Russia

MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/: Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov opened a hatch of the Poisk docking compartment aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to begin their spacewalk for integrating the Nauka multi-purpose laboratory module.

"The hatch is open and the time of the extravehicular activity begins," a Mission Control specialist said during talks broadcast on NASA’s website.

Cosmonaut Dubrov will be the first to go into space and will be followed by Novitsky.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 3. /TASS/: Despite developments in Afghanistan, the West is reluctant to stop imposing its standards on other countries, and developed countries aren’t providing enough assistance to others in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Friday.

TASS has put together the most important and striking statements from the president’s address.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 2. /TASS/: Moscow will have to take counter-measures to ensure its security, if NATO moves its military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Izvestia daily on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky insists on his country’s desire to join NATO, "which is not supported at least by half of Ukraine’s population, as social polls suggest," the Russian presidential spokesman noted.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: Russia has registered 18,985 new confirmed COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours. The total number of infections has reached 6,956,318 cases, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told journalists on Thursday.

According to the crisis center, the relative increase of new infections is at the level of 0.27%.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: Oil and gas reserves in the Russian Arctic may be sufficient for the country if necessary for decades and even centuries. However, those resources are too expensive so far, nevertheless, the government plans to encourage the production, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 2. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin launched four new investment projects in the country’s Far East on Thursday, which are in the field of agriculture and the automotive industry. The head of state familiarized himself with them via an interactive presentation on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"Let’s start!" the Russian leader said, marking the launch of the new investment endeavors.

Putin congratulated investors "on the right choice of location for these efforts and for capital investment."

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that U.S. military assistance to Ukraine could make Kyiv behave unpredictably and dangerously in the conflict in its east, and expressed regret at a U.S.-Ukrainian friendship it said was motivated by opposition to Russia.

U.S. President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Washington on Wednesday that the United States was "firmly committed" to Ukraine's territorial integrity and offered $60 million in new security aid. 

MOSCOW, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Russia's communications watchdog threatened on Thursday to fine Apple and Google unless they removed an app created by Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny from their stores, the Interfax news agency reported.

A Russian court declared the jailed opposition politician's movement extremist this summer in a crackdown ahead of parliamentary elections later this month. Navalny's allies want to use the app to organise a tactical voting campaign.

MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/: Gas supplies to China over the Power of Siberia gas pipeline updated an absolute record and are 5% above commitments, Gazprom reports on Wednesday.

"Gas supplies to China over the Power of Siberia continue growing. On August 26, daily supplies for the fourth time over this year updated the absolute record and were more than 5% above daily contract commitments of Gazprom," the company says.

MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/: The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) appointed a new governor for the northern province of Panjsher, where the resistance forces concentrate, local media reported Wednesday, citing senior Taliban leader Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The Taliban reportedly urged the resistance to join the movement in order to avoid clashes.