Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — When the Taliban swept over Afghanistan, Russia was ready for the rapid developments after working methodically for years to lay the groundwork for relations with the group that it still officially considers a terrorist organization.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized this week that Moscow was “in no rush” to recognize the Taliban as the new rulers of Afghanistan, but he added there were “encouraging signals” of their readiness to let other political forces join the government and allow girls into schools.

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 20,914 in the past 24 hours, reaching 6,663,473, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Wednesday.

The relative growth rate stands at 0.31%.

St. Petersburg reported 1,636 new cases, Moscow — 1,590, the Moscow Region — 1,240, the Nizhny Novgorod Region — 521 and the Smolensk Region — 516.

The number of patients who are undergoing treatment has dropped for the first time since June 3 and currently stands at 551,527, based on data provided by the crisis center.

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/: The West is leaving behind a new humanitarian and political crisis in Afghanistan as its legacy to the world and to future generations, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"At present, we are seeing once again that the Western community, which is safeguarding some of its own Western values, is again bequeathing yet another crisis to the world and to future generations," the Russian diplomat said in an interview with the Solovyov-Live YouTube channel.

MOSCOW, August 17. / TASS /: Moscow improved its position in the international Tech Cities of the Future rating of the fDi Intelligence analytical agency, moving up four lines and taking 14th place among 76 cities in Europe, according to the information made avaialble on the official web site of the mayor and the city administration on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/: Rescue work is currently underway at the scene of the crash site in the Moscow Region, where Russia’s latest Ilyushin Il-112V military transport plane with three crew members on board crash landed earlier in the day, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) told TASS.

KALININGRAD, August 17. /TASS/: Western countries will certainly make attempts to undermine the Nord Stream 2 project, but they are all doomed to failure, since it has already been implemented, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. He said this during a meeting with professors and students of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Kaliningrad.

"I am convinced that all attempts to undermine it, challenge it, all attempts to surround its completion with some conditions, they are doomed to failure. Although there will be such attempts," he said.

MOSCOW, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader who oversaw the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989 after Moscow's failed decade-long campaign there, said on Tuesday that NATO's own deployment to the country had been doomed from the start.

Gorbachev, 90, regarded the Soviet presence in Afghanistan as a political mistake that was sapping precious resources at a time when the Soviet Union was living through what turned out to be the twilight of its own existence.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) took the Russian embassy in Kabul under protection on Monday and confirmed that Russian diplomats could continue their work safely, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel. 

"Taliban members are already guarding our embassy as Afghan security forces that used to protect us left earlier today. The Taliban confirmed once again that no one will harm a hair on the heads of Russian diplomats, saying that ‘you can work undisturbed," the ambassador said.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) approved the order of placement of the political parties’ names and emblems on a federal ballot for the State Duma election at a meeting on Monday.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: Two Soyuz-2 rockets have been sent from the Progress Space Rocket Center to the Baikonur spaceport and one of the carriers is set to deliver Russia’s new Prichal module to the International Space Station (ISS), the State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced on Monday.