Russia

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/: Remarks by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and ex-French President Francois Hollande that the Minsk Agreements served to win time for Kiev to prepare for war are "documented betrayal," Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said on Saturday.

MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/: The price of gas in Europe fell by 48% in December 2022 versus the previous month to around $845 per 1,000 cubic meters, according to data provided by London’s ICE on January and February futures contracts and TASS’ calculations.

The decrease was triggered by the abnormally warm weather in the region and a large amount of gas supplies in storage facilities.

Dec 31 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted his annual New Year's address on Saturday to rallying the Russian people behind his troops fighting in Ukraine and pledging victory over Ukrainian "neo-Nazis" and a West supposedly intent on "destroying Russia".

In a stern and combative recorded video message, broadcast on national television, Putin cast the war - which he calls a "special military operation" - as a near-existential fight for the future of Russia.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/: Russian missile troops and artillery struck four Ukrainian command posts in the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/: The aircraft manufacturer in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East has mastered mass production of Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation multirole fighters and the number of aircraft produced by the company will keep increasing, Head of the United Aircraft Corporation Yury Slyusar said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/: The launch of Russia’s special military operation and the accession of the four new regions to the country ended 30 years of attempts by Moscow to build an equal partnership with the West, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday said Ukraine’s calls to expel Russia from the UN Security Council have no basis in international law or reality.

"It’s interesting to listen to. It feels like reading some work of fiction. It doesn’t have anything to do with international law, reality or diplomacy," she said at a news conference in comments on the recent Ukrainian proposals.

MOSCOW (AP) — With its brutality, technological accomplishments and rigid ideology, the Soviet Union loomed over the world like an immortal colossus.

It led humankind into outer space, exploded the most powerful nuclear weapon ever, and inflicted bloody purges and cruel labor camps on its own citizens while portraying itself as the vanguard of enlightened revolution.

But its lifespan was less than the average human’s; born 100 years ago, it died days short of its 69th birthday.

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/: Russian forces have wiped out 950 Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers and almost 400 surface-to-air missile systems since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/: The restriction on the supply of Russian oil will apply not only to new contracts but also to existing ones if they refer to some kind of price ceiling, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

"If there is reference to any price ceiling, then, of course, [the restriction will be applied], but if there is no reference to a price ceiling, then it does not apply," he said responding to a relevant question.