Europe

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: Russia’s National Wealth Fund (NWF) decreased by 675.16 bln rubles ($6.8 bln) in February 2022 to around 12.9 trillion rubles ($131 bln) as of March 1, 2022, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"As of March 1, 2022, the National Wealth Fund amounted to 12.935 trillion rubles, or 9.7% of GDP projected for 2022," the statement said.

As of February 1, the National Wealth Fund amounted to 13.6 trillion rubles ($177 bln). Its liquid part stood at 7.3% of GDP, or 9.73 trillion rubles ($116.5 bln), as of February 1.

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 25,387 over the past day to 17,690,008, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Thursday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.14%.

As many as 4,540 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 11.14% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 47 regions, while in 35 other regions the figure increased. A day earlier, 5,109 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: The United States must stop expelling Russian diplomats, if it wants Russia to stop expelling American ones, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Thursday.

"If it wants us to stop expelling American diplomats, the United States must stop the expulsions of our diplomats. Our actions are not the root cause of this crisis. They are forced and retaliatory measures," Peskov said.

Earlier, the US Department of State issued a call "on the Russian government to end its unjustified expulsions of U.S. diplomats and staff."

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: The United States has declared economic war on Russia, which threatens to completely collapse bilateral relations, but the countries can still agree by observing the principles of mutual respect, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

LONDON, March 24. /TASS/: The UK authorities have added a number of Russian banks, companies and defense sector enterprises to the black list. According to the list updated on Thursday, 59 individuals and legal entities from Russia come under restrictive measures.

In particular, the list includes Sberbank CEO Herman Gref, the first deputy of the board of the bank Alexander Vedyakhin and the ex-deputy Chairman Lev Khasis, businessmen Oleg Tinkov and Evgeny Shvidler.

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: Western countries are making every effort to politicize humanitarian issues facing Ukraine on the United Nations platform, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer in Moscow on Thursday.

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: Polish authorities failed to clarify what exact claims they have against the Russian diplomats that they expelled, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreyev said on Russian TV Thursday.

"There was no response to my question asking ‘what complaints do you have against our employees exactly?’ They simply citied alleged actions, incompatible with their status, with the Vienna Convention and so on," the diplomat said.

LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, inflicted "exorbitant" domestic abuse against his ex-wife, a senior British judge has concluded as he awarded her sole responsibility for looking after their children.

The ruling caps the end of an extraordinary, bitter and hugely expensive three-year custody battle at the High Court in London between Mohammed and his former wife, Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, half-sister of Jordan's King Abdullah.

GENEVA, March 24 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office said on Thursday that at least 1,035 people have been killed and 1,650 wounded in one month of war in Ukraine.

Ninety children were among the dead, it said in a statement, adding that the true figures were believed to be considerably higher due to delays in reporting from areas with intense hostilities, including the southern besieged city of Mariupol.

LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - Russia's defence minister was briefly shown by state media at a meetingof top officials on Thursday after dropping out of public view for days during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sergei Shoigu, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, is overseeing what Russia calls its "special military operation", but had not been seen in public since March 11, fuelling speculation about his whereabouts.