Europe

SOFIA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said in Brussels on Thursday that his country would recall its ambassador to Russia for consultations, according to a press release from the government.

The reactions came after a recent interview of the Russian Ambassador to Sofia Eleonora Mitrofanova with the Russia 24 TV channel.

During the interview, Mitrofanova said that the people of Bulgaria do not support the rhetoric and actions of their government regarding the "special operation in Ukraine."

MOSCOW, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Russia will reject U.S. dollars or euros and only accept rubles for its natural gas supplied to "unfriendly countries," including the European Union (EU) members and the United States, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

Over the past few weeks, some Western countries have taken "illegitimate decisions" to freeze Russian assets, thus undermining the reliability of their currencies, Putin said at a meeting with government members via video link.

MOSCOW, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Defense was directly involved in developing biological weapon components in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.

Documents received from Ukrainian employees working at the laboratories were studied by Russian experts and have shown that Ukrainian biological projects were directly developed and approved by the Pentagon, the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing.

23 March 2022; MEMO: Julian Assange married his fiancee, Stella Moris, in a London prison on Wednesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Assange, 50, remains in Belmarsh prison as he continues to fight extradition to the US.

He has two children with Moris, a 38-year-old lawyer.

Moris' wedding dress was designed by Vivienne Westwood and her veil was embroidered with messages such as "valiant, wild and relentless."

BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says any chemical attack by Russia on Ukraine would change the course of the war but he is not saying whether NATO would take military action.

Asked whether a chemical weapons attack is a red line for NATO, Stoltenberg said, “I will not speculate beyond the fact that NATO is always ready to defend, to protect and to react to any type of attack on a NATO-allied country.”

BRUSSELS (AP) — As the war in Ukraine grinds into a second month, President Joe Biden and Western allies are gathering to chart a path to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin while tending to the economic and security fallout that’s spreading across Europe and the world.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy called on people worldwide to gather in public Thursday to show support for his embattled country as he prepared to address U.S. President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders gathered in Brussels on the one-month anniversary of the Russian invasion.

YEREVAN, March 23. /TASS/: Armenia has been discussing with its international partners, in particular with Russia, the issue of the gas supply being cut off to Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Wednesday.

"We immediately made all our diplomatic efforts. Firstly, of course, we are in close contact with our Russian colleagues, since we know that a damaged or closed gas pipeline is the peacekeepers’ area of responsibility," Mirzoyan noted.

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: European countries demonstrated its unreliability as partners and Moscow will be considering possible cooperation proposals based on a "qualitatively new stance," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"We are not shutting our door if Europe changes its mind," he said. "However, there must be an understanding, as I have said before, that we will not be dependent on anyone. Europe showed its unreliability as a partner."

BRUSSELS, March 23. /TASS/: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization won’t send troops to Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels, commenting on a proposal by Poland for the alliance to send peacekeeping troops there.

"NATO is not part of the conflict it provides support to Ukraine but isn't part of the conflict," he said. "NATO will not send the troops into Ukraine."