Russia

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: The departure of global companies from China would change the market and push other companies to develop production, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University Alexey Maslov told TASS.

VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME /Amur Region/, October 22. /TASS/: A Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle carrying three Gonets-M satellites and a Skif-D module, launched under the Sfera program, has lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, TASS correspondent reported from the site on Saturday.

In about nine minutes, the main part - the upper stage Fregat with four satellites - will separate from the third stage. It will take a little more than four hours to put the satellites into orbit. It will be carried out with the help of the booster.

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: A Su-30 fighter jet crashed in a residential area in the city of Irkutsk during a trial flight, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry told TASS on Sunday.

"A Su-30 plane crashed during a trial flight. The plane fell within city limits, in the area of single-family homes," the ministry said.

The plane fell on a wooden single-family home, setting off a fire. First responders are working at the scene.

IRKUTSK, Russia, Oct 23 (Reuters) - A Russian military jet crashed into a residential building in the Siberian city of Irkutsk on Sunday and the two pilots were killed, officials said, the second such fatal incident in six days involving a Sukhoi fighter plane.

In a post on Telegram, Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev said the plane crashed into a two-storey house in the city. He published a video showing firefighters clambering over the wreckage and directing jets of water at the still smouldering rubble.

No one on the ground was hurt, the governor said.

Oct 23 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told his French counterpart in a telephone call on Sunday that the situation in Ukraine was rapidly deteriorating and trending towards "uncontrolled escalation".

In a phone call with French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu published by the Russian side, Shoigu said Moscow had concerns Ukraine could use a "dirty bomb" in the conflict, without providing evidence to support the suggestion that Ukraine might use such a weapeon.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: The number of people wounded in the shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces on the town of Shebekino, Belgorod Region, has risen to 12, while two civilians were killed, Vladimir Ikonnikov, health minister of the Belgorod Region, wrote on hos Telegram channel on Saturday.

"Today, as a result of the shelling of the town of Shebekino, 14 people were affected. Sadly, two of them had died before ambulances arrived. They are a man and a 14-year-old child," he wrote.

He added that five people were hospitalized, four of them are in critical condition.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: Russian forces thwarted Ukraine military’s attempt to breach the defense line between the cities of Nikolayev and Krivoi Rog eliminating over 130 Ukrainian troops, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Saturday.

"The enemy tried to breach the Nikolayev and Krivoi Rog line with the use of two tactic battalions moved in the direction of Pyatikhatki, Sukhanovo, Sablukovka, Bezvodnoye, Bruskinskoye and Pravdino communities in the Kherson Region. All attempted attack were repelled," he said.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev warned against the revision of the status of the permanent UN Security State member states including their right to impose veto.

"The status of the [Permanent UN] Security Council member states, which are the founders of the UN, should never be subjected to revision and it includes their right of imposing a veto," Medvedev said adding that the UN Security Council’s membership could be expanded.

MOSCOW, October 22. /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.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: The crew of a Su-30SM multirole fighter aircraft belonging to the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was protecting bomber and fighter aircraft and helicopters, spotted and took out an aircraft of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian Defense Ministry wrote on its Telegram channel on Saturday.