Europe

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/: Russia is living through a long historical period when it has nobody but itself to rely on, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the educational marathon Znaniye (Knowledge) on Wednesday.

PARIS, August 31. /TASS/: The International Atomic Energy Agency's mission, on its way to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, has arrived in the city of Zaporozhye, AFP reported on Wednesday.

On Monday, the IAEA’s mission left Vienna and arrived in Kiev on Tuesday where the delegation met Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. UN officials told TASS on Monday that the mission would arrive at the nuclear facility via Kiev and the Ukrainian-controlled territory.

STOCKHOLM, Aug 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A porpoise found stranded on a Swedish beach in June died of bird flu, the first time the virus has been detected in a porpoise, Sweden’s National Veterinary Institute said Wednesday.

“As far as we know this is the first confirmed case in the world of bird flu in a porpoise,” veterinarian Elina Thorsson said in a statement.

“It is likely that the porpoise somehow came into contact with infected birds,” she said.

PRAGUE, Aug 31 (Reuters) - EU foreign ministers on Wednesday decided to make it more expensive and lengthier for Russians to obtain visas to travel to the bloc but stopped short of agreeing to the EU-wide visa ban that Ukraine and several member states had called for.

The EU was too divided to agree at this stage on a blanket ban, and also left unclear what unilateral measures Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland, which have land borders with Russia, could take to restrict access to Russian visitors.

BUDAPEST, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The European Union will suspend an agreement with Russia that eases visa issuance but there will not be a blanket visa ban imposed as there is no unanimity on that, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook on Wednesday.

Szijjarto also announced that Hungary has signed a deal with Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) for additional gas shipments from Sept. 1.

He said Hungary, along with some other member states, opposed a Russian visa ban at a meeting of EU ministers in Prague.

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Wednesday hailed late Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as an extraordinary global statesman who helped end the Cold War, but said he had been badly wrong about the prospect of rapprochement with the "bloodthirsty" West.

The comments underlined President Vladimir Putin's feelings about the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which Gorbachev unwittingly presided over, and which Putin has lamented as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century which he would reverse if given a chance.

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Russia welcomes the idea that IAEA experts could stay at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on a permanent basis, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's representative to the international organisations in Vienna, said on Wednesday.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said the agency hoped to set up a permanent mission at the plant. U.N. nuclear inspectors set off for the plant earlier on Wednesday.

LONDON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth will break with tradition and appoint Britain's new prime minister at her Balmoral Castle residence in Scotland, rather than at Buckingham Palace in London, due to mobility issues.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Wednesday the queen would meet outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his yet-to-decided successor on Sept. 6 at Balmoral, where she spends her summers.

BERLIN, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Germany will expand its military presence in the Indo-Pacific by sending more warships and joining drills with allies as it keeps an eye on the "enormous" build-up of China's armed forces, the German defence chief told Reuters.

Germany is joining other Western nations in showing more muscle in the region amid growing alarm over Beijing's territorial ambitions.

MOSCOW, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed deep condolences over the death of former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.

"President Putin expresses deep condolences over the death of Mikhail Gorbachev," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.

"In the morning he will send a telegram of condolences to Gorbachev's family and friends," the spokesman added.