Russia

Sept 11 (Reuters) - Russia on Sunday wrapped up widely denounced regional and municipal elections, including in regions annexed from Ukraine, delivering strong support for President Vladimir Putin amidst criticism of vote rigging and Kyiv's push to reclaim its land.

The Council of Europe, Europe's leading rights group, called the week-long vote a flagrant violation of international law, and Kyiv and its allies say it was an illegal attempt to tighten Moscow's grip over regions in Ukraine's south and east.

(AP) --- After a year and a half of fighting in Ukraine, Russia needs to replenish its supplies of ammunition for what could be a long war of attrition. Along with ramping up its domestic arms production, Moscow is turning to an old ally with a vast arsenal — North Korea.

Estimates say the reclusive and isolated Asian country has tens of millions of artillery shells and rockets that could give a huge boost to the Russian army.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Vice Premier of China and Vice President of Laos on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"[Putin] will have international contacts. Vice President of Laos Pany Yathotou will be the main foreign guest at the forum. She will take part in the plenary session of the forum on September 12 together with President Putin. The head of the state will have a separate meeting with her before the forum’s plenary session," Peskov said.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: The G20 member-countries have agreed to grant the status of a permanent member to the African Union, the Bloomberg news agency quotes sources as saying.

This decision is expected to be announced on September 9-10 during the G20 summit in India.

The AU will have the same status as the European Union, the agency says. This decision stems from the wish to give the AU members a greater say on global issues.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: Russia plans to develop its relations with North Korea regardless of what other countries might think, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We have our own relations with Pyongyang. We value these relations as North Korea is our neighbor, and we will of course continue to develop relations with them regardless of the opinion of other countries," he said.

Peskov was commenting on a recent allegation by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about the DPRK's plans to supply arms to Russia.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking at the East Asia Summit, highlighted the risks of militarization of the Asia-Pacific region driven by NATO’s efforts to penetrate the region, according to a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website.

MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/: Washington has ruled out the possibility of international control of US biolaboratories by blocking the work on a legally binding protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops, has said.

MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/: The volume of funds in the Russian National Wealth Fund as of September 1 amounted to 13.7 trillion rubles ($139.98 bln), or 9.1% of the Russian GDP anticipated for 2023, according to the Finance Ministry.

"As of September 1, 2023, the volume of the National Wealth Fund amounted to 13,703,597.7 mln rubles, or 9.1% of GDP projected for 2023 <...>," the Ministry of Finance stated.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: The Interpol database has information about more than 130,000 terrorists and their accomplices, as well as fingerprint cards and DNA of 665,000 people, whose traces were retrieved from sites of terror attacks, Valery Kalachev, chief of the National Central Bureau of Interpol of the Russian Interior Ministry, said in an interview with TASS.

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/: A drone was shot down by the air defense system in the Moscow Region’s Ramensky district, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Thursday.

"This night, air defense forces thwarted a drone attack on Moscow. No damage or casualties were preliminarily reported from the site where the fragments hit the ground," he wrote on his official Telegram channel.