DE, which broadcasts from Moscow in German, providing an alternative point of view on events to millions of viewers," the statement reads.

OSLO, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police in Norway has banned a planned protest including burning a copy of the Islamic holy book, the Quran, hours after the Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Norwegian ambassador to complain.

A group of protesters planned to burn a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Oslo on Friday, police said.

“The police emphasise that burning the Quran is a legal political statement in Norway, but this event can’t go ahead due to security concerns,” Oslo police Inspector Martin Strand said in a statement.

OSLO, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Norway will order 54 new German-made Leopard 2 tanks for its army from the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Group, and will get an option to buy a further 18 tanks at a later time, the government said on Friday.

"We ensure that we have the same tanks as our Nordic neighbours and many key NATO allies," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference.

"This further strengthens our relationship with Germany," he added.

FRANKFURT, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday and signalled at least one more hike of the same magnitude in March.

"In view of the underlying inflation pressures, the Governing Council intends to raise interest rates by another 50 basis points at its next monetary policy meeting in March and it will then evaluate the subsequent path of its monetary policy," the bank said in a statement after the rate-setting meeting.

PARIS, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries and strengthen bilateral relationship in all areas, the Elysee said in a press release on Friday.

During a working dinner Thursday night, Macron said Netanyahu choosing France as his first visit outside the Middle East since his appointment as Israeli prime minister shows the "closeness" between the two countries and the two people.