Russia

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states confirmed their adherence to the establishment of a multipolar world order, says the SCO Dushanbe anniversary declaration published Friday.

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 20,329 in the past 24 hours reaching 7,254,754. The number of new daily cases surpassed 20,000 for the first time since August 22, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Saturday.

The relative growth rate stands at 0.28%.

Another 1,791 cases were confirmed in St. Petersburg, 915 in the Moscow Region, 505 in the Sverdlovsk Region, while the Voronezh and Samara regions reported 488 new cases each.

MOSCOW, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny accused Telegram of censorship on Saturday after the popular messaging app followed Google and Apple (AAPL.O) in restricting access to their voting campaign in Russia's parliamentary election.

The activists have already accused Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Apple of buckling under Kremlin pressure after they removed an app from their stores that Navalny's allies had hoped to use against the ruling party at the election. 

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: Finnish President Sauli Niinisto has thanked Russian head of state Vladimir Putin for assistance in the evacuation of Finland's nationals from Kabul, Kremlin press service said in a statement on Friday following a telephone conversation between the two presidents.

"[The parties] touched upon the situation in Afghanistan. Sauli Niinisto expressed gratitude for Russia's assistance to Finland in the Kabul evacuation effort," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: The military administrative bodies of Russia and Belarus have demonstrated full compatibility of the controls and a high level of interaction at the Zapad-2021 military exercises, Deputy Chief of General Staff of Russia's Armed Forces Sergey Istrakov said on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: The Kremlin is backing the opinion of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who earlier castigated the ‘progress’ on the Donbass peace talks as pitiable, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday.

"Absolutely," Peskov said in response to a question on whether the Kremlin agreed with this assessment.

Commenting on how this situation could be changed, the Kremlin spokesman noted that, perhaps, "one could influence Kiev, urging it to implement the Minsk agreements."

MOSCOW, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Russian opposition activists accused Alphabet's Google and Apple of caving to Kremlin pressure on Friday after the U.S. tech giants removed an anti-government tactical voting app from their stores on the first day of a parliamentary election.

The app, devised by allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, gives people detailed recommendations on who to vote for in an effort to thwart the ruling United Russia party which supports President Vladimir Putin.

MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/: Moscow calls on Prague to refrain from politicizing the case of Russian national Alexander Franchetti, detained in the Czech Republic, and release him, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

TYUMEN, September 16. /TASS/: The advanced S-500 Prometey air defense system is now being rolled out to Russian troops after the completion of state trials, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told journalists on Thursday.

"The state trials have just completed, and the first supplies of this complex have started. That is not yet the full range as the Almaz-Antey Concern requires. The configurations of the complex were discussed," Borisov said.

MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/: Moscow expects that Canberra, being a nuclear-free country, will continue to comply with its obligations, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.