Russia

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual news conference will not take place until the New Year, but it is expected that the head of state will find an opportunity to talk to the media, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"As for th eannual news conference, yes, there won't be one before the New Year, but we expect that the president will still find an opportunity to talk to [reporters], as he does regularly, including during his foreign visits," Peskov said.

MOSCOW, December 12./TASS/: Representatives from the Vatican have not yet apologized for Pope Francis’ remarks about the cruelty of Buryat and Chechen soldiers, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel, commenting on statements from the Vatican’s Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who said the city-state could be a suitable place to host negotiators for dialogue on Ukraine.

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/: Russia is boosting the production of the most powerful weapons, including based on new physical principles, for countering Western countries that support Kiev’s regime, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel Sunday.

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/: The failure to implement the Minsk accords by their other participants foreran the special military operation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.

This is how he answered Pavel Zarubin’s question whether Moscow understood that it was deceived regarding Minsk-2.

MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Some Russian officers fighting in Ukraine are unhappy with the military top brass and President Vladimir Putin because of the poor execution of the war, an influential nationalist Russian blogger said after visiting the conflict zone.

Nearly 10 months since Putin ordered troops into Ukraine, there is no end in sight to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Russia launched what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine because its concerns around peace accords between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists were ignored, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin spokesman as saying on Sunday.

President Vladimir Putin this week bemoaned the failure to implement the Minsk agreements - ceasefire and constitutional reform deals between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine brokered in 2014 and 2015 by Russia, France and Germany, at the outset of the conflict with Ukraine.

Dec 10 (Reuters) - Viktor Bout, the arms dealer freed in a prisoner swap for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, said he wished her good luck on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi where they were exchanged.

Bout, who spent 14 years in U.S. jail for arms trafficking, money laundering and conspiring to kill Americans, was swapped on Thursday for the basketball star, jailed this year for bringing cannabis vape oil when arriving to play for a Russian team.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: The possibility of restoring the operation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) between Russia and the United States has not yet been discussed, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the daily Izvestia, published on Friday.

"Not for the time being," Peskov replied to the corresponding question.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: Minsk has information that the West planned to launch a military offensive against Russia in case of the successful outcome of an attempted coup in Belarus in 2020, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday.

"You [the West] were preparing for it. We know it for sure," Lukashenko said speaking in an interview with Russia’s Rossiya-24 television channel.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Friday said US statements that sanctions on Russia could be lifted are too vague and can’t be taken seriously.