Russia

July 29 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Washington was not living up to promises regarding the exemption from sanctions for the supply of food from Russia, Moscow said.

A Russian foreign ministry read-out of the call also cited Lavrov as telling Blinken that Russia would achieve all the goals of its "special military operation" in Ukraine and said western arms supplies would only drag out the conflict.

MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual question and answer session, known as the Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, will not be held until fall, the dates may be determined in September, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday.

MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov informed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about Russia’s position on the situation around Ukraine, the global food security and prisoner swap, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday after their telephone conversation.

MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/: EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is less popular than Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

Earlier, Borrell drew attention to the fact that the Western media sometimes do not convey the statements he made, but write about the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s words.

"He is indeed less popular than Lavrov, he has no chance here," the Kremlin spokesman said.

MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/: The coronavirus incidence is indeed on the rise yet this situation is observed not only in Russia but in a number of other countries as well, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday.

"The figures have been growing indeed. We see that the curve began to climb. Such alarming dynamics are observed not only in our country but also in many other states," he noted, commenting on the pandemic situation.

MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) - Former Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova was fined 50,000 roubles ($820) on Thursday after being found guilty of discrediting the country's armed forces in social media posts condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine.

The ruling was passed after a short hearing in a Moscow administrative court. Ovsyannikova rejected the proceedings against her as "absurd".

"The evidence confirms Ovsyannikova's guilt. There is no reason to doubt its authenticity," the judge said.

27 July 2022; MEMO: Vladimir Putin approached Turkiye's Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a proposal that Turkish attack drone maker, Baykar, set up a production plant in Russia, local media, CNN Turk, reported on 27 July.

According to the report, Erdogan told colleagues at a top party meeting on 26 July that Putin approached him during their July 19 meeting in Tehran to suggest the Baykar deal.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Russia’s second-largest city of Saint Petersburg will host the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Wednesday.

"We are leaving the African continent under a heavy rain and this is a good sign," she stated. "Thank you, friends, and we are waiting for you in Saint Petersburg next year at the Russia-Africa summit."

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov views the resolution of the cargo transit crisis to Russia’s westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad as a positive development.

"The crisis situation has been resolved, it is a positive development. Sometimes we see some seeds of common sense even amid an anti-Russia hysteria. Let’s hope that these seeds will continue to bear fruit," he told reporters on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Qatar holds Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in high regard, Ambassador of Qatar to Russia Ahmed bin Nasser bin Jasim Al Thani said in an interview for TASS.

"The Sputnik V is a good vaccine. We have many guests from Russia who were vaccinated with the Sputnik V, and there have been no problems, they are welcome," the envoy said.

Meanwhile, the envoy noted that special entry requirements may be introduced due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.