Russia

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 38,739 over the past day to 20,948,470, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Thursday.

A day earlier, 40,017 daily cases were recorded.

As many as 3,154 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 4.4% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients increased in 32 regions, while in 46 regions the figure decreased. The situation remained unchanged in seven regions. A day earlier, 3,300 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/: The Kremlin expects that Belarus will make an independent and timely decision on recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

The spokesman said that this issue was not on the agenda of the recent bilateral talks in Sochi between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.

MOSCOW, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it was studying the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Russian and U.S. negotiators on a landmark nuclear arms control treaty.

In a briefing in Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia was open to reviving inspections under the New START treaty and considering the possibility of in-person meetings of a joint commission of representatives from the United States and Russia.

MOSCOW/BRUSSELS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday that leaks spewing gas into the Baltic Sea from pipelines to Germany appeared to be the result of state-sponsored "terrorism", as an EU official said the incident had fundamentally changed the nature of the conflict in Ukraine.

The European Union is investigating the cause of the leaks in the Gazprom-led (GAZP.MM) Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines and has said it suspects sabotage was behind the damage off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden.

KHERSON, September 28. /TASS/: Head of the Kherson Region’s military-civilian administration Vladimir Saldo has asked President Vladimir Putin to accept the region into Russia, as Saldo himself wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.

VLADIKAVKAZ, September 28. /TASS/: According to a decree issued by North Ossetian leader Sergey Menyailo on September 28 covering several parts of North Ossetia as well as the Vladikavkaz urban district, the republic has gone on high alert over the situation at the Verkhny Lars border checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border.

KEMEROVO, September 28. /TASS/: The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) may get its rights with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reinstated by the end of 2022, RUSADA Director General Veronika Loginova told TASS on Wednesday.

"We are waiting for reinstatement. We have already cleared the audit inspection and we are awaiting its results. We are complying with all the decisions as of December 17 [2020]. We are adhering to everything and hope for a positive outcome," Loginova specified.

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden should issue a reply as to whether the United States had carried out its threat over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday called it "stupid and absurd" to allege that Russia was involved in leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.

"Is this in our interests? No, we will lose gas supply routes to Europe. Is it in Europe's interests? No, it is also in a very difficult situation," Peskov told a daily briefing.

27 Sep 2022; MEMO: The global food crisis is a result of the West's "predatory policies," Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, said on Tuesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"The West is provoking a global food crisis … The cost of food on the world market has returned to the levels of the beginning of the year, but it is still 40 per cent higher than in 2020," Putin said at a meeting in Sochi, on Russia's agriculture sector.