Europe

MUNICH, February 16. /TASS/. Washington takes unscrupulous steps mobilizing its allies to put the blame for dismantling the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) on Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Munich on Saturday.

"Back in October, US officials told us that President [Donald] Trump announced a withdrawal from the treaty. It is not an invitation for dialogue but a final decision," Lavrov said.

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. No people are reported to be trapped in the partially collapsed building of ITMO University in St. Petersburg, the Russian Emergencies Ministry told TASS on Saturday.

"According to prior reports, there is no one under the rubble," the spokesperson said.

MUNICH, February 17. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate in the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing at the turn of April 2019, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

"We are looking forward to the second Road and Belt Forum, where President Putin will participate," Lavrov said at the meeting with Yang Jiechi, head of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of China's Communist Party.

MUNICH; 16 Feb 2019; AA: Russia will respect international humanitarian law in Syria’s Idlib, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

Addressing the annual Munich Security Conference, Lavrov said efforts are currently underway in Idlib, to implement the memorandum signed last year between Moscow and Ankara to establish a demilitarized zone.

MUNICH; 16 Feb 2019; AA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected U.S. calls to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and cancel a controversial gas pipeline project with Russia.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Merkel criticized Iran’s policies towards Israel, its ballistic missile program and its involvement in Syria and Yemen, but she also defended the nuclear deal with Tehran.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court has ordered a U.S. investment fund manager to be jailed for two months while facing fraud charges.

Michael Calvey, founder and senior partner at Baring Vostok equity firm, was detained Friday morning along with two other fund managers.

Prosecutors say Calvey is suspected of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles ($37 million) from Vostochny Bank, where Baring Vostok has a controlling stake.

16 Feb 2019; DW: Torch-wielding, right-wing nationalists gathered in Sofia for the so-called Lukov March in remembrance of Bulgarian general and Nazi sympathizer Hristo Lukov. Many of the demonstrators came from outside Bulgaria.

16 Feb 2019; DW: Ukraine needs a leader who would drive the country's "transformation," Ukraine's presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko told DW in Munich. The former PM also slammed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as unnecessary.

With presidential elections in Ukraine coming up in March, the country is set to see changes at the top, Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko told DW on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

16 Feb 2019; DW: Spanish authorities on Saturday said around 200,000 protesters marched through Barcelona against the trial of 12 Catalan separatist leaders, calling for them to be released immediately.

The march was led by a line of protesters holding a long banner that read "Self-determination is not a crime." Other banners described the Catalan leaders on trial as "political prisoners."

17 Feb 2019; DW: British regional airline Flybmi announced Saturday it has ceased operations and filed for administration, citing among other things uncertainty caused by Brexit.

Parent company British Midland Regional Limited said it had canceled all flights with immediate effect and its 17 airplanes would no longer connect 25 European cities.