Russia

MOSCOW, Dec 9 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Russia once again reached the maximum daily gas supply to China through the Siberian Force gas pipeline, exceeding its obligations by 16 percent, Gazprom informed on Thursday.    

According to a communiqué from the Russian company, Gazprom met the Chinese side’s request to increase daily gas supplies in December to the previously approved calendar for 2022.

The company recalled that the supplies are part of the long-term bilateral sale and purchase agreement between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

MOSCOW, Dec 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian firefighters on Friday battled a massive blaze the size of a football pitch which broke out overnight in a shopping centre in a Moscow suburb, emergency services said.

“In the Moscow region, firefighters are putting out a fire the size of 7,000 square metres,” Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said on Telegram.

The fire broke out at the Mega Khimki shopping centre in Moscow’s northern suburb of Khimki.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb., Dec 9 (Reuters) - Russia is expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin, faced with setbacks in Ukraine, has repeatedly suggested he could use nuclear weapons.

Austin's comments are in line with a recent Pentagon policy document on nuclear arms.

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would likely have to reach agreements regarding Ukraine in the future, but felt betrayed by the breakdown of the Minsk agreements.

Putin said Germany and France - which brokered ceasefire agreements in the Belarusian capital Minsk between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 - had betrayed Russia and were now pumping Ukraine with weapons.

MOSCOW (AP) — A prominent Russian opposition figure was on Friday sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison after being convicted on charges stemming from his criticism of the Kremlin’s action in Ukraine.

The sentence handed to Ilya Yashin, one of the few Kremlin critics to have stayed in Russia, offered the latest indication of an intensified crackdown on dissent by Russian authorities.

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: The confession made by German ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s in her interview for Die Zeit that the Minsk Agreements were signed in order to buy time for Ukraine to prepare for a military standoff with Russia could be used for an investigation in a tribunal, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: The confession made by German ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s in her interview for Die Zeit that the Minsk Agreements were signed in order to buy time for Ukraine to prepare for a military standoff with Russia could be used for an investigation in a tribunal, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: The conflict in Ukraine can end at any moment if Kiev shows the political will, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"In this case, we could speculate when all this will end until we are blue in the face," Peskov said, commenting on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s remark that the conflict might end in 2023. "Zelensky knows when it can all end, it can end tomorrow if [Kiev] so wishes," the Russian presidential spokesman noted.

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: The G20 has nothing to do with the United States’ defense budget and no one can exclude Moscow from the group, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Thursday.

HANOI, December 8. /TASS/: Russia presented a broad exposition of military, civilian and dual-use products at the Vietnam Defense 2022 international arms show that opened in Hanoi in Vietnam on Thursday.

The single Russian exposition presented by the state arms seller Rosoboronexport comprises over 400 products developed and manufactured by leading Russian enterprises, including those affiliated with the state tech corporation Rostec.