Russia

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/: The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, is set to decide in July on the draft law banning gender reassignment surgery, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Saturday.

"Traditional family values are of great importance for each of us," Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel. "Czech President [Petr Pavel] said yesterday that ‘if, God forbid, Russia wins, all Western values will be tarnished’."

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/: Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has visited shooting ranges in the Southern Military District to inspect the combat training of newly created military units, the Defense Ministry said.

"The defense minister inspected the training, driving lessons and live firing exercises by crews of T-90 tanks code-named Proryv. The crews are also trained on modern interactive simulators, which enable them to practice all elements of combat training," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, July 8 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has inspected troops and overseen training of newly formed units made up of contracted servicemen, his ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry released video footage on its Telegram channel showing Shoigu in khaki military fatigues inspecting soldiers at a shooting range, in his first public appearance with troops since last month's aborted mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group.

The ministry did not say when the video was filmed or when the inspection took place.

MOSCOW (AP) — A blast at a Russian explosives plant on Friday killed six people and injured two more, emergency officials said.

The explosion occurred as workers were dismantling equipment at one of the workshops of the Promsintez plant in Russia’s Samara region, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of Moscow, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials.

The blast didn’t start a fire, the report said.

MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/: The extension of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s term of office for another year will not affect relations between Russia and the alliance because they are non-existent, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"With respect to whether that (the extension of Stoltenberg’s term - TASS) will or will not influence relations with Russia, it won’t. That’s because Russia and NATO don’t have any relations," she said at a news conference.

МOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/: Any agreements that the Kiev regime makes with other countries to secure military aid will not have an impact on the outcome of the special military operation and the situation on the frontline today confirms this, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/: Plans to relocate religious relics from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery to the West make it clear that Ukraine is looked upon as a colony, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

"It’s a tradition for colonial powers to behave like bandits toward the national and cultural heritages of the countries they view as their colonies. Undoubtedly, they consider Ukraine to be their colony, not just their fiefdom," she pointed out.

KRASNODAR, July 6. /TASS/: NATO, led by the US, coordinates Kiev’s military operations against the Russian Army, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said Thursday.

"Neo-Nazis grabbed power in Ukraine after the bloody coup, organized by the US and its satellites. Pursuing their selfish goals, the US carries out an undeclared war against Russia, using territory and population of Ukraine," he said during a meeting on national security in the Southern Federal District Thursday.

MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree relieving Sergey Mikhaylov of his post as director general of Russia’s TASS news agency, the Russian government’s press service announced.

Andrey Kondrashov has been appointed as the agency’s new head. Previously, he served as first deputy director general of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK).

Mikhaylov has led Russia’s oldest news agency since 2012. He told a TASS correspondent that he would disclose his future professional plans in the near future.

MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/: The special military operation would end in several days if the US and its vassals stop sending weapons to Ukraine, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday, answering a question from TASS.

"In NATO, primarily the US and its vassals, stop shipping weapons and munitions to Ukraine, the special military operation would end in several months; and if they stop shipping their weapons now, then the special op will end in mere days," Medvedev said.