Russia

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/: Russia is ready to fully meet the fertilizer demand of agricultural producers from friendly countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday after talks with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo.

"We talked on issues of interest for the time being for the whole world, all countries. I mean supplies of foodstuffs, other agricultural goods, including mineral fertilizers, to global markets," the Russian leader said.

June 30 (Reuters) - Russia's Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that in certain circumstances, sanctions against Moscow may be seen as an act of aggression and a justification for war.

"I would like to point out once again that under certain circumstances such hostile measures can also qualify as an act of international aggression. And even as a casus belli (justification for war)," Medvedev said, adding that Russia has the right to defend itself.

MOSCOW June 29 (Reuters) - Russia hinted on Wednesday that it had not dropped the idea of seizing Western-owned assets and businesses in the country, as a top official sharply criticised governments that have hit Moscow with sanctions.

In a combative media briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned that Russia was prepared to "act accordingly" if the West decided to use Russia's frozen state assets - chief among them being around $300 billion of central bank foreign currency reserves.

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/: The activities of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the Swedish Institute in Russia are undesirable and should be stopped immediately, the Russian Foreign Ministry told the Swedish Charge d'Affaires in Russia on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law prohibiting the issuance of licenses for the development of mineral resources to foreign companies. The document was published on the official portal of legal information.

June 28 (Reuters) - Any encroachment on the Crimea peninsula by a NATO member-state could amount to a declaration of war on Russia which could lead to "World War Three," Russia's former president, Dmitry Medvedev, was quoted as saying on Monday.

"For us, Crimea is a part of Russia. And that means forever. Any attempt to encroach on Crimea is a declaration of war against our country," Medvedev told the news website Argumenty i Fakty.

MOSCOW, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that an additional 25 U.S. citizens have been indefinitely barred from entering Russia in response to the sanctions repeatedly imposed by Washington.

U.S. President Joe Biden's wife Jill Biden and his daughter Ashley Biden are among the newly blacklisted.

MOSCOW, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that an additional 25 U.S. citizens have been indefinitely barred from entering Russia in response to the sanctions repeatedly imposed by Washington.

U.S. President Joe Biden's wife Jill Biden and his daughter Ashley Biden are among the newly blacklisted.

MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/: Russia favors the enlargement of the BRICS association (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) but suggests defining procedures and criteria for future candidates first, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told a press briefing on Monday.

"In principle, we look positively at the issue of the association’s potential enlargement, although we understand that it is necessary to approach this issue very carefully," Ushakov said.

MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday hit out at allegations of Russia's ‘default’ on foreign obligations branding the claims as illegitimate, since the corresponding payment in foreign currency was made in May 2022.

"These allegations of a default are absolutely unjustified, because back in May, the obligatory payment in the currency was fulfilled, and the fact that Euroclear withheld this money, or did not deliver it to the recipients is no longer our problem," he told reporters.