Europe

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: The grain deal can hardly be implemented without Russia and it is becoming more risky by nature, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"In conditions when Russia speaks about impossibility of guaranteeing safe shipping in indicated areas, such deal certainly can hardly be implemented. It acquires a different nature, much more risky, dangerous and non-guaranteed," Peskov said.

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: All partial military mobilization activities and the handing out of military summonses have been halted, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

"All activities related to conscription of reservists for military service by military enlistment offices and regional governments have been halted. The preparation and handing out of military summonses are now stopped," the ministry said.

SOCHI, October 31. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is hopeful that his trilateral meeting with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will make it possible to outline steps to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, as he himself said at a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday.

"I know that you have the political will to do it and we support this. We need to outline the key aspects that will allow us to move forward during our meeting and at a trilateral meeting later," Putin said, addressing Pashinyan.

LONDON, Oct 31 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, congratulated president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his victory in Brazil’s election against incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, saying he looked forward to coordinating on issues including protecting the planet’s natural resources.

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Britain on Monday warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of severe consequences if Moscow uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, saying such a step would change the nature of the conflict.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also urged Russia not to impede grain exports, and said that "increasingly desperate statements" from the Kremlin were designed to distract from its faltering war effort.

Putin has said that Russia hasn't talked about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, saying instead that Kyiv could create and detonate a "dirty bomb".

CHISINAU, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Moldova declared a Russian embassy employee in the capital Chisinau persona non grata on Monday, and Russian news agencies quoted Moscow as saying it would respond to the decision.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry did not identify the employee in a statement issued after the Russian ambassador was summoned and informed that the employee must leave Moldova.

OSLO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Norway will put its military on a raised level of alert from Tuesday, moving more personnel on to operational duties and enhancing the role of a rapid mobilisation force in response to the war in Ukraine, the government said on Monday.

Norway will also seek to bring its new fleet of U.S.-made P-8 Poseidon submarine-hunting maritime patrol aircraft into regular operation at a faster pace than originally planned, the chief of defence, General Eirik Kristoffersen, said.

KIEV, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine had suspended foodstuffs exports due to blockage of the "grain corridor," Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov has said.

"Due to the blockage of the grain corridor by Russia the export is impossible," Kubrakov tweeted on Sunday.

The minister said a vessel carrying 40,000 tons of grain intended for Ethiopia got stuck in the port in Ukraine on Sunday.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s election on Tuesday is expected to change its political landscape, with new parties hoping to enter parliament and others seeing their support dwindle. A former prime minister who left his party to create a new one this year could end up as a kingmaker, with his votes being needed to form a new government.

Neither the center-left nor the center-right is likely to capture a majority, which is 90 seats in the 179-seat Folketing. That could leave former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen in the pivotal role as he seeks to bridge the center.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive barrage of Russian strikes hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities on Monday morning, knocking out water and power supplies in apparent retaliation for what Moscow alleged was a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea Fleet over the weekend.

Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s power plants and other key infrastructure as the war enters its ninth month. Large parts of Ukraine are already experiencing rolling power cuts as a result of Russia’s strategy.