Russia

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is always open to dialogue, but it must be productive, not just empty talk, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Commenting on a recent remark by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who said he was open to holding talks with Putin in the future, Peskov said: "The president never rules out contacts, as he always says that he is open to various talks, especially summits. But the president has always been and remains a fan of results-oriented communication, not just talk for the sake of talk."

VLADIVOSTOK, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Russian Technological University (RTU) has developed an autonomous small-sized unmanned underwater vehicle that can dive up to 100 meters and perform emergency and repair work, local media reported on Saturday.

According to the university's press service, RTU specialists developed the underwater drone, named BPA-MIREA-T. The device weighs only three kg and can operate at temperatures ranging from minus 5 to 45 degrees Celsius.

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/: The Russian Defense Ministry has sent two special flights to deliver around 40 metric tons of humanitarian cargo to Afghanistan in the wake of a recent earthquake in Herat, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"On November 11, humanitarian cargo weighing some 40 metric tons was delivered to Kabul by two special flights of the Russian Defense Ministry on behalf of the Russian government and the Moscow-based Afghan Business Center," Russia’s diplomatic agency said in a statement on its website.

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/: The Russian Defense Ministry has sent two special flights to deliver around 40 metric tons of humanitarian cargo to Afghanistan in the wake of a recent earthquake in Herat, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"On November 11, humanitarian cargo weighing some 40 metric tons was delivered to Kabul by two special flights of the Russian Defense Ministry on behalf of the Russian government and the Moscow-based Afghan Business Center," Russia’s diplomatic agency said in a statement on its website.

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/: The Taliban (outlawed in Russia) has contributed more to the fight against drugs in Afghanistan in the past year than did a two-decade effort by a coalition led by the United States which was interested in exporting Afghan heroin to Russia and other countries, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed Western allegations of an "illegal" military partnership between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as groundless and unsubstantiated.

"The accusations of an `illegal’ military-technical cooperation between Russia and North Korea, being made by the collective West, are groundless and unsubstantiated," the Russian diplomat said in a comment.

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/: Russian gas continues to flow to a number of European countries that allegedly refused it, Gazprom head Alexey Miller said, adding that such supplies go through the gas hub in Austria to countries of southeastern Europe.

MOSCOW, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The An-2 aircraft, which had been reported missing, has been located in Chukotka in Russia's Far East, and all three people on board are currently being evacuated, local governor Vladislav Kuznetsov said Friday.

"The missing plane has been found. According to preliminary information, all three people are alive; however, they have received injuries of varying degrees," he said.

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/: US attempts to suppress the development of the Russian oil and gas sector through sanctions will fail, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with RTVI.

"I am sure that just as in the past, the current attempts through sanctions to suppress the opportunities for our development and movement forward, in particular in the oil and gas sector, including in the LNG sector - a very promising segment, the demand for these products is high - these attempts will fail," he said.

MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/: Moscow is not prejudiced against Armenia’s external partners, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Rossiya-1 television.

"We are for Armenia, as a member of the CSTO, as our close ally, strategic partner, deciding on its own how it should build relations with external partners. We have absolutely no prejudice against the circle of its foreign partners, friends, whatever you want to call it," he said.

The minister also said Western countries are "courting" Armenia as they want to have it as an ally against Russia.