Russia

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: Moldova's leadership has effectively destroyed its language and is now chipping away at its own sovereignty, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: Russia’s Central Bank has kept the key rate at 7.5% per annum for the fifth consecutive time, noting that it would consider the necessity of key rate hike to stabilize inflation at the targeted level of 4% at its forthcoming meetings.

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that introduces life imprisonment for high treason and increases penalties for terrorism, according to the document published on Friday.

The bill contains a number of amendments to the Russian Criminal Code that tighten penalties for terrorism-related crimes and offenses against the constitutional order and state security. Thus, the document introduces life imprisonment for high treason (compared to the current maximum penalty of 20 years).

ST. PETERSBURG, April 28. /TASS/: Russia won’t isolate itself, but rather will expand relations with friendly countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the Council of Legislators on Friday.

"We are not going to isolate ourselves. On the contrary, we will expand pragmatic, equitable, mutually beneficial relations that are nothing less than partnerships with friendly countries in Eurasia, Africa, Latin America," he said.

MOSCOW, April 28 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that gives people living in parts of Ukraine under Moscow's control a path to Russian citizenship, but means those who decline or who do not legalise their status could be deported.

The decree, which was reported by Russian news agencies on Friday, covers four Ukrainian regions that Russia has unilaterally claimed as its own and partially controls: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

MOSCOW, April 28 (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry on Friday criticised a nuclear agreement between the United States and South Korea, saying it would destabilise the region and the wider world, and warned of a potential arms race as a result.

The United States on Wednesday pledged to give South Korea more insight into its nuclear planning, while Seoul promised not to seek nuclear weapons itself in an agreement both sides said was aimed against North Korea.

Russia has repeatedly railed against what it sees as the United States' growing military presence across Asia.

April 28 (Reuters) - Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, who was sanctioned by the West and dubbed the "Butcher of Mariupol" for his role in the Ukraine war, has been removed as deputy defence minister, according to a military blogger and a leading news website.

Mizintsev orchestrated the siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the early months of the war last year. In September, he was appointed deputy defence minister in charge of logistics and supplies.

MOSCOW, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The recent nuclear agreement reached by the United States and South Korea will have a negative effect on regional security and undermine global stability, said the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.

"We took note of reports on an agreement that was reached between the United States and the ROK (the Republic of Korea) on joint planning with regard to the use of nuclear weapons," said the ministry's spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, in a statement.

27 Apr 2023; MEMO: Only its full implementation can save the Black Sea grain deal from collapse, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, reaffirming Moscow's dissatisfaction with an accord that aims to prevent a global food crisis, Reuters reports.

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/: Turkey’s Akkuyu NPP has all components to be called the safest nuclear power plant in the world, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said.