Europe

MOSCOW (AP) — More than 87,500 people with COVID-19 died in Russia in November, the highest montly tally since the start of the pandemic, the state statistics agency reported Thursday.

A report by Rosstat brought the overall number of virus-linked deaths between April 2020 and October 2021 to nearly 626,000 — more than twice the widely-cited toll reported by Russia’s state coronavirus task force to date. Rosstat uses broader criteria in its tallying system compared to the task force.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/: Russia does not export electric power to Ukraine at present, Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV Channel.

"They make purchases from Belarus. Russia is not making supplies to Ukraine," the Minister said.

Ukraine resumed the electricity import in fall 2019 after the four-year break. In April 2020, the Ukrainian regulator banned such import. The ban on electricity import was extended in September 2021 until November 1 of this year.

ST. PETERSBURG, December 29. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Gazprom and the company's partners on the completion of works on Nord Stream 2.

"I would like to congratulate Gazprom and your partners in Nord Stream 2 project on the completion of work on the creation of this large additional pipeline and on the fact that it is ready for operation," Putin said at a meeting on the autumn-winter heating season.

LUGANSK, December 29. /TASS/: A subversive group of the Ukrainian military abducted a fighter of the people’s militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), LPR people’s militia spokesman Ivan Filiponenko said on Wednesday.

"On December 27, a Ukrainian special operations subversive group abducted a serviceman of the LPR people’s militia. Traces of a struggle and blood stains were found on the spot where our fighter was located, which is evidence that violence was committed against him," the LPR people’s militia said in a statement posted on its Telegram сhannel.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/: The Moscow City Court handed down a verdict to dissolve the Memorial Human Rights Center (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia), satisfying the lawsuit of Moscow’s Public Prosecutor’s office, a TASS correspondent reported from the court.

"The court decreed to fully satisfy the stated claims of the Public Prosecutor’s office on the liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center interregional civic organization," the judge said.

BERLIN, December 29. /TASS/: The German Cabinet confirmed Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s advisor Jens Ploetner’s plans to hold negotiations with Russian Deputy Administration head Dmitry Kozak, Cabinet spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said Wednesday.

ST. PETERSBURG, December 29. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is confident that implementing union programs will create better conditions for the development of the economies of Russia and Belarus.

At a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday, Putin recalled the adoption of 28 union programs earlier this year. "This is very important, it will create better conditions for the development of the economies of the two countries," Putin said.

ATHENS, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Greece is introducing new restrictions on the hospitality sector from Thursday, bringing forward measures planned for early January as coronavirus infections surge.

Health authorities reported on Wednesday that daily confirmed COVID-19 cases had jumped by more than 7,000 to 28,828, a new all-time record, with 72 deaths.

Authorities said the Omicron variant, which is highly contagious, appeared to be dominant in the community, barely a month after it was first detected.

KYIV, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The United States will finance projects including surveillance and monitoring equipment to strengthen Ukraine's borders with Russia and Belarus, amid continuing escalation with Moscow, Ukraine's border service said on Tuesday.

Kyiv accuses Moscow of massing tens of thousands of troops near its borders in preparation for a possible offensive.

Russia denies planning any attack but accuses Ukraine and the United States of destabilising behaviour, and has sought security guarantees against NATO's eastward expansion.

KIEV, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and three others hurt in a fire in a hospital in Ukraine's western Ivano-Frankivsk region, the National Police said in a statement on Wednesday.

The fire broke on the evening of Tuesday in a COVID-19 ward of the hospital in Kosiv city, killing three patients on the spot.

Three health workers were taken to the hospital with burns. According to local media, one nurse is in grave condition with burns covering 90 percent of her body.