Russia

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden's remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin can be described as "very bad," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"I would refrain from giving a wordy comment on that. I will say one thing: these are very bad remarks on the part of the US president," Peskov said, when asked about the Kremlin's reaction to Biden's remark.

Peskov characterized relations between Russia and the US as "very bad."

"These are very bad relations," he told journalists Thursday, answering a corresponding question.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden’s remarks about him reflect U.S. own past and current problems.

Biden was asked in an interview whether he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin is a killer and said “I do.” Russia on Wednesday announced it’s recalling its ambassador in Washington for consultations.

Asked about Biden’s remarks during a video call with residents of Crimea marking the anniversary of its 2014 annexation from Ukraine, Putin charged that they reflect the United States’ own troubled past.

17 Mar 2021; MEMO: Russia is ready to boost cooperation with Turkey in all fields, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday. Her comments marked the centenary of the Friendship and Fraternity Treaty signed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on 16 March 1921.

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/: Unprecedented efforts are made from overseas to make countries abandon their plans to purchase Russian coronavirus vaccines, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday, refusing to name the specific states.

"The scale of pressure in many countries is unprecedented, harsh, stripped of any diplomatic subtlety and so on. It truly takes place," he said. Peskov them refused to clarify whether he is talking about the US and its allies. "I would not want to specify anything here," the spokesman added.

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/: The 2014 referendum on the status of Crimea was legitimate from the standpoint of international law and Ukrainian legislation, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Tuesday.

"That referendum was legitimate essentially, from the standpoint of international law and from the standpoint of Ukraine’s own laws," the Kremlin spokesman said. "It was absolutely legitimate and legal."

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/: The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) will block the Twitter social network in Russia in a month if the service does not delete the prohibited information, the agency’s deputy head Vadim Subbotin told TASS.

"If Twitter does not comply with the requirements of Roskomnadzor, the requirements of Russian legislation, respectively, we will consider an option to completely block the service on the territory of Russia," he added.

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/: Russia has extended suspension of the air service with the United Kingdom until April 16 inclusively in view of the epidemiological situation in the country, the Russian coronavirus response center told reporters on Monday.

"The response center for prevention of import and spread of the novel coronavirus infection made the decision to extend the term for suspension of air traffic with the United Kingdom. To secure health of the population, restrictions are extended until 23.59 pm of April 16, 2021," the Center says.

16 Mar 2021; MEMO: Three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) yesterday filed a landmark case in Moscow against Russia's Wagner mercenary group over the torture and murder of a detainee in Syria in 2017.

MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/: Researchers from Russia’s Skoltech hi-tech hub and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offered the optimal module design for delivering astronauts from a lunar orbiter to the Moon’s surface and back. The research paper was published in the journal Acta Astronautica, the Skoltech press office reported on Monday.

MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/: Russia’s latest Grom (Thunder) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will be capable of controlling a swarm of 10 Molniya (Lightning) small-size drones in their reconnaissance and strike configurations with the option of altering their flight assignments, a representative of Kronshtadt Company (the Grom developer) told TASS on Monday.