Russia

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/: Last exhibit items belonging to the State Hermitage Museum sent to exhibits in Europe, returned to Russia, Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said on Tuesday.

She explained that these are two paintings from the exhibit dedicated to female images in Titian’s art which took place in Italy. "These masterpieces were the only items from the collections of Russian state museums at this exhibit. They also were the last items from the Hermitage located until now on the territories of European countries," she wrote on her Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/: There is a legal hiccup in the question of South Ossetia’s referendum on accession to Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted.

"There is a legal mishap in the formulation of the question on unification, the way that it was put. So efforts are needed to figure it all out. Russia just can’t unite with anyone," Peskov pointed out.

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/: Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko warned European Union Ambassador to Moscow Markus Ederer on Tuesday that the bloc’s ongoing arms supplies to Kiev were unacceptable.

"Russia stressed as unacceptable the EU’s ongoing weapons supplies to Ukrainian forces. [Russia] stressed that the weapons are being used for attacks on civilian infrastructure in Donbass localities leaving civilians and children dead," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/: Even though Russia is going through new trials and tribulations at present, they are being tackled and will be overcome, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his meeting with military college graduates Tuesday.

The head of state spotlighted the courage and professionalism of the servicemen, involved in the operation in Ukraine, and assured that the armed forces will be reinforced and will become even stronger. Here are the main statements made by President Putin.

MOSCOW, June 21 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday it did not know the location of two Americans captured while fighting in eastern Ukraine, but that they were mercenaries and could be sentenced to death in Russian-backed breakaway territories.

Americans Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, went missing this month while fighting near Kharkiv. Russian state media later showed video interviews with the pair, saying they had been captured by Russian-backed forces.

SIMFEROPOL, June 20. /TASS/: Ukrainian forces have delivered three strikes at Chernomorneftegaz drilling rigs in the Black Sea, Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov said on Rossiya-24 television on Monday.

"The first strike was delivered at 8:37 am Moscow time, and in all, there have been three strikes at three natural gas rigs," he said.

Earlier on Monday, Aksyonov reported several people wounded in a Ukrainian strike at the Black Sea rigs.

MOSCOW, June 20 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday called Lithuania's decision to ban the transit of some goods to Russia's Kaliningrad region "unprecedented" and vowed to respond.

Lithuanian authorities banned the transit of goods which are sanctioned by the European Union across its territory, which includes the only rail route between mainland Russia and the Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea. Banned goods include coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology.

June 20 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that there was no point having any nuclear arms reduction talks with the United States and that Moscow should wait until the Americans begged for negotiations.

Russia and the United States, by far the world's biggest nuclear powers, have negotiated a series of major strategic nuclear arms reduction treaties since Ronald Reagan came to power in 1981.

20 June 2022; MEMO: Nine Israelis have been killed while fighting alongside the Ukrainian army, Sama news agency reported Russian Foreign Ministry saying yesterday.

"There were 35 Israelis fighting with the Ukrainian army, including nine killed, three left Ukraine and 18 are still fighting until now," a report issued by Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Russia has previously accused Israel of standing beside the Ukrainian army, stressing that there were 200 Israeli mercenaries among the Ukrainian forces.

MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 3,081 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infected to 18,398,260, the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

In relative terms the increase in the number of new cases totaled 0.02%.

The number of coronavirus patients taken to hospital in the past 24 hours amounted to 730 (a 5.8% decline compared with the previous day). On the previous day 1,291 coronavirus patients were taken to hospital.