Europe

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Finland has ruined its neutral status and reputation and joined the "anti-Russian project of the United States," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with Tunisia’s visiting Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar.

"I am surprised at the speed with which Finland has ruined its neutral status and its reputation and joined the United States’ anti-Russian project," he said.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Tehran’s full-scale involvement in BRICS’ activities was the focus of a telephone call between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, the Kremlin press service said on Tuesday.

"Ebrahim Raisi gave thanks for supporting Iran’s application for BRICS membership. The sides discussed steps to ensure Iran’s smooth integration into the association’s full-format activities taking into account Russia’s presidency in 2024," it said.

The phone call was initiated by the Iranian side.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: The administration of US President Joe Biden should give a thorough response to each and every point of journalist Seymour Hersh's investigation into the Nord Stream explosions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Hersh's investigation is bigger than Watergate (Watergate scandal - TASS). American presidents have never gone so far. The Biden administration is obliged to give a thorough response on all points," the diplomat pointed out on her Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin informed his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, about the activities of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kremlin press service said on Tuesday after their telephone call.

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned on Tuesday uncontrolled migration poses an "existential challenge" to Western nations and called for the rewriting of a treaty which has influenced global asylum policy for the last seven decades.

Addressing the American Enterprise Institute think-tank in Washington, Braverman said the United Nations refugee convention has expanded the definition of "persecution" and increased the number of people qualifying for refugee protection.

MOSCOW, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday it was closely monitoring what it called a "potentially dangerous" situation in Kosovo, where ethnic Serb gunmen stormed a village at the weekend, battling police and barricading themselves into a monastery.

Russia does not recognise Kosovo, which has a majority ethnic Albanian population, as an independent country and traditionally supports Serbia, with which it has close religious and cultural ties.

NEAR KORNIDZOR, Armenia, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Hungry and exhausted Armenian families jammed roads to flee homes in the defeated breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, while the United States called on Azerbaijan to protect civilians and let in aid.

The Armenians of Karabakh - part of Azerbaijan that had been beyond Baku's control since the dissolution of the Soviet Union - began fleeing this week after their forces were routed in a lightning operation by Azerbaijan's military.

WARSAW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Polish experts have confirmed that the missile that killed two people at a grain facility in southern Poland in November was fired by Ukraine, Rzeczpospolita daily reported, citing sources.

The explosion of the missile in NATO-member Poland fuelled fears that the war in Ukraine could spiral into a wider conflict by triggering the alliance's mutual defence clause, but at the time Warsaw and NATO said that they believed that it was a Ukrainian stray, easing worries about escalation.

MOSCOW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was shown on Russian state television on Tuesday attending a defence leaders' meeting remotely, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him.

In video and photographs released by the defence ministry, Sokolov was shown as one of several fleet commanders on video apparently joining an in-person meeting of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other army chiefs, although not speaking. It was not clear when the video was filmed.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia struck the Black Sea region of Odesa in a drone barrage that damaged a warehouse, charred dozens of trucks and injured two drivers in fiery explosions that led to the suspension of the ferry service between Romania and Ukraine, officials said Tuesday.

Video shot from the Romanian side of the Danube River showed rapid bursts of Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire streaking through the night sky followed by two orange fireballs exploding near the port area. Photos showed burned-out frames of trucks.