Russia

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/: The West is no longer hiding that it is really behind the planning for Ukraine’s much-vaunted counteroffensive, and will pull out all the stops to ensure its success, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/: Russia is calling on the sides of the conflict in Sudan to reach a national consensus and cooperate, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on RT television on Thursday.

Bogdanov, who is also the presidential special envoy for the Middle East and Africa, said Russia and Sudan always had friendly relations.

April 27 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said on Thursday he had been joking when he said his men would suspend artillery fire in Bakhmut to allow Ukrainian forces on the other side of the frontline to show the city to visiting U.S. journalists.

Wagner has been spearheading Russia's assault on Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukrainian forces have so far thwarted its attempts to take full control of the city.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday denied a U.S request for a consular visit to Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal who is jailed on espionage charges.

The ministry said it rejected the request for the May 11 visit in retaliation for the U.S. refusing to grant visas to Russian journalists who planned to accompany Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on a trip to the United Nations.

27 Apr 2023; MEMO: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, will attend the inauguration ceremony of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Turkiye via video link, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Wednesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Kremlin press service reported on Wednesday.

"The development of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed with an emphasis on solving practical tasks of ensuring stability and security in the region. In the context of the current escalation in the Lachin Corridor, the importance of strict adherence to the entire set of fundamental agreements between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan was stressed," its statement said.

April 26 (Reuters) - Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday that investigators had opened what he called an "absurd" terrorism case against him that could see him sentenced to an additional 30 years in jail.

Navalny, a former lawyer who rose to prominence more than a decade ago by lampooning President Vladimir Putin's elite and alleging large-scale corruption, is serving combined sentences of 11-1/2 years for fraud and contempt of court on charges that he says were trumped up to silence him.

25 Apr 2023; MEMO: The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine's attacks on the Black Sea Fleet jeopardised the extension of the grain deal, Anadolu News Agency reports.

MOSCOW, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Defense ministers of Russia, Iran, Syria and Türkiye held quadripartite talks in Moscow on Tuesday to explore measures aimed at strengthening security in Syria and normalizing Syrian-Turkish relations.

The participants paid special attention to the issues of countering all manifestations of terrorist threats and the fight against all extremist groups in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/:  Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev urged Russia on Tuesday to counteract US efforts to launch a biological war against it and other countries.

"Specific biological research being used by the United States in developing military programs requires the closest attention of our scientific community," Patrushev said, urging proactive efforts to counteract preparations for a biological war against Russia and other countries.