Heavy snowfall delays and strands dozens of flights at Moscow airports

The snowfall that started late on Tuesday has become the heaviest since the start of winter.

MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. More than 20 inbound and outbound flights have been delayed at Moscow’s airports amid a heavy snowfall, and another 11 flights have been cancelled, a source from the aviation-related circles told TASS on Wednesday.

"As of 12:30 Moscow time, 21 flights were delayed due to the snowfall, and another 11 flights were cancelled," the source said. Earlier reports mentioned 26 delayed and cancelled flights.

Moscow’s airports are functioning in accordance with the weather, decisions on the landing are taken by the aircraft commanders. "Delays come due to work to clear the runways and to treat the aircraft with de-icing fluids," the source added.

He said Domodedovo International Airport sees the biggest number of delays, followed by Sheremetyevo. Vnukovo International Airport is the least affected among the Moscow airports.

The snowfall that started late on Tuesday has become the heaviest since the start of winter. Weathermen forecast that it will continue through the day.

Source: ITAR-TASS 31-01-2018

Putin's spokesman shrugs off being named on US 'Kremlin List'

The so-called ‘Kremlin List’ was submitted to the US Congress on Monday under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that he is indifferent to the decision to include him in the "Kremlin List" made public by the US Department of Treasury.

"I feel nothing about it [the decision to include him in the ‘Kremlin List’]. I am pretty much indifferent to that," he told reporters.

The Kremlin spokesman noted that the list contains many names, "so there is nothing to say, this is a generalized approach."

The so-called ‘Kremlin List’ was submitted to the US Congress on Monday under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. The document contains 210 names, including 114 Russian officials, businesspeople and CEOs of government-funded companies and banks. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, all his deputies and all 22 Russian ministers have been added to it.

The US Department of Treasury denied that this was a sanctions list. No restrictions are being imposed on the listed individuals. This move creates no obstacles for business contacts with US citizens provided that these individuals are not subject to sanctions.

Source: ITAR-TASS 30-01-2018

Putin's spokesman slams US ‘Kremlin report’ as attempt to influence presidential election

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the upcoming US ‘Kremlin report’ was an attempt to influence the presidential elections in Russia but it would exert no influence.

"We, indeed, believe, that this is a direct and obvious attempt to time some actions for the elections in order to exert influence," the Russian presidential spokesman said, commenting on the so-called Kremlin report the United States was preparing.

"We do not agree with this and we are convinced that it will exert no influence," Peskov said.

Source: ITAR-TASS 29-01-2018

Number of unemployed Russians to decline by 100,000 this year — ministry

As of January 17, 2018, a total of 1.4 million job offers have been placed by employers with Russian employment offices.

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. The number of unemployed Russians is expected to decline by 100,000 this year, to 3.8 million, the Russian Labor Ministry said in a fact sheet prepared on a request from TASS on the occasion of the International Unemployment Day.

The International Unemployment Day is marked on January 28 to draw attention to the unemployment problem worldwide.

"According to preliminary results of a sampling survey of the workforce, conducted by [the state-run statistics service] Rosstat, 3.9 million people, or 5.1% people of the working age were classed as unemployed in line with the International Labor Organization’s methodology," the Labor Ministry said.

The ministry expects the number to drop to 3.8 million people this year, while unemployment is projected to decline to five percent.

Currently, a total of 747,000 people are officially registered as unemployed in Russia. They receive monthly unemployment benefits of between 950 rubles ($17) and 4,900 rubles ($87).

As of January 17, 2018, a total of 1.4 million job offers have been placed by employers with Russian employment offices.

Russian employment offices also assist the unemployed in professional training, additional education or career guidance. All those services are free of charge. In addition, employment offices are also authorized to render financial assistance to self-employed persons, farmers and self-employed entrepreneurs.

Russians officially registered as unemployed and their family members can also apply for assistance in moving to another region where they are more likely to find a job.

In 2017, jobs were found for almost 90,000 people with disabilities, up 33,000 since last year.

Source: ITAR-TASS 28-01-2018

Two life rafts found in Sea of Japan area of searches for missing Russian vessel

Now the Spasatel Zaborshchikov is lifting them.

VLADIVOSTOK, January 27. /TASS/. The Spasatel Zaborshchikov vessel, which had got to the search area for the Vostok missing Russian vessel, found two life rafts there, the rescue center told TASS on Saturday.

