Russia

MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/: Media reports claiming that Russian tourists were banned from entering the EU are false, the embassy of Finland in Moscow told TASS Saturday.

Earlier, the media reported citing European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson that entry to the EU will be allowed to Russian citizens traveling for family and humanitarian reasons as well as to Russian journalists. The reports did not specify if they were talking about the already negotiated suspension of the simplified visa regime or some additional restrictions.

MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/: The Russian troops stationed at Balakleya and Izyum have been regrouped and redeployed to the Donetsk direction in order to step up efforts there, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Saturday.

"In order to achieve the declared goals of the special military operation for the liberation of Donbass, it was decided to regroup the Russian forces stationed near Balakleya and Izyum to boost efforts in the Donetsk direction," Konashenkov said.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: The fate of the United Nations could end up like that of its predecessor, the League of Nations, if the powers of the permanent members of the UN Security Council get "breached," Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev warned.

He referred to a recent initiative by the Americans who proposed some "compromises in reform" at the UN Security Council and moves to reconsider the status quo.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: Voting in Russia’s elections of different levels has begun in a number of regions. As a result, more than 31,000 legislators’ seats and elected posts, including gubernatorial vacancies, will be filled. Elections will be held over a period of one to three days depending on the region.

Polling stations are open from 08:00 to 20:00 local time and will close on September 11.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China Li Zhanshu on Friday met with Russia’s Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko and said Washington won’t succeed in containing China by exploiting the issue of Taiwan.

"Indeed, the Taiwan issue concerns China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Now Taiwan seeks independence with the support of the US. The US seeks to contain China through Taiwan. They won’t succeed," the Chinese official said.

Li Zhanshu said US actions infringe on China's sovereignty.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has inched back slightly by 0.8 percentage points to 80.3% over the past week, according to a survey, published by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) on Friday.

The poll was conducted among 1,600 Russian adults on August 29 - September 4.

"Asked if they trust Putin, 80.3% of the respondents answered in the affirmative (down 0.8 percentage points over the past week). Thus, 76.8% approved of the president’s activities (down 1.3 p.p. over the past week)," the pollster said.

08 Sep 2022; MEMO: Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, said on Thursday he wanted grain from Russia to be exported, too, adding Vladimir Putin was right to complain that grain from Ukraine under an UN-backed deal was going to wealthy rather than poor countries, Reuters reports.

The grain-export agreement aimed to avert a global food crisis by guaranteeing the safe passage of ships in and out of Ukrainian ports, allowing them to export tens of millions of tonnes of grain that had been blockaded by Russia's invasion.

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: The Russian Finance Ministry considers reasonable in the current environment to create reserves in gold, the yuan, and other currencies of friendly states, Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV Channel.

"The yuan role in reserves will certainly grow further. Therefore, I believe if creating reserves in the current environment and keeping money in gold and currency reserves, then this should certainly be gold, in the first instance, the yuan and certain other currencies of friendly states," the Minister said.

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: A St. Petersburg Prosecutor has filed a lawsuit to recognize the siege of Leningrad as a war crime and genocide of the Soviet people, the press service of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday said the West is using Ukraine to execute a corruption scheme where huge funds that are allocated for the supply of weapons to Kiev are then divided among Western companies.

"This is part of a global corruption scheme to allocate colossal funds from the budgets of Western so-called democracies and divide them among their companies," she said at a news conference.