Russia

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) does not intend to scale down its testing of athletes despite the worsening epidemiological situation in the country, RUSADA told TASS.

"We are trying to maintain the testing scale and prevent suspension of it [testing] as it was in spring when we could not collect samples between late March and mid-June. In August, we collected 820 samples, while 912 samples were collected in September. All measures possible will be taken with a view to that," the RUSADA press service said.

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can only be resolved by peaceful means with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Consistently pursuing the position of excluding the military settlement of the conflict, we once again emphasize that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved exclusively by peaceful means, within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, which holds an international mandate," the statement reads.

MOSCOW (AP) — A trio of space travelers safely returned to Earth on Thursday after a six-month mission on the International Space Station.

The Soyuz MS-16 capsule carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, and Roscosmos’ Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 7:54 a.m. (2:54 GMT) Thursday. After a brief medical checkup, the three will be taken by helicopters to Dzhezkazgan from where they will depart home.

MOSCOW, October 21. / TASS /: Over half (63%) of small and medium-sized business leaders in Moscow and the Moscow region believe that an entrepreneur needs to develop so-called soft skills, while 37% believe that it is more important to work on the development of professional skills, according to the survey of the Moscow regional branch of the Russia's Support made available to TASS on Wednesday.

"37% believe that an entrepreneur needs to develop hard skills in order to be able to keep a business in a crisis, 63% - soft skills," according to the survey.

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/: A Sukhoi Su-34 frontline bomber crashed in the Khabarovsk Region in the Russian Far East, with pilots ejecting to safety, the press office of the Eastern Military District reported on Wednesday.

The bomber crashed during a training flight on October 21, the press office said.

"The pilots ejected. There is no threat to their health. The crew members have now been evacuated to their home airfield," the press office specified.

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/: Law enforcement officers have apprehended two suspects in attacks in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan in 1999, who were allegedly members of Basayev’s and Hattab’s gangs, the Russian Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Public Relations Center told TASS on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/: The Kremlin has rejected the possibility that the artificial lung ventilators that Russia had shipped to the US in the spring could have been of inferior quality, Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday, commenting on FEMA’s reported disposal of the Russian lung ventilators in the United States.

MOSCOW, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Wednesday confirmed its readiness to continue negotiations with the United States on the extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

"This topic is of strategic nature and global significance. It is in the interests of not only our two countries but also global security and stability," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily briefing.

He said Russia hopes that the dialogue with the United States will continue and their differences will be overcome.

VLADIVOSTOK, October 20. /TASS/: Pacific Fleet missile boats delivered a strike with cruise missiles against a notional enemy’s naval group during drills in the Sea of Japan, the Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday.

"The missile boat strike group of the Primorsky flotilla of all arms forces of the Pacific Fleet operating in the waters of the Sea of Japan launched an attack with cruise missiles against the targets that simulated a group of the notional enemy’s surface ships during a tactical exercise," the press office said in a statement.

MURMANSK, October 20. /TASS/: The crew of the Northern Fleet’s frigate Admiral Kasatonov deployed to the Barents Sea for anti-submarine warfare drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday.

"Today the crew of the Northern Fleet’s frigate Fleet Admiral Kasatonov started practicing assignments of anti-submarine warfare drills in the Barents Sea in compliance with the Fleet’s combat training plans for the summer training period," the press office said in a statement.