"They have found two life rafts, now the Spasatel Zaborshchikov is lifting them," the center’s representative said.

Rescuers say no people were found on the first of two life rafts found in the Sea of Japan, the local emergencies service told TASS.

"We have lifted the first raft. It is empty, water inside. The vessel head for the second raft," the press service said.

Earlier, Head of the DV-flot Company, owing the missing Vostok vessel, Stanislav Malchevsky told TASS the second life raft had been found three miles away from the first.

Radio contact with the Vostok fishing boat (home port of Nevelsk, Sakhalin), with 20 crew members aboard, was lost on Thursday after its emergency radio buoy had gone off some 200 kilometers south of Cape Gamov.

An area of 7,286 square kilometers has been surveyed by rescuers to yield only an emergency radio buoy, a half-sunken barrel, some equipment, two lifejackets, two life buoys and waste, with no traces of the vessel or the crew.

During the first two days, the sea was stormy, but on Saturday the weather began  to calm down.

Source: ITAR-TASS 27-01-2018

Trump tells TASS he hopes to have dialogue with Russia

Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Moscow was ready to normalize ties with Washington.

DAVOS, January 26. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump told TASS on Friday that he expects to have dialogue with Russia.

Answering a TASS reporter’s question on whether he is going to build dialogue with Russia, Trump said: “We hope so.”

The US president will address the World Economic Forum at 2 pm (4 pm Moscow Time) and later attend a session to explain his “America First” approach.

Russian-US relations had deteriorated under former US President Barack Obama amid the Ukrainian crisis and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Trump, who recently marked the one-year anniversary of his inauguration as America’s president, earlier declared his desire to mend ties with Russia, but no progress has been made so far.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Moscow was ready to normalize ties with Washington, but “the domestic political situation in the United States has not calmed down.”

Source:  ITAR-TASS 26-01-2018

Kiev using secret prisons, Donetsk human rights ombudsman reveals

Former captives have uncovered details on a secret network of prisons used by Kiev, the Donetsk human rights ombudsman says.

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Former captives have uncovered details on a secret network of prisons used by Kiev, human rights ombudsman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Darya Morozova said on Thursday.

"We found out from an interview with released captives that the practice of secret prisons is still in place in Ukraine," Morozova said during a video linkup at a roundtable hosted by TASS and devoted to reports by international organizations on the crimes in Donbass.

The Donetsk republic’s authorities are doing their best to inform the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) when the rights of individuals captured by Ukraine are violated, she added.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk republic has had fruitful cooperation with international organizations in this field, she said. "Thanks to cooperation with the UN on human rights one year and a half ago we managed to uncover a secret prison and 12 individuals were released from there," Morozova said.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic sees no obstacles for holding a new prisoner swap with Ukraine within a month, she added.

"Given our experience, we can surely carry out the exchange within a month," Morozova said during a video linkup at a roundtable hosted by TASS and devoted to reports by international organizations on the crimes in Donbass.

As many as 4,572 civilians have been killed in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic since the Donbass conflict erupted in April 2014. According to her, "4,572 civilians have been killed, including 3,967 men, 605 women and 76 children under the age of 18."

"In 2017, 278 people were killed on DPR soil, including two children, while another 595 people, 
with 14 children among them, suffered various wounds," Morozova added.

On December 27, 2017, a prisoner swap, the largest so far, took place on the line of contact in Donbass. Kiev handed over 233 prisoners to the Donbass republics and received 73 prisoners in return. Both parties stressed that the prisoner exchange process had not been completed and they were determined to do everything possible to continue it in 2018.

Source: ITAR-TASS 25-01-2018

State Duma ratifies deal on integrating South Ossetia forces into Russian army

The document was signed in Moscow on March 31, 2017.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, ratified on Wednesday an agreement on the procedure of integrating South Ossetian separate military units into the Russian Armed Forces.

The document was signed in Moscow on March 31, 2017. Under the agreement, South Ossetians, who have Russian citizenship, reside in the republic and are liable for military duty, may be recruited for contract service in the Russian army. The document says that sending them to the Russian military base in South Ossetia will be on a voluntary basis.

Upon concluding such a contract, a citizen must be discharged from military service in the South Ossetian armed forces and his further active duty will be regulated by the Russian legislation.

