Europe

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Russia will not abandon its sovereign policy and it will push ahead with the unifying agenda on different platforms, including the UN General Assembly session, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with newly-appointed foreign ambassadors on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 46,474 over the past day to 20,535,057, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Tuesday.

A day earlier, 49,488 daily cases were recorded.

As many as 4,651 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, up 126.4% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients increased in 79 regions, while in five regions the figure decreased. The situation remained unchanged in one region. A day earlier, 2,054 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Russian Presidential Envoy for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization affairs Bakhtiyer Khakimov on Tuesday said the group’s recent summit in Uzbekistan was a success, creating reverberations around the globe.

"The meeting in Samarkand was a success, to put it simply. In fact, the ramifications that we are still seeing around the world confirm that the meeting was very successful," the diplomat said at a news conference.

According to Khakimov, 44 documents were signed during the event, 22 of which were "adopted at the highest level."

TASS, September 20: Leadership of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as liberated Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions made a decision Tuesday to hold referendums on accession to the Russian Federation in response to address of the civil movements. The vote in all four regions will take place on September 23-27.

Sept 20 (Reuters) - Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said Russian weapons were showing great effectiveness in Ukraine and that the country needs to enhance the capacity of its arms industry.

BERLIN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday said he was "very irritated" about Turkey's attempts to join a Central Asian security body dominated by Russia and China.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday he was targeting membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation for Turkey, which is also a member of the NATO defense alliance.

"This is not an organization that is delivering an important contribution to a good global coexistence," Scholz said at the U.N. General Assembly in New York after meeting with Erdogan.

ROME, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The Brothers of Italy party, which is tipped to win national elections at the weekend, suspended one of its candidates on Tuesday after he was found to have praised Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in online posts.

Brothers of Italy traces its roots back to a neo-fascist group set up after World War Two, but its leader Giorgia Meloni, expected to be Italy's next prime minister, has looked to distance herself from the far-right and says her party is mainstream conservative.

MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Russia's parliament on Tuesday approved a bill to toughen punishments for a host of crimes such as desertion, damage to military property and insubordination if they are committed during military mobilisation or combat situations.

The bill, passed in its second and third readings on Tuesday by the lower house of parliament, the Duma, comes amid debate inside Russia about a possible mobilisation, a step which could significantly escalate the conflict in Ukraine.

LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Russia on Tuesday paved the way for the formal annexation of swathes of Ukrainian territory, backing referendum plans in areas of Ukraine its soldiers control in a direct challenge to the West that could sharply escalate the war.

After nearly seven months of war, including a critical battlefield defeat in northeastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is pondering his next steps. Annexation could be his answer.

ATHENS, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Greece and Türkiye as neighboring countries should engage in dialogue, even if it is not always fruitful, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday during an interview with a local radio station Sfera.

"What unites us is more than what divides us and I think that is something that both peoples realize... We should talk to resolve our differences, even if it is only to agree that we disagree," he said, according to a press release from his office.