Russia

MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 6,578 over the past day to 21,386,842, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Tuesday.

In absolute terms, the country has been recording less than 10,000 daily cases for the fifth day in a row. A day earlier, 7,329 daily cases were recorded.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday started hearing American basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession.

Griner, an eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

Griner is taking part in the session held at the Moscow Regional Court via video call from a penal colony outside Moscow where she is being held.

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/: US elites continue to believe that they can pursue aggression against Russia as long as they want, this short-sighted conviction is teeming with utterly dangerous consequences, Chairman of the Russian Historical Society and Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin said on Monday.

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/: The Russian Armed Forces have eliminated more than 1,400 Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries over the past week, according to TASS calculations based on daily briefings by Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

The enemy sustained the greatest losses in manpower and materiel in the Nikolaev-Krivoi Rog area.

TASS has summarized the key statistics concerning Russia’s special military operation for October 17 to October 23.

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/: Russia is boosting production of all types of weapons from tanks and guns to high-precision missiles and drones, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

"The production of weapons and special equipment of all types is increasing manyfold: from tanks and guns to high-precision missiles and drones. Brace yourself!" he said on Telegram.

The politician addressed Russia's opponents and advised them not to hope that the country would run out of armaments.

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/: Russia’s absence from the IAEA’s conference on nuclear power in the 21st century downscales the status of this major event, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary on Monday following the United States’ refusal to issue visas to Russian delegates.

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/: The risk of Kiev using a "dirty bomb" will be on the agenda of the UN Security Council today or tomorrow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the media on the sidelines of the 19th annual meeting of the Valdai international discussion club on Monday.

"This issue will be discussed in the UN Security Council today or tomorrow," Lavrov said.

He stressed that Russia had reliable evidence Ukraine may be planning provocations involving the use of a dirty bomb.

MOSCOW, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russian exports jumped by 25.4 percent year on year to 431 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of 2022, a senior official said Monday.

Imports plummeted by 15.7 percent in this period to 180 billion dollars, First Deputy Head of Russia's Federal Customs Service Ruslan Davydov told a press conference.

This led to "a record" trade surplus of 251 billion dollars, almost doubling from the number in the first nine months of 2021, he said.

MOSCOW (AP) — The crash of a Russian warplane into a residential building in the Siberian city of Irkutsk that killed both pilots may have resulted from a faulty oxygen supply that caused the crew to lose consciousness mid-flight, Russian news reports said Monday.

There were no casualties on the ground when the Su-30 fighter jet crashed Sunday into a wooden two-story building. Both families living there were away at the time of the crash.

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: The decisions of the EU summit have confirmed the confrontational nature of the European Union’s policy, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

"The decisions adopted at the EU Council meeting have again confirmed the confrontational nature of the European Union’s policy," Zakharova said in response to a media question from the media, published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website.