The agreement on integrating some units of the South Ossetian Defense Ministry into the Russian Armed Forces is an additional document under the Treaty on Allied Relations and Integration signed by the presidents of both countries on March 18, 2015.

Source:  ITAR-TASS 24-01-2018

Russian court upholds arrest of Norwegian citizen accused of spying

Frode Berg is charged with spying under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code.

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. The Moscow city court on Tuesday upheld the arrest of Norwegian citizen Frode Berg, who is accused of spying, a TASS correspondent reports from the courtroom.

The judge said the defense lawyer’s appeal against remanding Berg in custody till February 5, 2018 was dismissed. The case was considered behind closed doors because the case involved secret documents.

Berg is charged with spying under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code. The federal security service FSB detained him in Moscow in a special operation the moment he was receiving secret documents. The investigators say the documents concerning Russia’s Navy were handed over to Berg by Russian citizen Aleksey Zhitnyuk. A district court in Moscow ordered his arrest on charges of high treason (Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code).

Source: ITAR-TASS 23-01-2018

Russian fighter jets intercept hypothetical enemy planes in stratosphere during drills

The hypothetical enemy air crews conducted flights at an altitude of 10 km to 15 km.

MOSCOW, January 22. /ATSS/. Russian fighter aircraft MiG-31BM of the Russian Aerospace Force aviation center in the Nizhny Novgorod have hammered out intercept of hypothetical enemy planes at a high altitude, including in the lower stratosphere, the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"A pair of fighter aircraft of a similar type acted as ‘enemy’ aircraft. The hypothetical enemy air crews conducted flights at an altitude of 10 km to 15 km (the lower stratosphere starts at an altitude of 11 km - TASS) and at a speed of 1,000 to 2,500 km per hour," the report says.

The exercise involved more than 10 crews. All targets were "destroyed’ in missile attacks at a distance of more than 150 km, the Russian Defense Ministry reports.

The military drill was conducted to retrain pilots across the country to operate the upgraded version of the MiG-31BM interceptor aircraft which is outfitted with a modern control system and high-precision weaponry and maintains a technological edge over its predecessor, the MiG-31, by its combat effectiveness, which is 2.6 times higher, the ministry said.

Source: ITAR-TASS 22-01-2018

Leningrad NPP set Russia’s electricity generation record

The Leningrad NPP was put into service in 1973.

ST. PETERSBURG, January 21. /TASS/. The Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant (LNPP) reached an unprecedented figure of electricity generation for Russian NPPs totaling 1 trillion kWh throughout the service period, information and public relations department of LNPP said.

"The Leningrad NPP reached the record-breaking electric power generation for domestic nuclear power plants on January 20, 2018, amounting to 1 trillion kWh. Four power units of the LNPP provided such quantity of electric power to the national grid system during 45 years (starting from December 1973). Such figure was recorded for the first time in the history of the Russian nuclear energy industry," the department said.

Total energy consumption in Russia amounted to 1.04 trillion kWh in 2017, said Andrei Petrov, chief executive of Rosenergoatom - the LNPP operator. "Comparing with other countries, the LNPP is among top five European NPP in terms of this indicator. NPPs above it are working with six power units," Petrov noted.

The Leningrad NPP (branch of Rosenergoatom) was put into service in 1973 with four power units equipped with RBMK-1000 reactors.

Source: ITAR-TASS 21-01-2018

Wreckage of Soviet plane shot down over Auschwitz in 1945 found in Poland

The plane’s wreckage was found in a pond whose owner pumped water out of it in early winter.

WARSAW, January 19. /TASS/. The wreckage of an Ilyushin Il-4 bomber that was shot down in January 1945 during the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet troops has been found in Poland, member of the Close Places of Memory Fund Artur Chongala told TASS on Friday.

The plane’s wreckage was found in a pond whose owner pumped water out of it in early winter and noticed the bomber's fragments protruding from the silt. He told the Fund about his discovery. The Fund started examining the plane’s wreckage.

"We recovered several fragments, by which we were able to make it clear that this was precisely an Il-4 plane [a two-motor bomber of the period of the Soviet Union’s 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany]," the Fund’s representative said.

"A legend had long been circulated in Auschwitz about a wrecked Soviet plane but no one knew where it was," he stressed.

"Now it is known that the plane fell short of a couple of kilometers to fly to the Birkenau camp," he added.

Nothing is known about the fate of the bomber’s pilots. No remains were found inside it. An effort is under way to identify the names of the pilots with the help of the Russian embassy.

