Russia

MOSCOW, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Russia's interior ministry has prepared draft legislation that would force foreigners to sign a "loyalty agreement" forbidding them from criticising official policy, discrediting Soviet military history, or contravening traditional family values.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has introduced a slew of tough laws that outlaw discrediting the military, and courts have handed down long jail sentences to opposition activists.

MOSCOW/HELSINKI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Any decision by Finland to allow a "concentration" of troops on its border with Russia would be viewed by Moscow as a threat, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after Poland offered to send military advisers to help Helsinki police the frontier.

The head of the Polish National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, said in a post on social media X late on Tuesday that Poland would send military advisers to its NATO ally Finland, in response to "an official request for allied support in the face of a hybrid attack on the Finnish border".

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian combat drone training center and three radar stations over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"The strikes destroyed the Ukrainian army’s center for the training and combat use of unmanned aerial vehicles, an aviation fuel storage facility and three aerial target detection and tracking radars - two P-18s and one ST-68," the ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/: Moscow notified Tokyo about its withdrawal from the agreement on reduction of nuclear weapons, which will expire on May 21, 2024, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

SOCHI/MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin said the West doesn’t need a large Russia.

"In principle, the West does not need such a large and multinational country as Russia," he said in a speech to the Worldwide Russian People's Assembly via video link. "Our diversity and unity of cultures, traditions, languages, ethnicities simply does not fit into the logic of Western racists and colonizers, into their cruel scheme of total depersonalization, disunity, suppression and exploitation."

MOSCOW, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Any new United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members should come from developing countries, Russian media reported Monday, citing Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Primakov Readings International Forum in Moscow.

"It is important to redress the historical injustices that emerged following the end of the decolonization process and since the emergence of many dozens of young sovereign states," Lavrov said, noting that the composition of the UNSC should reflect the current reality.

(AP) --- Tornadoes were forecast for the Black Sea region on Tuesday, a day after a storm that left more than 2 million people without electricity in Crimea, Russia and Ukraine. A think tank said that the weather also impacted Russian military operations.

The storm killed at least 14 people in Russia and Ukraine officials said as it toppled trees, tore down power lines and flooded coastal areas.

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: Russian security services should take measures to counter Washington's military-biological programs, the Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has said.

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: The manner in which the International Energy Agency (IEA) chose to preach to representatives of the oil and gas sector lacks tact, Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Haitham Al Ghais said, cited by the OPEC on its website.

Last week, the (IEA) released a report titled "The Oil and Gas Industry in Net Zero Transitions." In it, the agency said that the oil and gas industry is facing a "moment of truth" and should "choose between fueling the climate crisis or embracing the shift to clean energy," OPEC noted.

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: It is still possible to try to exert efforts to save the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from the influence of the West, which is trying to use it in its own interests, but the chances of success are slim, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

Speaking at the Primakov Readings international forum, Lavrov said he felt no optimism regarding "the fate of the associations where the United States and its allies rule the roost."