Russia

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/: Russian troops will get first Very Short-Range Air Defense (VSHORAD) Gibka-S systems next year, Commander of the Russian Armed Forces’ tactical air defense Lieutenant General Alexander Leonov said.

"For the first time, air defense units will get sets of Gibka-S combat vehicles next year," he said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, published on Friday.

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/: The flight certification program for the MC-21 has been completed, the aircraft will receive a type certificate in the near future, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Friday.

"We have completed the MCS-21 flight certification program and expect to receive a type certificate in the near future," he said.

Manturov recalled that commercial deliveries of the aircraft should begin next year.

KEMEROVO, December 24. /TASS/: A court in Kemerovo on Friday pronounced its verdict in the second case over a fire at the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall in Kemerovo on March 25, 2018, when some 60 people, including 37 children, were killed. Four defendants were sentenced to prison terms from seven to 18 years on charges of bribe-taking, money laundry, and office abuse.

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/: The claims by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai about Russia’s import substitution in the IT sector and its alleged general non-compliance with the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are unfounded and beyond absurdity, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Friday.

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Russian mercenaries have deployed to separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine in recent weeks to bolster defences against Ukrainian government forces as tensions between Moscow and the West rise, four sources have told Reuters.

In recent weeks, Russia has moved tens of thousands of regular troops to staging posts closer to Ukraine and followed up by demanding urgent security guarantees from the West designed, Moscow says, to prevent Ukraine and other neighbouring countries being used as a base to attack it.

Dec 24 (Reuters) - New satellite images captured by a private U.S. company show that Russia has continued to build up its forces in annexed Crimea and near Ukraine in recent weeks while pressing the United States for talks over security guarantees it is seeking.

Reuters could not independently verify the latest images from U.S.-based Maxar Technologies. The Kremlin reiterated on Friday that it reserves the right to move its own forces on Russian territory as it sees fit and that Western countries were carrying out provocative military manoeuvres near its borders.

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/: Encircling Russia is a difficult task but new foreign military bases are appearing all around it, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during an annual press conference aired live from Moscow’s Manage Hall on Thursday.

"Bases all around - this is true. New weapon systems are also being deployed in the east, in the south, in the north and at sea and, all the more so, in the west. But encircling such a territory as ours is a difficult task. Although modern capabilities, perhaps, allow thinking about that," Putin said.

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/: The Mir-19 anti-coronavirus medicine is recommended for use by people aged from 18 to 65, according to the medicine’s instruction for the use

"Indications for use: treatment of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in adults aged from 18 to 65," it reads.

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/: Russia’s Kosmos-2519 military satellite, which previously operated with an inspector spacecraft, has burned in the atmosphere, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) data, published Thursday.

According to NORAD, the satellite decayed from orbit and no longer exists.

The Kosmos-2519 satellite was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on June 23, 2017. The satellite is a space platform that can carry various payloads. This spacecraft carried remote Earth sensing and space object filming equipment.

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/: It is Western countries that must give Russia security guarantees immediately and not the other way round, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual press conference on Thursday, explaining the substance of Moscow’s proposals to NATO.

NATO must halt its further expansion to the East, primarily into Ukraine. The West is putting Ukraine into the center of global security with its efforts, the Russian leader said.

TASS looks at Putin’s key statements on Moscow’s relations with the West and its interaction with Ukraine.