FC commission has evidence of preparations for unrest in Moscow during elections

Commission’s chief Andrei Klimov said foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs, including elections, was an objective reality confirmed legally and having "visible administrative and financial support".

MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/. The temporary commission of the Federation Council for the protection of state sovereignty and prevention of interference in Russia’s internal affairs has evidence of preparations for mass riots in Moscow during the period of May 30 - September 12, 2019, in other words, during the election campaign, the commission’s chief Andrei Klimov said on Tuesday.

"It is important that during the reviewed period we identified attempts at intervention, but their net effect was not the one certain forces abroad had anticipated. The commission has evidence of intentional preparations for mass unrest in Moscow," Klimov said.

He said foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs, including elections, was an objective reality confirmed legally and having "visible administrative and financial support."

"That foreign mosaic technologies work is seen in the recent public opinion polls, which indicate that a large share of Russian citizens, in particular, Muscovites, do not believe in western interference in the internal political processes, including elections and unlawful demonstrations," Klimov said.

In a statement obtained by TASS Klimov said that at the demonstration in Sakharov Avenue in Moscow on August 10 foreign forces "used information technologies (including video hosting YouTube) for manipulating Russian citizens and inciting them to violate the law.".

Source: ITAR-TASS 08-10-2019

Russian Baltic Fleet’s warships transit English Channel in deployment to Indian Ocean

During their long-distance deployment, the combat teams of the Yaroslav Mudry practiced searching for and detecting a notional enemy’s submarines.

KALININGRAD, October 7. /TASS/. A group of the Baltic Fleet’s warships has passed through the English Channel as part of its deployment to the Indian Ocean, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.

"A group of the Baltic Fleet’s warships comprising the guard ship Yaroslav Mudry, the sea tug Viktor Konetsky and the tanker Yelnya that are accomplishing planned long-distance deployment missions has completed its transit of the Strait of Dover and the English Channel," the press office said in a statement.

During their long-distance deployment, the combat teams of the Yaroslav Mudry practiced searching for and detecting a notional enemy’s submarines during anti-subsurface warfare drills in the Atlantic.

The warships embarked on their long-distance deployment from the Baltic Fleet’s main naval base of Baltiysk in the westernmost Kaliningrad Region on October 1 and are heading for the Indian Ocean where they will take part for the first time in the naval component of the Indra-2019 Russian-Indian drills that will run on December 10-19. The warships are on their long-distance deployment in compliance with the plan of the Russian Defense Ministry’s international activity this year.

The Indra-2019 drills will run at land and naval training ranges and at a military aerodrome of the Indian Armed Forces. About 300 troops from Russia’s Eastern Military District will take part in the drills.

Source: ITAR-TASS 07-10-2019

Moldovan leader says wants to present Putin with cask of homemade wine on his birthday

 The gift will be presented at the CIS summit in Ashgabat.

CHISINAU, October 4. /TASS/. Moldovan President Igor Dodon said on Friday he plans to present his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, with a cask of home-made wine on his birthday to be celebrated on October 7.

"We will see each other on Friday [October 11 — TASS] in Ashgabat [at a summit of the CIS heads of state — TASS]. I’d rather not let it on but I have some ideas [for a present]. For instance, young wine from Sadova [Dodon’s native village — TASS] which I made myself. White and red. When he visited Moldova, he told me several times that our wine is good. We can arrange for that," Dodon said in an interview with Moldova’s television channel Number 4.

When asked what he will do if Putin does not accept the present, as laws prescribe, the Moldovan leader replied jokingly, "And what if it is a cask of wine and he tastes it? Should it be taken to a museum?"

The Moldovan president added he hoped his Russian counterpart would pay a visit to Moldova soon. "A clear agenda is needed for that. I think it will depend on the next year’s situation, on whether the current parliamentary majority stays in place and the government continues to work after the local elections," he noted.

At a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 7, 2002, Moldova’s former President Vladimir Voronin presented Putin with a crystal crocodile, saying it was the only creature that never moved backwards.

In 2017, Dodon brought to Putin several bottles from the Russian leaders’ personal wine collection kept at the famous wine cellars of Cricova, a town located some 15 kilometers north of the capital city Chisinau. The matter is that there is a tradition in Moldova to present high guests with wines from Cricova. Putin received several hundreds of bottles of rare wines as a birthday present during his visit to Chisinau back in October 2002.

Typically, the leaders don’t take their presents with them but leave their wines to age in Cricova’s wine cellars that were founded in 1954. The Cricova tunnels boast of housing a private collection of Hitler’s right-hand man Hermann Goering the Red Army captured in Berlin in 1945. The private collection sector also holds bottles belonging to former and present heads of state and royal families. The famous winery welcomed many world leaders and celebrities. Its guests included former Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev, the world’s first man in space Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, China’s Mao Zedong, North Korea’s Kim Il-sung, France’s Jacques Chirac, Germany’s Angela Merkel and others. Some of them have their own collections in Cricova tunnels.

Source: ITAR-TASS 05-10-2019

Migrants involved in terrorist activity more often, says Russian security chief

The security chief noted that corruption and violations of migration legislation remain commonplace in this sphere.

TULA, October 4. /TASS/. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev stated that migrants become involved in terrorist activity in Central Russia more often due to the expansion of hidden extremist cells.

During a session in Tula on security issues in Central Russia, Patrushev informed that the number of crimes committed by migrants remains high.

"We are especially concerned over the rise of their involvement in terrorist activity. In this context, expansion of hidden international extremist and terrorist cells on the territory of Russia through migration presents a danger," Patrushev said.

The security chief added that corruption and violations of migration legislation remain commonplace in this sphere.

