Europe

BRUSSELS, October 13. /TASS/: The West will give a powerful response to Russia’s allegedly possible use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine, but that response won’t be nuclear, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Thursday.

"It has to be clear that any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer. Not a nuclear answer, but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian army would be annihilated," he said in a speech at the European Diplomatic Academy in Bruges.

MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/: The United States is benefiting handsomely from the anti-Russian sanctions in several spheres simultaneously, Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Alexander Venediktov told TASS on Thursday.

"Let’s take a look at the agricultural sector. Six or seven years ago the Americans resorted to provoking a global food crisis, achieving considerable growth in the export of its agricultural products, and used the situation in Ukraine for a redivision of the markets, which includes the goal of promoting genetically modified products," he maintained.

MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/: Moscow will not be chasing the West in pursuit of contacts on Ukraine. There have been no serious proposals for an appropriate dialogue so far,

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a comment to Izvestiya posted on the daily’s Telegram channel on Thursday.

"No one [in the West] has approached us with serious proposals. We are not going to run after them," Lavrov said.

PARIS, October 13. /TASS/: Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Thursday adopted a resolution on the conflict in Ukraine where they accused Russia of "terrorism," according to a statement on the council’s website.

Of the 612 members of the council, just 100 were in attendance, and 99 of them voted for the inclusion of an amendment that calls Russia a "terrorist regime." One member abstained.

Statements by PACE, which is an advisory organization, are not binding.

KYIV, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The head of Ukraine's state nuclear energy firm decried as "fake news" on Thursday Moscow's assertions that the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant would require Russian fuel.

Energoatom chief Petro Kotin told Reuters in an interview there were two years' worth of fuel supplies stored at the six-reactor plant, which is still operated by Ukrainian staff.

Kotin also said the staff were facing threats of forced conscription into the Russian military.

PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - France's foreign ministry said on Thursday that any transfer of Iranian drones to Russia would be a violation of the United Nations Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers.

Three drones operated by Russian forces attacked the small town of Makariv, west of Ukraine's capital, early on Thursday, with officials saying that critical infrastructure facilities were struck by what they said were Iranian-made suicide drones.

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - If Ukraine is admitted into the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, then the conflict in Ukraine would be guaranteed to escalate into World War Three, a Russian Security Council official was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin formally proclaimed the annexation of up to 18% of Ukraine on Sept. 30, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced a surprise bid for fast-track membership of NATO.

Full NATO membership for Ukraine is far off because all the alliance's 30 members would have to give their consent.

BRUSSELS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - NATO will closely monitor Russia's upcoming nuclear exercise but not be cowed into dropping support for Ukraine by Moscow's veiled nuclear threats, the alliance's chief said on Thursday.

"We will not be intimidated," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after a two-day meeting of the alliance's defence ministers. "Russia's nuclear rhetoric is dangerous, reckless, and they know that if they use (a) nuclear weapon against Ukraine, it will have severe consequences."

GENEVA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Moscow has submitted concerns to the United Nations about an agreement on Black Sea grain exports, and is prepared to reject renewing the deal next month unless its demands are addressed, Russia's Geneva U.N. ambassador told Reuters on Thursday.

The agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July, paved the way for Ukraine to resume grain exports from Black Sea ports that had been shut since Russia invaded. Moscow won guarantees for its own grain and fertiliser exports.

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Thursday that the goals of Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine were unchanged, but that they could be achieved through negotiations.

The comments to the Russian newspaper Izvestia were the latest in a series of statements this week stressing Moscow's openness to talks - a change of tone that follows a run of humiliating defeats for Russian forces as the war in Ukraine nears the end of its eighth month.