Russia

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Russian Northern Fleet forces wrap up the exercise in the Arctic after a successful completion of all tasks, Russian Defense Ministry told journalists Wednesday.

"The forces that took part in the exercise proved their readiness to defend Russia’s Arctic territories, ensure the Russian military security and economic activity in the Arctic," Northern Fleet Commander Admiral Alexander Moiseyev said.

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/: Silicon Valley-based Big Tech companies will corroborate their involvement in meddling in Russia’s State Duma elections, if they fail to participate in a meeting of the Federation Council’s Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on TV Wednesday.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi has been postponed "until the next opportunity" due to the Russian leader’s self-isolation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"No, bilateral meetings won’t be conducted over conference calls. It is postponed until the next opportunity," the Kremlin official said.

MOSCOW, September 14. / TASS /: One tourist has been killed and two more have been injured during the descent of a glacier in the Karachay-Cherkessia mountains, located on Russia’s North Caucasus, the emergency services told TASS on Tuesday.

"In the Alibek gorge in the Dombay village, a part of the glacier collapsed at an altitude of 2,200 meters. A group of six tourists got hit by it. One of them died and two were injured," the source said.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: The West needs Ukraine as a springboard for its "anti-Russia" project, so it is essential for Kiev to restore neighborly relations with Russia and Belarus, the chairman of the State Duma's committee on international affairs, Leonid Slutsky, said in his Telegram channel while commenting on a statement by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/: The situation in Afghanistan was the focus of a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Kremlin press service said on Tuesday.

"The sides exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan and expressed interest in coordinating their countries’ approaches to its stabilization," it said.

Putin and Khan also discussed prospects for the development of bilateral relations in various spheres.

MOSCOW, Sept 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the presence of foreign troops in Syria, a Kremlin statement said Tuesday, as he held unannounced talks in Moscow with the country’s embattled
President Bashar al-Assad.

   Moscow has been a key ally of the Assad regime throughout the Syrian conflict that erupted in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests. Russia’s military intervention in 2015 helped turn the tide of the war in Assad’s favour and Moscow maintains military bases in the country.

MOSCOW, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he was self-isolating after several members of his entourage fell ill with COVID-19, including someone he worked with in close proximity and had been in close contact with all of the previous day.

Putin, who has had two shots of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, explained the situation to a government meeting by video conference after the Kremlin said he was "absolutely" healthy and did not have the disease himself.

MOSCOW (AP) — In the months before Sunday’s parliamentary election in Russia, authorities unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition, making sure that the best-known and loudest Kremlin critics didn’t run.

Some were barred from seeking public office under new, repressive laws. Some were forced to leave the country after threats of prosecution. Some were jailed.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is not going to discuss the issues of war and peace in Donbass with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky since Moscow is not a party to this conflict, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday.