Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian diplomat warned the United States and its NATO allies Friday that their own security would suffer if they “torpedo” providing Russia with certain military guarantees.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the West to provide guarantees that would preclude NATO from expanding to Ukraine or deploying troops and weapons there. Putin brought it up during a video call with U.S. President Joe Biden this week.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: Russia has registered 30,209 new confirmed COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections reaching 9,925,806 cases, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday.

According to the crisis center, the relative increase of new infections is at the level of 0.3%.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: The launch of an Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket from the Plesetsk spaceport is scheduled for the evening of December 23, the administration of the Kargasoksky district of the Tomsk Region announced on Thursday.

"The launch of an Angara-A5 space rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome [the Arkhangelsk Region] is planned. The launch time is 18:00 Moscow time on December 23, 2021 (the launch back-up date is December 24, 2021)," the administration said in a statement posted on the VKontakte social network.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: The standoff in eastern Ukraine is escalating but any provocations by the Ukrainian authorities to settle the strife in Donbass involving the use of force will be thwarted, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov cautioned at a briefing for foreign military diplomats on Thursday.

MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Russia accused Ukraine on Thursday of moving heavy artillery towards the front line of fighting with pro-Russian separatists and failing to engage in a peace process, in a new escalation of hostile rhetoric towards Kyiv.

The remarks by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova gave no sign that Moscow is willing to tone down its bitter criticism of Ukraine despite a two-hour call this week between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden.

MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Armenia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that Azerbaijan had begun intensively shelling its military positions in Armenia's Gegharkunik province, the TASS news agency reported.

Azerbaijan said earlier on Thursday that one of its soldiers had been killed on the border with Armenia in what it described as an Armenian "provocation".

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire at their border on Nov. 16 after Russia urged them to step back from confrontation following the deadliest clash since a war last year.

08 Dec 2021; MEMO: Senior Hamas delegation discussed, on Wednesday, the latest developments concerning the Palestinian cause with Russian officials in Moscow.

In a statement, Hamas said that its delegation consisted of members of political bureau, Dr Musa Abu Marzouq and Ezzat El-Rishq, in addition to the Hamas representative in Russia.

SOCHI, December 8. /TASS/: Moscow will draft its proposals on security issues in several days, and then will hand them to the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference on Wednesday after his talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The Russian president said that he had touched upon security issues in his video call with US counterpart Joe Biden.

SOCHI, December 8. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that NATO is conducting a clearly confrontational policy towards Russia.

"As far as NATO is concerned, it is a military alliance. Regrettably, this bloc is conducting a clearly confrontational policy towards Russia," Putin told a news conference following Russian-Greek talks.

He stressed that the expulsion of diplomats, which resulted in the closure of NATO’s liaison office in Moscow, indicated that the alliance was "unfriendly towards Russia, to put it mildly."

ISS, December 8. /TASS/: The TASS news agency became the first world media organization to operate aboard the International Space Station (ISS) by establishing a news office in orbit. The agency will report on the life and work of the station. News, photos and videos will be available across TASS websites.

Russian cosmonaut, Hero of Russia, Alexander Misurkin became the first TASS special reporter in space. He arrived at the station aboard the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, together with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his associate Yozo Hirano.