Russia

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/: A four-party meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran, Sergey Lavrov, Faisal Mekdad, Mevlut Cavusoglu and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, kicked off in Moscow on Wednesday, a TASS correspondent reports.

Before this meeting, Cavusoglu said that he was hoping to discuss with his colleagues, among other issues, the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland as well as the war on terrorism.

May 9 (Reuters) - Britain is set to formally classify Russian mercenary force Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation as a way of increasing pressure on Russia, The Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Wagner mercenaries have spearheaded Russia's months-long assault on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

The Home Office has been building a case for two months and proscription was due within weeks, the newspaper reported, citing a government source.

The British government declined to comment on its plans.

MOSCOW (AP) — The death toll from wildfires in Russia’s Ural Mountains rose to 21 Tuesday, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing local emergency service agencies.

Wildfires have raged in the Kurgan region of the Urals and in Siberia all week. A resident of western Siberia’s Tyumen province died while attempting to extinguish a fire.

According to local authorities, most of the deaths occurred Sunday in the Kurgan province village of Yuldus, which is located on the border between the Ural Mountains and Siberia.

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/: Many Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries commemorate Victory Day and Russia is grateful to the leaders of the countries who came to Moscow this year to participate in celebrations, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/: Russian forces delivered a massive strike by seaborne and airborne precision weapons against the Ukrainian army’s reserves and ammunition depots, hitting all the designated targets over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin and CIS leaders laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Kremlin wall after the Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/: Further retaliatory measures are being planned in response to the United States refusing to issue visas to Russian journalists who were expected to join Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on a trip to New York to attend UN Security Council meetings, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

"Yes, and this response has already been given in part. But additional steps are being considered. There is no hurry here," he said.

May 9 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary force fighting in eastern Ukraine said on Tuesday he had been told he and his men would be regarded as traitors if they abandoned their positions in the city of Bakhmut.

But Yevgeny Prigozhin said for the second time in a matter of days that his forces would leave Bakhmut if they did not receive the ammunition they needed to press the battle.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told his country’s traditional Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square that the West’s “untamed ambitions, arrogance and impunity” are driving “a real war” against Russia, while the Kremlin’s forces fired another cruise missile barrage at Ukraine.

“Today civilization is once again at a decisive turning point,” Putin said at the annual commemorations celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. “A real war has been unleashed against our Motherland.”

08 May 2023; AA: A former chief of Russian space agency Roscosmos has voiced doubt over the authenticity of the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing.

“About 10 years ago, when I worked in the government, I sent an official request to Roscosmos to provide me with documentary evidence of the Americans' stay on the moon,” Dmitry Rogozin said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday.