Russia

MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/: Russia has been playing a significant role in resolving conflicts, triggered by the West, who seek to exploit ethnic and religious tensions for its own goals, Russian lawmaker Alexey Chepa said during an online press conference on Wednesday.

"Russia is doing more than anyone else today [to resolve conflicts]. We see it in Syria, where attempts to exacerbate religious issues led to a civil war. Only through Russia’s efforts was it possible to extinguish this to a certain degree today," he said.

NOVO-OGAREVO, October 6. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that Gazprom must continue to fulfill its contractual obligations to supply gas through Ukraine to the EU.

"It is necessary to fully comply with the contractual obligations for the transit, delivering our gas through the territory of Ukraine, through the gas transportation system of Ukraine," the head of state said at a meeting on the development of the energy sector on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone conversation on Wednesday to discuss the Iran nuclear deal and bilateral affairs.

The two countries' top diplomats exchanged views on the prospects for restoring full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action during the phone call, which was initiated by the U.S. side, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

They also discussed a number of topical issues on the bilateral agenda, it said in a brief statement. 

ROSTOV-ON-DON, October 5. /TASS/: Units of Russia’s Southern Military District will conduct drills at training grounds in 14 Russian regions, as well as in Abkhazia, Armenia, and South Ossetia amid NATO’s naval exercises, the press service of the Southern Military District said on Tuesday.

The NATO drills involve warships, aviation, air and missile defense systems. Apart from that, the drills envisage the deployment of US troops to Black Sea countries, near the Russian borders.

GELENDZHIK, October 5. /TASS/: The Russian biopharmaceutical company Nanolek will start clinical trials of a combined COVID-19/influenza vaccine in a year and a half, Maxim Stetsyuk, the company’s deputy general director and head of its vaccine division, told TASS.

"I think this (the start of preclinical trials - TASS) will happen not earlier than in a year. Preclinical trials can usually be completed in six months. We expect clinical trials to begin in about a year and a half," he said speaking on the sidelines of the Biotechmed forum.

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/: Nord Stream 2 AG, the Swiss-based operator of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, filed an appeal against the decision of the German court on refusal to grant an exemption for the pipeline from the EU gas directive, the company’s press service told TASS on Tuesday.

"Nord Stream 2, in line with the prescribed timeframe, appealed against the decision of the Supreme Regional Court of Dusseldorf of August 25, 2021, to the Supreme Federal Court of Germany," the company said.

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/: Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko have moved from the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft to the International Space Station, as follows from an online broadcast on the Roscomos website.

They were welcomed by ISS commander Thomas Pesquet and other crewmembers, including Russia's Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov.

The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle blasted off from Baikonur at 11:55 Moscow time on Tuesday. Automated docking with the ISS failed and the operation had to be performed manually.

NOVO-OGAREVO, October 5. /TASS/: Fuel markets in Europe are in turmoil and panic because of speculation over climate change and investment cuts, Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted on Tuesday.

"You see what’s going on in Europe, the hysteria and that mess on the markets. Why? Simply because nobody takes it seriously. Some speculate on the issue of climate change, while someone else underestimates something, and yet another one starts cutting back investments in the extractive industries," President Putin said at a cabinet meeting.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian actor and a film director rocketed to space Tuesday on a mission to make the world’s first movie in orbit.

Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions. Their Soyuz MS-19 lifted off as scheduled at 1:55 p.m. (0855 GMT) from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan and successfully reached the designated orbit.

MOSCOW, October 4./TASS/: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan plans to visit Russia, and preparations are underway for his in-person meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Monday.

Earlier on Monday, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko met with President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan, saying that a face-to-face meeting of Putin and Pashinyan was prepared.