Russia

VLADIVOSTOK, April 19 (NNN-XINHUA) — Two Russian cosmonauts conducted their first spacewalk this year on Wednesday after a hiatus caused by the depressurization of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft.

According to a report by Russia’s RIA Novosti, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin ventured out into space to move a radiator from one module of the International Space Station (ISS) to another.

The spacewalk was the second for Petelin and the fourth for Prokopyev.

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich refused to plead guilty of espionage and is prepared to prove his innocence, his defense lawyer Maria Korchagina told reporters on Tuesday.

"Our defendant hasn’t pleaded guilty and is ready to prove it," she said. "He plans to defend himself. He’s in a combative mood."

The lawyer said the journalist is in good health and does a lot of reading.

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/: The Russian State Duma adopted the draft of the basic law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" in the second and third readings on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/: Russia has issued a stern rebuke to British Ambassador to Moscow Deborah Bronnert over her remarks as well as statements by senior British Foreign Office officials regarding the court verdict handed down in the case against journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza (designated as a foreign agent in Russia), the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/: A strong protest has been expressed to the US ambassador in Moscow, Lynne Tracy, over provocative statements in support of journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia), the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

A Russian judge ruled Tuesday that American journalist Evan Gershkovich must remain behind bars on espionage charges in a case that is part of a Kremlin crackdown on dissent and press freedom amid the war in Ukraine.

Gershkovich and the U.S. government vehemently deny the allegations.

The Wall Street Journal reporter is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying allegations and his arrest rattled journalists in the country and elicited outrage in the West.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/: Ukraine is beneficial for Poland only as a tool of anti-Russian policy, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Monday.

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/:  Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko and Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Korean Peninsula Affairs Liu Xiaoming discussed the situation around the Korean Peninsula on Monday and agreed that the United States and its allies are responsible for the escalation of the situation in the region.

MOSCOW, April 17 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is off on a Latin American tour during which he will visit Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba between April 17 and 21 to strengthen bilateral cooperation in political, economic, commercial, educational, and humanitarian matters, according to Moscow.

The meetings will focus on “the international legal foundations of the modern world, whose basic framework is the Charter of the United Nations,” a statement from Russian diplomatic authorities read.

MOSCOW, April 17 (Reuters) - Outspoken Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for 25 years by a Moscow court on Monday, the harshest sentence of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine, after being found guilty of treason and other offences he denied committing.

Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three and an opposition politician who holds Russian and British passports, spent years speaking out against President Vladimir Putin and lobbied Western governments to impose sanctions on Russia and individual Russians for purported human rights violations.