Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations vowed that the U.N. Security Council will press Russia hard in a Monday session to discuss Moscow’s massing of troops near Ukraine and rising fears it is planning an invasion.

“Our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said of the U.S. and the other council members on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday. ”We’re going into the room prepared to listen to them, but we’re not going to be distracted by their propaganda.”

MOSCOW (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations vowed that the U.N. Security Council will press Russia hard in a Monday session to discuss Moscow’s massing of troops near Ukraine and rising fears it is planning an invasion.

“Our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves,” Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield said of the U.S. and the other council members on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday. ”We’re going into the room prepared to listen to them, but we’re not going to be distracted by their propaganda.”

ROSTOV-ON-DON, January 29. /TASS/: Russian citizens permanently residing in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR) can join the Russian Armed Forces if they so wish, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky told TASS on Saturday.

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 113,122 to 11,615,779 in the past 24 hours, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Saturday.

Russia’s coronavirus growth rate was 0.98%.

The country recorded 14,570 coronavirus hospitalizations in the past 24 hours, a 3.7% rise from the day before. A total of 14,046 coronavirus hospitalizations were reported in Russia on Friday. The number of hospitalizations grew in 46 regions of the country and declined in 37 regions, according to data from the crisis center.

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has handed down instructions to analyze the country’s foreign agent legislation by May 1, according to a document published on the Kremlin website on Saturday.

"The Russian Justice Ministry, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights should analyze Russian laws regulating the activities of non-profit organizations acting as foreign agents, including ways to remove them from the foreign agent list," the document reads.

MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his administration to consider an apparent new system to ban "toxic" internet content, although details were not released.

The new system, contained in a list of presidential orders on the Kremlin website, was described as a "self-regulated register of toxic content" which would be used "to protect minors". The Kremlin would review it by June 1.

The order, with Thursday's date, was first reported by Russian media on Saturday.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian lawmaker is encouraging residents of the rebel-controlled areas of Ukraine to join the Russian army, a sign that Moscow is continuing to try to integrate those territories as much as possible amid Western fears that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine.

Viktor Vodolatsky said Saturday that residents of the regions controlled since 2014 by Russia-backed rebels fear assaults by Ukrainian forces and that those who hold Russian passports would be welcomed in the military.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: Brent oil futures prices with delivery in April 2022 gained 2.09% to $90.01 a barrel on the London-based ICE today, according to trading data.

Brent oil prices were at such level for the first time since October 2014.

Later on, Brent futures climbed to $90.95, up 1.5%.

At the same time, the euro and the dollar are in the red during the trading session on the Moscow Exchange.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a telephone conversation with Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shared Russia’s first impressions of the US and NATO’s response to security guarantee proposals.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: The US and NATO did not take Russia’s principal concerns in their responses to Moscow’s proposals on guarantees of security, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out during his phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin said in its statement Friday.