Russia

SIMFEROPOL, June 4. /TASS/: Crimea’s air defenses shot down five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) overnight to Sunday, while four more were jammed by electronic warfare systems, region’s head Sergey Aksyonov wrote on his Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin devotes as much time to meetings on the progress of the special military operation as he needs as supreme commander-in-chief, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program.

"Exactly as much as it is necessary for the supreme commander-in-chief to exercise overall leadership," the Kremlin spokesman said, answering a related question.

A fragment of the program was posted on its host Pavel Zarubin’s Telegram channel on Sunday.

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/: Governor of Russia’s Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday he is ready to meet with Ukrainian saboteurs at the Shebekino checkpoint for the sake of saving Russian prisoners of war, if they are still alive.

"I am grieved to say but most probably, they have killed them (prisoners - TASS). But is they are alive, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Shebekino checkpoint. I guarantee security," he said in a video address posted on his Telegram channel.

VLADIVOSTOK, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia will continue to provide notifications of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launches under the relevant 1988 agreement to avoid dangerous escalations, an official said on Saturday.

"We have certainly taken note of the U.S. intention, at least in words, to continue fulfilling the 1988 agreement on notifications of ICBM and SLBM launches," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

MOSCOW (AP) — Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny voiced hope for a better future in Russia as his supporters held pickets and demonstrations to mark his 47th birthday on Sunday.

Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court, charges he says were trumped up to punish him for his work to expose official corruption and organizing anti-Kremlin protests.

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: Any future Russian political leader that will try to change the discourse on the country’s development that emerged in 2022, will be perceived as a traitor, so there will be no return to the "pre-war" past, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev opined on his Telegram channel Saturday.

He made this statement, commenting on "sweet dreams" of Russians who left the country about the return to previous times.

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences over the death of people in the railway incident in Odisha in his telegram for Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President of India Droupadi Murmu.

"Please accept our deep condolences over the tragic aftermath of the train collision in Odisha. We share the grief of those who lost their relatives and close ones in this catastrophe and we hope for speedy recovery to everyone injured," says the telegram, published on the Kremlin’s website.

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: US representatives continue to pretend that the crisis in arms control is not connected to Washington’s policy that is hostile towards Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in her commentary regarding the statements made earlier by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin remains open to any contact that would allow meeting the goals of the special military operation through peaceful means, but the West does not provide such a chance, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in the ‘Moscow. The Kremlin. Putin’ program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

An excerpt from the TV program was posted by journalist Pavel Zarubin on his Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, June 2 (Reuters) - Alexei Navalny, Russia's most famous opposition leader, on Friday shared letters showing how he has poked fun at prison authorities for several months with a host of bizarre requests for a kimono, a balalaika, a beetle and even to keep a kangaroo.

The requests were turned down by the maximum security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 250 km (115 miles) east of Moscow, according to the Russian documents he posted online.