Russia

MOSCOW, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday that a planned expulsion of 27 Russian diplomats from the United States in January would leave 184 staff members at the Russian embassy.

The United States has demanded that 55 Russian diplomats leave the country this year. Twenty-seven had to leave this month, and the rest are required to return to Russia by June 30, the Russian embassy said in a post on its Facebook page.

MOSCOW, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- If the United States were to impose more sanctions against Russia, the country would risk severing relations with Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

"Regarding the threat of (new) sanctions, the Americans were told during the contacts of the presidents that the package (of new sanctions) being considered by Washington, including a complete shutdown of those financial and economic systems controlled by the West, would be equivalent to breaking off ties," Lavrov said.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia said Friday it will not start a war in Ukraine but warned that the U.S. and NATO have ignored its demands and left little room for compromise in the crisis.

President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that the West has failed to consider Russia’s key conditions of halting further NATO expansion, stopping the deployment of alliance weapons near Russian borders, and rolling back its forces from Eastern Europe, the Kremlin said.

GORKI, January 27. /TASS/: The people of Ukraine will eventually elect a national leadership that will fix the relations with Russia and will recognize a number of geopolitical realities, including Crimea, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview Thursday.

MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/: Moscow calls on NATO to withdraw its forces from Eastern European states in order to reduce military tensions on the continent, Russian Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Alexey Zaytsev said Thursday.

"It is clear that the military tensions in Europe will reduce if NATO withdraws its forces from Eastern European states. So this is what we call for, this is one of the key points of our proposals for NATO on guarantees of security," he said.

GORKI, January 27. /TASS/: Russia is interested in good and mutually beneficial relations with the European Union, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said this in an interview with Russian media outlets, including TASS.

According to him, there are no disputes between Moscow and Brussels that cannot be resolved.

"Overall, I think we are interested in good relations with Europe, no doubt about that," he stressed.

MOSCOW, Jan 27 (Reuters) - An activist ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny told Reuters on Thursday she had fled Russia to avoid arrest, while two of his top aides said they had received letters with threats to themselves and their families.

Violetta Grudina, who was barred from standing for election last year in the Arctic port city of Murmansk, did not say where she had gone, when she had left or how.

"There wasn't much choice. I'm on a wanted list in Russia and prison lies in store for me," Grudina said in a short message sent via the Telegram app.

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/: US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan arrived in his car at the Russian Foreign Ministry at about 19:30 Moscow time on Wednesday, a TASS correspondent has reported.

CNN reported earlier that the US intends to hand Moscow written responses to proposals on security guarantees as early as Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the State Duma earlier in the day that Russia would not publish a US response on security guarantees, if asked, but would disclose the general meaning of the answers.

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/: Russia will take necessary measures, should the West fail to provide a constructive response to Moscow’s initiatives on guarantees of security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, speaking in the State Duma Wednesday.

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/: UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss may visit Russia within the next two weeks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Wednesday.

"We have already agreed on the date," he said. "It’ll happen in the next two weeks."

A diplomatic source earlier told TASS that Russia agreed to a request for a visit by the UK foreign minister. UK foreign ministers haven’t come to Russia since Johnson, who’s now the prime minister, visited in December 2017.