Russia

16 June 2022; MEMO: Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov summoned the Israeli Ambassador in Moscow Alexander Ben Zvi to express his country's "serious concern" about the Israeli air strikes on Syria's Damascus International Airport.

"The [Israeli] ambassador was told that the justification received from the Israeli side regarding the strike … was unconvincing and that Moscow expected additional clarification," according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement that was quoted by Reuters.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 16. /TASS/: Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov on Thursday said Russia and the EU prefer not to slam the door shut although their relations reached the lowest point ever.

He made the remarks at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, which is taking place at the venue of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 16. /TASS/: Both strings of Nord Stream 2 are under pressure and gas can be delivered to Germany even now, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said during his speech at SPIEF 2022.

"We were asked to build it, huge sums of money were invested, and when everything was built, you know Nord Stream 2 - two strings are under pressure and gas can be delivered via Nord Stream 2 to Germany today. It has not been launched, because that is not certified. The question that arises is how can one be trusted when it comes to investments in large projects," he said.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 16, /TASS/: Moscow has always kept in touch with both the West and the East, but now contacts with Europe are absent from Russia’s priorities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a televised interview.

MOSCOW, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Wednesday that it will shut down another turbine engine on the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline, thus significantly reducing the amount of gas delivery to Europe.

As Germany's Siemens, the manufacturer of the gas turbine engines, failed to provide the overhaul service in time, Gazprom decided to stop the second engine at the Portovaya compressor station due to its technical condition, the company said on Telegram.

16 June 2022; MEMO: Russia said yesterday that it was "deeply concerned" by an Israeli court's decision allowing Jewish settler groups to purchase Christian property in Jerusalem.

Early this month, Israel's High Court ruled in favour of settler group Ateret Cohanim, which takes over Palestinian lands from Muslims and Christians in occupied Jerusalem and gives it to Jews in an attempt to change the city's identity.

MOSCOW, June 15./TASS/: The Russian and Chinese presidents reaffirmed on Wednesday the high level of relations between Moscow and Beijing and plans to continue to develop cooperation, the Kremlin press service reported following a phone call of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

"The leaders stated that Russian-Chinese relations have reached an unprecedentedly high level and are constantly cultivated," the press service said.

MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/: IKEA will sell its four factories in Russia and put its retail business on hold, which will result in a reduction of the workforce, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 15. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday said Ukraine halted peace talks with Russia on orders from its US handlers while Russia was prepared to carry on.

"These talks were frozen, halted, broken off," she said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. "Let them (Ukraine - TASS) say for themselves what they did with these talks. We know that very well because we have information that was the order given by their American handlers."

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 2,797 over the past day to 18,382,380, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Tuesday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.02%.

As many as 708 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 2.2% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 35 regions, while in 35 other regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in 15 regions. A day earlier, 724 people were rushed to hospitals.