Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — Associates of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that he has been located at a prison colony above the Arctic Circle nearly three weeks after contact with him was lost.

Navalny, the most prominent foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. He had been imprisoned in the Vladimir region of central Russia, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of Moscow, but his lawyers said they had not been able to reach him since Dec. 6.

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The head of a company that makes navigation systems for Russia's space programme was arrested in Moscow and charged with major fraud, state media reported on Friday.

TASS news agency quoted an unidentified law enforcement official as saying that Yevgeny Fomichev had been interrogated and charged with large-scale fraud, which carries a prison term of up to 10 years and a million rouble ($10,972) fine.

Dec 22 (Reuters) - Russia has bought out another 92 planes from foreign leasing companies, airlines and aircraft leasing company AerCap said.

The planes have been bought out using money from Russia's National Welfare Fund, 190 billion roubles ($2.06 billion) of which has been allocated for the purpose.

Ownership will now pass to Russia's state insurance company NLK-Finance, which will transfer them to the airlines.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian politician calling for peace in Ukraine hit a roadblock in her campaign Saturday, when Russia’s Central Election Commission refused to accept her initial nomination by a group of supporters, citing errors in the documents submitted.

Former legislator Yekaterina Duntsova is calling for peace in Ukraine and hopes to challenge President Vladimir Putin, promoting her vision of a “humane” Russia “that’s peaceful, friendly and ready to cooperate with everyone on the principle of respect.”

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/: Russian forces carried out 39 high-precision strikes on Ukrainian military sites this week, the Russian Defense Ministry has said in a daily bulletin of the special military operation.

The military utilized high-precision weapons and drones to inflict the group strikes "on military airfield infrastructure, equipment for navigational support of flights, fuel depots and artillery ammunition, weapons and military equipment storage sites," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/: The idea that Russia is allegedly destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage is baseless, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint meeting of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO.

"Attempts to disparage Russia for the so-called destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage are along the same lines. Even though nobody can present any evidence toward this end; it simply does not exist," he said.

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Kremlin accused the Wall Street Journal of publishing "pulp fiction" on Friday after it reported that the death of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash had been orchestrated by Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev.

The WSJ reported that Prigozhin's private jet was downed by a small bomb placed under a wing. Its report cited unnamed Western intelligence officials and a former Russian intelligence officer.

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/: Russian and Venezuelan presidents Vladimir Putin and Nicolas Maduro in a phone conversation underscored their shared approaches to the establishment of a fair world order, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"During an exchange of views on the international agenda, an emphasis was placed on the shared approaches to the establishment of a fair multipolar world order, on rejection of illegal sanctions and interference in the internal affairs of countries," the statement said.

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will visit China over the next two days, and is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese State Council Premier Li Qiang, the Russian government said in a press release.

"On December 19-20, 2023, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will visit China under an agreement with the Chinese side," the statement said.

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/: Russia's ruling party formally endorses President Vladimir Putin's nomination as independent candidate for re-election; Brussels sprouts yet another package of anti-Russian sanctions; and Ukraine seen planning counteroffensive 2.0 for 2024. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.