Russia

MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is submitting to the State Duma draft amendments to the procedure of notifying the United Nations and the Council of Europe in the event of the introduction or termination of martial law or state of emergency in Russia. The official portal of legal information published a presidential decree saying that Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko will be the official representative of the president during the consideration of these amendments by the Russian parliament.

Aug 8 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia's double taxation agreements with what it calls "unfriendly countries" - those that have imposed sanctions on Moscow - the state news agency RIA reported on Tuesday.

The measure had been proposed by the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry in March.

Western countries have imposed successive waves of economic sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine in February last year, which it calls a "special military operation".

Aug 7 (Reuters) - Russia will launch its first lunar landing spacecraft in 47 years on Friday in a race with India to the south pole of the moon, a potential source of water to support a future human presence there.

The launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome, 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow, will take place four weeks after India sent up its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander, due to touch down at the pole on Aug. 23.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Monday sentenced seven defendants to as little as three years in prison for distributing methanol-tainted drinks that killed 44 people.

The court in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, convicted the seven of charges including sale of goods that do not meet safety requirements and result in the deaths of two or more people; sentences ran from three to six years.

MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/: Russia will discuss the results of consultations on Ukraine in Jeddah with BRICS partners who took part in the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS.

"As for the BRICS partners who were invited and went there, yes, there is certainly such an understanding that based on the results of the events in Jeddah, a relevant dialogue, a relevant exchange of views between us and the BRICS participants who were there at different levels will be held," he said.

MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/: Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday that The New York Times has misinterpreted his words about the upcoming presidential election in Russia in 2024 where Putin will be re-elected by more than 90% of votes.

The New York Times earlier on Sunday quoted Peskov as saying that presidential election in Russia "is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy" and that "Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote." The article was written by Roger Cohen.

Aug 6 (Reuters) - Moscow said on Sunday that weekend talks in Saudi Arabia including the U.S., China and India aiming to establish principles for a peaceful end to Russia's war in Ukraine were a doomed Western attempt to align the Global South behind Kyiv.

Senior officials from some 40 countries were attending the two-day meeting, part of a push by Ukraine to build support beyond its core Western backers among countries that have been reluctant to take sides in the conflict. Russia was not invited.

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: The US Embassy in Moscow may turn to the Russian Foreign Ministry if Washington fails to understand what is required to resume the grain deal, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Earlier, the US State Department's coordinator for sanctions policy, James O'Brien, said that Moscow "needs to be clear what it is asking for." He said it was "not clear what Russia regards as success" for resuming participation in the grain deal.

SEVASTOPOL, August 5. /TASS/: A drone boat found in the sea near Sevastopol has been destroyed, and the movement of water transport has been resumed, the city’s governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said.

"The drone boat was destroyed by the naval forces at a great distance from the shore in the Sevastopol sea zone. All restrictions on the movement of water transport have been lifted," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: The Russian forces have liberated the Novoselovskoye settlement in the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said.

"The settlement of Novoselovskoye in the LPR was liberated in the Kupyansk area thanks to the competent and professional actions of the western battlegroup," he pointed out.