Russia

MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/: Over 310 forest fires have been extinguished in Russia over the last three days, the press service of the Aerial Forest Protection Service said on Wednesday.

"According to regional forestry departments, 316 forest fires were extinguished over the last three days. As a result of active firefighting efforts, the territory of forest fires was reduced by almost three times, from 44,556 hectares on May 12 to 16,607 hectares on May 15," the press service said.

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/: Russia will modernize another batch of T-72 main battle tanks for the Belarusian Army, Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation told TASS at the 9th Milex-2019 international arms show in Minsk on Wednesday.

"The tanks modernized earlier were delivered to Minsk in November 2018. At present, the issue of modernizing another batch of tanks in the interests of the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Belarus is being considered," the federal agency said.

MOSCOW, May 15. / TASS /: The trade war between the United States and China can reduce the prices of Russian resources, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin told reporters on Wednesday.

"It is clear that this whole story will have a negative impact on the demand for Russian products. This also applies to commodities, so this scenario, of course, will mean lower prices for key resources: oil, metals, coal - what is exported from Russia," said he.

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/: The pilots of the Sukhoi Superjet-100 airliner that burst into flames upon its landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, killing 41 people, are to blame for the plane’s crash as they committed a series of mistakes in an emergency but quite manageable situation, former designer at the Sukhoi Design Bureau Vadim Lukashevich said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/: Experts from the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) are still working with the black boxes of the Sukhoi Superjet that burned at Sheremetyevo Airport. The interim report will be ready by late May, a source in the IAC told TASS.

15 May 2019; DW: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the US is not seeking conflict in Iran, after high-level talks in Russia. Meeting with President Vladimir Putin and top officials, he also discussed ways to mend US-Russia ties.

Meeting with top Russian officials on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to ease concerns over rising tensions between Washington and Tehran that some fear could lead to conflict.

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/: European energy companies acting as partners of the Russian gas holding Gazprom in the Nord Stream 2 are committed to invest into the project implementation, an official spokesperson of Nord Stream 2 AG, the project operator, told TASS on Tuesday.

"Western European energy companies from Austria Germany, France, the UK, and the Netherlands have committed to invest almost a billion euros each. Our shareholder and the five European financial investors are fully committed to the project, as are Nord Stream 2’s suppliers," the company said.

SOCHI, May 14. /TASS/: The US-China trade dispute will affect everyone, though one should not exaggerate its negative impact on the Russian economy, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

SOCHI, May 14. /TASS/: The plane of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has landed at the Sochi airport, a TASS correspondent reported.

During his first working visit to Russia, the top US diplomat is expected to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and later meet with President Vladimir Putin.

The full-fledged meeting, the second one over the past month, will focus on solving the crisis around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program, extending the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) and also Syria and Venezuela.

Sochi (Russia), May 14 (AFP) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday meets US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the highest-level talks between the rival powers in nearly a year as they see if they can make headway on a raft of disagreements from Venezuela to Iran to arms control.

Pompeo will visit Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi less than two weeks after US President Donald Trump voiced optimism about improving relations with Moscow during a more than one-hour telephone conversation with the Russian leader.