Russia

Sept 20 (Reuters) - Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said Russian weapons were showing great effectiveness in Ukraine and that the country needs to enhance the capacity of its arms industry.

MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Russia's parliament on Tuesday approved a bill to toughen punishments for a host of crimes such as desertion, damage to military property and insubordination if they are committed during military mobilisation or combat situations.

The bill, passed in its second and third readings on Tuesday by the lower house of parliament, the Duma, comes amid debate inside Russia about a possible mobilisation, a step which could significantly escalate the conflict in Ukraine.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has promised what he described as "proper response" from Moscow in case of any claims to Russia’s territory, including Crimea.

"Crimea is an integral part of Russia, so any claims to Russian territory will entail a proper response," Peskov told the media on Monday.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: At a meeting of the signatories to Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons (BTWC) in Geneva the United States has confessed that samples of pathogenic strains and biomaterials of local people were evacuated from Ukraine, the head Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological protection force, Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, told a news briefing on Monday.

MOSCOW, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday rejected allegations that Russian forces had committed war crimes in Ukraine's Kharkiv province as a "lie".

Around 450 bodies - most of which Ukraine says are civilians - have been found in mass graves near Izium after Russian troops were this month forced out of the Kharkiv region, much of which they had controlled since the first weeks of their military campaign in Ukraine.

Sept 19 (Reuters) - Russia has highly likely lost at least four combat jets in Ukraine within the last 10 days, taking its attrition to about 55 since the beginning of its invasion, the British military said on Monday.

There is a realistic possibility that the uptick in losses was partially a result of the Russian Air Force accepting greater risk in a move to provide close air support to Russian ground forces under pressure from Ukrainian advances, the Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence on Twitter. (https://bit.ly/3DBpgqO)

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Kremlin on Monday that "loud announcements" from US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on the causes of the border conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia were unlikely to help stabilise the situation, reports Reuters.

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/: The White House will announce the name of its new ambassador to Russia next Tuesday, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said in an interview with the Dozhd TV channel (deemed a foreign agent in Russia), aired on Saturday.

For the first time ever a woman will be appointed to the post, she added.

At present, the post of US ambassador to Russia is vacant, following the departure of John Sullivan, 62, from Moscow on September 4. He was appointed by former US President Donald Trump, a Republican, in December 2019.

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/: Russia and China do not aspire to be in charge of the world, while some other countries do, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.

"Actualizing their bilateral relations, it is exactly Russia and China that don’t seek to be in the driver’s seat in the world. We know that other countries do show such tendency," Peskov said in a fragment of the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, shown on Sunday.

MOSCOW, September 18/TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone calls on Sunday with the Kyrgyz and Tajik presidents, Sadyr Japarov and Emomali Rahmon, calling on the parties to prevent further escalation on the border.

According to the Kremlin press service, the presidents "discussed the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border". "Putin urged the sides to prevent further escalation and to take measures to resolve the situation solely through peaceful, political and diplomatic means as soon as possible," the Kremlin noted.