Russia

MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 11,095 over the past day to 18,064,454, which amounted to 0.06% in terms of the growth rate, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Saturday.

As many as 2,923 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, up 1.95% on the previous day. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 39 regions, while in 44 other regions the figure hiked. A day earlier, 2,867 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/: Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk detained in Ukraine, has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to help in the exchange of her husband, she said in video footage released on Saturday.

MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/: The irretrievable losses of the Ukrainian army, National Guard and among the foreign mercenaries are 23,367 people, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

According to the major general, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s recent statements to the Western media that Ukraine has about 2,500-3,000 service members killed in the operation are a lie.

April 16 (Reuters) - The head of the Russian navy, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, has met with crew members from the sunken missile cruiser Moskva and said they would continue to serve in the navy, the defence ministry said on Saturday.

Russia said on Thursday the Moskva sank after an ammunition explosion. Ukraine said it hit the vessel, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, with a missile.

MOSCOW, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Russia expelled 18 European Union (EU) diplomats on Friday in a retaliatory move, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry had summoned head of the EU Delegation to Russia Markus Ederer in a protest over the EU's decision to declare 19 Russian diplomats "personae non gratae" earlier this month, the statement said.

MOSCOW, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that 13 top officials of Britain, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have been barred from entering Russia.

"This step was taken as a response to London's unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the domestic economy," the ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Moscow views eliminating nationalist battalions in Ukraine as a top priority task, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"The main task is to liberate [Ukraine] from these nationalist battalions after all. The operation continues and the tasks that have been set are well known. They must and will be accomplished. There must be no doubts about that," the Russian presidential spokesman said.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Several buyers of Russian gas have already agreed to convert payments into rubles, the country is waiting for a decision from other importers, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak wrote in his article for the Energy Policy magazine.

"Several buyers have already agreed with the transfer of gas payments into rubles, we are waiting for decisions from other importers," the Deputy Prime Minister wrote, adding that the conditions for buyers remain as comfortable as possible.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/: Russia is seeking to maintain relations with the European Union, which is one of its largest commercial and economic partners, but might drastically revise these relations, Konstantin Kosachev, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament), said on Friday.

Kyiv (Ukraine), Apr 15 (AP) The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, a guided-missile cruiser that became a potent target of Ukrainian defiance in the opening days of the war, sank Thursday after it was heavily damaged in the latest setback for Moscow's invasion.

Ukrainian officials said their forces hit the vessel with missiles, while Russia acknowledged a fire aboard the Moskva but no attack.