Russia

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/: The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) that has seized power in Afghanistan is unlikely to be recognized soon, including by Russia, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Moscow Said Tayeb Jawad said in an interview with TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that the probability of a new conflict in eastern Ukraine remained high and that Moscow was concerned by "aggressive" rhetoric from Kyiv and an increase in what it called provocative actions.

The comments come amid Ukrainian and western concerns over a buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine. Moscow denies planning an invasion and accuses Ukraine of building up its own forces in the east of the country.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/: A fragment of a US Pegasus rocket will fly at a distance of 5.4 km from the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday afternoon, the press office of the Russian space agency Roscosmos reported on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/: Russia suggests opening detailed talks on legal guarantees to stop NATO’s eastward expansion, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"Our diplomats are currently faced with the prime task of obtaining reliable and long-term security guarantees," Putin said speaking at a ceremony of receiving foreign ambassadors’ credentials in Moscow.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/: There is no alternative to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for Iran’s nuclear program, and proposals for other options are making it harder to salvage the deal, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday said he expects some anti-Russian statements to be made at the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial meeting on December 2-3, adding that Moscow will call for a dialog.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/: The crew of the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft made up of cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin as TASS’ first-ever special reporter in space, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his business assistant Yozo Hirano will return to Earth on the morning of December 20, Roscosmos told TASS on Wednesday.

"The undocking with the ISS is scheduled for 02:53 Moscow time, the engines will be activated from 05:24 to 05:28 and the landing is expected at 06:18 in the Kazakh steppe," the press office said.

MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it was ordering U.S. embassy staff who have been in Moscow for more than three years to fly home by Jan. 31, a retaliatory move for what Moscow said was a U.S. decision to limit the terms of Russian diplomats.

The step, the latest in an escalating diplomatic row, comes after Russia's ambassador to the United States said last week that 27 Russian diplomats and their families were being expelled from the United States and would leave on Jan. 30. 

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow would seek Western guarantees that would preclude any further NATO expansion and deployment of its weapons near Russia’s borders.

Putin’s statement came amid Ukrainian and Western worries about an alleged plan by Moscow to invade Ukraine. Russian diplomats countered them Wednesday by expressing concern about Ukraine’s military buildup near the area of the separatist conflict in the country’s east.

MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has expressed hope that the current Ukrainian leadership won’t repeat the actions of Georgia’s former president Mikhail Saakashvili in 2008 at a press conference on Tuesday.

"I will express hope that even the current Kiev regime won't follow the path of Mikhail Saakashvili of the August 2008 vintage," he said.