Europe

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/: Russia will support South Sudan in addressing its internal political challenges and ensuring security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.

"Of course, we are aware that further development is associated with ensuring security, with the settlement of all those problems and difficulties that you inherited from the old times. So, we will do everything to support you in this area as well," Putin said.

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/: The creation of an alternative to SWIFT will be one of the issues on the agenda of BRICS countries’ meeting next year, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told a forum, adding that a whole number of BRICS members already have their own systems.

PRAGUE, Sept 28 (NNN-CTK) – The Czech government approved a plan to purchase 24 U.S. F-35 fighter jets, it was announced yesterday.

The country’s Ministry of Defence said, the state will pay a total of 150 billion Czech crowns (6.48 billion U.S. dollars) for the jets. This makes it one of the most expensive purchases in the history of the Czech Republic.

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/: Moscow is disappointed about Yerevan’s intention to sign the Rome Statute, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"Armenia knows very well that we are not a party to [the Rome Statute], and Armenia is fully aware of the hardly digestible decision [of the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin] made based on this statute. We know that Yerevan is well aware of this. This is not something we approve of," the Kremlin official said, commenting on Armenia’s actions on the matter.

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is confident that the country is able to solve all the existing problems, contrary to the expectations of its opponents.

"There are many questions, but I want to emphasize this - we have all the capabilities for solutions, no matter how strange it may seem to some external onlookers, to those who have expected to see everything collapse here," Putin said at a meeting with regional leaders elected in September.

LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - British and Nigerian civil society groups have urged the British government to return funds confiscated from Nigerian politician James Ibori, a convicted fraudster, to his country in a swift and transparent way so the money can benefit ordinary Nigerians.

In a letter to Britain's home and foreign affairs ministers, a coalition of close to 50 NGOs said the long-delayed confiscation process had undermined the strong anti-corruption message sent by Ibori's conviction over a decade ago.

ZURICH, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Switzerland's federal prosecutor said on Thursday it has filed an indictment against the daughter of Uzbekistan's former president, accusing her of taking bribes and running an elaborate criminal organisation known as "The Office".

Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Islam Karimov - who ruled Uzbekistan from 1991 to 2016 - is accused of leading the operation which allegedly channelled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bribes from telecoms companies.

Sept 28 (Reuters) - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he discussed his region's contribution to Russia's war effort in Ukraine at talks with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that came at a sensitive moment in relations between the two sides.

Kadyrov enjoys wide leeway from Putin to run Chechnya ruthlessly as his personal fiefdom, but he angered even pro-Kremlin hardliners this week by praising his 15-year-old son for beating up an ethnic Russian prisoner in Chechen custody.

KIEV, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian state-run energy company Ukrenergo has attracted more than 1 billion U.S. dollars from foreign countries and organizations to restore the energy infrastructure, the Ukrinform news agency reported Thursday, citing an official.

"We have already financed most of our needs," said Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, chief executive officer of Ukrenergo.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s interior minister on Thursday accused Serbia of direct involvement in weekend clashes and was investigating the possibility of Russian involvement in the violence that left four people dead and further strained relations between the former wartime foes.

One Kosovo police officer and three gunmen were killed in Sunday’s shootout between Serb insurgents and Kosovo police. Eight people were initially arrested, but four of them have been released from custody because of a lack of evidence.