Russia

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: The timing of the commencement of commercial supplies via the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline depends on the German regulator; the Russian Federation hopes that millions of European consumers will be able to receive Russian gas in the near future, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

The diplomat recalled that the construction of one of the world's largest energy infrastructure facilities is about to be completed.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov opened the ISS’ Poisk module docking airlock and began their spacewalk within the framework of the integration of the Nauka module. The operation is live streamed at the Roscosmos website.

The cosmonauts must now secure the airlock cap and install the protective ring. After that, Dubrov will be the first to enter the outer space, with Novitsky following. They will need to connect a large amount of various cables and mount rails on the module’s external surface.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: It is still unclear how the situation in Afghanistan will influence the regional and global security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

"The withdrawal of the Americans and their allies from Afghanistan caused a new crisis situation, and it is still not entirely clear how all this will affect the regional and global security," the head of state said during the BRICS online meeting.

MOSCOW, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Russia and Belarus formally opened vast joint military drills on Thursday, a week-long exercise across the territory of both countries and in the Baltic Sea that has alarmed some NATO countries.

Top military leaders from the two countries attended the opening ceremony of the war games, called "Zapad-2021", in western Russia where flags were raised and speeches given.

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: The first prototype of Russia’s newest T-90M Proryv tank with an additional set of an optoelectronic system will be tested during military exercises soon, a defense industry source told TASS on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: Russian Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev died during the drills in the Arctic city of Norilsk as he was saving other person’s life, the ministry reported on Wednesday.

"We regret to report that the head of the Emergencies Ministry, Yevgeny Zinichev, tragically died rescuing a human life as he was fulfilling his duty in Norilsk during the inter-agency drills on protecting the Arctic zone from emergency situations," the ministry stated.

MOSCOW, Sept 8 (Reuters) - A Russian court plans to consider a request by a former U.S. Marine imprisoned in Russia to be transferred to the United States to serve his sentence there, his lawyers said on Wednesday.

Russia convicted Paul Whelan - who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports - of spying in June 2020 and sentenced him to 16 years in jail. He denied the charge and said he was set up in a sting operation, and Washington has demanded his release.

MOSCOW (AP) — A gas explosion in an apartment building outside Moscow on Wednesday killed two people and injured five others, law enforcement officials said.

The blast occurred in a nine-story building in Noginsk, a town 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) east of Moscow. The blast affected the lower part of the building, with three stories appearing to have sustained the most damage. About 30 apartments were damaged. Local authorities evacuated 170 people from the building.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: Moscow will not take part in the Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Afghanistan, scheduled for September 8, which G7 member states wanted to hold with involvement of Russia and China.

"Russia will not take part in this meeting," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS Tuesday.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently on a retreat in a Siberian region with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and will return to Moscow late on Wednesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.