Russia

MOSCOW, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Russian and Chinese warships held their first joint patrols in the Western part of the Pacific ocean on October 17-23, Russia's defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Moscow and Beijing, which staged naval cooperation drills in the Sea of Japan earlier in October, have cultivated closer military and diplomatic ties in recent years at a time when their relations with the West have soured. 

22 Oct 2021; MEMO: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has said that something needs to be done to make the UN Security Council "more balanced," Anadolu News Agency reports.

Speaking at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday, Putin said Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan "is right in this opinion."

MOSCOW, October 22. / TASS /: Passage to Red Square has been blocked after the scaffolding partially collapsed from the Kremlin wall earlier on Friday.

According to TASS, passages to the square are currently blocked from all nearby streets. As the security officials which control the perimeter stated, Red Square was closed due to the collapse.

There are several people on the Kremlin wall in the area of the Spasskaya Tower near the battlements that were damaged in the accident. One of the elements on the wall is completely missing.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: Moscow is aware of the ongoing process of the deployment of armaments by NATO countries near Russia’s borders, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV Channel on Friday.

"The process is ongoing. We are aware of what is taking place," the senior Russian diplomat said in response to a corresponding question.

NATO has decided to expel eight Russian diplomats from Brussels "so that no one impedes the process of demonizing Russia," Grushko pointed out.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: Search and rescue operations in the village of Lesnoi, the Ryazan Region, where an explosion took place inside a munitions disposal workshop on Friday, have been completed after the body of the last, 17th victim has been recovered from the ruins, emergency services said. 

MOSCOW, Oct 22 (NNN-TASS) — At least 15 people have been killed in a blast and a following blaze that hit a plant in Russia’s Ryazan region on Friday.

At the time of the incident, there were 17 people in the one-story workshop of the “Razryad” company that produces industrial explosives, and rescuers have found 15 bodies.

The fire that covered an area of 160 square meters has been extinguished. The workshop building was completely destroyed in the blast.

The reason for the incident has not yet been officially announced. 

SOCHI, October 21. /TASS/: No one should impose their own values or principles of order on any country, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

"One should not impose anything on anyone, either the principles of social political system or values, which someone has declared universal due to their own considerations. It’s evident that when a real crisis breaks out, just one universal value remains — this is human life," the Russian leader said.

SOCHI, October 21. /TASS/: No one should impose their own values or principles of order on any country, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

"One should not impose anything on anyone, either the principles of social political system or values, which someone has declared universal due to their own considerations. It’s evident that when a real crisis breaks out, just one universal value remains — this is human life," the Russian leader said.

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/: Russia’s state-of-the-art Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter outperforms its US rivals in weapon systems, robotics, radars and electronic warfare equipment, military expert Alexei Leonkov told TASS on Thursday, commenting on some Western media’s claims that Russian aircraft lagged behind the American F-22 and F-35 planes.

MOSCOW, October 21./TASS/: Reproaches from the European Union targeting Belarus and Russia in connection with a flow of refugees to Europe are groundless, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

"Appeals to Minsk and Moscow to restrain an exodus of refugees in the form they are presented are inconsistent, given the activities of the Western coalition in the region of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in Afghanistan, of course," the diplomat noted.