Europe

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/: In a conversation with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia remained ready for negotiations with Ukraine, but as the situation changes their conditions also change, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Tuesday.

"The President said that, of course, Russia remains ready to negotiate, but as the situation changes, so do the conditions," Peskov said.

TASS, September 27: Voting in referendums on joining Russia in the Donetsk and the Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), as well as in the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, is coming to an end. In the latter three, voting ended at 4:00 p.m. Moscow time on Tuesday. In the DPR, some polling stations have also already closed, with some remaining open until 20:00 Moscow time. Preliminary results are coming in from polling stations on Russian territory, where refugees and diplomatic corps were allowed to vote.

THE HAGUE, Sept 27 (NNN-GNA) — The war crimes trial of former rebel leader, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, opened at the International Criminal Court(ICC) in the Hague on Monday.

Said is accused of seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said. Said, 52, insists he is innocent.

Said was a commander of the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels, who overthrew President François Bozizé in 2013.

“They ruled by dictate, by fear, by terror,” Khan charged.

LIVERPOOL, England, Sept 27 (Reuters) - An opposition Labour lawmaker was suspended from the party on Tuesday after being accused of making racist comments about British finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng, with a party spokesperson saying it would call on her to apologise.

Rupa Huq, a lawmaker who represents an area of west London, was accused of racism by Conservatives after the Guido Fawkes website published a recording of her saying about Britain's first Black finance minister that "superficially he is a black man".

BRUSSELS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Any use of nuclear weapons by Russia is unacceptable and would have severe consequences, NATO said on Tuesday after an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin issued another stark nuclear warning to Ukraine and the West.

"Any use of nuclear weapons is absolutely unacceptable, it will totally change the nature of the conflict, and Russia must know that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Sept 27 (Reuters) - Slovakia's parliament on Tuesday ratified the entry of Finland and Sweden to NATO, becoming one of the last countries to back the military alliance's expansion.

Finland and Sweden sought to join NATO this year in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

NATO's 30 members have been ratifying their entry since accession protocols were signed in July. With Slovakia's vote, only Hungary and Turkey remain to approve the expansion.

Sept 27 (Reuters) - First partial results from votes cast inside Russia on whether four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine should be incorporated into Russia showed overwhelming majorities in favour, state news agency RIA said on Tuesday, after so-called referendums that Kyiv and the West have denounced as a sham.

Hastily arranged votes had taken place over five days in the four areas - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - that make up about 15% of Ukrainian territory. Displaced people from those regions were able to cast votes in Russia.

MOSCOW, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Farmers are among the Russians being drafted into the military, President Vladimir Putin told a meeting with officials on Tuesday, signalling potential further risks for the 2023 crop.

Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter. Autumn is a busy season for farmers as they sow winter wheat for the next year's crop and harvest soybeans and sunflower seeds. Winter grain sowing has already been significantly delayed by rains.

LONDON/ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, Sept 27 (Reuters) - An ally of President Vladimir Putin issued a stark new nuclear warning to Ukraine and the West on Tuesday as Russia began releasing results of referendums it bills as a prelude to it annexing four Ukrainian regions.

Moscow's latest broadside came as European countries rushed to investigate unexplained, major leaks in two Russian natural gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea that posed risks of explosions and the sinking of any ships that enter the area.

MOSCOW, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. delegation in Geneva has admitted that Washington had been conducting biological research on low-income citizens from Ukraine at a meeting of the states parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, Russia's Sputnik news agency has reported.