Russia

MOSCOW, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A former commander of Russia's Wagner mercenary group who fought in Ukraine said he has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum in fear for his life after witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to front lines.

Andrei Medvedev, who joined Wagner on July 6, 2022 on a four-month contract, said in a video posted by the Gulagu.net rights group that he had crossed the northern Arctic border into Norway before being detained by Norwegian police.

MOSCOW, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the country's oil production increased by 2 percent over the past year despite Western sanctions, according to the Kremlin.

"I would especially like to talk about the oil and gas sector. Despite the previously mentioned sanctions pressure, oil production in Russia increased by about two percent in 2022," Putin said.

"The volume of production amounted to 535 million tons," he added.

17 Jan 2023; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed issues related to Ukraine and Syria with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a phone call on Monday, the Kremlin has reported.

Putin is said to have criticised the "destructive" policies of the regime in Kyiv "which relies on the intensification of hostilities with the support of Western sponsors increasing the volume of weapons and military equipment being transferred to Ukraine."

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed two US-made counter-battery radars in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday.

"In the counter-battery warfare, two US-made counter-battery radar stations were destroyed: an AN/TPQ-37 near the locality of Karmazinovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic and an AN/TPQ-50 near the community of Avdeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

MOSCOW, Jan 16 (NNN-TASS) – Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, James Cleverly, is among 36 British citizens that have been recently barred from entering Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

MOSCOW, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that tanks Britain plans to send to Ukraine "will burn", warning the West that supplying a new round of more advanced weapons to Ukraine would not change the outcome of the war.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, the United States and its allies have given tens of billions of dollars' worth of weaponry including rocket systems, drones, armoured vehicles and communications systems.

Jan 16 (Reuters) - The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol in Crimea said on Monday that air defences had downed 10 drones over the city in what he called a "failed Ukrainian attack".

Sevastopol, which is on the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014, has come under repeated air attack since Russia invaded Ukraine last February. Russian officials have blamed the attacks on Ukraine.

Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said all the drones were downed over the sea, with no damage to any infrastructure.

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 4,789 over the past day to 21,856,613, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

A day earlier, 5,102 daily cases were recorded.

As many as 489 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 39.9% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 59 regions, while in ten regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in 16 regions. A day earlier, 813 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/: Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said on Saturday she had received a video of two Russian prisoners of war being tortured and was planning to report this evidence to international organizations and the head of the Russian Investigative Committee.

January 15./TASS/:  Russian President Vladimir Putin positively assessed the dynamics of the special military operation. In an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel for the program ‘Moscow. Kremlin. Putin’, the head of state expressed the hope that Russian fighters would once again please everyone with the results of their work.