Russia

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that the United States was attempting to "contain" both Russia and China with the help of other countries, but they were alert to its "games".

Lavrov told a news conference that the West saw both countries as a threat - Russia right now, and China in the longer term as a systemic rival.

He said Washington was not powerful enough to keep in check both countries at once, so was mobilising Europe, Japan and others to join it.

Jan 18 (Reuters) - The increasingly prominent head of the Russian private military group Wagner on Wednesday took aim at the Kremlin administration for failing to block the U.S.-owned video sharing platform YouTube.

"YouTube is the information plague of our time," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement posted on his Telegram channel, alleging, without evidence, that 40% of the videos on the platform were "politicised and directed against Russia".

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that the United States had assembled a coalition of European countries to solve "the Russian question" in the same way that Adolf Hitler had sought a "final solution" to eradicate Europe's Jews.

Lavrov, who caused an international furore last year with remarks about Hitler, said Washington was using the same tactic as Napoleon and the Nazis in trying to subjugate Europe in order to destroy Russia.

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia's powerful military-industrial complex was ramping up production and was one of the main reasons why his country would prevail in Ukraine.

Speaking to workers at a factory in St Petersburg that makes air defence systems, Putin said overall military equipment output was rising even as demand for it was growing because of what he calls Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will achieve its objectives in Ukraine despite a “hybrid war” waged by the West against Moscow, the top Russian diplomat said Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the goals of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine are “determined by Russia’s core legitimate interests” and will be fulfilled.

“There must be no military infrastructure in Ukraine that poses a direct threat to our country,” Lavrov said, adding that Moscow also intends to make sure the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine were protected.

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/: Russian ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova told TASS on Tuesday that she did not discuss prisoner-exchange issues with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Luninets in Ankara.

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called for expediting the unblocking of traffic along the Lachin corridor, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday after his telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov.

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has introduced a draft bill to the State Duma which proposes to terminate the Statute of the Council of Europe and European conventions on the suppression of terrorism and protection of human rights with regards to Russia.

The document was published on the Duma’s electronic database on Tuesday.

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday that it would make "major changes" to its armed forces from 2023 to 2026, promising to shake up its military structure after months of setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.

In addition to administrative reforms, the Defence Ministry said it would strengthen the combat capabilities of its naval, aerospace and strategic missile forces.

MOSCOW, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A former commander of Russia's Wagner mercenary group who fought in Ukraine said he has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum in fear for his life after witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to front lines.

Andrei Medvedev, who joined Wagner on July 6, 2022 on a four-month contract, said in a video posted by the Gulagu.net rights group that he had crossed the northern Arctic border into Norway before being detained by Norwegian police.