"We would very much like to learn their names," Chongala said, adding that the Fund would demonstrate the plane’s discovered wreckage at an exhibition.

In Auschwitz-Birkenau, fascists killed in gas chambers and burnt in crematorium furnaces over 1 million Jews, and also dozens of thousands of representatives of the Polish intelligentsia and Soviet prisoners-of-war. Estimates indicate that overall from 1.5 million to 2 million people of various nationalities died in that camp. The concentration compound was liberated by the Soviet troops on January 27, 1945.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp was liberated in the course of the Vistula-Oder operation by Soviet divisions making part of the 60th army of the First Ukrainian Front.

According to the 60th army’s roster (the document was declassified several years ago), Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by combatants of 39 nationalities. Various estimates indicate that from 234 to 350 Soviet soldiers and officers died during the liberation of the concentration camp.

Source: ITAR-TASS 20-01-2018

Russian ambassador accuses Kiev of violating New Year ceasefire in Donbass

Russia's OSCE ambassador says the Ukrainian armed forces have violated the Donbass truce.

VIENNA, January 19. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces have not fulfilled their obligations and violated the truce in Donbass, Russia’s OSCE Ambassador Alexander Lukashevich told a session of the OSCE Permanent Council.

"Kiev security forces once again failed to fulfill their obligations and violated the "New Year armistice". A number of settlements was under fire, there are victims and destruction," he said.

According to him, the orders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces not to open fire were not made public, as they it was done in Donetsk and Lugansk, and the militants of nationalist armed groups are present near the contact line.

Lukashevich added that Ukrainian units in three weeks of the "New Year armistice" restricted the freedom of movement of the observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Donbass 71 times.

"Out of 104 cases of restricting the freedom of movement of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission for in weeks of the New Year armistice, 71 cases occurred on the territory under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Lukashevich said.

He noted that the mission's falsifying data on restrictions on the movement of observers to play along with one of the parties to the conflict is unacceptable.

Since midnight of December 23 last year, a "New Year armistice" has been established in Donbass, however Donbass defense departments continue to record shelling by the Ukrainian military.

Source: ITAR-TASS 19-01-2018

Russia’s National Guard vows to prevent unauthorized rallies during presidential election

The Russian presidential election will be held on March 18.

MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Russia’s National Guard, also known as Rosgvardiya, said it would crack down on unauthorized rallies during the Russian presidential election, Head of the National Guard’s Main Directorate for Public Order Protection Alexey Zinin told reporters on Thursday.

"We are always waiting and preparing for a contingency in any situation. If it happens so, we will be ready for it. We will act firmly, but under law," he said.

Zinin noted that the Russian presidential election is one of the main events of 2018. "We are to take part in protection of more than 93,000 election polls and surrounding areas together with the Interior Ministry and private security companies," he said, adding that most attention will be paid to the anti-terrorism security of these facilities.

The Russian presidential election will be held on March 18.

Source: ITAR-TASS 18-01-2018

Kremlin says no instructions for regions on banning opposition rallies

The initiative on banning rallies is not put forward by the Kremlin, the spokesman stresses.

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. The Kremlin has not given any instructions for the Russian regions on banning opposition rallies, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

"No, the Kremlin has not given any instructions and making these decisions is absolutely a matter of the regions and regional authorities," Peskov said answering a question if the Russian presidential administration had ordered the regions to ban opposition rallies, including blogger Alexey Navalny’s rally in the Sverdlovsk region, in the Urals.

Peskov stressed that the initiative on banning these rallies is not put forward by the Kremlin. "The Kremlin believes these decisions should be strictly based on the norms and rules that are specified by our legislation."

Earlier reports said Navalny’s headquarters was notified of a ban on holding the rally on January 28.

Source: ITAR-TASS 17-01-2018

Russia sets up new expert council to return Scythian gold collection

Crimea’s representatives have said on various occasions that they have every right to claim the artifacts since they all had been unearthed on Crimean territory and had been kept in Crimea’s museums.

SIMFEROPOL, January 16. /TASS/. A new expert council has been established in Russia in order to return the Scythian gold collection from Amsterdam to the Crimean museums, General Director of the Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural Preserve Tatyana Umrikhina told reporters on Tuesday.

