Russia

MOSCOW, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Nearly all inhabitants of four Russia-controlled Pacific islands claimed by both Moscow and Tokyo are against the transfer of the disputed territory to Japan, a poll showed Tuesday.

It said 96 percent of the 7,695 polled inhabitants of the four islands north of Japan's Hokkaido, called Southern Kurils in Russia and Northern Territories in Japan, supported this option.

ANKARA, February 18. /TASS/. The countries willing to keep Syria from falling apart should deal with President Bashar Assad, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News published on Monday.

"Assad is the legitimate president of Syria; he is the leader of that country. You may or may not like him. He is a state leader, he has a people, armed forces and intelligence. If you want to be among countries that want to save the destiny of Syria, you should deal with Assad," Peskov said.

ABU DHABI, February 18. /TASS/. Russia will complete the deliveries of advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to Turkey by the end of this year, CEO of Russia’s hi-tech corporation Rostec Sergei Chemezov said at the 14th IDEX-2019 international defense show on Monday.

"We have signed the contract and we will complete the deliveries by the end of this year. We will deliver all the systems this year," the chief executive said.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. A six-year boy who had spent the whole night in Moscow’s Elk Island National Park eventually turned up alive and unharmed, a law enforcement source informed TASS.

ABU DHABI, February 18. /TASS/. The construction of a plant in Venezuela to manufacture Kalashnikov assault rifles will be completed by the end of this year, CEO of Russia’s Rostec hi-tech corporation Sergei Chemezov said at the IDEX-2019 defense show in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

"We have fulfilled all our obligations and only the construction of the production facility for Kalashnikov assault rifles has not yet been completed. This work will be fulfilled by the end of the year," the chief executive said.

ABU-DHABI, February 18. /TASS/. Russia will supply to China a replacement for the S-400 air defense system missiles instead of those damaged during a storm in the English Channel a year ago, Rostec corporation chief Sergei Chemezov told the media at the IDEX-2019 exhibition in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

"The contract had been signed a long time ago. The shipment would’ve been carried by now, but regrettably the ship that was carrying the missiles was hit by a storm. We were forced to eliminate all those missiles to make new ones instead," Chemezov said.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. The company - operator of the Nord Stream 2 project, Nord Stream 2 AG, laid about 700 km in total for two lines of the gas pipeline (1,224 km each), Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday, according to the Ministry of Energy.

"In total, around 700 km of the gas pipeline have been laid along both lines," Novak said after a telephone conversation with Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany Peter Altmaier. Novak noted that the project is being implemented in accordance with the schedule.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. The United States is behind the European Union's decision to impose new sanctions on Russia over the incident in the Kerch Strait, chairman of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky said on Monday.

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Russia’s Roscosmos and US company Space Adventures have signed a new contract on the flight of two space tourists to the International Space Station until late 2021 onboard one spacecraft, the state corporation told TASS on Tuesday.

"The Roscosmos state corporation and US company Space Adventures have signed a contract on carrying out short-term space flights to the ISS by two non-professional astronauts onboard one spacecraft. The flight to the station will take place until the end of 2021," Roscosmos said.

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Various restrictions, including economic sanctions, introduced by other countries cost Russia $6.3bln by late 2018, according to the estimates of the Economic Development Ministry presented on Tuesday.

These restrictions include anti-dumping duties, licensing, quotas, technical barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and also economic sanctions.