Russia

(AP) --- Russia has issued carefully calibrated criticism of both sides in the war between Israel and Hamas. But the conflict also is giving Moscow bold new opportunities — to advance its role as a global power broker and challenge Western efforts to isolate it over Ukraine.

While Moscow lacks leverage to mediate a settlement in the Middle East, it could try to play on some perceived credibility problems with the West’s response to the crisis.

It also expects the Israel-Hamas war to distract attention from the fighting in Ukraine and erode support for Kyiv.

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/: Russia has its own hypersonic missiles, so it did not steal any secrets of "super-duper" weapons from the United States, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told the media.

Former US President Donald Trump earlier claimed that Moscow had allegedly obtained secret information about what he described as the US "super-duper" missile during the Barack Obama presidency.

MOSCOW, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Tuesday denied a report that President Vladimir Putin was ill, and laughed off persistent rumours that he used body doubles to cover for him in public appearances.

"Everything is fine with him, this is absolutely another fake," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about an unsourced report by a Russian Telegram channel, picked up by some Western media, that the president had suffered a serious health episode on Sunday evening.

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: The European Union’s sanctions urge against Russia continues, though the previous experience shows that restrictions do not work, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: The Kremlin endorses US President Joe Biden’s statement that the world is in need of a new order, but Moscow does not agree that such an order can be built under the auspices of Washington alone, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media.

"We absolutely agree with Mr. Biden. This is a rare occasion when we absolutely agree with what he said. Indeed, the world is in need of a new order, [but one] based on entirely different principles [than what the US promotes]," he said.

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed command posts of two Ukrainian regiments and inflicted damage on enemy manpower and military hardware in more than 150 areas over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"Operational/tactical and army aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groupings of forces inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army’s personnel and military equipment in 153 areas," the ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The number of Russians who say their salary does not cover basic spending has jumped by 20 percentage points in two years to almost half, a survey by recruiter Headhunter showed, as Moscow diverts record fiscal resources to funding its war in Ukraine.

The findings, from an October survey of almost 5,000 people, put Russia's economic woes in sharp focus and could give the authorities a headache in the run-up to March's presidential election, in which President Vladimir Putin is likely to extend his more than two decades in power.

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/: Russia plans to request another meeting of the UN Security Council in order to discuss solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said on the Solovyov Live television channel.

"We will definitely convene another Security Council meeting. As practice has shown, no one but us dares to do it," he said.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: Russia’s Battlegroup East has thwarted two attempted rotations of Ukrainian troops in the south Donetsk area, the battlegroup’s spokesman Oleg Chekhov told TASS on Thursday.

"In the south Donetsk area, units of the Battlegroup East, supported by artillery, thwarted two attempted rotations of Ukrainian forces near Ugledar and to the north of Novodonetsk. A Ukrainian subversive group was eliminated by the artillery fire to the north of the Priyutnoye settlement," he added.

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/: Russia believes that it is necessary to immediately start negotiating the strategy of collective steps to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Russian Presidential Special Envoy for the Middle East, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said at the Cairo Peace Summit looking for solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The text of his speech was posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.