Apart from the Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural Preserve, the Central Museum of Tavrida, the Bakhchysarai Historical and Cultural Preserve and the Chersonesus Historical and Cultural Preserve are among those museums whose items are currently kept in Amsterdam.

According to Umrikhina, in order to return the Scythian gold collection to Crimea, "a new expert council has been established." "The Justice Ministry is now supervising these activities instead of the Culture Ministry, we are represented by Crimea’s Deputy Prime Minister Georgy Muradov," she said, adding that it was the Crimean museums’ duty to fight for the return of the Scythian gold collection to the Peninsula.

Umrikhina also said that the museums had worked out a new method of defense, hiring three new lawyers. "In addition to the lawyer that we had before, there are now three new ones… We very much hope that the new defense method will prove effective and the court will be willing to assess all the circumstances," she noted.

In late December 2017, Ukrainian Culture Minister Yevgeny Nishchuk told reporters and the Amsterdam Court would begin to hear the appeal on the Scythian gold case in February 2018.

According to the Crimean museums, the appeal will be heard in spring. "The exact date has not been announced, it was said that it would happen this year, presumably in March or April," Umrikhina said.

Legal battle

As TASS reported earlier, on December 14, 2016, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that the Scythian gold treasures should be returned to Ukraine and not the Crimean museums. The Crimean museums filed an appeal against the court’s decision.

The Scythian gold collection from the Crimean museums was put on view at the Allard Pierson Museum of the University of Amsterdam in February 2014 when Crimea was still part of Ukraine.

However, after the peninsula reunited with Russia in March 2014, an uncertainty over the collection arose as both Russia and Ukraine claimed the exhibits. In this regard, the University of Amsterdam suspended the handover until either the dispute is legally resolved or the parties come to terms.

Crimea’s representatives have said on various occasions that they have every right to claim the artifacts since they all had been unearthed on Crimean territory and had been kept in Crimea’s museums.

The court also ruled that Ukraine must pay €111,000 to the Allard Pierson Museum in compensation for the cost of storing and insuring the collection. Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavel Petrenko said in this connection that the money would be transferred after the final verdict was announced.

Source: ITAR-TASS 16-01-2018

Russia takes legal action over US seizure of Russian diplomatic property

Moscow has interpreted the seizure of its assets as an openly hostile act.

MOSCOW, January 15./TASS/. Russia has completed preparations for pursuing in court the US over the seizure of Russian diplomatic property, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told his annual news conference on Monday.

"I have not mentioned here an unprecedented incident, the seizure of Russian diplomatic property. We are now launching legal proceedings, preparations have already been completed," the diplomat said.

On September 2, the US authorities closed down Russia’s consulate-general in San Francisco, trade mission in Washington and its branch in New York, which Russia had been using on lease terms. The two first facilities on the list are Russian property and enjoy diplomatic immunity. Moscow has interpreted the seizure of its assets as an openly hostile act and urged the US authorities to urgently return them.

Speaking at a news conference in Xiamen, China, on September 5 Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Foreign Ministry to take the case over the seizure of Russian diplomatic property to a US court. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov later said that the work on the lawsuit was in progress and it would be filed in the near future.

Source: ITAR-TASS 15-01-2018

Festival of Russian culture to open in Italy on Sunday

Over 250 cultural events will be held in no less than 40 Italian cities.

ROME, January 14. /TASS/. An official ceremony to open the 2nd Russian Seasons festival, organized by the Russian government, will be held on Sunday in Rome’s National Academy of Santa Cecilia.

The Russian Seasons in Italy will open with a performance of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

The Russian delegation to the event is led by Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets. The official opening ceremony, to be held at one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, is also expected to be attended by Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky and Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergei Razov.

"Cultural events will be held in no less than 40 Italian cities. We plan to hold more than 250 various events and expect them to be attended by over 3 million viewers," Russian Deputy Culture Minister Alexander Zhuravsky has told TASS.

"In Italy, we will demonstrate all the best and outstanding aspects of the Russian culture - exhibitions, stage productions, symphonic concerts, ballet, movie screenings, folk music shows, circus, art festivals and jazz," he added.

The festival, to continue until late 2018, will feature over 60 symphonic concerts, over 40 ballets and more than 50 theatre productions. Other events include a festival of young filmmakers, as well as gastronomy events and educational projects.

The first Russian Seasons festival was held in Japan in 2017 and gathered over 3.5 million visitors in 42 cities.

