Russia

ST. PETERSBURG, June 4. /TASS/: Russia is ready to continue implementing projects similar to Nord Stream 2 with other countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary meeting of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

"We are ready to continue implementing similar high-tech projects with our European and other partners. We expect the logic of mutual benefit to inevitably have the upper hand over various types of artificial barriers of the current political situation," he said.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 4. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks that during the meeting with US President Joe Biden in Geneva, both sides must try to find ways to regulate bilateral relations.

"We will discuss issues of bilateral relations. I believe that we will try to find ways to regulate these relations, right now, they are at a very low level, we know this very well," Putin said on Friday during the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

(Reuters) --- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed legislation that bars members of "extremist" organisations from running for office, a move allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny say aims to sideline them from parliamentary election this year.

Putin's approval of the law comes days before a court will consider outlawing Navalny's anti-corruption foundation and regional campaign groups on the grounds they are extremist.

MOSCOW, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Reports of alleged "forced labor" in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been used by the West as a pretext to hinder its development, said the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper in a commentary late last month.

While the West is attempting to promote the idea that workers of the region are subjected to forced labor, human rights abuses, and religious discrimination, personal accounts and direct evidence prove that these claims are false and absurd, the paper said.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 3. /TASS/: Sanctions imposed by the US have prompted Russia to create a safety margin, dramatically reducing international debt, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Andrey Belousov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Thursday.

"US sanctions have inflicted certain damages but they give rise to two trends. The first trend is that we created safety margins in all of the most important areas of the Russian economy," Belousov said.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 3. /TASS/: Work to agree the format of negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden continues, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"We do not say anything about the format now, work to agree the format continues, I will not tell you anything for now," he said when asked whether the two leaders will have face-to-face talks in Geneva and whether the two countries’ ambassadors will take part in the negotiations.

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/: Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) plans to deliver five latest and two repaired warships to the Navy this year, USC Head Aleksey Rakhmanov said in a live broadcast of the Rossiya-24 TV Channel at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.

"This year, our program stipulates seven delivery orders. This relates to the construction of new ships plus two more vessels from repairs," he said.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 3. /TASS/: Russia’s production capacity is currently sufficient to meet the domestic demand for coronavirus vaccines, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"If we are talking about domestic supplies, then yes," he said when asked whether the current production capacity is enough to meet the domestic demand for COVID-19 vaccines.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 3. /TASS/: Russia plans to fully abandon the US greenback in the structure of the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and reduce the share of the British pound within a month, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov revealed on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday, adding that the share of euro and yuan will rise, gold will be added, but the portfolio of Japanese yen will remain unchanged in the NWF.

03 June 2021; MEMO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has received an invitation to participate in the Berlin Conference on the Libyan settlement scheduled for 23 June.