Russia

MOSCOW, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Turkey have decided to set up a demilitarized zone between the armed opposition and the government troops in Syria's Idlib province by Oct. 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

The demilitarized zone with a depth of 15-20 kilometers will be created along the contact line of the armed opposition and the government forces, Putin said at a joint press conference following talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Russia's Sochi.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. The health condition of Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, who is serving a prison term in Russia on terrorism charges, is satisfactory, Russian Human Rights Ombudsperson Tatiana Moskalkova told journalists on Monday.

"Every day, I receive information from the Yamal (Yamalo-Nenets Region - TASS) human rights ombudsperson and the Federal Penitentiary Service directorate, his (Sentsov’s) condition is satisfactory," she said.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. The Russian Interior Ministry is planning to introduce universal fingerprinting for all foreigners at border crossing points or on Russian territory after the foreigners’ arrival, Head of the General Administration for Migration Issues of the Russian Interior Ministry Olga Kirillova told TASS.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Russian Defense Ministry has figured out that videos showing the movement of a Buk missile system from Russia to Ukraine, presented by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) looking into the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine, were fabricated, ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told reporters.

According to him, Russian experts thoroughly studied those videos and came to the conclusion that they had been fabricated.

DONETSK, September 15. /TASS/. Law enforcers of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have found out that the assassination of DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko was prepared by officers of Ukraine’s Security Service (known as the SBU) with participation of western special services, DPR acting head Denis Pushilin said on Saturday.

BERLIN, September 14. /TASS/. Russia is warning those who would like to implement a military scenario in Donbass, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with his German counterpart Heiko Maas on Friday.

"I would like to strongly warn those who are hatching a military scenario. It would be a disaster for the Ukrainian people, because it may really undermine Ukrainian statehood. Waging a war on one’s own citizens is impermissible," he stated.

Lavrov said the situation in Ukraine was discussed at his talks with Maas in great detail.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. Russia will neither implement nor react to the United States’ unilateral demands for additional inspections concerning chemical weapons in Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. The main stage of the Vostok-2018 strategic drills was held at the Tsugol firing range in the Trans-Baikal Region. The Vostok-2018 maneuvers are the biggest in the history of the Russian army, unparalleled since 1981, when the Soviet Union held drills involving about 100,000 people.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. US actions in Syria are leading the world to the brink of an abyss, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

"We see the current events involving Syria as an attempt by the Americans to test a new mechanism of maintaining their own world supremacy," she said. "Its gist is to create some kind of strike coalition of the leading western powers with the aim to demonstrate force and determination to press for military solutions of problems emerging in this or that part of the world."

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat have held a meeting in Moscow, discussing the situation in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, the council said in a statement on Thursday.