Russia

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (NNN-XINHUA) – The Russian Defence Ministry, disclosed yesterday, information of U.S. high-ranking participants in the military biological studies in Ukraine, many of whom are associated with U.S. intelligence services or pharmaceutical companies.

The ministry has a document with names of all the key U.S. officials supervising Ukraine’s military biological programmes, Igor Kirillov, chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said during a briefing.

Dec 24 (Reuters) - A major Russian shipyard that specialises in building non-nuclear submarines said its general director had died suddenly on Saturday after 11 years in the job, but gave no details.

Admiralty Shipyards, based in the western port of St Petersburg, announced the death of Alexander Buzakov in a statement. He had been in the job since August 2012.

His main achievement, it said, had been preserving and strengthening the shipyard's order books for modern non-nuclear submarines, surface ships and deep water vehicles.

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine but Kyiv and its Western backers have refused to engage in talks, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview aired on Sunday.

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

There is, thus far, little end in sight to the war.

MOSCOW, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry disclosed on Saturday information of U.S. high-ranking participants in the military biological studies in Ukraine, many of whom are associated with U.S. intelligence services or pharmaceutical companies.

The ministry has a document with names of all the key U.S. officials supervising Ukraine's military biological programs, Igor Kirillov, chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said during a briefing.

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/: Dmitry Rogozin, former chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos who is now heading the Tsar’s Wolves team of military advisers, has sustained concussion and a shrapnel wound above his right scapula, Rogozin’s aide told reporters on Saturday.

"Dmitry Olegovich has a penetrating wound - an 8 by 6 mm metal splinter pierced above his right scapula next to the spine. Miraculously, it did not hit his lung. Moreover, he had a concussion. There are no other wounds," he said, adding that former Roscosmos chief is to undergo surgery in hospital near Moscow.

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/: Director General of the Admiralty Shipyards Alexander Buzakov has died at the age of 66, the United Shipbuilding Corporation said on Saturday.

"The United Shipbuilding Corporation, the Admiralty Shipyards and the entire national shipbuilding industry have suffered an irreparable loss, as Alexander Sergeevich Buzakov, Director General of the Admiralty Shipyards, passed away at the age of 66," the corporation said.

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/: Russia was able to keep the fuel price down in 2022, as gasoline prices went up by only 0.6% and diesel prices grew by 8.4% with inflation at 11.1%, and in 2023 Russia intends to avoid an increase in the price above inflation, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with TASS on Saturday.

Dec 23 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Friday told Russia's defence industry chiefs to up their game to ensure that the Russian army quickly got all the weapons, equipment and military hardware it needed to fight in Ukraine.

Putin, who has cast Russia's war in Ukraine as part of an historic effort to push back against what he says is excessive Western influence over global affairs, made the comments during a visit to Tula, a centre for arms manufacturing.

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A senior Russian diplomat said on Friday that talks on security guarantees for Russia cannot take place while NATO instructors and "mercenaries" remain in Ukraine, and while Western arms supplies to the country continue.

Dec 22 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia wants an end to the war in Ukraine and that this would inevitably involve a diplomatic solution.

Putin made the comments a day after U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the White House and promised him continued and unwavering U.S. support.

"Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war," Putin said. "We will strive for an end to this, and the sooner the better, of course."