In this regard, Patrushev called on Russian special services, law enforcement and regional officials "to carry on the efforts on decriminalizing the migration sphere."

According to Patrushev, as a result of the efforts of law enforcement bodies, 15 channels of illegal migration were eliminated in the Central Federal District in 2018, with 186 criminal cases launched over corruption in this sphere. In the years 2018-2019, almost 29,000 crimes related to illegal migration were discovered. "At the same time, there is still a significant amount of cases related to fictitious registration of foreign citizens and forging of migration documents," Patrushev stated.

Foiled terrorist attacks

Four terrorist attacks were prevented in Russia’s Central Federal District in the first eight months of 2019, according to Patrushev.

"Five terrorist crimes, including four terror attacks planned in Tula, Vladimir, Tambov and Voronezh, were foiled in the first eight months of this year [in Russia’s Central Federal District]. A total of 152 individuals involved in terrorist activity were detained," he said.

Patrushev stressed that "amid the ongoing activity of international terrorist organizations, attempts to penetrate into Russia’s territory made by their representatives, it is critically important to ensure counterterrorism protection of facilities, territories and, especially, crowded places. To do so, constant painstaking work by special services, law enforcement agencies and regional counterterrorism commissions is required."

Source: ITAR-TASS 04-10-2019

Russian Baltic Fleet’s warships destroy enemy sub in drills

The naval strike group interacted with a Ka-27PL anti-sub warfare helicopter of the Fleet’s naval aviation to search for the adversary sub and destroy it with the shipborne RBU-6000 launchers.

KALININGRAD, October 3. /TASS/. A naval strike group of Russia’s Baltic Fleet destroyed a notional enemy’s submarine in joint drills with a Ka-27PL anti-submarine warfare helicopter, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"As part of a tactical exercise of the Baltic Fleet’s anti-submarine warfare forces at the training ranges in the Baltic Sea, the crews of the corvette Stoiky and the small anti-subsurface warfare ships Aleksin, Urengoi and Kazanets practiced assignments to search for and strike a notional enemy’s sub," the press office said in a statement.

During the drills, the naval strike group interacted with a Ka-27PL anti-submarine warfare helicopter of the Fleet’s naval aviation to search for the adversary sub, employing radars and sonars, and destroy it with the shipborne RBU-6000 rocket launchers.

Aside from the anti-submarine warfare, the warships’ crews practiced assignments at sea to conduct joint maneuvering and carry out electronic counter-measures. The warships also held electronic missile and artillery firings against naval and air targets.

Source:  ITAR-TASS 03-10-2019

Zelensky’s statement on new Donbass status law rings alarm bells, expert says

Certainly, neither Russia nor Donbass will recognize any new law on a special status unless they coordinate it, the expert said.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s statement that Ukraine should adopt a new law on a special Donbass status could signal Kiev’s drive to disavow its signing of the Steinmeier formula, Director of the Russian Center for Current Politics Alexei Chesnakov, who is familiar with the talks, told TASS on Wednesday.

"Zelensky’s statement that a new law on a special status of Donbass would be passed, arouses concerns," Chesnakov said. "This is reminiscent of Poroshenko’s behavior, who immediately sought to disavow his own steps in order to puzzle and con everyone. On the one hand, Zelensky signs the Steinmeier formula that guarantees a special status for Donbass. But on the other hand, he immediately announces that this is not a special status, but some other new status, but it is still unclear which one."

This mirrors Poroshenko’s drive to dilute the Minsk process, reduce it to imitation and even nonsense, the expert stressed. "Certainly, neither Russia nor Donbass will recognize any new law on a special status unless they coordinate it. The Ukrainian president should submit his ideas for discussion of the Normandy Four (Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany) and the Contact Group," he said.

Russia's envoy to the Contact Group Boris Gryzlov said that the parties to the meeting on Tuesday had endorsed "the Steinmeier formula", noting that "thus we have coordinated how the law on special status for certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions will be implemented."

President Zelensky told a news conference later that the Steinmeier formula had to be implemented in a new law on a special status. He said the current law on Donbass special status would be in force until December 31 and a new law would be drawn up by the parliament in close coordination and after a discussion with the public.

Source: ITAR-TASS 02-10-2019

Upgraded T-90M may become Russian Army’s main battle tank

The first several dozen upgraded tanks are due to arrive for the Russian troops in 2019.

MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. The upgraded T-90M may become the main battle tank for the Russian Army, Uralvagonzavod Special Representative for Military and Technical Cooperation, Army General Alexei Maslov told TASS on Tuesday.

"We have already prepared the T-90MS [the export version of the T-90M] for a foreign customer and tested it and by decision of Russia’s Defense Ministry we have held R&D work, as a result of which we have developed a good T-90M. And now, as far as I understand, the T-90M ‘Proryv’ [Breakthrough] will be the main battle tank in the army," the general said as Russia was celebrating Land Forces Day on October 1.

By its combat efficiency, the T-90M considerably outperforms its predecessor while its modular design allows engineers to build up its operational performance upon subsequent upgrades, the general said.

"The T-90M ensures parity with advanced foreign tanks," the army general stressed.

Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) signed a contract with Russia’s Defense Ministry on the delivery of heavily upgraded T-90M tanks to the troops at the Army-2017 international arms show. As was reported earlier, the first several dozen upgraded tanks are due to arrive for the Russian troops in 2019.

The T-90M ‘Proryv’ has received a principally new turret that differs from the serial-produced module and a more powerful engine. The Proryv is outfitted with a new multi-channel sighting system that allows employing weapons at any time of day or night and, as its major advantage, it can exchange data with other vehicles in real time. The T-90M’s armor features special anti-slip coating similar to that used on the latest T-14 Armata tank.

Source: ITAR-TASS 01-10-2019