Source: ITAR-TASS 14-01-2018

S-400 missile systems will be on combat duty in Crimea’s Sevastopol on Saturday

Two battalions with S-400 systems would take up combat duty in Crimea in the beginning of 2018.

SEVASTOPOL, January 13. /TASS/. Russia’s S-400 missile systems will take up combat duty on Saturday near Cape Fiolent in Crimea’s Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet’s press service said.

Early last year, a regiment of the Southern Military District, armed with S-400 systems, assumed combat duty in Crimea. These were the first S-400 systems deployed to the peninsula. Earlier reports said two battalions with S-400 systems would take up combat duty in Crimea in the beginning of 2018.

Earlier this week, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine continues provocations on the border near Crimea and Russia takes steps to ensure security of its territory, and this should not be viewed as a threat.

Russia’s S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the latest long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and surface targets. The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of 400 kilometers and at an altitude of up to 30 kilometers. Deputy Commander of Russia’s Aerospace Force Viktor Gumenny said last April that Russia S-400 air defense systems had begun receiving missiles capable of destroying targets in the near space.

Source: ITAR-TASS 13-01-2018

Russia developing next-generation heavy flame-thrower

Russia has started developing a prototype of the next-generation wheeled-chassis heavy flame-throwing system dubbed Tosochka.

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Splav Research and Production Association has started developing a prototype of the next-generation wheeled-chassis heavy flame-throwing system dubbed Tosochka, CEO of Techmash Holding Company Vladimir Lepin said on Friday.

"The Splav Research and Production Association is carrying out work to develop a prototype of the Tosochka new-generation heavy flame-throwing system for preliminary trials. The system with the improved characteristics will be mounted on a wheeled chassis," he said.

In 2017, Splav launched the Proryv (Breakthrough) project as part of its investment program to expand its production capacities. Under the new project, the Enterprise acquired a new workshop intended to go into operation in 2019. The new workshop will launch the serial production of shells for the latest Tornado-S multiple launch rocket system, the Techmash chief executive said.

Simultaneously, Splav will engage in a new area of production to roll out fighting and transporter-loader vehicles. The project will enable Splav to switch from experimental to serial production. The Enterprise’s new workshop will also launch the production of shells for Grad multiple launch rocket systems.

Source: ITAR-TASS 12-01-2018

Putin remains most popular foreign politician in Serbia - opinion poll

According to Vecernje Novosti newspaper, Putin is followed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping (61% of the polled).

BELGRADE, January 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin remains the most popular foreign politician in Serbia, with 80% Serbians having sympathetic views towards the Russian leader, Vecernje Novosti newspaper said on Wednesday citing a Gallup opinion poll.

According to the newspaper, Putin is followed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping (61% of the polled). Third is German Chancellor Angela Merkel (38%). About a third of respondents spoke positively about US and French Presidents, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, fourth and fifth respectively.

The Serbs don’t like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who enjoys support of mere 17% of respondents.

Putin has been enjoying high popularity in Serbia over the past 15 years. After his convincing victory at the presidential elections back in 2012, Serbia’s ex-President Tomislav Nikolic said the only person he could have lost to was Vladimir Putin.

Source: ITAR-TASS 11-01-2018

Kremlin urges not to view measures to protect Crimea’s security as threat

Russia has a sovereign right to protect its national interests, Putin's spokesman stated.

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Ukraine continues provocations on the border near Crimea and Russia takes steps to ensure security of its territory, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the reports about the S-400 missile systems’ deployment to the peninsula.

"We know that both provocations and subversive activities continue on the Russian-Ukrainian border near Crimea," Peskov said.

"That’s why Russia’s adoption of all the necessary measures to protect its security should not be viewed as a threat for anyone. This should be perceived as ensuring its own security and, certainly, Russia has a full sovereign right to do this," he said.

In late December, Air Force and Air Defense Fourth Army commander Lieutenant General Viktor Sevostyanov said two battalions with S-400 air defense systems will take up combat duty in Crimea in early 2018. One of the regiments deployed to Crimea has already received the S-400 system, he said.

Russia’s S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the latest long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and surface targets.

In August 2016, Russia’s Federal Security Service said a group of saboteurs were detained in Crimea and a series of terrorist attacks by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry were foiled. The saboteurs had plotted attacks on vital infrastructure facilities of the peninsula, according to the special services.

