Europe

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/: A corporate trail can be traced in all assassinations of US presidents, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview for aif.ru.

"All four assassinations of American leaders are tied to a corporate trail," he said in an interview published Tuesday.

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed two US-made counter-battery radar stations in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.

"In addition, two US-made AN/TPQ-50 and AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radar stations were destroyed in the counter-battery warfare in areas near the communities of Artyomovsk and Dzerzhinsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

BRUSSELS, January 10. /TASS/: Turkey will ratify the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, the bloc’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

"I’m confident that the accession process will be finalized and all NATO allies will ratify the accession protocols in the parliaments, and that also goes for Turkey," he stated at a press conference following the signing of the Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation.

BUDAPEST, January 10. /TASS/: Hungary will not support Kosovo’s admission to the Council of Europe until the unrecognized republic’s authorities settle political disagreements with the Serbian government, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday after talks with his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic.

BUDAPEST, January 10. /TASS/: Hungary will not support Kosovo’s admission to the Council of Europe until the unrecognized republic’s authorities settle political disagreements with the Serbian government, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday after talks with his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic.

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/: Russia’s Military Industrial Commission has set up a working group on armament production control, Security Council Deputy Chairman, Military Industrial Commission First Deputy Head Dmitry Medvedev announced on Tuesday.

‘Within the scope of the powers now vested in me, I have signed a resolution on setting up the Commission’s working group on control of the production of needed armaments, military and special equipment, weapons, combat gear and outfits," Medvedev said.

The politician held a meeting of this working group on Tuesday.

NEWQUAY, England, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Britain's hopes of becoming a prime launch site for small satellites remain intact despite the failure of what would have been the first launch into orbit from western Europe, business minister Grant Shapps said on Tuesday.

Hours after the groundbreaking mission to launch nine satellites ended when a Virgin Orbit rocket launched from a jumbo jet suffered an anomaly that prevented it from reaching orbit, Shapps said another attempt would follow.

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Russia has appointed Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of the country's ground forces, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, despite fierce criticism from leading hawks over his performance in Ukraine.

Lapin, previously commander of Russia's central military district, was blasted last October by hawkish allies of President Vladimir Putin after Russian forces were driven out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, a key logistics hub.

GENEVA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A World Health Organization committee will meet on Jan. 27 to consider whether the COVID-19 pandemic still represents a global emergency, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, three years after it was first declared.

MOSCOW, Jan 10 (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said on Tuesday that Moscow was now fighting the U.S.-led NATO military alliance in Ukraine and that the West was trying to wipe Russia from the political map of the world.

Putin casts the war in Ukraine as an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West, and has said that Russia will use all available means to protect itself and its people against any aggressor.