Russia

July 20 (Reuters) - Moscow's military "tasks" in Ukraine now go beyond the eastern Donbas region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, as the Kremlin's forces shelled eastern and southern Ukraine.

Lavrov also told state news agency RIA Novosti that Russia's objectives will expand still further if the West keeps supplying Kyiv with long-range weapons such as the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/: Russia will put forward tougher conditions in terms of both substance and time if talks with Ukraine are resumed, Leonid Slutsky, leader of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and a member of the Russian delegation to the talks with Ukraine, said on Tuesday.

"Today the conditions from our side will be tougher both on demilitarization and denazification, tougher in essence and in time of their execution. I emphasize that this is if the negotiation process is resumed," Slutsky said at a press conference.

MOSCOW, July 19./TASS/: Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina has been classified as fit for a space flight by the Chief Medial Commission, which analyzed data of her medical examinations during the pre-flight training, the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center reported on its website on Tuesday.

"According to the results of a meeting of the commission, the health state of cosmonaut Anna Kikina makes her fit for a space flight. She will continue training for long-term Expedition 68 to the International Space Station," the report said.

July 19 (Reuters) - Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia will prevail in Ukraine and will set the terms for a future peace deal with Kyiv.

"Russia will achieve all its goals. There will be peace - on our terms," Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said in a post on Telegram.

The former leader, once held up in the West as a possible partner, has becoming increasingly hawkish and outspoken in his criticism of the West since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

MOSCOW, July 19 (Reuters) - Russian gas flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline are seen restarting on time on Thursday after the completion of scheduled maintenance, two sources familiar with the export plans told Reuters.

The pipeline, which accounts for more than a third of Russian natural gas exports to the European Union, was halted for ten days of annual maintenance on July 11.

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/: Tehran is preparing the necessary documents to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said in an interview with TASS.

"The process of obtaining full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization consists of numerous stages that a candidate country needs to implement within the established time frame," he pointed out.

NOVO-OGARYOVO, July 18. /TASS/: Russia is not going to lose heart or have decades of its progress reversed, despite inhospitable forecasts from opponents, President Vladimir Putin told the Council for Strategic Development at a meeting on Monday.

The president said Russia was being completely denied access to foreign hi-tech products.

"We understand that this is a major challenge to our country, however we are not going to lose heart or have decades of our progress reversed, despite predictions from a number of our ill-wishers, the opposite is true," Putin insisted.

MOSCOW, July 18 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that it was impossible to cut Russia off from the rest of the world, and that sanctions imposed by Western countries would not turn the clock back on Russia's development.

Since sending troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russia has been hit with a barrage of Western sanctions, designed to isolate it from the global economy, that have deprived it of access to goods including commercial electronics, semiconductors and aircraft parts.

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed a storage warehouse for Harpoon anti-ship missiles at an industrial site in Odessa with its long-range missiles, and used ground-based weapons to destroy a HIMARS launcher and a resupply vehicle, the Defense Ministry’s spokesman reported on Sunday.

"A warehouse for Harpoon anti-ship missiles supplied to Ukraine by NATO countries was destroyed with [Russian] high-precision long-range missiles at an industrial site in Odessa," Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said.

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 4,664 over the past day to 18,490,296, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Sunday.

As many as 705 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, 46.3% fewer than in the previous day. The number of hospitalized patients declined in 62 regions, while in 12 other regions the figure increased. A day earlier, 1,314 people were rushed to hospitals.