Source: ITAR-TASS 10-01-2018

Kremlin comments on drone attack against Russian base in Syria

As the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier, an attack by thirteen combat drones against the Hmeymim and Tartus bases was repelled.

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. Russian forces remaining in Syria are strong enough to repel militants’ attacks, but more intensive political settlement efforts are required, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Tuesday, when asked if the militants’ attack against the Hmeymim air base with the use of drones was evidence the pullout of the Russian contingent from Syria had been premature.

"The remaining contingent and military infrastructure at Hmeymim and Tartus have the necessary capabilities to counter sporadic terrorist hit-and-run raids, which will regrettably continue. This merely emphasizes the need for stepping up political settlement efforts," Peskov said.

He recalled that in making the decision to pull out its military personnel from Syria "Russia proceeded from the assumption there are no grounds for conducting major offensive operations."

"Everybody, including the president, were aware that terrorists’ attacks would not come to an end overnight, but will continue," he added.

The attack

As the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier, in the small hours of Saturday, January 6, an attack by thirteen combat drones on the Hmeymim and Tartus bases was repelled. Seven drones were shot down and six others put under control and forced to land in an area held by Russian military personnel. Data retrieved from the intercepted drones were decoded and the place where they had been launched was established.

"The fact that extremists use combat drones indicates that the militants have obtained technologies enabling them to stage terrorist attacks with the use of such aircraft in any country," the Defense Ministry warned.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 6, 2017 declared the complete defeat of the Islamic State on both banks of the Euphrates in Syria and on December 11 he issued orders to start the pullout of Russian forces from Syria. On December 22 Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said the pullout of Russian forces from Syria had been completed. Three military police battalions, the reconciliation center and the bases at Hmeymim and Tartus remain.

Source: ITAR-TASS 09-01-2018

Kravchuk says filling Minsk package with new content could be way to settle conflict

According to Ukraine’s ex-president, a meeting between Ukraine’s and Russia’s leaders could be a major step towards the conflict settlement.

KIEV, January 7. /TASS/. A possible way to settle the conflict in Donbass could be through filling the Minsk agreements with a new content, Ukraine’s first President Leonid Kravchuk said on Sunday.

"How can we stop the war (the armed conflict in Donbass - TASS)? There are several ways… We can change of fill the Minsk format with other content," he said in an interview with the 112.Ukrainia television channel.

Apart from that, according to Kravchuk, a meeting between Ukraine’s and Russia’s leaders could be a major step towards the conflict settlement. He said that such meeting could tackle all aspects of the settlement but for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, a subject the sides "will never be able to speak about."

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, signed a 13-point Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements. The package was agreed with the leaders of the Normandy Four, namely Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine.

The Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk starting from February 15 and subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.

These agreements however have not been implemented until now. The Ukrainian side has been dodging implementation of the package’s political provisions citing security problems as a reason.

Ukraine has failed to carry out a constitutional reform, to enforce a law on the region’s special status and to pass a law on elections in Donbass. Instead, it insists on regaining control over the border with Russia, which is to take place only after the elections, as is envisaged by the Minsk agreements.

Source: ITAR-TASS 08-01-2018

Putin congratulates Orthodox Christians, all Russians on Christmas

The Russian president praised the great role of the Russian Orthodox Church and other Christian denominations in preserving civil peace and accord in the country.

MOSCOW, January 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Orthodox Christians and all Russians on Christmas celebrated according to the Julian calendar on Sunday, the Kremlin press service said.

"I extend my cordial congratulations on Christmas. This bright holiday gives millions of believers joy and hope, and accustoms them to spiritual origins and fatherly traditions, and unites them around eternal Christian values, centuries-old historic and cultural heritage of our people," the message says.

The Russian president praised the great role of the Russian Orthodox Church and other Christian denominations in preserving civil peace and accord in the country and fostering dialogue between religious and ethnic groups. "And certainly, they made a significant contribution to strengthening high moral ideals in society, educating the growing generation and solving vital social problems," the president said.

Putin wished health, success and prosperity to all Orthodox Christians who are celebrating Christmas.

Orthodox Christians in Russia and other countries celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar on January 7, two weeks after most western Christian churches that use the Gregorian calendar. The Russian Orthodox Church today has more than 30,000 churches and 900 monasteries in almost 70 countries. Religious services are conducted during the night and in the morning in all Orthodox churches on all continents.

Source: ITAR-TASS 07-01-2018