Europe

STRELNA, September 20. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he was pleased to accept Xi Jinping’s invitation to visit China in October for the Belt and Road Forum.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Russian peacekeepers will not take part in the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh on anyone's side, Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev said.

"Those who expect this [peacekeeping] contingent to take any action outside its peacekeeping mandate will be wrong. Neither Russia nor the Russian peacekeeping contingent has the right to, or is going to take part in the hostilities on anyone's side, or try to resolve the issues of the status, shift the balance in anyone's favor," he said on Telegram.

LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak watered down Britain's plans to tackle climate change on Wednesday, saying he would delay a ban on sales of new petrol cars to maintain the consent of the British people in the switch to net zero.

Sunak said he remained committed to the legally-binding target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 but said Britain could afford to make slower progress in getting there because it was "so far ahead of every other country in the world".

MOSCOW, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Russian Su-34 jet crashed in the country's Voronezh region Wednesday during a scheduled training flight, Russia's Tass news agency reported, citing the defense ministry.

The aircraft crashed at around 10:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT). The two crew members onboard were ejected safely, the report said.

The jet fell far from any populated areas, and there was no destruction on the ground. The aircraft was not carrying ammunition. The report said the preliminary cause of the crash could be a technical failure. 

GENEVA (AP) — Venezuela’s government has intensified efforts to curtail democratic freedoms with use of threats, surveillance and harassment as President Nicolás Maduro faces a re-election contest next year, U.N.-backed human rights experts reported on Wednesday.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The announcement of a cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh, just a day after Azerbaijan launched heavy artillery fire against Armenian forces, toned down fears of a third full-scale war over the region in the southern Caucasus Mountains.

But it still leaves significant unresolved questions about the conflict.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is heading to the United States to ask the West for money and new weapons, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will address the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

"The key event of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's stay in New York will be his speech at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly. His speech is scheduled for September 23," the diplomat said.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: Moscow is dissatisfied with Yerevan's statements that bilateral ties will be unaffected by its clearly anti-Russian moves, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a news briefing.

MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/: The US has not contacted Russia about talking at the UN General Assembly in New York and Moscow does not see what benefit this would have anyway, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS.

"The schedule of [Russian Foreign] Minister [Sergey Lavrov] is extremely intensive. Bilateral interaction with the US side is not planned and, considering the policy adopted by Washington, we do not see any added value in it. Especially because we have not received any requests on the matter," he added.