Russia

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/: Russia's ruling party formally endorses President Vladimir Putin's nomination as independent candidate for re-election; Brussels sprouts yet another package of anti-Russian sanctions; and Ukraine seen planning counteroffensive 2.0 for 2024. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed as "nonsense and pure lies" the West’s "mantra" about wanting to help the Global South and the Global East.

MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Russian rocket forces have loaded a new Yars intercontinental ballistic missile into a silo at the Kozelsk base in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, the defence ministry said.

The 23-metre long RS-24 (Yars) missile is designed to carry multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), which allow the missile to deliver multiple nuclear warheads at different targets.

"In the Kozelsky compound, Strategic Missile Forces loaded a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile into a silo launcher," the defence ministry said.

MOSCOW (AP) — Delegates from Russia’s ruling party unanimously backed President Vladimir Putin ’s bid for reelection at a party conference in Moscow on Sunday, state agencies reported, just a day after the Kremlin leader’s supporters formally nominated him to run in the 2024 presidential election as an independent.

A little-known Russian presidential hopeful who calls for peace in Ukraine also inched closer towards formally registering as a candidate, securing a nomination from a group of more than 500 supporters in the Russian capital.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘s supporters on Saturday formally nominated him to run in the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate, state news agencies reported.

The nomination by a group of at least 500 supporters is mandatory under Russian election law for those not running on a party ticket. Independent candidates also need to gather at least 300,000 signatures in their support.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/: Vladimir Putin’s election campaign headquarters will be established as soon as all procedures for his self-nomination have been completed, Secretary of the ruling United Russia party’s General Council Andrey Turchak announced.

"The [election campaign] headquarters will be established upon the completion of all organizational procedures, after the initiative group [of voters] has held a meeting and all documents have been submitted to the Central Election Commission," he explained.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/: Vladimir Putin’s election campaign headquarters will be established as soon as all procedures for his self-nomination have been completed, Secretary of the ruling United Russia party’s General Council Andrey Turchak announced.

"The [election campaign] headquarters will be established upon the completion of all organizational procedures, after the initiative group [of voters] has held a meeting and all documents have been submitted to the Central Election Commission," he explained.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/: Russia launched the Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the country’s second meteorological satellite, Arktika-M, from the Baikonur spaceport on Saturday, Roscosmos reported.

The spacecraft should be orbited within the next 4.5 hours or so.

Russia launched its first weather satellite in February 2021. Last December, the Lavochkin design bureau announced that the fleet of Russian meteorological satellites will be expanded to four from two.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/: Russia’s Aerospace Forces downed a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter over the town of Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

Also, Russian air defense forces thwarted an attempt by the Kiev regime to conduct a massive drone attack on facilities in Crimea, destroying all Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, the ministry added.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin discussed free Russian grain and fertilizer supplies to the world’s neediest countries with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan and UN Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported after the consultations involving Russia’s concerned agencies and companies.