Russia

MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov demanded the release of hostages held in Gaza in telephone calls on Sunday and Monday with Hamas and other Palestinian factions, the Russian foreign ministry said.

The statement followed a series of meetings and calls between President Vladimir Putin and Middle East leaders in the past week.

MOSCOW, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza during a telephone conversation on Sunday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"The discussion focused on the critical situation in the Palestine-Israel conflict zone, in particular, the disastrous humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," the Kremlin said.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: Kiev is in talks on getting various Western-made warplanes, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: Attempts to artificially impose the "Korean model" of peace settlement in Ukraine are pointless, and other solutions are necessary, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview for AFP.

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/: Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s claims that Russia stopped gas supplies to Europe a lie.

"The German lies blatantly! They rejected [the gas supplies] themselves, they embarrassed themselves before their own people because of their hatred for Russia, and now they wriggle and lie," Medvedev said on his X page.

(AP) --- Vladimir Putin on Friday moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in the presidential election next March that he is all but certain to win.

Putin still commands wide support after nearly a quarter-century in power, despite starting an immensely costly war in Ukraine that has taken thousands of his countrymen’s lives, provoked repeated attacks inside Russia — including one on the Kremlin itself — and corroded its aura of invincibility.

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: No one can stop or slow down the development of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the VTB Investment Forum "Russia Calling!"

"I have no doubt that no one can stop us or slow down our development," he said.

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/: The situation in the Gaza Strip is a problem for all mankind, not just the MIddle East, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said during talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

"The bombing [of Gaza] needs to stop as soon as possible," the Iranian president noted. "Today, this poses a challenge not only to our region but also to all of humanity," he added.

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: A total of 18 people died in 2023 on slopes of the world’s highest mountain, Everest, making it the deadliest mountaineering season since the summit was first reached 70 years ago, according to The Himalayan Database that stores information on all expeditions in the Himalayas.

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi accused the West on Thursday of supporting "genocide" by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, at the start of talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin.

As part of a burst of meetings focused on the Middle East, Putin greeted Raisi in the Kremlin a day after visiting the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where he discussed the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and efforts by Russia and OPEC to boost oil prices.