Russia

MOSCOW, September 26./TASS/: Gazprom fully meets its obligations regarding gas supplies to Europe and is ready to export more, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the 'Moscow. Kremlin. Putin' program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel. .

Gazprom is ready for this. "It fully meets its commitments. Absolutely nobody has any claims whatsoever. And they can’t have them. Is Gazprom ready to continue signing contracts? Gazprom is interested in this," Peskov stressed.

MOSCOW, September 26./TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases across Russia grew by 22,498 in the past 24 hours, amounting to 7,420,913 overall, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Sunday.

This is the highest growth since August 8 in absolute terms. The relative growth rate is 0.3%.

In particular, 2,055 new cases were reported in St. Petersburg, 1,215 in the Moscow Region, 574 in the Samara Region, 546 in the Voronezh Region and 531 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. At present, there are 612,409 active cases across Russia.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: In its actions and views on the world processes the European Union has never abandoned the principles of colonialism and the misappropriated right to meddle in the affairs of other countries without any sufficient reasons, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Kiev’s unwillingness to comply with the Minsk-2 agreements is an obstacle to a possible meeting of the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the ‘Moscow. Kremlin. Putin’ program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Three Russian SU-35S fighter jets have escorted a U.S. B-52H strategic bomber which was approaching Russia's border in the Pacific Ocean, RIA news agency reported on Sunday, citing Moscow's Defence Ministry.

It said the bomber had subsequently moved away from the border, while the Russian jets had returned to their bases.

MOSCOW, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has nominated Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, for the speaker of the new convocation of the State Duma, TASS news agency reported Saturday.

At a meeting with leaders of the parties that were elected to the lower house of parliament, Putin said that he believes Volodin is quite worthy to head the next, eighth convocation of the State Duma.

MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/: In the past 24 hours, 22,041 new Covid cases were registered in Russia, which brings the total case count to 7,398,415, says the federal Covid prevention anti-crisis center.

This is a 0.3% relative increase, and this is the first time over 22,000 new cases were registered since August 14, according to the statistics.

KHABAROVSK, September 25. /TASS/: Law enforcement officers discovered flight recorders at the An-26 plane crash site in the Khabarovsk Region, Eastern inter-regional transportation investigative directorate reported Saturday.

NOVO OGARYOVO, September 25. /TASS/: The election to the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament) were held openly and in strict compliance with law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday at a meeting with leaders of the political parties that have won seats in Duma.

The president pointed out that the Duma composition had been determined by the people of Russia, "who exercised their constitutional sovereign right."

"The elections were held openly, in strict compliance with the law and with a high turnout," Putin stressed.

MOSCOW, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Valentina Chupik, a human rights lawyer who operates a hotline for migrants in Russia, said she has been detained at a Moscow airport after the country's security service revoked her refugee status.

"I am at Sheremetyevo airport, in a special detention centre... I am afraid I will be deported to Uzbekistan," Chupik told Reuters on Saturday, adding that her deportation was expected within 24 hours.