Russia

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/: The United States has transferred military biological equipment from Ukraine to chemical and pharmacological sites in Poland and the Baltic States, Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Force Igor Kirillov said on Monday.

"As part of activities to wind down military biological operations in Ukraine, the United States are proactively engaging the material base of chemical and pharmacological plants of Poland and the Baltic States; furthermore, equipment from the Ukrainian territory was delivered there," the official said.

Jan 30 (Reuters) - A Russian company said it will offer five million roubles ($72,000) in cash to the first soldiers who destroy or capture western-made tanks in Ukraine, after the Kremlin vowed Russian forces would wipe out any Western tanks shipped to Ukraine.

The United States, Germany and several other European countries are lining up to send Kyiv dozens of advanced combat tanks over the next few months to help boost Ukraine's military capacity as the war approaches the 12-month mark.

29 Jan 2023; MEMO: Russia on Saturday voiced its "deep concern" over spiraling Israeli-Palestinian violence, urging both sides to exercise "maximum restraint" to avoid further escalation, reports Anadolu Agency.

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has addressed the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) due to an attack on the Novoaidar hospital in the Lugansk People’s Republic by the Ukrainian armed forces, requesting to urge Kiev to observe the Geneva Convention.

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: NATO is escalating the arms race not for the sake of peace and talks but in order to continue geopolitical struggle against Russia, a Russian lawmaker said on Sunday.

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke over the phone with his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, Eli Cohen and Riyad al-Maliki, to express concern over the new spiral of violence in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.

"The Russian side stressed that Moscow is concerned over the new spiral of violence in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which is fraught with the resumption of a full-scale armed confrontation leading to further casualties and damages," the ministry said.

Jan 29 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to contacts with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz though has no phone call scheduled with him, a Kremlin spokesman told the state RIA Novosti news agency on Sunday.

29 Jan 2023; AA: A senior Russian lawmaker on Sunday accused Western nations of using Ukraine as a training ground to test their weapons.

“Today, Ukraine is a training ground for Washington and NATO to test their weapons and test out new ways of waging war,” Vyacheslav Volodin, head of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, said in a Telegram post.

The West has no regard for the lives of Ukrainians and views them as disposable, he added.

29 Jan 2023; AA: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Saturday characterized as "hypocrisy" the US Welcome Corps initiative.

The initiative is aimed at "easing the load of the US state budget and transfer some expenses on households," she wrote on Telegram.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: Fire broke out at a construction warehouse on the territory of the Sindika market in the Moscow region on an area of 2,100 square meters, emergency services told TASS on Saturday.

"The fire was localized at 0:42 on an area of 2,100 square meters," the central office of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for Moscow told TASS.

"At 02:20, it was announced that the open fire was extinguished," the press service said.