Russia

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/: All Russian nationals banned from entering South Korea have left the country, the Russian embassy in South Korea said in a Facebook statement on Monday.

"According to recent information, 26 Russian nationals who arrived in South Korea on an S7 flight overnight into July 14, 2019, failed to prove the purpose of their visit," the statement reads. It is the reason why the South Korean immigration service banned them from entering the country, the embassy added.

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: An increase in water levels has been registered in the Oka, Iya and Uda rivers in the flood-stricken Irkutsk Region, the regional department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry reported on its website on Sunday.

"According to the Irkutsk Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Department, on July 14, rising water levels ranging from 15 to 45 centimeters were registered in the Oka, Iya and Uda rivers," the ministry said. "Fluctuations ranging from 10 to 40 centimeters are expected within the next 24 hours, which is below a critical level."

SEVASTOPOL, July 13. /TASS/: Russian voyager and survivalist Fyodor Konyukhov plans to break nine world records during his voyage on a giant yacht, sailing three times around the world, he said at a meeting in Sevastopol on Saturday.

"Now, I want to build a big 76-meter-long yacht to sail around the world and to break nine world records. I want to take three spins [around the globe] without calling at ports," Konyukhov said adding the voyage would not last longer than 80 days.

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: Russia and the Middle East will continue cooperating in the sphere of deliveries of Russian armament to the region, Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma [Lower House of the Russian Parliament - TASS] Leonid Slutsky said in an interview with RT TV Channel. The start of S-400 SAM system supplies to Turkey is just ‘the first shot’, the MP said.

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: Relations between Russia and Georgia are ‘heavy-handed’ and will hardly be restored under the current administration of Georgia, Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma [Lower House of the Russian Parliament - TASS] Leonid Slutsky said in an interview with RT TV Channel.

"I think that relations will be restored piece by piece but this will hardly take place under the current Georgian administration," the parliamentarian said, expressing regret in respect of the incident in the Georgian parliament.

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: Growth of retail lending in Russia carriers certain risks but is an economic growth driver, while there are no signs of ‘bubble’ or overheating in this segment, Deputy CEO of VEB.RF Andrei Klepach told TASS. Other experts questioned by TASS hold a similar position.

"The Central Bank, to its credit, is actually toughening regulation for several years already through risk ratios and establishment of retail lending provisions. It ‘cools down’ the same. Therefore, from my point of view, there is no ‘bubble’ here," Klepach said.

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/: An improvised bomb went off on Saturday on the route of the Russian military police patrolling the Syrian region of Daraa, but none of the Russian service members was hurt, nor were the vehicles damaged, Major General Alexei Bakin, the chief of the Russian center for reconciliation of conflicting sides in Syria, told reporters on Saturday.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian Proton-M rocket successfully delivered a cutting-edge space telescope into orbit Saturday after days of launch delays, Russia’s space agency said.

Roscosmos said the telescope, named Spektr-RG, was delivered into a parking orbit before a final burn Saturday that kicked the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and on to its final destination: the L2 Lagrange point.

MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/: Russian presidential special envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin met on Friday with Syrian President Bashar Assad to discuss the situation in Syria’s Idlib and the establishment of the Constitutional Committee, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/: The launch of Spektr -RG space observatory on the Proton-M carrier rocket, which has been repeatedly postponed, will be held on July 13, the decision was made on Saturday morning by the State Commission, a source in the rocket and space industry told TASS, the information was later confirmed by Roscosmos.