Russia

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday approved one-off payments to law enforcement and military officials ahead of a parliamentary election next month, a move critics said was designed to encourage them to vote for the ruling party.

The payments, worth 15,000 roubles ($200) each, will be made in September to fire fighters, police officers, prosecutors and soldiers, among others, according to two decrees signed by Putin and published on the Kremlin website on Tuesday.

31 Aug 2021; MEMO: Russia has rejected the US decision to freeze the assets of Afghanistan's Central Bank following the return of the Taliban to the government in Kabul, Associated Press has reported.

"If our Western colleagues are actually worried about the fate of the Afghan people, then we must not create additional problems for them by freezing gold and foreign exchange reserves," said Moscow's envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov.

VOLGOGRAD, August 30. /TASS/: The Russian Orthodox Church is under tremendous pressure from the United States, which set itself a goal of destroying the unity of world Orthodox Christianity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday at a meeting with the public and young adults in Volgograd.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: All of the Russian latest weapon systems have been tested in the counter-terror operation in Syria, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said in an exclusive interview for the Solovyov-Live YouTube Channel on Monday.

"In Syria, where we have tested over 320 [types of weapon], in fact, we have tested all the weapons, except for easy-to-understand versions," the defense chief said.

The Russian defense industry has considerably strengthened its positions in recent years, Shoigu noted.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 18,325 in the past 24 hours, reaching 6,901,152, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Monday.

This is the lowest number since June 23. The relative growth rate stands at 0.27%.

The Moscow Region reported 858 new cases, the Sverdlovsk Region — 520, the Rostov Region — 482, the Perm Region — 472 and the Voronezh Region — 462.

Currently, 556,293 people in Russia are still undergoing treatment.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation plans to create a new reusable space freighter based on the latest Oryol crewed spaceship currently in development, Energia Chief Designer, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Solovyov told TASS on Monday.

"We want to create a reusable cargo spaceship based on the Oryol [spacecraft]," Solovyov said.

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/: The question about changing the status of the Taliban movement in Russia (outlawed in Russia) is premature. It remains to be seen what their first steps will look like and what kind of leadership they form, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Monday.

MOSCOW, Aug 30 (NNN-TASS) – The United States will continue to toughen its stance towards China, in a bid to restrain the Asian country and “deflect attention” from its domestic challenges and overseas mistakes, a Russian political scientist said.

“The United States views China’s economic development as a fundamental, existential threat to U.S. businesses and its global leadership, hence the attempts to push Chinese companies, in particular, Huawei, out of the high-tech market,” Sergei Markov, general director of the Moscow-based Institute for Political Studies, said recently.

MOSCOW, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Kira Yarmysh, the spokeswoman for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, has left Russia, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing two anonymous sources.

One of the sources said Yarmysh has flown to the Finnish capital Helsinki. Yarmysh did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

A Russian court imposed 18 months of restrictions on her freedom of movement earlier this month, after finding her guilty of breaching COVID-19 safety rules. 

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/: Russia has received information about cooperation between the US-led foreign contingent and the Islamic State (IS) terror group (outlawed in Russia) in Afghanistan, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said on Tuesday at an online discussion of the Valdai international discussion club.