Russia

MOSCOW, January 6. /TASS /. NASA's cancellation of the visit by the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin to the United States could lead to the disruption of a joint Russian-American scientific mission to Venus, said Lev Zeleny, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Russian Academy of Space and scientific director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Sunday.

MOSCOW, January 6. /TASS/. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has started night Christmas service in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

MOSCOW, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said Sunday it is awaiting clarification from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) after it has reportedly rescinded an invitation to Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine had said in an interview that he has rescinded Rogozin's invitation to visit the United States amid mounting criticism from Capitol Hill.

MOSCOW, January 5./TASS/. All six sailors abducted in the Gulf of Guinea are Russian nationals, the Russian Embassy to Benin has said on its Facebook page.

It said pirates attacked the MSC MANDY ship in the area of Benin’s territorial waters on January 2. "There were 24 people on board, most of them Russian nationals," the embassy said.

"The attackers took six people hostage, including the captain, and vanished," the embassy said, adding that all abducted sailors were Russian nationals.

MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/. Paul Whelan detained in Russia on suspicion of spying may hold passports of other countries apart from the US and British citizenship, a source in Russia’s Foreign Ministry told TASS on Friday.

"I believe the British citizenship and American citizenship are not the last," he said.

GROZNY, January 4. /TASS/. An international coalition’s airstrike targeting the militants of the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) has killed a resident of Chechnya’s Nadterechny District Khava Akhyadova, 35, and a four-year-old boy in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, Kheda Saratova from the civil society and human rights council under the Chechen president told TASS on Friday.

MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/. Russia has allowed consular access to US citizen Paul Whelan detained in Moscow on suspicion of carrying out espionage, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Wednesday.

"Russia has granted consular access to Whelan," the diplomat said.

On Monday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said US citizen Paul Whelan was detained on December 28, 2018 in Moscow while on a spy mission. A criminal investigation was opened against the US citizen on charges of espionage. He might face between 10 and 20 years in jail.

MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/. Aeroflot will offer free Moscow-Magnitogorsk flights to relatives of the people either killed or injured when a section of an apartment block collapsed in a gas explosion in Magnitogorsk, the Russian major air carrier’s press release said on Wednesday.

"Aeroflot will offer free flights from Magnitogorsk and back to the nearest relatives (spouses, parents, brothers and sisters) of the victims of an explosion and partial collapse of an apartment block in that city," the press release says. "The service starts on Friday, January 4."

MOSCOW, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- So far 31 people, including four children, were confirmed dead in a household gas explosion in Russia on Monday, the country's emergency ministry said Wednesday.

The body of the 31st person was recovered from under the debris of the partially collapsed 10-story residential building in Magnitogorsk City, the Chelyabinsk Region, the ministry said.

Rescuers are searching around the clock for 10 people who are believed to be still buried in the rubble.

MOSCOW, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A total of 14 bodies were recovered so far after a gas explosion in a residential building in the city of Magnitogorsk, local branch of the Russian emergency ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Dozens remains unaccounted for, as rescue operations are still under way in wake of the new year eve accident in the city 1,400 km east of Moscow.

Wednesday has been declared a day of mourning in the Chelyabinsk Region for those killed in the tragic explosion.